Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital image stabilization based on statistical selection of feasible regions

This paper presents a novel and robust approach for digital image stabilization system based on a statistical region analysis for dominant motion selection. The proposed stabilization system adaptively employs the feature-histogram for feasible region selection resulting in stabilization of undesired camera fluctuation regardless of object's movement. The main difference between the previous and proposed approaches is that existing state-of-the-art methods use points, edges, or bit-plane patterns to select the feasible regions, whereas the proposed algorithm employs a feature-histogram. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves the stabilization performance by 7% on average with four times less computation than the existing methods by skipping motion estimation and feature detection in disqualified blocks. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is suitable for consumer applications such as video camcorders and digital cameras.
Evaluation of different techniques for CT radiation profile width measurement

This work has been conducted to demonstrate a procedure for using a Konica Minolta computed radiography (CR) system for the measurement of computed tomography (CT) radiation profile width, and to compare this method with conventional and GAFCHROMIC XR‐QA2 film measurements. The exposure and processing conditions of a Konica Minolta CR reader system were characterized to establish the relationship between exposure at the imaging plate (IP) and pixel value. A 6 cc ionization chamber was exposed at the isocenter of a CT scanner using 80 kVp, 0.4 sec with various mA settings. CR images were processed in fixed modes with various combinations of S and G values, establishing exposure and pixel value relationships. Appropriate exposure techniques and processing parameters were selected to avoid the saturation of the IP. Using the selected exposure and processing parameters, radiation profiles of various nominal collimation settings (40, 20, 10, and 5 mm) were acquired for measurement. Radiochromic film was characterized and utilized to compare with CR profiles and profiles obtained via conventional film. Appropriate exposures for both CR (80 kVp, large body filter, 4 and 8 mAs) and radiochromic films (120 kVp, large body filter, 300 mAs) were determined. Recommended CR processing settings (fixed mode with S=5 and G=1.81) were also determined. Compared to the conventional film results, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) results for CR agreed well within ±10%, while radiochromic film results showed maximum deviations of about 5%. In conclusion, FWHM of CT radiation profiles can be conveniently and accurately measured using a Konica Minolta CR system or XR‐QA2 film when appropriate exposure technique and processing parameters are used. PACS numbers: 87.57. Q‐, 87.57. qp, 87.59. bd, 87.57. uq
Mining the Human Tissue Proteome for Protein Citrullination *

Citrullination is a posttranslational modification of arginine catalyzed by five peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) in humans. The loss of a positive charge may cause structural or functional alterations, and while the modification has been linked to several diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cancer, its physiological or pathophysiological roles remain largely unclear. In part, this is owing to limitations in available methodology to robustly enrich, detect, and localize the modification. As a result, only a few citrullination sites have been identified on human proteins with high confidence. In this study, we mined data from mass-spectrometry-based deep proteomic profiling of 30 human tissues to identify citrullination sites on endogenous proteins. Database searching of ∼70 million tandem mass spectra yielded ∼13,000 candidate spectra, which were further triaged by spectrum quality metrics and the detection of the specific neutral loss of isocyanic acid from citrullinated peptides to reduce false positives. Because citrullination is easily confused with deamidation, we synthetized ∼2,200 citrullinated and 1,300 deamidated peptides to build a library of reference spectra. This led to the validation of 375 citrullination sites on 209 human proteins. Further analysis showed that >80% of the identified modifications sites were new, and for 56% of the proteins, citrullination was detected for the first time. Sequence motif analysis revealed a strong preference for Asp and Gly, residues around the citrullination site. Interestingly, while the modification was detected in 26 human tissues with the highest levels found in the brain and lung, citrullination levels did not correlate well with protein expression of the PAD enzymes. Even though the current work represents the largest survey of protein citrullination to date, the modification was mostly detected on high abundant proteins, arguing that the development of specific enrichment methods would be required in order to study the full extent of cellular protein citrullination.
Curiosity-driven Exploration for Mapless Navigation with Deep Reinforcement Learning

This paper investigates exploration strategies of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) methods to learn navigation policies for mobile robots. In particular, we augment the normal external reward for training DRL algorithms with intrinsic reward signals measured by curiosity. We test our approach in a mapless navigation setting, where the autonomous agent is required to navigate without the occupancy map of the environment, to targets whose relative locations can be easily acquired through low-cost solutions (e.g., visible light localization, Wi-Fi signal localization). We validate that the intrinsic motivation is crucial for improving DRL performance in tasks with challenging exploration requirements. Our experimental results show that our proposed method is able to more effectively learn navigation policies, and has better generalization capabilities in previously unseen environments. A video of our experimental results can be found at this https URL
A Single-Reference Parasitic-Matching Sensing Circuit for 3-D Cross Point PCM

3-D cross point phase change memory (PCM) is considered to be a leading 3-D technology for emerging nonvolatile memories. Besides planar parasitic elements, vertical parasitic elements will also delay the read operation in 3-D PCM. This brief concludes the five factors that affect the read operation in 3-D cross point PCM for the first time. A single-reference parasitic-matching sensing circuit is therefore proposed to speed up the read operation. Simulated in a 40-nm CMOS process, the sensing time of 64-Mbit 3-D cross point PCM is 39.67 ns compared to the conventional 185.3 ns. Monte Carlo simulations show an 84.5 ns worst sensing time compared to the conventional 364.5 ns.
Polyphenol levels in human urine after intake of six different polyphenol-rich beverages

Dietary polyphenols are suggested to participate in the prevention of CVD and cancer. It is essential for epidemiological studies to be able to compare intake of the main dietary polyphenols in populations. The present paper describes a fast method suitable for the analysis of polyphenols in urine, selected as potential biomarkers of intake. This method is applied to the estimation of polyphenol recovery after ingestion of six different polyphenol-rich beverages. Fifteen polyphenols including mammalian lignans (enterodiol and enterolactone), several phenolic acids (chlorogenic, caffeic, m-coumaric, gallic, and 4-O-methylgallic acids), phloretin and various flavonoids (catechin, epicatechin, quercetin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol, hesperetin, and naringenin) were simultaneously quantified in human urine by HPLC coupled with electrospray ionisation mass-MS (HPLC-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry) with a run time of 6 min per sample. The method has been validated with regard to linearity, precision, and accuracy in intra- and inter-day assays. It was applied to urine samples collected from nine volunteers in the 24 h following consumption of either green tea, a grape-skin extract, cocoa beverage, coffee, grapefruit juice or orange juice. Levels of urinary excretion suggest that chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, epicatechin, naringenin or hesperetin could be used as specific biomarkers to evaluate the consumption of coffee, wine, tea or cocoa, and citrus juices respectively.
Low Cost Convolutional Neural Network Accelerator Based on Bi-Directional Filtering and Bit-Width Reduction

This paper presents a low-area and energy-efficient hardware accelerator for the convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Based on the multiply-accumulate-based architecture, three design techniques are proposed to reduce the hardware cost of the convolutional computations. First, to reduce the computational cost of convolutions, an adaptive bit-width reduction combined with near-zero skipping is proposed based on differential input method (DIM). The DIM-based design technique can reduce 62.5% of operation bit-width and improve 17.0% of activation sparsity with almost ignorable CNN accuracy degradation. Second, it has been found that adopting a bi-directional filtering window in a CNN accelerator can considerably reduce the energy for data movement with a much smaller number of memory accesses. To expedite the bi-directional filtering operations, we also propose a bi-directional first-input-first-output (bi-FIFO). With SRAM bit-cell layout manner, the proposed bi-FIFO facilitates fast data re-distribution with area and energy efficiency. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed techniques, the AlexNet accelerator has been designed. The numerical results show that the proposed adaptive bit-width reduction scheme achieves 34.6% and 58.2% of area and energy savings, respectively. The bi-FIFO-based accelerator also achieves 32.8% improved processing time.
A DEEP PROPER MOTION CATALOG WITHIN THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY FOOTPRINT

A new proper motion catalog is presented, combining the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with second epoch observations in the r band within a portion of the SDSS imaging footprint. The new observations were obtained with the 90prime camera on the Steward Observatory Bok 90 inch telescope, and the Array Camera on the U.S. Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station, 1.3 m telescope. The catalog covers 1098 square degrees to r = 22.0, an additional 1521 square degrees to r = 20.9, plus a further 488 square degrees of lesser quality data. Statistical errors in the proper motions range from 5 mas year−1 at the bright end to 15 mas year−1 at the faint end, for a typical epoch difference of six years. Systematic errors are estimated to be roughly 1 mas year−1 for the Array Camera data, and as much as 2–4 mas year−1 for the 90prime data (though typically less). The catalog also includes a second epoch of r band photometry.
Acoustic scene classification using convolutional neural networks and multi-scale multi-feature extraction

Audio scenes are often composed of a variety of sound events from different sources. Their content exhibits wide variations in both frequency and time domain. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) provide an effective way to extract spatial information of multidimensional data such as image, audio, and video; they have the ability to learn hierarchical representation from time-frequency features of audio signals. In this paper, we develop a convolutional neural network and employ a multi-scale multi-feature extraction methods for acoustic scene classification. We conduct experiments on the TUT Acoustic Scenes 2016 dataset. Experimental results show that the use of multi-scale multi-feature extraction methods improves significantly the performance of the system. Our proposed approach obtains a high accuracy of 85.9% that outperforms the baseline approach by a large margin of 8.7%.
RC-NVM: Enabling Symmetric Row and Column Memory Accesses for In-memory Databases

Ever increasing DRAM capacity has fostered the development of in-memory databases (IMDB). The massive performance improvements provided by IMDBs have enabled transactions and analytics on the same database. In other words, the integration of OLTP (on-line transactional processing) and OLAP (on-line analytical processing) systems is becoming a general trend. However, conventional DRAM-based main memory is optimized for row-oriented accesses generated by OLTP workloads in row-based databases. OLAP queries scanning on specified columns cause so-called strided accesses and result in poor memory performance. Since memory access latency dominates in IMDB processing time, it can degrade overall performance significantly. To overcome this problem, we propose a dual-addressable memory architecture based on non-volatile memory, called RC-NVM, to support both row-oriented and column-oriented accesses. We first present circuit-level analysis to prove that such a dual-addressable architecture is only practical with RC-NVM rather than DRAM technology. Then, we rethink the addressing schemes, data layouts, cache synonym, and coherence issues of RC-NVM in architectural level to make it applicable for IMDBs. Finally, we propose a group caching technique that combines the IMDB knowledge with the memory architecture to further optimize the system. Experimental results show that the memory access performance can be improved up to 14.5X with only 15% area overhead.
Steal but No Force: Efficient Hardware Undo+Redo Logging for Persistent Memory Systems

Persistent memory is a new tier of memory that functions as a hybrid of traditional storage systems and main memory. It combines the benefits of both: the data persistence of storage with the fast load/store interface of memory. Most previous persistent memory designs place careful control over the order of writes arriving at persistent memory. This can prevent caches and memory controllers from optimizing system performance through write coalescing and reordering. We identify that such write-order control can be relaxed by employing undo+redo logging for data in persistent memory systems. However, traditional software logging mechanisms are expensive to adopt in persistent memory due to performance and energy overheads. Previously proposed hardware logging schemes are inefficient and do not fully address the issues in software. To address these challenges, we propose a hardware undo+redo logging scheme which maintains data persistence by leveraging the write-back, write-allocate policies used in commodity caches. Furthermore, we develop a cache forcewrite-back mechanism in hardware to significantly reduce the performance and energy overheads from forcing data into persistent memory. Our evaluation across persistent memory microbenchmarks and real workloads demonstrates that our design significantly improves system throughput and reduces both dynamic energy and memory traffic. It also provides strong consistency guarantees compared to software approaches.
Synergy

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have been widely deployed in diverse application domains. There has been significant progress in accelerating both their training and inference using high-performance GPUs, FPGAs, and custom ASICs for datacenter-scale environments. The recent proliferation of mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices have necessitated real-time, energy-efficient deep neural network inference on embedded-class, resource-constrained platforms. In this context, we present Synergy, an automated, hardware-software co-designed, pipelined, high-throughput CNN inference framework on embedded heterogeneous system-on-chip (SoC) architectures (Xilinx Zynq). Synergy leverages, through multi-threading, all the available on-chip resources, which includes the dual-core ARM processor along with the FPGA and the NEON Single-Instruction Multiple-Data (SIMD) engines as accelerators. Moreover, Synergy provides a unified abstraction of the heterogeneous accelerators (FPGA and NEON) and can adapt to different network configurations at runtime without changing the underlying hardware accelerator architecture by balancing workload across accelerators through work-stealing. Synergy achieves 7.3X speedup, averaged across seven CNN models, over a well-optimized software-only solution. Synergy demonstrates substantially better throughput and energy-efficiency compared to the contemporary CNN implementations on the same SoC architecture.
Comparison of hip function and quality of life of total hip arthroplasty and resurfacing arthroplasty in the treatment of young patients with arthritis of the hip joint at 5 years

Objective To compare the medium-term clinical effectiveness of total hip arthroplasty and resurfacing arthroplasty. Design Single centre, two-arm, parallel group, assessor blinded, randomised controlled trial with 1:1 treatment allocation. Setting A large teaching hospital in England. Participants 122 patients older than 18 years with severe arthritis of the hip joint, suitable for resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip. Patients were excluded if they were considered to be unable to adhere to trial procedures or complete questionnaires. Interventions Total hip arthroplasty (replacement of entire femoral head and neck); hip resurfacing arthroplasty (replacement of the articular surface of femoral head only, femoral neck remains intact). Both procedures replaced the articular surface of the acetabulum. Outcomes The outcome measures were hip function assessed using the Oxford Hip Score (OHS) and health-related quality of life assessed using the EuroQol (EQ-5D). Patients were followed up annually for a minimum of 5 years. Outcome data were modelled using the generalised estimating equation methodology to explore temporal variations during follow-up. Results 60 patients were randomly assigned to hip resurfacing arthroplasty and 62 to total hip arthroplasty. 95 (78%) of the 122 original study participants provided data at 5 years. There was a small decrease in both hip functions and quality of life in both groups of patients each year during the 5-year follow-up period. However, there was no evidence of a significant difference between treatments group in the OHS (P=0.333) or the EQ-5D (P=0.501). Conclusions We previously reported no difference in outcome in the first year after surgery. The current medium-term results also show no evidence of a difference in hip function or health-related quality of life in the 5 years following a total hip arthroplasty versus resurfacing arthroplasty. Trial registration number ISRCTN33354155. UKCRN 4093.
Modeling and Analysis of a Wavy Thrust Bearing

This paper presents an analytical and numerical development for the simulation of a wavy thrust bearing. The analytical formulation is based on an expanded, compressible Reynolds equation model, while the numerical procedure is based on the solution of the discretized (finite difference) form of the Reynolds equation. Effects of the bearing radius, clearance, lubricant viscosity, circumferential wave amplitude, and angular velocity are examined. Numerical results of the parametric studies are summarized through graphs for the pressure distributions and resulting load capacities. The major findings of this study show that the wavy configuration, even for extremely low wave amplitudes, produces significant pressure build-up and thus allows the generation of relatively large load carrying capacities. It has also been determined that while the bearing number A, angular velocity, surface wave period and viscosity do not affect the phase angle between the peak pressure and the bearing surface wave, the wave amplitude ‘g’ does indeed substantially change the phase angle. It has been concluded that the continuous wavy configuration acts as a succession of mini-slider bearings and is a rather viable alternative to the Raleigh step, or spiral configurations for a self-acting thrust bearing. Presented at the 56th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida May 20–24, 2001
Radiomics Evaluation of Histological Heterogeneity Using Multiscale Textures Derived From 3D Wavelet Transformation of Multispectral Images

Purpose Colorectal cancer (CRC) is markedly heterogeneous and develops progressively toward malignancy through several stages which include stroma (ST), benign hyperplasia (BH), intraepithelial neoplasia (IN) or precursor cancerous lesion, and carcinoma (CA). Identification of the malignancy stage of CRC pathology tissues (PT) allows the most appropriate therapeutic intervention. Methods This study investigates multiscale texture features extracted from CRC pathology sections using 3D wavelet transform (3D-WT) filter. Multiscale features were extracted from digital whole slide images of 39 patients that were segmented in a pre-processing step using an active contour model. The capacity for multiscale texture to compare and classify between PTs was investigated using ANOVA significance test and random forest classifier models, respectively. Results 12 significant features derived from the multiscale texture (i.e., variance, entropy, and energy) were found to discriminate between CRC grades at a significance value of p < 0.01 after correction. Combining multiscale texture features lead to a better predictive capacity compared to prediction models based on individual scale features with an average (±SD) classification accuracy of 93.33 (±3.52)%, sensitivity of 88.33 (± 4.12)%, and specificity of 96.89 (± 3.88)%. Entropy was found to be the best classifier feature across all the PT grades with an average of the area under the curve (AUC) value of 91.17, 94.21, 97.70, 100% for ST, BH, IN, and CA, respectively. Conclusion Our results suggest that multiscale texture features based on 3D-WT are sensitive enough to discriminate between CRC grades with the entropy feature, the best predictor of pathology grade.
The triticeous cartilage - redefining of morphology, prevalence and function.

BACKGROUND Triticeous cartilage is a small cartilaginous component of the laryngeal skeleton. This cartilage, located in posterior end of the thyrohyoid ligament, presents in different shapes. Radiological studies indicate clinical and anatomical importance of the triticeous cartilage but these studies have limited information due to inadequate inspection method. Computed tomographic angiography is able to evaluate the triticeous cartilage with using three-dimensional images in more detail. The aim of this study is to describe prevalence and morphological properties of the triticeous cartilage. MATERIALS AND METHODS We examined computed tomographic angiography images of 746 patients (368 women, 378 men) retrospectively. Shapes, calcification degrees, volumes, lengths and wideness of the triticeous cartilage were evaluated by OsiriX-Lite software. RESULTS According to our results, triticeous cartilage presents common in the examined population (68.1%). The prevalence of the triticeous cartilage was higher in men than in women. We also found that the degree of calcification was not related with age and gender. CONCLUSIONS Clinical importance of the triticeous cartilage is that it could be misdiagnosed with atherosclerosis in common carotid artery because the triticeous cartilage is located almost at same level as the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. Therefore, clinicians should be aware about the triticeous cartilage.