Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient hardware implementation of the Richardson-Lucy Algorithm for restoring motion-blurred image on reconfigurable digital system

This work presents the hardware implementation of the RLA (Richardson-Lucy Algorithm) for image restoration task, in which the images are blurred by relative motion between camera and the scene. In this case the RLA was implemented in an FPGA-based platform using the hardware description language VHDL, and assuming the absence of additive noise in the capturing image system. The overall architecture is scalable from 3×3 to 9×9 mask sizes for the convolution steps of the RLA. The quality evaluation of the collected images was achieved using the SR-SIM (Spectral Residual Based Similarity) metric as well as by a visual verification of the images. The synthesis results and respective testing with real images are also presented in order to give support to video applications.
On Euclid's Algorithm and the Theory of Subresultants

Abstract : A key ingredient for systems which perform symbolic computer manipulation of multivariate rational functions are efficient algorithms for calculating polynomial greatest common divisors. Euclid's algorithm cannot be used directly because of problems with coefficient growth. The search for better methods leads naturally to the theory of subresultants. This paper presents an elementary treatment of the theory of subresultants, and examines the relationship of the subresultants of a given pair of polynomials to their polynomial remainder sequence as determined by Euclid's algorithm. This relation is expressed in the fundamental theorem of this paper. The results are essentially the same as those of Collins but the presentation is briefer, simpler, and somewhat more general. The fundamental theorem finds further applications in the proof that the modular algorithm for polynomial GCD terminates. (Author)
Automatic Generation of Artistic Chinese Calligraphy

We introduce a novel intelligent system which can generate new Chinese calligraphic artwork that meets certain aesthetic requirements automatically. In the machine learning phase, parametric representations of existent calligraphic artwork are derived from input images of calligraphy. Using a six-level hierarchical representation, the acquired knowledge is organized as a small structural stroke database, which is then exploited by a constraint-based analogous reasoning component to create artwork in new styles. A set of geometric constraints is proposed and incorporated into the system for rejecting the aesthetically unacceptable results. The combination of knowledge from various input sources creates a huge space for the intelligent system to explore and produce new calligraphy.
Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events: Are they preventable?

HYPOTHESIS Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events (WSPEs) are devastating, unacceptable, and often result in litigation, but their frequency and root causes are unknown. Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient events are likely more common than realized, with little evidence that current prevention practice is adequate. DESIGN Analysis of several databases demonstrates that WSPEs occur across all specialties, with high numbers noted in orthopedic and dental surgery. Databases analyzed included: (1) the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), (2) the Florida Code 15 mandatory reporting system, (3) the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Closed Claims Project database, and (4) a novel Web-based system for collecting WSPE cases (http://www.wrong-side.org). RESULTS The NPDB recorded 5940 WSPEs (2217 wrong-side surgical procedures and 3723 wrong-treatment/wrong-procedure errors) in 13 years. Florida Code 15 occurrences of WSPEs number 494 since 1991, averaging 75 events per year since 2000. The ASA Closed Claims Project has recorded 54 cases of WSPEs. Analysis of WSPE cases, including WSPE cases submitted to http://www.wrong-side.org, suggest several common causes of WSPEs and recurrent systemic failures. Based on these findings, we estimate that there are 1300 to 2700 WSPEs annually in the United States. Despite a significant number of cases, reporting of WSPEs is virtually nonexistent, with reports in the lay press far more common than reports in the medical literature. Our research suggests clear factors that contribute to the occurrence of WSPEs, as well as ways to reduce them. CONCLUSIONS Wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events, although rare, are more common than health care providers and patients appreciate. Prevention of WSPEs requires new and innovative technologies, reporting of case occurrence, and learning from successful safety initiatives (such as in transfusion medicine and other high-risk nonmedical industries), while reducing the shame associated with these events.
Pediatric renal transplantation: A single center experience over 14 years

Abstract: Between 1989 and 2003, 100 transplants were performed in 96 patients at the pediatric nephrology unit of the Calvo Mackenna Children's Hospital. Mean age 10.9 ± 3.9 yr (1–17.6), 30% from LD. Donors were younger than 5 yr in five patients and all recipients received an ‘en bloc’ graft. Original disease was hypo/dysplasia 27%, reflux nephropathy 22 and 17% chronic glomerulonephritis. The immunosuppressive protocol during the first period (n = 56, 1989–2000): Cyclosporine, steroids and azathioprine, and during the second period (n = 44, 2001–2003): FK, steroids, MMF and anti‐CD25 antibody (mAbs). AR was reported in 22 patients, 11% in LD, 31% in DD (p < 0.01). The AR rate decreased from 40 to 8% after anti‐CD25 monoclonal induction. Patient actuarial survival rate at 1, 3 and 5 yr was 100% for LD and 96% for DD. The overall actuarial graft survival at 1,3, and 5 yr was 96.7, 96.7 and 71% for LD and 89, 76 and 73% for DD donors. Graft survival rate improved from the first period (1989–2000) to the second period (2001–2003; p = 0.05). No difference in graft survival rate with HLA‐A,B,DR matching was found. Graft survival rate was better when cold ischemia time was <24 h (p < 0.01). CMV infections increased from 19 to 40% when MMF and anti‐CD25 Ab were introduced (p < 0.01). The height/age Z score at 1, 3 and 5 yr post‐transplant was −2.2, −2.1, −2.2, respectively, for children older than 7 yr and −1.8, −1.9, −2.1 for those transplanted younger than 7 yr of age who were switched to alternate day steroids (p < 0.01). The cause of graft lost was: chronic rejection eight, non‐adherence four, AR four and vascular thrombosis two. The cause of death in two patients was fungus septicemia and accelerated rejection. Pediatric renal transplantation can be performed in our group with acceptable morbidity, low mortality and graft survival rates similar to other reports in North America and Western Europe. Graft survival rate improved with newer immunosuppression and greater experience at the center. Management of non‐adherence and chronic rejection remain the major challenges.
Direct Interface for Magnetoresistive Sensors

AMR and GMR magnetoresistive sensors are typically connected to form a Wheatstone bridge with four or two active sensing elements. The resistance change of each sensing element is proportional to the external magnetic field over a limited field range. The bridge output voltage is then linear for bridges with four active sensors and nonlinear for bridges with only two active sensors. This paper proposes an alternative method to directly connect magnetoresistive sensors to microcontrollers without placing any active component between them. The sensor bridge is considered to be a resistive network with three inputs and one output Using one input in turn to measure the discharge time of a capacitor connected to the bridge output, we obtain three different discharge times. We propose two equations that combine those three discharge times to obtain a digital output proportional to the fractional resistance change; one equation is used for sensors with four active sensing elements and the other equation is used for sensors with only two active sensing elements. Measurements on an emulated sensor bridge yield a nonlinearity error below 0.3%FSR and a resolution of 12 bit Measurements on commercial AMR and GMR sensors yield nonlinearity errors below 0.6%FSR and 2.5%FSR respectively, which are smaller than the specified nonlinearity error for each sensor alone.
Schedulability Analysis of Time-Constrained Cluster Tools With Bounded Time Variation by an Extended Petri Net

Cluster tools for some wafer fabrication processes such as low-pressure chemical vapor deposition have strict wafer delay constraints. A wafer that completes processing in a processing chamber should leave the chamber within a specified time limit. Otherwise, the wafer suffers from severe quality troubles due to residual gases and heat within the chamber. An important engineering problem is to verify whether for given task times there exists a tool operation schedule that satisfies the wafer delay limit. There have been studies on the problem, which all assume deterministic task times. However, in reality, the task times are subject to random variation. In this paper, we develop a systematic method of determining schedulability of time-constrained decision-free discrete-event systems, where time variation can be confined within finite intervals. To do this, we propose an extended Petri net for modeling such systems. We then develop a necessary and sufficient condition for which there always exists a feasible schedule and one for which there never exists any feasible schedule. We develop a graph-based computational procedure for verifying the schedulability conditions and determining the worst-case task delay. We demonstrate how the procedure can be used for cluster tool engineering to control wafer delays against wafer alignment failures and time variation.
Stochastic Dual Coordinate Ascent with Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers

We propose a new stochastic dual coordinate ascent technique that can be applied to a wide range of regularized learning problems. Our method is based on alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to deal with complex regularization functions such as structured regularizations. Although the original ADMM is a batch method, the proposed method offers a stochastic update rule where each iteration requires only one or few sample observations. Moreover, our method can naturally afford mini-batch update and it gives speed up of convergence. We show that, under mild assumptions, our method converges exponentially. The numerical experiments show that our method actually performs efficiently.
Fully Dynamic Maximal Matching in Constant Update Time

Baswana, Gupta and Sen [FOCS'11] showed that fully dynamic maximal matching can be maintained in general graphs with logarithmic amortized update time. More specifically, starting from an empty graph on n fixed vertices, they devised a randomized algorithm for maintaining maximal matching over any sequence of t edge insertions and deletions with a total runtime of O(t log n) in expectation and O(t log n + n log2 n) with high probability. Whether or not this runtime bound can be improved towards O(t) has remained an important open problem. Despite significant research efforts, this question has resisted numerous attempts at resolution even for basic graph families such as forests. In this paper, we resolve the question in the affirmative, by presenting a randomized algorithm for maintaining maximal matching in general graphs with constant amortized update time. The optimal runtime bound O(t) of our algorithm holds both in expectation and with high probability. As an immediate corollary, we can maintain 2-approximate vertex cover with constant amortized update time. This result is essentially the best one can hope for (under the unique games conjecture) in the context of dynamic approximate vertex cover, culminating a long line of research. Our algorithm builds on Baswana et al.'s algorithm, but is inherently different and arguably simpler. As an implication of our simplified approach, the space usage of our algorithm is linear in the (dynamic) graph size, while the space usage of Baswana et al.'s algorithm is always at least Ω(n log n). Finally, we present applications to approximate weighted matchings and to distributed networks.
Performance comparison of advanced video coding H.264 standard with baseline H.263 and H.263+ standards

The emerging ITU-T H.264 standard is designed to serve wide range of applications such as digital storage media, television broadcasting, and real time communication. It has significant improvement over all previous video compression standards. We provide an independent analysis of the coding performance improvement of H.264 over various other existing standards. Our test results shows that H.264 can achieve 4 dB PSNR gain over baseline H.263 and 3.7 dB PSNR gain over H.263+ for sequences of range of typical content for low and high latency applications.
Towards Understanding Social Media : Two Studies Exploring the Uses and Gratifications of Facebook

Social networks are commonplace tools, accessed everyday by millions of users. However, despite their popularity, we still know relatively little about why they are so appealing and what specifically they are used for what novel needs they meet. This paper presents two studies that extend work on applying Uses and Gratification theory to answer such questions. The first study explores motivations for using a content community on a social network service – a music video sharing group on Facebook. In a two-stage experiment, 20 users generated words or phrases to describe how they used the group, and what they enjoyed about their use. These phrases were coded into 34 questionnaire items that were then completed by 57 new participants. Factor analysis on this data revealed four gratifications: contribution; discovery; social interaction and entertainment. These factors are interpreted and discussed. The second study explores the links between motives for using a social network service and numerical measures of that activity. Specifically, it identified motives for Facebook use and then investigated the extent to which these motives can be predicted through a range of usage and network metrics collected automatically collected via the Facebook API. Results showed that all three variable types in this expanded U&G frame of analysis (covering social antecedents, usage metrics, and personal network metrics) effectively predicted motives and highlighted interesting behaviours. Together these studies extend the methodological framework of Uses and Gratification theory and show how it can be effectively used to better understand and appreciate the complexity of online social behaviors.
Chlamydophila psittaci Infections in Humans during an Outbreak of Psittacosis from Poultry in Germany

In 2005, an outbreak of severe respiratory disease in a mixed poultry flock that was infected with Chlamydophila (C.) psittaci led to dissemination of the infection to at least 100 small poultry farms in 11 districts of Central Germany. At the same time, a total of 24 persons in contact with poultry from one of the flocks reported flu‐like symptoms to their physician, thus suggesting zoonotic transmission. Within 3 weeks, seven individuals had to be hospitalized, with three of them requiring intensive care. Analysis of ompA sequences from chlamydial isolates and directly from clinical samples revealed the presence of both genotype A and E/B of C. psittaci at the source of the outbreak and in contact flocks. Genotype A was also detected in the three severely ill patients. The findings of the present study demonstrate the high zoonotic potential of avian chlamydiae. To ensure speedy eradication of psittacosis in poultry flocks and effective treatment of infected humans, fast, sensitive and species‐specific detection of the causative agent is essential, as well as close collaboration between regional public health services, attending physicians and the diagnostic laboratories involved.
Clinical evaluation of a new tumour-node-metastasis staging system for thymic malignancies proposed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee and the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group.

OBJECTIVES The tumour-node-metastasis classification has been widely used as a guide for estimating prognosis, and is the basis for treatment decisions in patients with malignant tumours. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee and the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group have proposed a new staging system for thymic malignancies. However, its validity has not been fully established. In this study, we assessed the system's utilities and drawbacks. METHODS We reviewed 154 consecutive patients with thymic epithelial tumours who underwent complete resection at our institution, and compared their characteristics and outcomes when classified according to the proposed system with those when classified under the Masaoka-Koga system. RESULTS The proportion of patients with Stage I disease increased remarkably to 77.3% when using the proposed system because of the reclassification of Masaoka-Koga stages II and III diseases. Among 69 patients with Type A, AB or B1 thymoma, 68 tumours (98%) were reclassified as Stage I disease. Moreover, the proportion of Stage III and IV tumours increased in concordance with Types B2, B3 thymomas and thymic carcinoma. Under the proposed new system, the recurrence-free survival rates showed significant deterioration with increasing stage, while the overall survival curves did not. CONCLUSIONS The newly proposed classification for thymic malignancies does not serve as a prognostic prediction model for overall survival but served as a significant imbalance of stage distribution in our cohort. However, it appears to be beneficial, especially in clinical settings and recurrence-free survival analysis.
An Operando Raman, IR, and TPSR Spectroscopic Investigation of the Selective Oxidation of Propylene to Acrolein over a Model Supported Vanadium Oxide Monolayer Catalyst

The selective oxidation of propylene to acrolein was investigated over a well-defined supported V 2O 5/Nb 2O 5 catalyst, containing a surface vanadia monolayer, with combined operando Raman/IR/MS, temperature programmed surface reaction (TPSR) spectroscopy and isotopically labeled reactants ( 18O 2 and C 3D 6). The dissociative chemisorption of propylene on the catalyst forms the surface allyl (H 2CCHCH 2*) intermediate, the most abundant reaction intermediate. The presence of gas phase molecular O 2 is required to oxidize the surface H* to H 2O and prevent the hydrogenation of the surface allyl intermediate back to gaseous propylene (Langmuir−Hinshelwood reaction mechanism). The 18O 2 labeled studies demonstrate that only lattice 16O is incorporated into the acrolein reaction product (Mars−van Krevelen reaction mechanism). This is the first time that a combined Langmuir−Hinshelwood−Mars−van Krevelen reaction mechanism has been found for a selective oxidation reaction. Comparative studies with allyl alcoh.
A focus on gender: collected papers on gender using DHS data

This report presents a collection of six working papers on the dynamics of gender in developing countries. The papers, commissioned by the MEASURE DHS project, were prepared by researchers recognized for their work in the areas of demography, reproductive health, and gender. The analyses presented are based on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) project. Funding was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Discussion Paper No. 2002/22 Income Risk, Coping Strategies and Safety Nets

High income risk is part of life in developing countries. Climatic risks, economic fluctuations, but also a large number of individual-specific shocks make these households vulnerable to serious hardship. For example, details are given on the various shocks and events causing serious hardship to rural households in Ethiopia in the last twenty years. Not surprisingly for Ethiopia, climatic events are the most common cause of shocks, but many households suffer from other common or idiosyncratic shocks related to economic policy, labour or livestock.
Real-time Microwave Imaging of Differential Temperature for Thermal Therapy Monitoring

A microwave imaging system for real-time 3-D imaging of differential temperature has been developed for the monitoring and feedback of thermal therapy systems. Design parameters are constrained by features of a prototype-focused microwave thermal therapy system for the breast, operating at 915 MHz. Real-time imaging is accomplished with a precomputed linear inverse scattering solution combined with continuous vector network analyzer (VNA) measurements of a 36-antenna, HFSS-modeled, cylindrical cavity. Volumetric images of differential change of dielectric constant due to temperature are formed with a refresh rate as fast as 1 frame/s and 1 °C resolution. Procedures for data segmentation and postprocessed S-parameter error-correction are developed. Antenna pair VNA calibration is accelerated by using the cavity as the unknown thru standard. The device is tested on water targets and a simple breast phantom. Differentially heated targets are successfully imaged in cluttered environments. The rate of change of scattering contrast magnitude correlates 1:1 with target temperature.
FERMI DISCOVERY OF GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM NGC 1275

We report the discovery of high-energy (E > 100 MeV) γ-ray emission from NGC 1275, a giant elliptical galaxy lying at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, based on observations made with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The positional center of the γ-ray source is only ≈3′ away from the NGC 1275 nucleus, well within the 95% LAT error circle of ≈5′. The spatial distribution of γ-ray photons is consistent with a point source. The average flux and power-law photon index measured with the LAT from 2008 August 4 to 2008 December 5 are Fγ = (2.10 ± 0.23) × 10−7 ph (>100 MeV) cm−2 s−1 and Γ = 2.17 ± 0.05, respectively. The measurements are statistically consistent with constant flux during the four-month LAT observing period. Previous EGRET observations gave an upper limit of Fγ < 3.72 × 10−8 ph (>100 MeV) cm−2 s−1 to the γ-ray flux from NGC 1275. This indicates that the source is variable on timescales of years to decades, and therefore restricts the fraction of emission that can be produced in extended regions of the galaxy cluster. Contemporaneous and historical radio observations are also reported. The broadband spectrum of NGC 1275 is modeled with a simple one-zone synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton model and a model with a decelerating jet flow.
Dynamics of news events and social media reaction

The analysis of social sentiment expressed on the Web is becoming increasingly relevant to a variety of applications, and it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms which drive the evolution of sentiments in one way or another, in order to be able to predict these changes in the future. In this paper, we study the dynamics of news events and their relation to changes of sentiment expressed on relevant topics. We propose a novel framework, which models the behavior of news and social media in response to events as a convolution between event's importance and media response function, specific to media and event type. This framework is suitable for detecting time and duration of events, as well as their impact and dynamics, from time series of publication volume. These data can greatly enhance events analysis; for instance, they can help distinguish important events from unimportant, or predict sentiment and stock market shifts. As an example of such application, we extracted news events for a variety of topics and then correlated this data with the corresponding sentiment time series, revealing the connection between sentiment shifts and event dynamics.