Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Efficient Task Caching and Offloading for Mobile Edge Computing

While augment reality applications are becoming popular, more and more data-hungry and computation-intensive tasks are delay-sensitive. Mobile edge computing is expected to an effective solution to meet the low latency demand. In contrast to previous work on mobile edge computing, which mainly focus on computation offloading, this paper introduces a new concept of task caching. Task caching refers to the caching of completed task application and their related data in edge cloud. Then, we investigate the problem of joint optimization of task caching and offloading on edge cloud with the computing and storage resource constraint. We formulate this problem as mixed integer programming which is hard to solve. To solve the problem, we propose efficient algorithm, called task caching and offloading (TCO), based on alternating iterative algorithm. Finally, the simulation experimental results show that our proposed TCO algorithm outperforms others in terms of less energy cost.
Char-Net: A Character-Aware Neural Network for Distorted Scene Text Recognition

In this paper, we present a Character-Aware Neural Network (Char-Net) for recognizing distorted scene text. Our Char-Net is composed of a word-level encoder, a character-level encoder, and a LSTM-based decoder. Unlike previous work which employed a global spatial transformer network to rectify the entire distorted text image, we take an approach of detecting and rectifying individual characters. To this end, we introduce a novel hierarchical attention mechanism (HAM) which consists of a recurrent RoIWarp layer and a character-level attention layer. The recurrent RoIWarp layer sequentially extracts a feature region corresponding to a character from the feature map produced by the word-level encoder, and feeds it to the character-level encoder which removes the distortion of the character through a simple spatial transformer and further encodes the character region. The character-level attention layer then attends to the most relevant features of the feature map produced by the character-level encoder and composes a context vector, which is finally fed to the LSTM-based decoder for decoding. This approach of adopting a simple local transformation to model the distortion of individual characters not only results in an improved efficiency, but can also handle different types of distortion that are hard, if not impossible, to be modelled by a single global transformation. Experiments have been conducted on six public benchmark datasets. Our results show that Char-Net can achieve state-of-the-art performance on all the benchmarks, especially on the IC-IST which contains scene text with large distortion. Code will be made available.
Assimilating remote sensing observations of leaf area index and soil moisture for wheat yield estimates: An observing system simulation experiment

Observing system simulation experiments were used to investigate ensemble Bayesian state‐updating data assimilation of observations of leaf area index (LAI) and soil moisture (θ) for the purpose of improving single‐season wheat yield estimates with the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) CropSim‐Ceres model. Assimilation was conducted in an energy‐limited environment and a water‐limited environment. Modeling uncertainty was prescribed to weather inputs, soil parameters and initial conditions, and cultivar parameters and through perturbations to model state transition equations. The ensemble Kalman filter and the sequential importance resampling filter were tested for the ability to attenuate effects of these types of uncertainty on yield estimates. LAI andθobservations were synthesized according to characteristics of existing remote sensing data, and effects of observation error were tested. Results indicate that the potential for assimilation to improve end‐of‐season yield estimates is low. Limitations are due to a lack of root zone soil moisture information, error in LAI observations, and a lack of correlation between leaf and grain growth.
Singlet Oxygen Reactions with Flavonoids. A Theoretical – Experimental Study

Detection of singlet oxygen emission, λmax = 1270 nm, following laser excitation and steady-state methods were employed to measure the total reaction rate constant, kT, and the reactive reaction rate constant, kr, for the reaction between singlet oxygen and several flavonoids. Values of kT determined in deuterated water, ranging from 2.4×107 M−1s−1 to 13.4×107 M−1s−1, for rutin and morin, respectively, and the values measured for kr, ranging from 2.8×105 M−1s−1 to 65.7×105 M−1s−1 for kaempferol and morin, respectively, being epicatechin and catechin chemically unreactive. These results indicate that all the studied flavonoids are good quenchers of singlet oxygen and could be valuable antioxidants in systems under oxidative stress, in particular if a flavonoid-rich diet was previously consumed. Analysis of the dependence of rate constant values with molecular structure in terms of global descriptors and condensed Fukui functions, resulting from electronic structure calculations, supports the formation of a charge transfer exciplex in all studied reactions. The fraction of exciplex giving reaction products evolves through a hydroperoxide and/or an endoperoxide intermediate produced by singlet oxygen attack on the double bond of the ring C of the flavonoid.
Radical cystectomy or bladder preservation with radiochemotherapy in elderly patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer: Retrospective International Study of Cancers of the Urothelial Tract (RISC) Investigators

Abstract Background: Radical cystectomy (RC) and radiochemotherapy (RCT) are curative options for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Optimal treatment strategy remains unclear in elderly patients. Material and methods: Patients aged 80 years old and above with T2-T4aN0-2M0-Mx MIBC were identified in the Retrospective International Study of Cancers of the Urothelial Tract (RISC) database. Patients treated with RC were compared with those treated with RCT. The impact of surgery on overall survival (OS) was assessed using a Cox proportional hazard model. Progression included locoregional and metastatic relapse and was considered a time-dependent variable. Results: Between 1988 and 2015, 92 patients underwent RC and 72 patients had RCT. Median age was 82.5 years (range 80–100) and median follow-up was 2.90 years (range 0.04–11.10). Median OS was 1.99 years (95%CI 1.17–2.76) after RC and 1.97 years (95%CI 1.35–2.64) after RCT (p = .73). Median progression-free survival (PFS) after RC and RCT were 1.25 years (95%CI 0.80–1.75) and 1.52 years (95%CI 1.01–2.04), respectively (p = .54). In multivariate analyses, only disease progression was significantly associated with worse OS (HR = 10.27 (95%CI 6.63–15.91), p < . 0001). Treatment modality was not a prognostic factor. Conclusions: RCT offers survival rates comparable to those observed with RC for patients aged ≥80 years.
Mobility Fitting using 4D RANSAC

Capturing the dynamics of articulated models is becoming increasingly important. Dynamics, better than geometry, encode the functional information of articulated objects such as humans, robots and mechanics. Acquired dynamic data is noisy, sparse, and temporarily incoherent. The latter property is especially prominent for analysis of dynamics. Thus, processing scanned dynamic data is typically an ill‐posed problem. We present an algorithm that robustly computes the joints representing the dynamics of a scanned articulated object. Our key idea is to by‐pass the reconstruction of the underlying surface geometry and directly solve for motion joints. To cope with the often‐times extremely incoherent scans, we propose a space‐time fitting‐and‐voting approach in the spirit of RANSAC. We assume a restricted set of articulated motions defined by a set of joints which we fit to the 4D dynamic data and measure their fitting quality. Thus, we repeatedly select random subsets and fit with joints, searching for an optimal candidate set of mobility parameters. Without having to reconstruct surfaces as intermediate means, our approach gains the advantage of being robust and efficient. Results demonstrate the ability to reconstruct dynamics of various articulated objects consisting of a wide range of complex and compound motions.
[HIV and syphilis coinfection in pregnancy and vertical HIV transmission: a study based on epidemiological surveillance data].

Objective To estimate the rate of HIV and syphilis coinfection among pregnant women living in Porto Alegre, Brazil, as well as the association of coinfection with vertical HIV transmission and socioeconomic variables. Method This analytical retrospective cross-sectional study employed data from the regular epidemiological surveillance system for the period from 2010 to 2013. Data were obtained regarding pregnant women with HIV and exposed children, syphilis in pregnancy, and congenital syphilis. Results The study population included 1 500 HIV-positive women with deliveries from 2010 to 2013. Of these, 155 (10.3%) were also infected with syphilis, corresponding to an HIV and syphilis coinfection rate of 10.2% (± 1.5%). The coinfected group had lower education levels, higher prevalence of black women, and greater HIV exposure related to drug use by the woman or a partner. Coinfected women had more delayed HIV diagnosis (for example, during childbirth) and greater prevalence of lacking prenatal care (44%). Crude analysis showed an association between vertical HIV transmission and HIV and syphilis co-infection (PR = 2.1; 95%CI: 1.21-3.74; P = 0.01) that persisted in the adjusted analysis. Conclusion A profile of increased vulnerability was identified among pregnant women with HIV and syphilis coinfection. A positive impact of the treatment to reduce congenital syphilis and eliminate vertical transmission of HIV depends on enhanced access to qualified health care.
An Estimation of Response Certainty using Features of Eye-movements

To examine the feasibility of estimating the degree of “strength of belief (SOB)” of viewer’s responses using support vector machines (SVM) trained with features of gazes, the gazing features were analyzed while subjects reviewed their own responses to multiple choice tasks. Subjects freely reported the certainty of their chosen answers, and these responses were then classified as high and low SOBs. All gazing points of eye-movements were classified into visual areas, or cells, which corresponded with the positions of answers so that training data, consisting of the features and SOB, was produced. A discrimination model for SOB was trained with several combinations of features to see whether performance of a significant level could be obtained. As a result, a trained model with 3 features, which consists of interval time, vertical difference and length between gazes, can provide significant discrimination performance for SOB.
High‐Efficiency Induction of Neural Conversion in Human ESCs and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with a Single Chemical Inhibitor of Transforming Growth Factor Beta Superfamily Receptors

Chemical compounds have emerged as powerful tools for modulating ESC functions and deriving induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), but documentation of compound‐induced efficient directed differentiation in human ESCs (hESCs) and human iPSC (hiPSCs) is limited. By screening a collection of chemical compounds, we identified compound C (also denoted as dorsomorphin), a protein kinase inhibitor, as a potent regulator of hESC and hiPSC fate decisions. Compound C suppresses mesoderm, endoderm, and trophoectoderm differentiation and induces rapid and high‐efficiency neural conversion in both hESCs and hiPSCs, 88.7% and 70.4%, respectively. Interestingly, compound C is ineffective in inducing neural conversion in mouse ESCs (mESCs). Large‐scale kinase assay revealed that compound C targets at least seven transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β) superfamily receptors, including both type I and type II receptors, and thereby blocks both the Activin and bone morphogenesis protein (BMP) signaling pathways in hESCs. Dual inhibition of Activin and BMP signaling accounts for the effects of compound C on hESC differentiation and neural conversion. We also identified muscle segment homeobox gene 2 (MSX2) as a downstream target gene of compound C and a key signaling intermediate of the BMP pathway in hESCs. Our findings provide a single‐step cost‐effective method for efficient derivation of neural progenitor cells in adherent culture from human pluripotent stem cells. Therefore, it will be uniquely suitable for the production of neural progenitor cells in large scale and should facilitate the use of stem cells in drug screening and regenerative medicine and study of early human neural development. STEM CELLS 2010;28:1741–1750
Online market research panel members as controls in case–control studies to investigate gastrointestinal disease outbreaks: early experiences and lessons learnt from the UK

Abstract Established methods of recruiting population controls for case–control studies to investigate gastrointestinal disease outbreaks can be time consuming, resulting in delays in identifying the source or vehicle of infection. After an initial evaluation of using online market research panel members as controls in a case–control study to investigate a Salmonella outbreak in 2013, this method was applied in four further studies in the UK between 2014 and 2016. We used data from all five studies and interviews with members of each outbreak control team and market research panel provider to review operational issues, evaluate risk of bias in this approach and consider methods to reduce confounding and bias. The investigators of each outbreak reported likely time and cost savings from using market research controls. There were systematic differences between case and control groups in some studies but no evidence that conclusions on the likely source or vehicle of infection were incorrect. Potential selection biases introduced by using this sampling frame and the low response rate are unclear. Methods that might reduce confounding and some bias should be balanced with concerns for overmatching. Further evaluation of this approach using comparisons with traditional methods and population-based exposure survey data is recommended.
Why circumstellar disks are so faint in scattered light: the case of HD 100546

Context. Scattered light images of circumstellar disks play an important role in characterizing the planet forming environments around young stars. The characteristic size of the scattering dust grains can be estimated from the observed brightness asymmetry between the near and far side of the disk, for example using standard Mie theory. Such models, however, often overpredict the brightness of the disk by one or two orders of magnitude, and have difficulty explaining very red disk colors. Aims. We aim to develop a dust model that simultaneously explains the observed disk surface brightness, colors, and asymmetry in scattered light, focusing on constraining grain sizes. Methods. We use the 2D radiative transfer code MCMax with anisotropic scattering to explore the effects of grain size on synthetic scattered light images of circumstellar disks. We compare the results with surface brightness profiles of the protoplanetary disk HD 100546 in scattered light at wavelengths from 0.4 to 2.2 microns. Results. We find that extreme forward scattering by micron-sized particles lowers the effective dust albedo and creates a faint, red disk that appears only slightly forward scattering. For the outer (>100 AU) disk of HD 100546 we derive a minimum grain size of 2.5 microns, likely present in the form of aggregates. Intermediate-sized grains are too bright, whereas smaller grains are faint and scatter more isotropically, but also produce disk colors that are too blue. Conclusions. Observed surface brightness asymmetries alone are not sufficient to constrain the grain size in circumstellar disks. Additional information, such as the brightness and colors of the disk, are needed to provide additional constraints.
Who Participates in Building Disaster Resilient Communities: A Cluster-Analytic Approach

Context: The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience project is a community-based program to improve disaster resilience. We collected baseline measures of resilience-related attitudes and practices among targeted communities prior to the implementation of the intervention. Objectives: This study identified community disaster resilience behavior patterns and assessed their associations with sociodemographic and social cognitive characteristics. Design: Telephone surveys during summer 2013. Setting: Sixteen communities in Los Angeles County (2 per service planning area). Participants: The address-based sample of adults (≥18) was selected to be representative of 2010 census tracts in each of the communities Main Outcome Measures: We examined relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, social cognitive factors, and participation in community disaster resilience activities. Results: Three clusters of community resilience behavior patterns emerged. Cluster distribution significantly differed across several sociodemographic and social cognitive factors. Participants who were African American, Hispanic, had higher education, income, self-efficacy, trust in the public health department, civic engagement, and social capital were significantly associated with being in the cluster most active in resilience-building activities. Conclusions: The results confirm that there are distinct community resilience behavior patterns. These patterns vary according to population characteristics, which supports audience segmentation approaches and developing a range of emergency preparedness programs targeted to the strengths and weaknesses of the different audience segments.
$SL_n$-character varieties as spaces of graphs

An SL_n-character of a group G is the trace of an SL_n-representation of G. We show that all algebraic relations between SL_n-characters of G can be visualized as relations between graphs (resembling Feynman diagrams) in any topological space X, with pi_1(X)=G. We also show that all such relations are implied by a single local relation between graphs. In this way, we provide a topological approach to the study of SL_n-representations of groups. The motivation for this paper was our work with J. Przytycki on invariants of links in 3-manifolds which are based on the Kauffman bracket skein relation. These invariants lead to a notion of a skein module of M which, by a theorem of Bullock, Przytycki, and the author, is a deformation of the SL_2-character variety of pi_1(M). This paper provides a generalization of this result to all SL_n-character varieties.
Risk-based strategies for surveillance of tuberculosis infection in cattle for low-risk areas in England and Scotland

SUMMARY Disease surveillance can be made more effective by either improving disease detection, providing cost savings, or doing both. Currently, cattle herds in low-risk areas (LRAs) for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in England are tested once every 4 years. In Scotland, the default herd testing frequency is also 4 years, but a risk-based system exempts some herds from testing altogether. To extend this approach to other areas, a bespoke understanding of at-risk herds and how risk-based surveillance can affect bTB detection is required. Here, we use a generalized linear mixed model to inform a Bayesian probabilistic model of freedom from infection and explore risk-based surveillance strategies in LRAs and Scotland. Our analyses show that in both areas the primary herd-level risk factors for bTB infection are the size of the herd and purchasing cattle from high-risk areas of Great Britain and/or Ireland. A risk-based approach can improve the current surveillance system by both increasing detection (9% and 7% fewer latent infections), and reducing testing burden (6% and 26% fewer animal tests) in LRAs and Scotland, respectively. Testing at-risk herds more frequently can also improve the level of detection by identifying more infected cases and reducing the hidden burden of the disease, and reduce surveillance effort by exempting low-risk herds from testing.
Dietary total antioxidant capacity as a tool in health outcomes in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review

ABSTRACT The dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) has been a useful tool in epidemiological studies. To assess whether the TAC is associated with chronic diseases in middle-aged and older adults carried out a systematic review of articles indexed in MEDLINE and Science Direct. Of the 104 articles found, nine were included to meet the inclusion criteria. There was variation among the items on the sample size, sample origin, use of statistical tests, analysis of different outcomes and the use of assays to evaluate the TAC, which brought limitations to the comparability of results on the association of TAC with the outcomes of interest. However, in six studies we found an inverse association between TAC and the risk of chronic diseases, showing that this method has great potential for clinical applications and public health.
Estimating encounter rates as the first step of sexual selection in the lizard Anolis sagrei

How individuals move through their environment dictates which other individuals they encounter, determining their social and reproductive interactions and the extent to which they experience sexual selection. Specifically, females rarely have the option of mating with all males in a population—they can only choose among the males they encounter. Further, quantifying phenotypic differences between the males that females encounter and those that sire females' offspring lends insight into how social and reproductive interactions shape male phenotypes. We used an explicitly spatio-temporal Markov chain model to estimate the number of potential mates of Anolis sagrei lizards from their movement behaviour, and used genetic paternity assignments to quantify sexual selection on males. Females frequently encountered and mated with multiple males, offering ample opportunity for female mate choice. Sexual selection favoured males that were bigger and moved over larger areas, though the effect of body size cannot be disentangled from last-male precedence. Our approach corroborates some patterns of sexual selection previously hypothesized in anoles based on describing them as territorial, whereas other results, including female multiple mating itself, are at odds with territorial polygyny, offering insight into discrepancies in other taxa between behavioural and genetic descriptions of mating systems.