Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unsupervised Multi-class Joint Image Segmentation

Joint segmentation of image sets is a challenging problem, especially when there are multiple objects with variable appearance shared among the images in the collection and the set of objects present in each particular image is itself varying and unknown. In this paper, we present a novel method to jointly segment a set of images containing objects from multiple classes. We first establish consistent functional maps across the input images, and introduce a formulation that explicitly models partial similarity across images instead of global consistency. Given the optimized maps between pairs of images, multiple groups of consistent segmentation functions are found such that they align with segmentation cues in the images, agree with the functional maps, and are mutually exclusive. The proposed fully unsupervised approach exhibits a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art methods, as shown on the co-segmentation data sets MSRC, Flickr, and PASCAL.
Factors Influencing Food Choice in an Australian Aboriginal Community

We explored with Aboriginal adults living in a remote Australian community the social context of food choice and factors perceived to shape food choice. An ethnographic approach of prolonged community engagement over 3 years was augmented by interviews. Our findings revealed that knowledge, health, and resources supporting food choice were considered “out of balance,” and this imbalance was seen to manifest in a Western-imposed diet lacking variety and overrelying on familiar staples. Participants felt ill-equipped to emulate the traditional pattern of knowledge transfer through passing food-related wisdom to younger generations. The traditional food system was considered key to providing the framework for learning about the contemporary food environment. Practitioners seeking to improve diet and health outcomes for this population should attend to past and present contexts of food in nutrition education, support the educative role of caregivers, address the high cost of food, and support access to traditional foods.
THE EFFECT OF TALO-CRURAL JOINT MANIPULATION ON RANGE OF MOTION AT THE ANKLE JOINT IN SUBJECTS WITH A HISTORY OF ANKLE INJURY

Introduction: There is little research available on the effects of peripheral joint manipulation. Only a few studies have examined the effect of manipulation on ankle range of motion, with conflicting results. This study aimed to determine whether a single high-velocity, low-amplitude (HVLA) thrust manipulation to the talo-crural joint altered ankle range of motion in subjects with a history of lateral ligament sprain. Methods: Male and female volunteers (N=52) with a history of lateral ligament sprain were randomly assigned into either an experimental group (n=26) or a control group (n=26). Those in the experimental group received a single HVLA thrust to the talo-crural joint, whilst those in the control group received no treatment intervention. Pre-test and post-test measurements of passive dorsiflexion range of motion were taken. Results: No significant changes in dorsiflexion range of motion were detected between manipulated ankles and those of control subjects using dependent and independent t-tests. Ankles that cavitated displayed a greater mean DFR and large effect size (d=0.8) compared to those that did not gap and cavitate, but analysis with ANOVA revealed these differences to be not significant. Conclusion: HVLA manipulation of the ankle did not increase dorsiflexion range of motion in subjects with a history of lateral ligament sprain.
The Valuation of IPO and SEO Firms

We examine the pricing of initial public offering (IPO) and seasoned equity offering (SEO) firms using a stochastic frontier methodology. The stochastic frontier framework models the difference between the maximum possible value of the firm and its actual market capitalization at the time of the offering as a function of observable firm characteristics. Using a new data set, we find that commonly used pricing factors do indeed influence valuation. Ceteris paribus, firms in industries with great earnings potential are more highly valued, and IPO firms are underpriced. Theories regarding underwriter reputation or windows of opportunity for equity issuance are not supported in our empirical results.
Elevated RNA expression of long non-coding HOTAIR promotes cell proliferation and predicts a poor prognosis in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is one of the most common types of malignancy worldwide. The lack of clear symptoms and early detection make it difficult to diagnose at an early stage, leading to poor prognosis of the patients. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have come into focus for their important regulatory roles in fundamental biological processes, particularly in cancer initiation, development and progression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of lncRNA Hox transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) in a cohort of patients with DLBCL to assess its clinical value and biological function in DLBCL. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to detect HOTAIR expression levels and cells were transfected with small interfering RNA to compare cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Western blotting was also conducted to detect possible signaling pathways. It was first found that the expression levels of HOTAIR were upregulated in DLBCL tumor tissues and cell lines, compared with normal tissues and cells. In addition, HOTAIR was significantly correlated with tumor size, clinical stage, B symptoms and International Prognostic Index scores; and higher expression levels of HOTAIR were correlated with improved prognosis. Univariate and multivariate analyses verified that HOTAIR was a key independent predictive factor for DLBCL prognosis. Furthermore, it was revealed that the knockdown of the expression of HOTAIR led to growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in vitro, possibly through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT/nuclear factor-κB pathway. These results suggested that HOTAIR may be regarded as a novel indicator of poor prognosis, and may serve as a potential target for gene therapy in the treatment of DLBCL.
A scheme to probe optomechanical correlations between two optical beams down to the quantum level

Quantum effects of radiation pressure are expected to limit the sensitivity of second-generation gravitational-wave interferometers. Though ubiquitous, such effects are so weak that they haven't been experimentally demonstrated yet. Using a high-finesse optical cavity and a classical intensity noise [1], we have demonstrated radiation-pressure induced correlations between two optical beams sent into the same moving mirror cavity.
Decay Kinetics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cells in Peripheral Blood after Initiation of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

ABSTRACT We measured the longitudinal responses to 95 HLA class I-restricted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epitopes and an immunodominant HLA A2-restricted cytomegalovirus (CMV) epitope in eight treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals, using intracellular cytokine staining. Patients were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for a median of 78 weeks (range, 34 to 121 weeks). Seven of eight patients maintained an undetectable viral load for the duration of therapy. A rapid decline in HIV-specific CD8+ T-cell response was observed at initiation of therapy. After an undetectable viral load was achieved, a slower decrease in HIV-specific CD8+ T-cell response was observed that was well described by first-order kinetics. The median half-life for the rate of decay was 38.8 (20.3 to 68.0) weeks when data were expressed as percentage of peripheral CD8+ T cells. In most cases, data were similar when expressed as the number of responding CD8+ T cells per microliter of blood. In subjects who responded to more than one HIV epitope, rates of decline in response to the different epitopes were similar and varied by a factor of 2.2 or less. Discontinuation of treatment resulted in a rapid increase in HIV-specific CD8+ T cells. Responses to CMV increased 1.6- and 2.8-fold within 16 weeks of initiation of HAART in two of three patients with a measurable CMV response. These data suggest that HAART quickly starts to restore CD8+ T-cell responses to other chronic viral infections and leads to a slow decrease in HIV-specific CD8+ T-cell response in HIV-infected patients. The slow decrease in the rate of CD8+ T-cell response and rapid increase in response to recurrent viral replication suggest that the decrease in CD8+ T-cell response observed represents a normal memory response to withdrawal of antigen.
Detecting Structure of Haplotypes and Local Ancestry

We present a two-layer hidden Markov model to detect the structure of haplotypes for unrelated individuals. This allows us to model two scales of linkage disequilibrium (one within a group of haplotypes and one between groups), thereby taking advantage of rich haplotype information to infer local ancestry of admixed individuals. Our method outperforms competing state-of-the-art methods, particularly for regions of small ancestral track lengths. Applying our method to Mexican samples in HapMap3, we found two regions on chromosomes 6 and 8 that show significant departure of local ancestry from the genome-wide average. A software package implementing the methods described in this article is freely available at http://bcm.edu/cnrc/mcmcmc.
External choledochoduodenostomy. An evaluation of 125 cases

EXTERNAL choledochoduodenostomy is an operation which, although it has been practised for well over 70 years, has had varying degrees of popularity, and has never been widely accepted. The uncertainty has probably arisen from the fact that, although small groups of cases have been spasmodically reported from various centres, no large group has been analysed to determine the long-term effects, both on the common duct itself, and secondarily on the liver. Moreover, certain cases have been quoted from time to time where the common bile-duct after choledochoduodenostomy has become occluded by food debris such as tomato skin, leading to intermittent jaundice and fever. Most surgeons have therefore been very cautious about the operation. Obviously a follow-up on this operation must first of all determine whether the stoma remains patent; previous reports seem to have neglected this aspect. The following survey of 125 cases, operated on between 1947 and 1960, has been carried out over the last 3 years in order to determine the above and other factors, and generally to evaluate the operation. The average interval between operation and review was 5 years 3 months, the longest 10 years and 3 months, and the shortest 12 months.
Unusual prism adaptation reveals how grasping is controlled

There are three main theories on how human grasping movements are controlled. Two of them state that grip aperture and the movement of the hand are controlled. They differ in whether the wrist or the thumb of the hand is controlled. We have proposed a third theory, which states that grasping is a combination of two goal-directed single-digit movements, each directed at a specific position on the object. In this study, we test predictions based on each of the theories by examining the transfer of prism adaptation during single-digit pointing movements to grasping movements. We show that adaptation acquired during single-digit movements transfers to the hand opening when subsequently grasping objects, leaving the movement of the hand unaffected. Our results provide strong evidence for our theory that grasping with the thumb and index finger is based on a combination of two goal-directed single-digit movements.
Stochastic Online Greedy Learning with Semi-bandit Feedbacks

The greedy algorithm is extensively studied in the field of combinatorial optimization for decades. In this paper, we address the online learning problem when the input to the greedy algorithm is stochastic with unknown parameters that have to be learned over time. We first propose the greedy regret and ∊-quasi greedy regret as learning metrics comparing with the performance of offline greedy algorithm. We then propose two online greedy learning algorithms with semi-bandit feedbacks, which use multi-armed bandit and pure exploration bandit policies at each level of greedy learning, one for each of the regret metrics respectively. Both algorithms achieve O(log T) problem-dependent regret bound (T being the time horizon) for a general class of combinatorial structures and reward functions that allow greedy solutions. We further show that the bound is tight in T and other problem instance parameters.
Anoctamin 2 identified as an autoimmune target in multiple sclerosis

Significance Despite the growing evidence that autoantibodies are team players in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the target autoantigens are yet to be identified. In this work, we mined the autoantibody repertoire within MS by screening more than 2,000 plasma samples from patients with MS and controls and identified increased autoantibody reactivity against an ion-channel protein called “anoctamin 2” (ANO2). This finding points toward an ANO2 autoimmune sub-phenotype in MS and might contribute to the development of clinical algorithms to characterize a subgroup of MS patients. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and also is regarded as an autoimmune condition. However, the antigenic targets of the autoimmune response in MS have not yet been deciphered. In an effort to mine the autoantibody repertoire within MS, we profiled 2,169 plasma samples from MS cases and population-based controls using bead arrays built with 384 human protein fragments selected from an initial screening with 11,520 antigens. Our data revealed prominently increased autoantibody reactivity against the chloride-channel protein anoctamin 2 (ANO2) in MS cases compared with controls. This finding was corroborated in independent assays with alternative protein constructs and by epitope mapping with peptides covering the identified region of ANO2. Additionally, we found a strong interaction between the presence of ANO2 autoantibodies and the HLA complex MS-associated DRB1*15 allele, reinforcing a potential role for ANO2 autoreactivity in MS etiopathogenesis. Furthermore, immunofluorescence analysis in human MS brain tissue showed ANO2 expression as small cellular aggregates near and inside MS lesions. Thus this study represents one of the largest efforts to characterize the autoantibody repertoire within MS. The findings presented here demonstrate that an ANO2 autoimmune subphenotype may exist in MS and lay the groundwork for further studies focusing on the pathogenic role of ANO2 autoantibodies in MS.
Dienerian (Early Triassic) Ammonoids from the Northern Indian Margin

Foreword Dienerian (Early Triassic) ammonoids and the Early Triassic biotic recovery: a review by David Ware and Hugo Bucher Present work . 6 Defi nitions of stages and substages . 6 Biochronology: the Unitary Association Method and terminology . 7 References . 7
Confidence Estimation for Machine Translation

We present a detailed study of confidence estimation for machine translation. Various methods for determining whether MT output is correct are investigated, for both whole sentences and words. Since the notion of correctness is not intuitively clear in this context, different ways of defining it are proposed. We present results on data from the NIST 2003 Chinese-to-English MT evaluation.
Dependable software needs pervasive debugging

Nobody would claim that debugging computer software is easy: all too often it proceeds by trial-and-error experiments in which programmers examine the behaviour of the system and form hypotheses that could explain what they see. These problems are exacerbated when developing distributed, peer-to-peer or multi-processor applications, or when unreliable network links form part of the system under test. Environments for pervasive computing take this to an extreme, allowing user-supplied code to run or migrate within and around the network.In this paper we show how to perform pervasive debugging, enabling complex multi-process applications to be debugged and controlled as single entities and their robustness to changes in network performance to be evaluated. We do this by virtualizing the resources used by the system, allowing the threads that it involves and the network links that it uses to be modelled within a single controllable process.
From Emotion to Memory : An ACT-R view on the Somatic Marker Hypothesis

The Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH; Damasio, 1994) is probably the most important contemporary theory of emotions. According to the hypothesis, the neurological substrates of the emotions are the perceived immediate bodily reactions to environmental stimuli, which can be sensed through internal representations that are continuously updated in the sensory regions of the brain. These somatic representations are conveyed, through sensory pathways, to a convergence area in the orbitofrontal cortex. Within this region, they are associated with other representations conveying contextual information. In this way, the emotional reactions become somatic markers for the previously encountered stimuli that elicited them. Once formed, somatic markers may be reactivated when the organism faces situations similar to the ones that induced the markers. The organism is then already pre-alerted and pre-disposed to react properly, and unconsciously biased towards certain behaviors.
Cortical representation of the constituent structure of sentences

Linguistic analyses suggest that sentences are not mere strings of words but possess a hierarchical structure with constituents nested inside each other. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to search for the cerebral mechanisms of this theoretical construct. We hypothesized that the neural assembly that encodes a constituent grows with its size, which can be approximately indexed by the number of words it encompasses. We therefore searched for brain regions where activation increased parametrically with the size of linguistic constituents, in response to a visual stream always comprising 12 written words or pseudowords. The results isolated a network of left-hemispheric regions that could be dissociated into two major subsets. Inferior frontal and posterior temporal regions showed constituent size effects regardless of whether actual content words were present or were replaced by pseudowords (jabberwocky stimuli). This observation suggests that these areas operate autonomously of other language areas and can extract abstract syntactic frames based on function words and morphological information alone. On the other hand, regions in the temporal pole, anterior superior temporal sulcus and temporo-parietal junction showed constituent size effect only in the presence of lexico-semantic information, suggesting that they may encode semantic constituents. In several inferior frontal and superior temporal regions, activation was delayed in response to the largest constituent structures, suggesting that nested linguistic structures take increasingly longer time to be computed and that these delays can be measured with fMRI.
How older adults meet complexity: Aging effects on the usability of different mobile phones

In this experiment, older and younger novice mobile phone users were examined when using handsets of different complexity. The independent variables were user age (young: 20 – 35 years; old: 50 – 64 years) and cognitive complexity of two mobile phones (Nokia 3210; Siemens C35i). The cognitive complexity of the phones was defined by the number of production rules applied when processing the four experimental tasks. Dependent variables were effectiveness and efficiency as taken from user protocols and the reported ease of use. The less complex phone (Nokia) performed significantly better than the complex one (Siemens). However, the benefit from the lower complexity was much larger than theoretically predicted. Thus, defining cognitive complexity of technical devices by the number of production rules does not account for the real difficulties which users experience. Older users had a lower navigation performance than younger users, however their performance matched younger users' when using mobiles with low complexity.
Aberrant methylation of the p16 gene is frequently detected in advanced colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND A tumor suppressor gene, p16, was found to harbor promoter hypermethylation associated with the loss of protein expression in cancer cells, suggesting that p16 inactivation due to promoter methylation was important for colorectal tumorigenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The methylation status of the p16 gene was examined in primary carcinomas and the corresponding normal tissues derived from 50 patients with colorectal cancer using quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) and the correlation between the methylation status and the clinicopathological findings was evaluated. RESULTS Aberrant methylation of the p16 gene was detected in 20 out of the 50 (40%) primary colon carcinomas, suggesting that the aberrant methylation of p16 was frequently observed in colorectal carcinomas. The clinicopathological data were then correlated with these results. Significant differences were observed with Dukes' stage (p = 0.0495) and lymphatic invasion (p = 0.0277). CONCLUSION p16 might act as a tumor suppressor in colorectal carcinomas and was more frequently methylated in advanced colorectal carcinomas.