Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal coded sampling for temporal super-resolution

Conventional low frame rate cameras result in blur and/or aliasing in images while capturing fast dynamic events. Multiple low speed cameras have been used previously with staggered sampling to increase the temporal resolution. However, previous approaches are inefficient: they either use small integration time for each camera which does not provide light benefit, or use large integration time in a way that requires solving a big ill-posed linear system. We propose coded sampling that address these issues: using N cameras it allows N times temporal superresolution while allowing ∼ N/2 times more light compared to an equivalent high speed camera. In addition, it results in a well-posed linear system which can be solved independently for each frame, avoiding reconstruction artifacts and significantly reducing the computational time and memory. Our proposed sampling uses optimal multiplexing code considering additive Gaussian noise to achieve the maximum possible SNR in the recovered video. We show how to implement coded sampling on off-the-shelf machine vision cameras. We also propose a new class of invertible codes that allow continuous blur in captured frames, leading to an easier hardware implementation.
Biological factors that impinge on Chagas disease drug development

SUMMARY Chagas disease is caused by infection with the insect-transmitted protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, and is the most important parasitic infection in Latin America. The current drugs, benznidazole and nifurtimox, are characterized by limited efficacy and toxic side-effects, and treatment failures are frequently observed. The urgent need for new therapeutic approaches is being met by a combined effort from the academic and commercial sectors, together with major input from not-for-profit drug development consortia. With the disappointing outcomes of recent clinical trials against chronic Chagas disease, it has become clear that an incomplete understanding of parasite biology and disease pathogenesis is impacting negatively on the development of more effective drugs. In addition, technical issues, including difficulties in establishing parasitological cure in both human patients and animal models, have greatly complicated the assessment of drug efficacy. Here, we outline the major questions that need to be addressed and discuss technical innovations that can be exploited to accelerate the drug development pipeline.
How Many Seals Were There? The Global Shelf Loss during the Last Glacial Maximum and Its Effect on the Size and Distribution of Grey Seal Populations

Predicting how marine mammal populations respond to habitat changes will be essential for developing conservation management strategies in the 21st century. Responses to previous environmental change may be informative in the development of predictive models. Here we describe the likely effects of the last ice age on grey seal population size and distribution. We use satellite telemetry data to define grey seal foraging habitat in terms of the temperature and depth ranges exploited by the contemporary populations. We estimate the available extent of such habitat in the North Atlantic at present (between 1.42·106 km2 and 2.07·106 km2) and at the last glacial maximum (between 4.74·104 km2 and 2.11·105 km2); taking account of glacial and seasonal sea-ice coverage, estimated reductions of sea-level (123 m) and sea surface temperature hind-casts. Most of the extensive continental shelf waters (North Sea, Baltic Sea and Scotian Shelf), currently supporting >95% of grey seals, were unavailable during the last glacial maximum. A combination of lower sea-level and extensive ice-sheets, massively increased seasonal sea-ice coverage and southerly extent of cold water would have pushed grey seals into areas with no significant shelf waters. The habitat during the last glacial maximum might have been as small as 3% of today's extent and grey seal populations may have fallen to similarly low numbers. An alternative scenario involving a major change to a pelagic or bathy-pelagic foraging niche cannot be discounted. However, hooded seals currently dominate that niche and may have excluded grey seals from such habitat. If as seems likely, the grey seal population fell to very low levels it would have remained low for several thousand years before expanding into current habitats over the past 12,000 years or so.
Periodicity Detection of Outlier Sequences Using Constraint Based Pattern Tree with MAD

Patterns that appear rarely or unusually in the data can be defined as outlier patterns. The basic idea behind detecting outlier patterns is comparison of their relative frequencies with frequent patterns. Their frequencies of appearance are less and thus have lesser support in the data. Detecting outlier patterns is an important data mining task which will reveal some interesting facts. The search for periodicity of patterns gives the behavior of these patterns across time as to when they repeat likely. This in turn helps in prediction of events. These patterns are found in Time series-data, social networks etc. In this paper, an algorithm for periodic outlier pattern detection is proposed with the usage of a Constraint Based FP (Frequent Pattern)-tree as the underlying data structure for time series data. The growth of the tree is limited by using level and monotonic constraints. The protein sequence of bacteria named E.Coli is collected and periodic outlier patterns in the sequence are identified. Further the enhancement of results is obtained by finding the Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) in defining candidate outlier patterns. The comparative results between STNR-out (Suffix Tree Noise Resilient for Outlier Detection) and proposed algorithm are illustrated. The results show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed algorithm.
Dental and Chronological Ages as Determinants of Peak Growth Period and Its Relationship with Dental Calcification Stages

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between dental, chronological, and cervical vertebral maturation growth in the peak growth period, as well as to study the association between the dental calcification phases and the skeletal maturity stages during the same growth period. Methods: Subjects were selected from orthodontic pre-treatment cohorts consisting of 420 subjects where 255 were identified and enrolled into the study, comprising 145 girls and 110 boys. The lateral cephalometric and panoramic radiographs were examined from the archives of the Department of Orthodontics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Dental age was assessed according to the method of Demirjian, and skeletal maturation according to the Cervical Vertebral Maturation Method. Statistical elaboration included Spearman Brown formula, descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis, paired samples t-test, and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient. Results: Chronological and dental age showed a high correlation for both gender(r =0.741 for boys, r = 0.770 for girls, p<0.001). The strongest correlation was for the CVM Stage IV for both males (r=0.554) and females (r=0.68). The lowest correlation was for the CVM Stage III in males (r=0.433, p<0.001) and for the CVM Stage II in females (r=0.393, p>0.001). The t-test revealed statistically significant differences between these variables (p<0.001) during the peak period. A statistically significant correlation (p<0.001) between tooth calcification and CVM stages was determined. The second molars showed the highest correlation with CVM stages (CVMS) (r= 0.65 for boys, r = 0.72 for girls). Conclusion: Dental age was more advanced than chronological for both boys and girls for all CVMS. During the peak period these differences were more pronounced. Moreover, all correlations between skeletal and dental stages were statistically significant. The second molars showed the highest correlation whereas the canines showed the lowest correlation for both gender.
Strategic voting in proportional systems : the case of Finland

Voters try to avoid wasting their votes even in PR systems. In this paper we make a case that this type of strategic voting can be observed and predicted even in PR systems. Contrary to the literature we do not see weak institutional incentive structures as indicative of a hopeless endeavor for studying strategic voting. The crucial question for strategic voting is how institutional incentives constrain an individual’s decision-making process. Based on expected utility maximization we put forward a micro-logic of an individual’s expectation formation process driven by institutional and dispositional incentives. All well-known institutional incentives to vote strategically that get channelled through the district magnitude are moderated by dispositional factors in order to become relevant for voting decisions. Employing data from Finland – because of its electoral system a particularly hard testing ground - we find considerable evidence for observable implications of our theory.
Sphere Wakes in Still Surroundings at Intermediate Reynolds Numbers

The wakes of spheres in a still environment were studied for sphere Reynolds numbers Re in the range 30-4000. The experiments consisted of towed spheres in quiescent baths of glycerin and water mixtures. Measurements included dye traces illuminated by a laser light sheet for visualization and laser velocimetry for streamwise velocities. The recirculation region on the downstream side of the sphere was stable and symmetric for Re < 200, stable and unsymmetric for 200 <Re < 280, and unstable with vortex shedding for Re > 280. Three wake regions were identified: a fast-decay region that was observed only when vortex shedding was present, followed in succession by turbulent and laminar wake regions. Vortex shedding increased the distance to the onset of the turbulent wake region by an order of magnitude due to the presence of the fast-decay wake region. Mean velocities within the turbulent and laminar wake regions scaled according to classical similarity theories, with transition between these regions at conditions where their estimates of mean streamwise velocities along the axis were the same: this occurred at a local wake Reynolds number ReH -10. Within the turbulent wake region, turbulence intensities along the axis were roughly 85% for Rew > 70; however, as the onset of the laminar wake region was approached, turbulence intensities along the axis were proportional to Rew, which is consistent with scaling proposed earlier for the final decay period of axisymmetric wakes.
The T2L2 ground experiment time transfer in the picosecond range over a few kilometres

The new generation of optical time transfer (T2L2: Time Transfer by Laser Link [1]), under development at CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) and OCA (Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur), shall allow the synchronisation of remote ultra-stable clocks and the determination of their performances over intercontinental distances. The principle is based on the propagation of light pulses between clocks to be synchronized. T2L2 is the follow-on mission to LASSO (LAser Synchronisation from Stationary Orbit) [2, 3] with performances in the picosecond range for both stability and accuracy. T2L2 is based on a space instrumentation that includes an event timer linked to the space clock, and some laser ranging stations linked to ground clocks. In order to validate the concept and to evaluate precisely the error budget, we realized two global experiments with some prototypes of both the ground and space instrumentations. These prototypes are based on electronic event timers and photo-detection devices that we developed in the framework of T2L2 project. In 1998, we performed a first ground experiment involving two OCA's laser stations and a first prototype of the space instrumentation 2.5 km apart. Results were promising but with some limitations due to the use of a bad quartz oscillator as the space clock. A second experiment was decided in 2004 with the OCA Lunar laser ranging station and a more finalized space segment installed closed to the station. The experiment was based on a free space propagation across 10 kilometres thanks to a large corner cube placed 2.5 km away. In order to measure the noise of the link without the noise of the clocks, a third event timer was able to measure the direct phase between signal clocks of both the space and ground prototypes.
Lattice-Based Search for Spoken Utterance Retrieval

Recent work on spoken document retrieval has suggested that it is adequate to take the singlebest output of ASR, and perform text retrieval on this output. This is reasonable enough for the task of retrieving broadcast news stories, where word error rates are relatively low, and the stories are long enough to contain much redundancy. But it is patently not reasonable if one’s task is to retrieve a short snippet of speech in a domain where WER’s can be as high as 50%; such would be the situation with teleconference speech, where one’s task is to find if and when a participant uttered a certain phrase. In this paper we propose an indexing procedure for spoken utterance retrieval that works on lattices rather than just single-best text. We demonstrate that this procedure can improve F scores by over five points compared to singlebest retrieval on tasks with poor WER and low redundancy. The representation is flexible so that we can represent both word lattices, as well as phone lattices, the latter being important for improving performance when searching for phrases containing OOV words.
Earth's energy imbalance since 1960 in observations and CMIP5 models

Observational analyses of running 5 year ocean heat content trends (Ht) and net downward top of atmosphere radiation (N) are significantly correlated (r ~ 0.6) from 1960 to 1999, but a spike in Ht in the early 2000s is likely spurious since it is inconsistent with estimates of N from both satellite observations and climate model simulations. Variations in N between 1960 and 2000 were dominated by volcanic eruptions and are well simulated by the ensemble mean of coupled models from the Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). We find an observation‐based reduction in N of − 0.31 ± 0.21 W m−2 between 1999 and 2005 that potentially contributed to the recent warming slowdown, but the relative roles of external forcing and internal variability remain unclear. While present‐day anomalies of N in the CMIP5 ensemble mean and observations agree, this may be due to a cancelation of errors in outgoing longwave and absorbed solar radiation.
Computed tomography-based morphometric analysis of the human occipital condyle for occipital condyle-cervical fusion.

OBJECT Occipital condyle screws serve as an alternative fixation point in occipital-cervical fusion. Their placement requires a thorough understanding of the anatomy of the occipital condyles and associated structures. This study is a CT-based morphometric analysis of occipital condyles as related to occipital condyle-cervical fusion. METHODS A total of 170 patients were examined with CT scans of the craniocervical junction at a single institution, for a total of 340 occipital condyles, between March 6, 2006, and July 30, 2006. All CT scans were negative for traumatic, degenerative, and neoplastic pathological entities. Condylar anteroposterior (AP) length, transverse width, height, projected screw angle, and projected screw lengths were measured on an EBW Portal 2.5 CT Viewer Workstation (Philips Electronics). The longest axis in the AP orientation of the occipital condyle was accepted as the length. The transverse width was a line perpendicular to the midpoint of the long axis. The height was measured in the coronal projection that had the thickest craniocaudal portion of the condyle. The screw trajectory started 5 mm lateral to the medial edge of the condyle and a line was directed anteromedially in the longest axis. The angle was measured relative to the sagittal midline. The screw length was measured from the outer cortex of the posterior wall to the outer cortex of the anterior wall. RESULTS The mean ± SD values for occipital condyle measurements were as follows: AP length was 22.38 ± 2.19 mm (range 14.7-27.6 mm); width was 11.18 ± 1.44 mm (range 7.4-19.0 mm); height was 9.92 ± 1.30 mm (range 5.1-14.3 mm); screw angle was 20.30° ± 4.89° (range 8.0°-34.0°); and screw length was 20.30 ± 2.24 mm (range 13.0-27.6 mm). CONCLUSIONS These measurements correlate with previous cadaveric and radiographic studies of the occipital condyle, and emphasize the role of preoperative planning for the feasibility of placement of an occipital condyle screw.
Lower Protein-to-Carbohydrate Ratio in Maternal Diet is Associated with Higher Childhood Systolic Blood Pressure up to Age Four Years

The prenatal environment can influence development of offspring blood pressure (BP), which tracks into adulthood. This prospective longitudinal study investigated whether maternal pregnancy dietary intake is associated with the development of child BP up to age four years. Data are from 129 mother-child dyads enrolled in the Women and Their Children’s Health study. Maternal diet was assessed using a validated 74-item food frequency questionnaire at 18 to 24 weeks and 36 to 40 weeks, with a reference period of the previous three months. Child systolic and diastolic BP were measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months, using an automated BP monitor. Using mixed-model regression analyses adjusted for childhood growth indices, pregnancy intakes of percentage of energy (E%) polyunsaturated fat (β coefficient 0.73; 95% CI 0.003, 1.45; p = 0.045), E% omega-6 fatty acids (β coefficient 0.89; 95% CI 0.09, 1.69; p = 0.03) and protein-to-carbohydrate (P:C) ratio (β coefficient −14.14; 95% CI −27.68, −0.60; p = 0.04) were associated with child systolic BP trajectory up to 4 years. Child systolic BP was greatest at low proportions of dietary protein (<16% of energy) and high carbohydrate (>40% of energy) intakes. There may be an ideal maternal macronutrient ratio associated with optimal infant BP. Maternal diet, which is potentially modifiable, may play an important role in influencing offspring risk of future hypertension.
Enhanced molecular diffusibility in muscle membrane blebs: release of lateral constraints

Measurements of lateral molecular diffusion on blebs formed on the surfaces of isolated muscle cells and myoblasts are reported. These blebbed membranes retain integral proteins but apparently separate from the detectable cytoskeleton. On blebs, acetylcholine receptors, concanavalin A receptors, and stearoyldextran extrinsic model receptor molecules are free to diffuse with a diffusion coefficient (D) approximately 3 x 10(-9) cm2/s, which is close to the value predicted for hydrodynamic drag in the lipid membrane. In contrast, diffusion of these typical receptors in intact cell membranes is constrained to D approximately less than 10(-10) cm2/s with substantial fractions virtually nondiffusible (D less than 10(-12) cm2/s). Lipid analog diffusion is also slightly enhanced in blebs as expected of evanescent lipid protein interaction. This strong enhancement of membrane protein diffusion is attributed to release from unidentified natural constraints that is induced in some way by detachment of the bleb membrane.
Combined Oral Contraception and Obesity Are Strong Predictors of Low-Grade Inflammation in Healthy Individuals: Results from the Danish Blood Donor Study (DBDS)

Background C-reactive protein (CRP) is a well-established marker of inflammation. The level of CRP is affected by several lifestyle factors. A slightly increased CRP level, also known as low-grade inflammation (LGI), is associated with increased risk of several diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of increased CRP levels in healthy individuals. We therefore assessed CRP in a large cohort of blood donors. Methods We measured plasma CRP levels in 15,684 participants from the Danish Blood Donor Study. CRP was measured by a commercial assay. Furthermore, all participants completed a standard questionnaire on smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet, and various body measurements. Female participants also reported the use of contraception, childbirth, and menopausal status. The relationship between LGI (defined here as a plasma CRP level between 3 mg/L and 10 mg/L) and predictors was explored by multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results were presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results We found LGI in a total of 1,561 (10.0%) participants. LGI was more frequent in women using combined oral contraception (OC) (29.9%) than in men (6.1%) and women not using OC (7.9%). Among premenopausal women, OC was the strongest predictor of LGI (odds ratio = 8.98, p<0.001). Additionally, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference were positively associated with LGI. Conclusion High BMI and abdominal obesity strongly predicted LGI among healthy individuals. However, the most striking finding was the high prevalence of LGI among premenopausal women who used combined oral contraception. Although the significance of CRP as a marker of inflammation is well known, the role of CRP in pathogenesis is still uncertain. The impact of oral contraception on CRP levels should nevertheless be considered when CRP is used in risk assessment.
Understanding the Impact of Overlay Topologies on Peer-to-Peer Worm Propagation

The growing popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) systems provides an ideal venue for worm propagation. As a kind of topological worms, the propagation of P2P worms is tightly related with the overlay topology of the P2P system. Therefore, understanding the relationship between the P2P worm propagation and the overlay topologies is very important. In this paper, through simulation, incorporated with classical theoretical analysis, a study of the impact of overlay topologies on P2P worm propagation is conducted. A series of interesting conclusions are drawn from the study which help us to understand the P2P worm propagation characteristics and provide valuable guidelines for P2P worm defense strategies design.
Effects of water vapor absorption on the physical and chemical stability of amorphous sodium indomethacin

This study reports on the effects that water absorbed into amorphous sodium indomethacin (NaIMC) can have on simultaneous tendencies to crystallize to its trihydrate form and to undergo base-catalyzed hydrolysis because of the plasticizing effects of water on molecular mobility. Measurement of water vapor absorption at 30°C and powder x-ray diffraction patterns as a function of relative humidity (RH) reveal that upon exposure to 21% RH, NaIMC does not crystallize over a 2-month period. Measurements of the glass transition temperature as a function of such exposure reveals a change in Tg from 121°C, dry, to 53°C at 21% RH, such that Tg at 21% RH is ≈13°C above the highest storage temperature of 40°C used in the study. At 56% RH and higher, however, crystallization to the trihydrate occurs rapidly; although over the 2-month period, crystallization was never complete. Assessment of chemical degradation by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed significant instability at 21% RH; whereas at higher RH, the extent of chemical degradation was reduced, reflecting the greater crystallization to the more chemically stable crystalline form. It is concluded that when amorphous forms of salts occur in solid dosage forms, the simultaneous effects of enhanced water vapor sorption on crystallization and chemical degradation must be considered, particularly when assessing solid-state chemical degradation at higher temperatures and RH (eg, 40°C 75% RH).