Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utilisation of Metadata Fields and Query Expansion in Cross-Lingual Search of User-Generated Internet Video

Recent years have seen significant efforts in the area of Cross Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) for text retrieval. This work initially focused on formally published content, but more recently research has begun to concentrate on CLIR for informal social media content. However, despite the current expansion in online multimedia archives, there has been little work on CLIR for this content. While there has been some limited work on Cross-Language Video Retrieval (CLVR) for professional videos, such as documentaries or TV news broadcasts, there has to date, been no significant investigation of CLVR for the rapidly growing archives of informal user generated (UGC) content. Key differences between such UGC and professionally produced content are the nature and structure of the textual UGC metadata associated with it, as well as the form and quality of the content itself. In this setting, retrieval effectiveness may not only suffer from translation errors common to all CLIR tasks, but also recognition errors associated with the automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems used to transcribe the spoken content of the video and with the informality and inconsistency of the associated user-created metadata for each video. This work proposes and evaluates techniques to improve CLIR effectiveness of such noisy UGC content. Our experimental investigation shows that different sources of evidence, e.g. the content from different fields of the structured metadata, significantly affect CLIR effectiveness. Results from our experiments also show that each metadata field has a varying robustness to query expansion (QE) and hence can have a negative impact on the CLIR effectiveness. Our work proposes a novel adaptive QE technique that predicts the most reliable source for expansion and shows how this technique can be effective for improving CLIR effectiveness for UGC content.
The Neuroprotective Effect of Cornus mas on Brain Tissue of Wistar Rats

Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) is a valuable source of phenolic antioxidants. Flavonoid derivatives as nonenzymatic antioxidants are important in the pathophysiology of many diseases including neurological disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease) or heart disease. In this study, we examined the effect of an addition of freeze-dried fruit of cornelian cherry on three types of diets: control diet, fructose diet, and diet enriched in fats (high-fat diet). This effect was studied by determining the following antioxidant parameters in both brain tissue and plasma in rats: catalase, ferric reducing ability of plasma, paraoxonase, protein carbonyl groups, and free thiol groups. Results indicate that both fructose diet and high-fat diet affect the antioxidant capacity of the organism. Furthermore, an addition of cornelian cherry resulted in increased activity of catalase in brain tissue, while in plasma it caused the opposite effect. In turn, with regard to paraoxonase activity in both brain tissue and plasma, it had a stimulating effect. Adding cornelian cherry to the tested diets increased the activity of PON in both tested tissues. Moreover, protective effect of fruits of this plant was observed in the process of oxidation of proteins by decreasing levels of protein carbonyl groups and thiol groups in brain tissue as well as in plasma.
The Characteristics and Function of S100A7 Induction in Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Heterogeneity, Promotion of Cell Proliferation and Suppression of Differentiation

S100A7 is highly expressed in squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and is related to the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes. However, its characteristic and function in SCC is not very known. In this present study, we used immunohistochemistry to examine the expression of S100A7 in 452 SCC specimens, including the lung, esophagus, oral cavity, skin, cervix, bladder, and three SCC cell lines. We found that S100A7-positive staining showed significant heterogeneity in six types of SCC specimen and three SCC cell lines. Further examination found that S100A7-positive cells and its expression at mRNA and protein levels could be induced in HCC94, FaDu, and A-431 cells both in vitro and in vivo using immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and Western blotting. Notably, the upregulation of squamous differentiation markers, including keratin-4, keratin-13, TG-1, and involucrin, also accompanied S100A7 induction, and a similar staining pattern of S100A7 and keratin-13 was found in HCC94 cells both in vitro and in vivo. Further study revealed that the overexpression of S100A7 significantly increased proliferation and inhibited squamous differentiation in A-431 cells both in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, silencing S100A7 inhibited cell growth and survival and increased the expression of keratin-4, keratin-13, TG-1, and involucrin in HCC94 cells. Therefore, these results demonstrate that S100A7 displays heterogeneous and inducible characteristic in SCC and also provide novel evidence that S100A7 acts as a dual regulator in promoting proliferation and suppressing squamous differentiation of SCC.
CGPA: Coarse-Grained Pipelined Accelerators

High-level synthesis (HLS) tools dramatically reduce the non-recurring engineering cost of creating specialized hardware accelerators. Existing HLS tools are successful in synthesizing efficient accelerators for program kernels with regular memory accesses and simple control flows. For other programs, however, these tools yield poor performance because they invoke computation units for instructions sequentially, without exploiting parallelism. To address this problem, this paper proposes Coarse-Grained Pipelined Accelerators (CGPA), an HLS framework that utilizes coarse-grained pipeline parallelism techniques to synthesize efficient specialized accelerator modules from irregular C/C++ programs without requiring any annotations. Compared to the sequential method, CGPA shows speedups of 3.0x-3.8x for 5 kernels from programs in different domains.
LHI-tree: An efficient disk-based image search application

Querying of nearest neighbour (NN) elements on large data collections is an important task for several information or content retrieval tasks. In the paper Local Hash-indexing tree (LHI-tree) is introduced, which is a disk-based index scheme that uses RAM for quick space partition localization and hard disks for the hash indexing. When large collections are considered, such hybrid data structure should be used to implement an effective indexing service. The proposed structure can produce list of approximate nearest neighbours. We compare LHI-tree to FLANN (Fast Library for Approximate Nearest Neighbors), an effective and frequently instanced implementation of ANN search. We show that they produce similar lists of retrieved images (although FLANN works only on RAM). In case of huge multimedia database a disk based indexing and retrieval method has a significant advantage against a vector based system running in RAM data. For the visual content indexing we built an image descriptor composed of four different information representations: edge histogram, entropy histogram, pattern histogram and dominant component colour characteristics. The paper will mention the content based retrieval of Hungarian Wikipedia images.
Effect of dislocations on thermal conductivity of GaN layers

We report calculation of the lattice thermal conductivity in wurtzite GaN. The proposed model is material specific and explicitly includes phonon relaxation on threading dislocations and impurities typical for GaN. We have found that a decrease of the dislocation density by two orders of magnitude in GaN leads to a corresponding increase of the thermal conductivity from 1.31 to 1.97 W/cm K. This theoretical prediction is in very good agreement with experimental data obtained from scanning thermal microscopy. The developed model can be used for thermal budget calculations in high-power density GaN devices.
Inducing Negative Affect Increases the Reward Value of Appetizing Foods in Dieters

Experiencing negative affect frequently precedes lapses in self-control for dieters, smokers, and drug addicts. Laboratory research has similarly shown that inducing negative emotional distress increases the consumption of food or drugs. One hypothesis for this finding is that emotional distress sensitizes the brain's reward system to appetitive stimuli. Using functional neuroimaging, we demonstrate that inducing negative affect in chronic dieters increases activity in brain regions representing the reward value of appetitive stimuli when viewing appetizing food cues. Thirty female chronic dieters were randomly assigned to receive either a negative (n = 15) or neutral mood induction (n = 15) immediately followed by exposure to images of appetizing foods and natural scenes during fMRI. Compared with chronic dieters in a neutral mood, those receiving a negative mood induction showed increased activity in the OFC to appetizing food images. In addition, activity to food images in the OFC and ventral striatum was correlated with individual differences in the degree to which the negative mood induction decreased participants' self-esteem. These findings suggest that distress sensitizes the brain's reward system to appetitive cues, thereby offering a mechanism for the oft-observed relationship between negative affect and disinhibited eating.
Robust finger tracking with multiple cameras

This paper gives an overview of a system for robustly tracking the 3D position and orientation of a finger using a few closely spaced cameras. Accurate results are obtained by combining features of stereo range images and color images. This work also provides a design framework for combining multiple sources of information, including stereo range images, color segmentations, shape information and various constraints. This information is used in robust model fitting techniques to track highly over-constrained models of deformable objects: fingers.
Gap Junctions with Varied Permeability Properties Establish Cell-Type Specific Communication Pathways in the Rat Seminiferous Epithelium1

Abstract Dye coupling experiments were performed to determine whether the gap junctions connecting Sertoli cells with other Sertoli cells and different germ cell stages in rats showed functional variations. Chop loading of adult rat seminiferous tubules was conducted using fluorescent dextran controls and a variety of low-molecular-weight tracers (lucifer yellow, biotin-X-cadaverine, biotin cadaverine, and neurobiotin) to evaluate dye coupling in situ, and scrape loading was used to study dye coupling in Sertoli-germ cell cocultures established using prepuberal rats. Sertoli-Sertoli coupling is relatively short range and nonselective in situ, whereas coupling between Sertoli cells and chains of spermatogonia is strongly selective for the positively charged biotin tracers relative to negatively charged lucifer yellow. Coupling between Sertoli cells and spermatogonia was also asymmetric; lucifer yellow in germ cells never diffused into Sertoli cells, and biotinylated tracers only weakly diffused from spermatogonia to Sertoli cells. Asymmetric coupling would facilitate the concentration in germ cells of molecules diffusing through junctions from Sertoli cells. Dye coupling between Sertoli cells and adluminal germ cells was too weak to detect by fluorescence microscopy, suggesting that the junctional communication between these cells may be functionally different from that between Sertoli and basal germ cells. The results show that there are multiple routes of gap junction communication in rat seminiferous tubules that differ in permeability properties and show alternative gating states. Functional diversity of gap junctions may permit regulated communication among the many interacting Sertoli cells and germ cell stages in the seminiferous epithelium.
The PERMA-Profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing

Abstract: In the book Flourish (2011), Seligman defined wellbeing in terms of five pillars: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment, or PERMA. We developed the PERMA-Profiler as a brief measure of PERMA. We first compiled hundreds of theoretically relevant items. Three studies ( N = 7,188) reduced, tested, and refined items, resulting in a final set of 15 questions (three items per PERMA domain). Eight additional filler items were added, which assess overall wellbeing, negative emotion, loneliness, and physical health, resulting in a final 23-item measure. A series of eight additional studies ( N = 31,966) were conducted to test the psychometrics of the measure. The PERMA-Profiler demonstrates acceptable model fit, internal and cross-time consistency, and evidence for content, convergent, and divergent validity. Scores are reported visually as a profile across domains, reflecting the multidimensional nature of flourishing. The PERMA-Profiler adds to the toolbox of wellbeing measures, allowing individuals to monitor their wellbeing across multiple psychosocial domains.
The Nuclear Protein Sge1 of Fusarium oxysporum Is Required for Parasitic Growth

Dimorphism or morphogenic conversion is exploited by several pathogenic fungi and is required for tissue invasion and/or survival in the host. We have identified a homolog of a master regulator of this morphological switch in the plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. This non-dimorphic fungus causes vascular wilt disease in tomato by penetrating the plant roots and colonizing the vascular tissue. Gene knock-out and complementation studies established that the gene for this putative regulator, SGE1 (SIX Gene Expression 1), is essential for pathogenicity. In addition, microscopic analysis using fluorescent proteins revealed that Sge1 is localized in the nucleus, is not required for root colonization and penetration, but is required for parasitic growth. Furthermore, Sge1 is required for expression of genes encoding effectors that are secreted during infection. We propose that Sge1 is required in F. oxysporum and other non-dimorphic (plant) pathogenic fungi for parasitic growth.
The impact of a national mass media campaign in The Netherlands on the prevention of weight gain

Abstract Objective A 5-year nationwide mass media campaign aimed at prevention of overweight was organised from 2002 onwards. The present study evaluates the first campaign, which was aimed primarily at increasing awareness of weight gain. Design and subjects Data were collected by telephone interview in four independent cross-sectional surveys among non-obese Dutch adults aged 25–35 years (total n = 1949) for statistical analyses. Awareness of personal body-weight status, overweight-related risk perceptions, attitudes towards weight-gain prevention, motivation to prevent weight gain and self-reported body mass index (BMI) were measured in each survey. Campaign exposure was assessed in the post-intervention surveys. To identify intervention effects over time multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used, adjusted for secular time effects and age. Results After the campaign about 65% of the respondents knew about the campaign. The campaign was associated with more positive attitudes towards the prevention of weight gain (β = 0.16; P ≤ 0.01) and higher self-reported BMI (β = 0.14; P ≤ 0.01). Conclusions The results suggest that the first campaign reached a large proportion of the population and initiated some positive change in attitudes, but did not achieve significant improvements in other determinants of weight-gain prevention among non-obese young adults.
Improving Non-Cartesian MRI Reconstruction through Discontinuity Subtraction

Non-Cartesian sampling is widely used for fast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Accurate and fast image reconstruction from non-Cartesian k-space data becomes a challenge and gains a lot of attention. Images provided by conventional direct reconstruction methods usually bear ringing, streaking, and other leakage artifacts caused by discontinuous structures. In this paper, we tackle these problems by analyzing the principal point spread function (PSF) of non-Cartesian reconstruction and propose a leakage reduction reconstruction scheme based on discontinuity subtraction. Data fidelity in k-space is enforced during each iteration. Multidimensional nonuniform fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) algorithms are utilized to simulate the k-space samples as well as to reconstruct images. The proposed method is compared to the direct reconstruction method on computer-simulated phantoms and physical scans. Non-Cartesian sampling trajectories including 2D spiral, 2D and 3D radial trajectories are studied. The proposed method is found useful on reducing artifacts due to high image discontinuities. It also improves the quality of images reconstructed from undersampled data.
Evaluating Implied Cost of Capital Estimates

Characterizing a firm’s true (but unobservable) expected returns as the normative benchmark, we develop a two-dimensional framework for evaluating the relative performance of implied cost-of-capital (ICC) estimates. First, in time-series, variations in ICC estimates should reflect changes in true expected returns rather than changes in measurement errors. Second, cross-sectionally, ICC estimates should predict future realized returns. Using this framework, we compare seven alternative ICC measures and show that several perform quite well along both dimensions, and all do much better than Beta-based estimates. In addition, we provide evidence on the importance of appropriate matching between the earnings forecasting method (analyst vs. mechanical) and the valuation model. Overall, our evidence provides significant support for the broader adoption of ICCs as firm-level expected return proxies.
PROMISE: A framework for truthful and profit maximizing spectrum double auctions

Auctions provide a platform for licensed spectrum users to trade their underutilized spectrum with unlicensed users. Existing spectrum auctions either do not apply to the scenarios where multiple sellers and buyers both make offers, or assume the knowledge of the users' valuation distribution for maximizing the profit of the auction. To fill this void, we design PROMISE, a framework for spectrum double auctions, which jointly considers spectrum reusability, truthfulness, and profit maximization without the distribution knowledge. We propose a novel technique, called cross extraction, to compute the bid representing a group of secondary users, who can share a common channel. We prove that PROMISE is computationally efficient, individual-rational, and truthful. In addition, PROMISE is guaranteed to achieve an approximate profit of the optimal auction.
Single-particle Reconstruction Using L 2 -gradient Flow Journal of Structural Biology

Reconstruction Electron microscopy Single-particle analysis a b s t r a c t In this paper, we present an iterative algorithm for reconstructing a three-dimensional density function from a set of two dimensional electron microscopy images. By minimizing an energy functional consisting of a fidelity term and a regularization term, an L 2-gradient flow is derived. The flow is integrated by a finite element method in the spatial direction and an explicit Euler scheme in the temporal direction. Our method compares favorably with those of the weighted back projection, Fourier method, algebraic reconstruction technique and simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique. In the past 10 years, cryo-electron microscope imaging techniques have become indispensable tools for determining the three-dimensional structure of large macromolecules and biological machineries. Different from X-ray crystallographic methods, electron microscopy does not require crystallization. Specimens are applied to a grid covered with holey carbon, and then are rapidly plunged into a cryogen-usually liquid ethane cooled by liquid nitrogen (Frank, 2006). This data acquisition process can be very fast. Hence, these methods provide good opportunities to determine the three-dimensional structures of large macromolecules that are either too large or too heterogeneous to be investigated by X-ray methods (van Heel et al., 2000). Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) single-particle analysis (van Heel et al., 2000; Frank, 2006; Zhang et al., 2010) and cryo-electron tomography are the two main techniques in this field. The process of single-particle analysis includes several steps including image classification, orientation and three-dimensional reconstruction. These steps can be integrated into an iterative refinement using projection matching (Penczek et al., 1994; Radermacher, 1994; Sorzano et al., 2004a). Other steps include corrections for the contrast transfer function (CTF) and amplitude in order to obtain higher resolutions. In this paper, we concentrate on the three-dimensional reconstruction step of single-particle analysis. The most common reconstruction algorithms in single-particle analysis are weighted back projection, and iterative methods including algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) (Gordon et al., 1970) and simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT) (Gilbert, 1972). Other methods include simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) (Andersen and Kak, 1984) and block ART (Marabini et al., 1998). For limited angle tomography, such as electron tomography (ET), regularization methods have been applied for solving the ill-posed problem. SIRT with regularization through early stopping has been applied to ET (Schoenmakers et al., 2005; Voorhout et al., 2006). Projection onto convex sets (POCS) assumes that the object f belongs to the intersection of …
Cell Adhesion Molecules and Ubiquitination—Functions and Significance

Cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily represent the biggest group of cell adhesion molecules. They have been analyzed since approximately 40 years ago and most of them have been shown to play a role in tumor progression and in the nervous system. All members of the Ig superfamily are intensively posttranslationally modified. However, many aspects of their cellular functions are not yet known. Since a few years ago it is known that some of the Ig superfamily members are modified by ubiquitin. Ubiquitination has classically been described as a proteasomal degradation signal but during the last years it became obvious that it can regulate many other processes including internalization of cell surface molecules and lysosomal sorting. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current knowledge about the ubiquitination of cell adhesion molecules of the Ig superfamily and to discuss its potential physiological roles in tumorigenesis and in the nervous system.
A wyner ziv codec based on equalization at the decoder

In this paper we consider the problem of lossy coding of correlated vector sources with uncoded side information available at the decoder. In particular, we consider lossy coding of source x ∈ R which is correlated with source y ∈ R , known at the decoder. The general non-linear mapping between y and x capturing the correlation between the two sources can be approximated through a linear model y = Hx+n in which n is independent of x. This model can be viewed as a fictitious communication channel with input x and output y. Utilizing a powerful signal processing technique, namely channel equalization, we convert the original vector source coding problem into a set of manageable scalar source coding problems. The scalar source coding problems can be solved using the existing distributed source coding algorithms that are primarily designed for the simple correlation model y = x + n where x and y are scalar jointly Gaussian sources.
A Comparative Study of Clustering Algorithms on Narrow-Domain Abstracts

This project was partially supported by the R2D2 (CICYT TIC2003-07158-C04-03) and ICT EU-India (ALA/95/23/2003/077-054) research projects, as well as by the BUAP-701 PROMEP/103.5/05/1536 grant.