Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Random Cluster Model for Robust Geometric Fitting

Random hypothesis generation is central to robust geometric model fitting in computer vision. The predominant technique is to randomly sample minimal subsets of the data, and hypothesize the geometric models from the selected subsets. While taking minimal subsets increases the chance of successively “hitting” inliers in a sample, hypotheses fitted on minimal subsets may be severely biased due to the influence of measurement noise, even if the minimal subsets contain purely inliers. In this paper we propose Random Cluster Models, a technique used to simulate coupled spin systems, to conduct hypothesis generation using subsets larger than minimal. We show how large clusters of data from genuine instances of the model can be efficiently harvested to produce accurate hypotheses that are less affected by the vagaries of fitting on minimal subsets. A second aspect of the problem is the optimization of the set of structures that best fit the data. We show how our novel hypothesis sampler can be integrated seamlessly with graph cuts under a simple annealing framework to optimize the fitting efficiently. Unlike previous methods that conduct hypothesis sampling and fitting optimization in two disjoint stages, our algorithm performs the two subtasks alternatingly and in a mutually reinforcing manner. Experimental results show clear improvements in overall efficiency.
Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung: radiologic appearance.

OBJECTIVE To our knowledge, the imaging features of pulmonary adenosquamous carcinoma, a form of bronchogenic carcinoma with a greater propensity for metastases at the time of diagnosis and a poorer prognosis than other forms of bronchogenic carcinoma, have not been reported. Accordingly, we studied the radiologic appearance of this tumor to describe the findings and discern if there are features that distinguish it from other bronchogenic carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS Clinical and radiologic features of 30 cases of adenosquamous carcinoma were reviewed. Chest radiographs were available in all cases and CT scans were available in 23. In cases without CT scans, planar tomograms were reviewed in five cases and MR images were reviewed in one. Tumors were defined by location, morphology, and TNM classification. RESULTS The tumors measured 0.6-6.5 cm in diameter (mean, 2.8 cm) on CT scans or chest radiographs. One tumor not seen even in retrospect on CT scans or chest radiographs was found at autopsy. Twenty-five tumors were solid and four were cavitary. Five tumors were central and 25 were peripheral, including one tumor of the superior sulcus of the lung and the tumor not seen at imaging. Tumor margins were poorly defined in 19 and spiculated in 10. Four large masses had heterogeneous attenuation on CT scans; one had punctate calcification. Fifty-three percent of tumors were peripheral nodules 1-3 cm in diameter. Results of fine-needle aspiration of 18 masses indicated malignant tumors in 16 cases, but adenosquamous carcinoma in only two. Evidence of previous lung injury, including tumor in or next to scar, pneumoconiosis, radiation fibrosis, and interstitial fibrosis, was found on CT scans, chest radiographs, and/or pathology in half the patients. CONCLUSION The radiologic findings of adenosquamous lung carcinoma are a spectrum, typically a peripheral solitary nodule, less commonly a central hilar mass or tumor of the superior sulcus. Scar or fibrosis within the lungs suggests that adenosquamous carcinoma, just as adenocarcinoma, may arise in scarred lung parenchyma.
Boundary-domain integral equations for the diffusion equation in inhomogeneous media based on a new family of parametrices

ABSTRACT A mixed boundary value problem (BVP) for the diffusion equation in non-homogeneous media partial differential equation is reduced to a system of direct segregated parametrix-based boundary-domain integral equations (BDIEs). We use a parametrix different from the one employed by Mikhailov [Localized boundary-domain integral formulations for problems with variable coefficients. Eng Anal Bound Elem. 2002;26:681–690], Mikhailov and Portillo [A new family of boundary-domain integral equations for a mixed elliptic BVP with variable coefficient. In: Paul Harris, editor. Proceedings of the 10th UK conference on boundary integral methods. Brighton: Brighton University Press; 2015. p. 76–84] and Chkadua, Mikhailov, Natroshvili [Analysis of direct boundary-domain integral equations for a mixed BVP with variable coefficient. I: equivalence and invertibility. J Integral Eqs Appl. 2009;21:499–543]. We prove the equivalence between the original BVP and the corresponding BDIE system. The invertibility and Fredholm properties of the boundary-domain integral operators are also analysed.
Acute Melamine Affects Spatial Memory Consolidation via Inhibiting Hippocampal NMDAR-Dependent LTD in Rats

Converging evidence supported that melamine could impair learning and memory and hippocampal function by mechanisms as yet unknown. The aim of this study was to obtain the first clues of how melamine affected spatial cognition, and how it may act on hippocampal function to modulate plasticity. Morris water maze test was used to probe spatial learning and memory. Pharmacological approaches were employed to modulate NMDAR and AMPAR-dependent long-term synaptic plasticity of rats' hippocampal CA1 region. Both systemic and intrahippocampal application of melamine impaired the formation of long-term spatial memory, particularly consolidation memory. The reduced expression of NMDA-NR1 and -NR2B subunits, but not AMPAR subunits, was presented. Meanwhile melamine inhibited inductions of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) via mediating NMDARs. Notably, the specific role of hippocampal CA1 LTD in regulation of spatial consolidation has been observed in normal physiology. Moreover, the prevention of inhibited hippocampal CA1 LTD but not LTP could rescue the disruption of long-term spatial memory of the melamine-treated rats. Taken together, our findings suggested that acute melamine exposure impaired spatial memory consolidation via disrupting hippocampal NMDAR-dependent LTD. This provided an important insight into the neurophysiology of melamine-related and other psychiatric disorders.
Brain Tumor Segmentation Based on Hybrid Clustering and Morphological Operations

Inference of tumor and edema areas from brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data remains challenging owing to the complex structure of brain tumors, blurred boundaries, and external factors such as noise. To alleviate noise sensitivity and improve the stability of segmentation, an effective hybrid clustering algorithm combined with morphological operations is proposed for segmenting brain tumors in this paper. The main contributions of the paper are as follows: firstly, adaptive Wiener filtering is utilized for denoising, and morphological operations are used for removing nonbrain tissue, effectively reducing the method's sensitivity to noise. Secondly, K-means++ clustering is combined with the Gaussian kernel-based fuzzy C-means algorithm to segment images. This clustering not only improves the algorithm's stability, but also reduces the sensitivity of clustering parameters. Finally, the extracted tumor images are postprocessed using morphological operations and median filtering to obtain accurate representations of brain tumors. In addition, the proposed algorithm was compared with other current segmentation algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm performs better in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and recall.
Impulsive control of continuous‐time homogeneous positive delay systems of degree one

This paper investigates the impulsive control of continuous‐time homogeneous positive delay systems of degree one. By using max‐separable Lyapunov functions and Razumikhin technique, a number of stability criteria for continuous‐time homogeneous impulsive positive delay systems of degree one are obtained. It should be noted that it is the first time that impulsive stabilization results for the addressed systems are given. Three numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control strategy.
HIV genital shedding and safety of Carraguard use by HIV-infected women: a crossover trial in Thailand

Objective:To evaluate the safety, including impact on genital HIV RNA shedding, of Carraguard vaginal gel in HIV-infected women. Design:This is a randomized, controlled, crossover study of Carraguard in HIV-infected women in Thailand. Methods:Each woman (CD4+ cell count 51–500 cells/μl and not on antiretroviral therapy) used each treatment (Carraguard, methylcellulose placebo, and no-product) once daily for 7 days during each 1-month period (3-week wash-out). Women were randomized to one of the six possible treatment sequences. Safety assessments were conducted at baseline (pregel), 15 min postgel, day 7, and day 14, and included HIV RNA measurements in cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) specimens. Results:Sixty women were enrolled, and 99% of scheduled study visits were completed. At baseline, median age (34 years), CD4+ lymphocyte count (296 cells/μl), plasma HIV viral load (4.6 log10 copies/ml), CVL HIV viral load (3.1 log10 total copies per CVL), and sexual behaviors were similar among randomization groups. HIV viral load, leukocyte and hemoglobin levels, and epithelial cell counts in CVLs were lower 15 min after application of Carraguard or placebo compared with no product; CVL HIV viral load was still lower at day 7 but returned to baseline by day 14. Carraguard use was not associated with prevalent or incident genital findings or abnormal vaginal flora. Conclusion:Carraguard appears to be well tolerated for once-daily vaginal use by HIV-infected women. The observed reduction in CVL HIV viral load in the gel months may be clinically relevant but could have resulted from interference with sample collection by study gels.
Microenvironment of the peripheral nervous system under normal and pathological conditions.

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is composed of neurons and their processes which are located in a special fluid microenvironment. As is well known, complex biological functions such as those going on in peripheral nerves are best carried out when there is homeostasis, i.e., in a constant internal milieu. This paper is concerned with the maintenance of the homeostasis in the PNS under normal and pathological conditions. Diffusion barriers located in the intrinsic vessels of the PNS and the perineurium have the capacity to regulate the environment around the nerve fibers and to keep it away from the blood and the extracellular fluid outside the PNS. Endoneurial vascular permeability has similarities to that in the central nervous system, but compared with the blood-brain barrier the blood-nerve barrier is less efficient. This implies that toxic and infectious agents as well as some drugs have easier access to the parenchyma in nerves than to the brain parenchyma. However, ganglionic vessels lack an efficient vascular barrier to many substances which is important in intoxications caused by, e.g., doxorubicin, lead, mercury, and cadmium. It has also a significance in herpes zoster infection and presumably in Guillain-Barré syndrome. The diffusion barriers may themselves be influenced by pathologic processes and can then respond with an increased permeability. This may lead to the formation of edema in the PNS, i.e., one of the cardinal features of many diseases in nerves of traumatic, toxic, and inflammatory nature. Such a response had negative as well as positive implications. Severe edema may disturb the normal microcirculation in the endoneurial vessels and stimulate collagen production and fibrosis. However, the presence of a protein-rich endoneurial edema may well be important in repair processes such as reduplication of Schwann cells and growth of axons.
Modulation of Diacylglycerol-Induced Melanogenesis in Human Melanoma and Primary Melanocytes: Role of Stress Chaperone Mortalin

Skin color/pigmentation is regulated through melanogenesis process in specialized melanin-producing cells, melanocytes, involving multiple signaling pathways. It is highly influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as oxidative, ultraviolet radiations and other environmental stress conditions. Besides determining the color, it governs response and tolerance of skin to a variety of environmental stresses and pathological conditions including photodamage, hyperpigmentation, and skin cancer. Depigmenting reagents have been deemed useful not only for cosmetics but also for pigmentation-related pathologies. In the present study, we attempted modulation of 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-glycerol- (OAG-) induced melanogenesis in human melanoma and primary melanocytes. In both cell types, OAG-induced melanogenesis was associated with increase in enhanced expression of melanin, tyrosinase, as well as stress chaperones (mortalin and HSP60) and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Treatment with TXC (trans-4-(Aminomethyl) cyclohexanecarboxylic acid hexadecyl ester hydrochloride) and 5/40 natural compounds resulted in their reduction. The data proposed an important role of mortalin and oxidative stress in skin pigmentation and the use of TXC and natural extracts for modulation of pigmentation pathways in normal and pathological conditions.
Prediction of Influent Flow Rate: Data-Mining Approach

In this paper, models for short-term prediction of influent flow rate in a wastewater-treatment plant are discussed. The prediction horizon of the model is up to 180 min. The influent flow rate, rainfall rate, and radar reflectivity data are used to build the prediction model by different data-mining algorithms. The multilayer perceptron neural network algorithm has been selected to build the prediction models for different time horizons. The computational results show that the prediction model performs well for horizons up to 150 min. Both the peak values and the trends are accurately predicted by the model. There is a small lag between the predicted and observed influent flow rate for horizons exceeding 30 min. The lag becomes larger with the increase of the prediction horizon. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897 . 0000103. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Data collection; Algorithms; Flow rates; Neural networks; Radar; Rainfall; Wastewater management; Water treatment plants; Predictions. Author keywords: Data-mining algorithms; Influent flow rate; Multilayer perceptron neural networks; Radar reflectivity; Rainfall; Wastewater-treatment plant.
Sequential Deliberation

We present a dynamic model of deliberation in which `jurors' decide every period whether to continue deliberation, which generates costly information, or stop and take a binding vote yielding a decision. For homogeneous juries, the model is a reinterpretation of the classic Wald (1947) sequential testing of statistical hypotheses. In heterogeneous juries, the resources spent on deliberation depend on the jury's preference profile. We show that voting rules at the decision stage are inconsequential when either information collection is very cheap or deliberation agendas are strict enough. Furthermore, wider preference distributions, more stringent deliberation agendas, or more unanimous decision voting rules, lead to greater deliberation times and more accurate decisions.
NONAXISYMMETRIC ROSSBY VORTEX INSTABILITY WITH TOROIDAL MAGNETIC FIELDS IN RADIALLY STRUCTURED DISKS

We investigate the global nonaxisymmetric Rossby vortex instability (RVI) in a differentially rotating, compressible magnetized accretion disk with radial density structures. Equilibrium magnetic fields are assumed to have only the toroidal component. Using linear theory analysis, we show that the density structure can be unstable to nonaxisymmetric modes. We find that, for the magnetic field profiles we have studied, magnetic fields always provide a stabilizing effect to the unstable RVI modes. We discuss the physical mechanism of this stabilizing effect. The threshold and properties of the unstable modes are also discussed in detail. In addition, we present linear stability results for the global magnetorotational instability when the disk is compressible.
Enrichment of the ICM of galaxy clusters due to ram-pressure stripping

We investigate the impact of galactic mass loss triggered by ram-pressure stripping of cluster galaxies on the evolution of the intra-cluster medium (ICM). We use combined N -body and hydrodynamic simulations together with a phenomenological galaxy formation model and a prescription of the effect of ram-pressure stripping on the galaxies. We analyze the effect of galaxy – ICM interaction for different model clusters with different masses and different merger histories. Our simulations show that ram-pressure stripping can account for ~10% of the overall observed level of enrichment in the ICM within a radius of 1.3 Mpc. The efficiency of metal ejection of cluster galaxies depends in the first few Gyr of the simulation mainly on the cluster mass and is significantly increased during major merger events. Additionally we show that ram-pressure stripping is most efficient in the center of the galaxy cluster and the level of enrichment drops quite fast at larger radii. We present emission-weighted metallicity maps of the ICM which can be compared with X-ray observations. The resulting distribution of metals in the ICM shows a complex pattern with stripes and plumes of metal-rich material. The metallicity maps can be used to trace the present and past interactions between the ICM and cluster galaxies.
Iron supplementation for improving mental development.

In the absence of a simple, reliable and cheap indicator of iron status, anemia is invariably used to quantify the burden of this micronutrient deficiency in public health settings. Anemia is a major public health problem, particularly in the developing countries where nearly two billion individuals are affected, with a significant proportion being constituted by children and women of childbearing age(1). The etiology of anemia is multifactorial; however, from a public health perspective, iron deficiency is believed to be the most important causal factor. The World Health Organization estimates that roughly 50% of anemia prevalence can be attributed to iron deficiency(1). Evidence links iron deficiency to several functional consequences; an important one of these is mental and motor development in children.
Enhanced repertoire of brain dynamical states during the psychedelic experience

The study of rapid changes in brain dynamics and functional connectivity (FC) is of increasing interest in neuroimaging. Brain states departing from normal waking consciousness are expected to be accompanied by alterations in the aforementioned dynamics. In particular, the psychedelic experience produced by psilocybin (a substance found in “magic mushrooms”) is characterized by unconstrained cognition and profound alterations in the perception of time, space and selfhood. Considering the spontaneous and subjective manifestation of these effects, we hypothesize that neural correlates of the psychedelic experience can be found in the dynamics and variability of spontaneous brain activity fluctuations and connectivity, measurable with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Fifteen healthy subjects were scanned before, during and after intravenous infusion of psilocybin and an inert placebo. Blood‐Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) temporal variability was assessed computing the variance and total spectral power, resulting in increased signal variability bilaterally in the hippocampi and anterior cingulate cortex. Changes in BOLD signal spectral behavior (including spectral scaling exponents) affected exclusively higher brain systems such as the default mode, executive control, and dorsal attention networks. A novel framework enabled us to track different connectivity states explored by the brain during rest. This approach revealed a wider repertoire of connectivity states post‐psilocybin than during control conditions. Together, the present results provide a comprehensive account of the effects of psilocybin on dynamical behavior in the human brain at a macroscopic level and may have implications for our understanding of the unconstrained, hyper‐associative quality of consciousness in the psychedelic state. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5442–5456, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Genetic variation and heritability of kernel physical quality traits and their association with selected agronomic traits in groundnut (Arachis hypogeae) genotypes from Uganda

Breeding for improvement of physical kernel traits has a direct implication on acceptance of groundnut varieties. However, the genetic parameters associated with these traits are not well documented. Ten groundnut lines were evaluated in a Randomized Complete Block Design experiment with three replicates in 2015. Data were collected on yield parameters and pod and kernel physical traits. Mean values were used to determine the characters' phenotypic, genotypic, environmental variances, phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation. Broad sense heritability and genetic advance as a percentage of mean were estimated for each trait. Significant variation existed in most traits. The coefficients of variation were low for all traits ( 80%). Dry pod weight was positively correlated with pod and seed size traits. High broad sense heritability and high genetic advance for kernel physical quality traits showed the role of additive genes in the control of these traits, and thus the possibility for indirect selection for yield traits. Key words: Correlation, genotype, inheritance, pod size, seed size.
Exploring the acceptance of religious assistance among patients of a psychiatric hospital

Background: Spiritual issues are rarely addressed by psychiatric institutions in daily routine practice. Aims: To report the prevalence of, and factors associated with, inpatients’ acceptance of religious assistance in a psychiatric hospital. Methods: All patients evaluated by the religious assistance service in a psychiatric hospital were included. Patients admitted were asked about their need for religious assistance and were assessed on several religious aspects. Additional information was collected from patients’ hospital charts. A comparison between those who accepted the religious assistance and those who did not was performed. Results: Most of the 213 patients evaluated requested religious assistance (85.0%), including those that reported having no religion (79.1%). Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (p = .010) and lower intrinsic religiousness (p = .002) tended to request less religious assistance. More than 80% of patients requested assistance based on religious traditions other than their own. Conclusion: Most psychiatric inpatients were willing to participate in religious assistance sessions, even those without formal religious affiliations. Patients with lower intrinsic religiosity and schizophrenia tended to request less assistance. We believe the findings of this study can serve to foster discussion on whether psychiatric hospitals should provide a structured religious care service.