Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Image smoothing via unsupervised learning

Image smoothing represents a fundamental component of many disparate computer vision and graphics applications. In this paper, we present a unified unsupervised (label-free) learning framework that facilitates generating flexible and high-quality smoothing effects by directly learning from data using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The heart of the design is the training signal as a novel energy function that includes an edge-preserving regularizer which helps maintain important yet potentially vulnerable image structures, and a spatially-adaptive Lp flattening criterion which imposes different forms of regularization onto different image regions for better smoothing quality. We implement a diverse set of image smoothing solutions employing the unified framework targeting various applications such as, image abstraction, pencil sketching, detail enhancement, texture removal and content-aware image manipulation, and obtain results comparable with or better than previous methods. Moreover, our method is extremely fast with a modern GPU (e.g, 200 fps for 1280×720 images).
Action Abstractions for Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandit Tree Search

Search algorithms based on combinatorial multi-armed bandits (CMABs) are promising for dealing with state-space sequential decision problems. However, current CMAB-based algorithms do not scale to problem domains with very large actions spaces, such as real-time strategy games played in large maps. In this paper we introduce CMAB-based search algorithms that use action abstraction schemes to reduce the action space considered during search. One of the approaches we introduce use regular action abstractions (A1N), while the other two use asymmetric action abstractions (A2N and A3N). Empirical results on MicroRTS show that A1N, A2N, and A3N are able to outperform an existing CMAB-based algorithm in matches played in large maps, and A3N is able to outperform all state-of-the-art search algorithms tested.
Remote Compositional Pyroxene Estimates in the Reiner Gamma Formation Using Feature-Oriented Pca: New Insights Into Lunar Swirls

Moon, being the geological ‘Rosetta’ of the Earth, has its surface mainly composed of basalts and ferroan anorthosite rock suits whose intriguing elemental compositional variations outstands lunar geology. Pyroxene attributes to lunar sub-crustal evolution. The present work focuses on quantifying pyroxene-rich lithologies in the Reiner Gamma Formation (RGF) using an improved technique based on Feature-oriented Principal Component Analysis (FPCA). High resolution data from Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) facilitates spectral analysis of lunar soil. Optical Maturity (OMAT) has been operated revealing a more immature soil along the albedo trail of the RGF as compared to the surrounding. Further, FPCA-based band selection exhibited pyroxene-rich occurrences in the central RGF along with traces of olivine orthopyroxene lithology near wrinkled ridges. In support of this, spectra are compositionally analyzed using Modified Gaussian Model (MGM) portraying Mg-rich and moderate to high Ca bearing orthopyroxenes towards the eastern RGF attributing sub-crustal petrography.
CCL22-Producing Resident Macrophages Enhance T Cell Response in Sjögren's Syndrome

Macrophages (MΦs) are critical regulators of immune response and serve as a link between innate and acquired immunity. The precise mechanism of involvement of tissue-resident MΦs in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases is not clear. Here, using a murine model for Sjögren's syndrome (SS), we investigated the role of tissue-resident MΦs in the onset and development of autoimmunity. Two unique populations of CD11bhigh and CD11blow resident MΦs were observed in the target tissue of the SS model. Comprehensive gene expression analysis of chemokines revealed effective production of CCL22 by the CD11bhigh MΦs. CCL22 upregulated the migratory activity of CD4+ T cells by increasing CCR4, a receptor of CCL22, on T cells in the SS model. In addition, CCL22 enhanced IFN-γ production of T cells of the SS model, thereby suggesting that CCL22 may impair the local immune tolerance in the target organ of the SS model. Moreover, administration of anti-CCL22 antibody suppressed autoimmune lesions in the SS model. Finally, histopathological analysis revealed numerous CCL22-producing MΦs in the minor salivary gland tissue specimens of the SS patients. CCL22-producing tissue-resident MΦs may control autoimmune lesions by enhancing T cell response in the SS model. These results suggest that specific chemokines and their receptors may serve as novel therapeutic or diagnostic targets for SS.
Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Modulation and Coding Scheme Selection in Cognitive Heterogeneous Networks

We consider a cognitive heterogeneous network (HetNet), in which multiple pairs of secondary users adopt sensing-based approaches to coexist with a pair of primary users on a certain spectrum band. Due to imperfect spectrum sensing, secondary transmitters (STs) may cause interference to the primary receiver (PR) and make it difficult for the PR to select a proper modulation and/or coding scheme (MCS). To deal with this issue, we exploit deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and propose an intelligent MCS selection algorithm for the primary transmission. To reduce the system overhead caused by the MCS switchings, we further introduce a switching cost factor in the proposed algorithm. The simulation results show that the primary transmission rate of the proposed algorithm without the switching cost factor is 90% ~ 100% of the optimal MCS selection scheme, which assumes that the interference from the STs is perfectly known at the PR as prior information, is 30% higher than that of the upper confidence bandit (UCB) algorithm, and is 100% higher than that of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based algorithm. Meanwhile, the proposed algorithm with the switching cost factor can achieve a higher primary transmission rate than those of the benchmark algorithms without increasing system overheads.
Time of admission and mortality after hip fracture: a detailed look at the weekend effect in a nationwide study of 55,211 hip fracture patients in Norway

Background and purpose — There are numerous studies on the weekend effect for hip fracture patients, with conflicting results. We analyzed time of admission and discharge, and the association with mortality and length of hospital stay in more detail. Patients and methods — We used data from 61,211 surgically treated hip fractures in 55,211 patients, admitted to Norwegian hospitals 2008–2014. All patients were aged 50 years or older. Data were analyzed with Cox and Poisson regression. Results — Mortality within 30 days did not differ substantially by day of admission, although admissions on Sundays and holidays had a slightly increased mortality. The hazard ratios were 1.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.97–1.2) for Sundays, and 1.2 (CI 0.98–1.4) for holidays, relative to Mondays. For patients admitted between 6:00 am and 7:00 am the hazard ratio was 1.4 (CI 1.1–1.8) relative to patients admitted between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Discharges during weekends and holidays were associated with a substantial higher mortality than weekday discharges. Patients admitted from Friday to Sunday generally stayed in hospital for a shorter time than patients admitted during other days. Interpretation — Our results indicate that the discussion on weekday versus weekend admission effects might have distracted attention from other important factors, such as time of day of admission, and day of discharge from hospital treatment.
Plasma Nucleotide Dynamics during Exercise and Recovery in Highly Trained Athletes and Recreationally Active Individuals

Circulating plasma ATP is able to regulate local skeletal muscle blood flow and 02 delivery causing considerable vasodilatation during exercise. We hypothesized that sport specialization and specific long-term training stimuli have an impact on venous plasma [ATP] and other nucleotides concentration. Four athletic groups consisting of sprinters (n=11; age range 21–30 yr), endurance-trained athletes (n=16; age range 18–31 yr), futsal players (n=14; age range 18–30 yr), and recreationally active individuals (n=12; age range 22–33 yr) were studied. Venous blood samples were collected at rest, during an incremental treadmill test, and during recovery. Baseline [ATP] was 759±80 nmol·l−1 in competitive athletes and 680±73 nmol·l−1 in controls and increased during exercise by ~61% in competitive athletes and by ~31% in recreationally active participants. We demonstrated a rapid increase in plasma [ATP] at exercise intensities of 83–87% of VO2max in competitive athletes and 94% in controls. Concentrations reported after 30 minutes of recovery were distinct from those obtained preexercise in competitive athletes (P < 0.001) but not in controls (P = 0.61). We found a correlation between total-body skeletal muscle mass and resting and maximal plasma [ATP] in competitive athletes (r=0.81 and r=0.75, respectively). In conclusion, sport specialization is significantly related to plasma [ATP] at rest, during exercise, and during maximal effort. Intensified exercise-induced plasma [ATP] increases may contribute to more effective vessel dilatation during exercise in highly trained athletes than in recreational runners. The most rapid increase in ATP concentration was associated with the respiratory compensation point. No differences between groups of competitive athletes were observed during the recovery period suggesting a similar pattern of response after exercise. Total-body skeletal muscle mass is indirectly related to plasma [ATP] in highly trained athletes.
Collapse of the Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Compartment in Advanced Cutaneous Melanomas by Components of the Tumor Cell Secretome

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) can regulate anti-cancer immune responses. Factors in the melanoma secretome drive the PDC compartment to collapse during disease progression, and rescue of PDCs could aid existing spontaneous and drug-induced adaptive immune responses. Melanoma is an immunogenic neoplasm infiltrated by T cells, although these adaptive T cells usually fail to eradicate the tumor. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) are potent regulators of the adaptive immune response and can eliminate melanoma cells via TLR-mediated effector functions. The PDC compartment is maintained by progressively restricted bone marrow progenitors. Terminally differentiated PDCs exit the bone marrow into the circulation, then home to lymph nodes and inflamed peripheral tissues. Infiltration by PDCs is documented in various cancers. However, their role within the melanoma immune contexture is not completely known. We found that in locoregional primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM), PDC infiltration was heterogeneous, occurred early, and was recurrently localized at the invasive margin, the site where PDCs interact with CD8+ T cells. A reduced PDC density was coupled with an increased Breslow thickness and somatic mutations at the NRAS p.Q61 codon. Compared with what was seen in PCM, high numbers of PDCs were found in regional lymph nodes, as also identified by in silico analysis. In contrast, in metastatic melanoma patients, PDCs were mostly absent in the tumor tissues and were significantly reduced in the circulation, particularly in the advanced M1c group. Exposure of circulating PDCs to melanoma cell supernatant (SN-mel) depleted of extracellular vesicles resulted in significant PDC death. SN-mel exposure also resulted in a defect of PDC differentiation from CD34+ progenitors. These findings indicate that soluble components released by melanoma cells support the collapse of the PDC compartment, with clinical implications for refining TLR agonist–based trials.
Organizational culture in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences: based on the Denison Model

Introduction: Existence of appropriate organizational culture can pave the way for achievement of success at universities of medical sciences, which play important roles in health promotion of communities. This study aims to investigate organizational culture status in staff of the Qazvin University of Medical Sciences based on Denison Model. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 276 university staff at the Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2016 based on cluster sampling method. Research variables included four organizational culture domains namely involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission culture. Data was collected by Denison's 60-item organizational culture questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine reliability of the questionnaire which was 0.96. Results: In this study, the mean age and job experience of participants were 39.79±7.57 and 15.60±7.59 years respectively. The highest mean score was obtained in adaptability culture, but the lowest mean score was in mission culture. Mean score of organizational culture was 2.93±0.62, which was medium (normal). There was a significant relationship between organizational culture and staff's educational levels (p <0.05). Conclusion: According to research results, organizational culture was at medium level in staff of the Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, but the mean score for mission culture was low and therefore, needed intervention. Furthermore, holding training workshops with the emphasis on explaining the importance of organizational culture for the staff can help improve their organizational culture.
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine

Background and objective: Ribosome proﬁling is a recent next generation sequencing technique enabling the genome-wide study of gene expression in biomedical research at the translation level. Too often, researchers precipitously start trying to test their hypotheses after alignment of their data, without checking the quality and the general features of their mapped data. Despite the fact that these checks are essential to prevent errors and ensure valid conclusions afterwards, easy-to-use tools for visualizing the quality and overall outlook of mapped ribosome proﬁling data are lacking. Methods: We present mQC, a modular tool implemented as a Bioconda package and also available in the Galaxy tool shed. Herewith both bio-informaticians as well as non-experts can easily perform the indispensable visualization of both the quality and the general features of their mapped P-site corrected ribosome proﬁling reads. The user manual, the raw code and more information can be found on its GitHub repository ( https://github.com/Biobix/mQC ). Results: mQC was tested on multiple datasets to assess its general applicability and was compared to other tools that partly perform similar tasks. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that mQC can accomplish an unﬁlled but essential position in the ribosome proﬁling data analysis procedure by performing a thorough RIBO-Seq-speciﬁc
Size Limit and Energy Analysis of Nanoparticles during Wrapping Process by Membrane

The wrapping of nanoparticles (NPs) by a membrane is a phenomenon of widespread and generic interest in biology, as well as in a variety of technological applications, such as drug delivery, clinical diagnostics, and biomedical imaging. However, the mechanisms of the interaction between the membrane and NPs are not well understood yet. In this paper, we have presented an analytic thermodynamic model to investigate the wrapping process of NPs by a cell membrane. It is found that the bending energy of the deformed membrane increases nonlinearly with increasing wrapping degree, which leads to a free energy barrier for the wrapping. On the basis of analysis results, the wrapping of NPs can be divided into three types, i.e., impossible wrapping, barrier wrapping, and free wrapping. Furthermore, a phase diagram for the wrapping of NPs has been constructed, which clarifies the interrelated effects of the size and the ligand density of NPs. We hope that this work can provide some help in understanding the physical mechanism of the wrapping of NPs.
Bile Acids and Their Derivatives as Potential Modifiers of Drug Release and Pharmacokinetic Profiles

Bile acids have received considerable interest in the drug delivery research due to their peculiar physicochemical properties and biocompatibility. The main advantage of bile acids as drug absorption enhancers is their ability to act as both drug solubilizing and permeation-modifying agents. Therefore, bile acids may improve bioavailability of drugs whose absorption-limiting factors include either poor aqueous solubility or low membrane permeability. Besides, bile acids may withstand the gastrointestinal impediments and aid in the transporter-mediated absorption of physically complexed or chemically conjugated drug molecules. These biomolecules may increase the drug bioavailability also at submicellar levels by increasing the solubility and dissolution rate of non-polar drugs or through the partition into the membrane and increase of membrane fluidity and permeability. Most bile acid-induced effects are mediated by the nuclear receptors that activate transcriptional networks, which then affect the expression of a number of target genes, including those for membrane transport proteins, affecting the bioavailability of a number of drugs. Besides micellar solubilization, there are many other types of interactions between bile acids and drug molecules, which can influence the drug transport across the biological membranes. Most common drug-bile salt interaction is ion-pairing and the formed complexes may have either higher or lower polarity compared to the drug molecule itself. Furthermore, the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups of bile acids can be utilized for the covalent conjugation of drugs, which changes their physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. Bile acids can be utilized in the formulation of conventional dosage forms, but also of novel micellar, vesicular and polymer-based therapeutic systems. The availability of bile acids, along with their simple derivatization procedures, turn them into attractive building blocks for the design of novel pharmaceutical formulations and systems for the delivery of drugs, biomolecules and vaccines. Although toxic properties of hydrophobic bile acids have been described, their side effects are mostly produced when present in supraphysiological concentrations. Besides, minor structural modifications of natural bile acids may lead to the creation of bile acid derivatives with the reduced toxicity and preserved absorption-enhancing activity.
Secure Compression and Pattern Matching Based on Burrows-Wheeler Transform

Searchable compressed data structures (e.g.Burrows-Wheeler Transform) enable one to create a memoryefficient index for large datasets such as human genomes. On the other hand, storing such an index in a third-party server, e.g., cloud, may have the privacy and confidentiality issues. An open problem in the community is to construct a secure variant of such a data structure. This problem is challenging as most of the existing works were shown to be insecure and none of them is able to perform pattern matching. In this paper, we provide the first solution based on Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT) to solve this problem (our scheme can do both compression and pattern matching). A new security definition, called isomophism-restricted IND-CPA security, is proposed. We show that our scheme is secure under this definition and our scheme is practical by experiments.
CCR2 upregulated on peripheral T cells in osteoarthritis but not in bone marrow

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a condition affecting millions of patients around the world, causing pain and disability and often resulting in joint replacement surgery. The aetiology of OA has long been attributed to mechanical wear mainly due to the increased prevalence of OA in load bearing joints among older patients. However, recent studies reveal a complex molecular disease causality in which inflammation, nutritional deficit and angiogenesis lead to the destruction of the joint structure. The aim of this study was to examine chemokine receptor expression in peripheral blood and bone marrow in OA patients. We devised a protocol for extracting healthy bone marrow from patients undergoing hip arthroplasty due to coxarthrosis. Flow cytometry was used to determine the expression of 18 chemokine receptors on CD4 and CD8 T cells from bone marrow and blood from 7 osteoarthritis patients and peripheral blood from 9 healthy controls. We found a significantly increased fraction of CCR2 expressing CD4 and CD8 T cell in peripheral blood compared to healthy controls. Also, there was a significant decrease in CXCR3 (Th1) (P < 0.01) expressing T cells in peripheral blood from OA patients. Finally, multivariate analysis was used to separate T cell profiles from healthy controls and OA patients and demonstrate that the divergence of chemokine receptor expression occurs in the mature T cell subsets. In conclusion, we find increased CCR2 expression in peripheral blood from OA patients that possibly may be targeted in future clinical studies.
Sorghum Biomass Prediction Using Uav-Based Remote Sensing Data and Crop Model Simulation

Accurate phenotyping with unmanned aerial vehicles is a remote sensing application that has received recent attention as plant breeders seek to automate the expensive and time consuming traditional manual acquisition of measurements of plant traits. This paper focuses on the prediction of sorghum biomass utilizing high temporal and spatial resolution remote sensing data. Two methods are investigated for biomass prediction. The first uses nonlinear regression models to predict biomass directly from remote sensing data, based on features from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) point clouds and hyperspectral data. The second strategy focuses on the biophysical sorghum crop model, APSIM, first, using remote sensing data to parametrize the crop model, and then simulating the biomass. Results from both approaches are provided and evaluated for an agricultural test field at the Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE) at Purdue University.
Short proofs are narrow-resolution made simple

We develop a general strategy for proving width lower bounds, which follows Haken's original proof technique but is now simple and clear. It reveals that large width is implied by certain natural expansion properties of the clauses (axioms) of the tautology in question. We show that in the classical examples of the Pigeonhole principle, Tseitin graph tautologies, and random k-CNFs, these expansion properties are quite simple to prove. We further illustrate the power of this approach by proving new exponential lower bounds to two different restricted versions of the pigeon-hole principle. One restriction allows the encoding of the principle to use arbitrarily many extension variables in a structured way. The second restriction allows every pigeon to choose a hole from some constant size set of holes.