Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial Pyramid Covariance-Based Compact Video Code for Robust Face Retrieval in TV-Series

We address the problem of face video retrieval in TV-series, which searches video clips based on the presence of specific character, given one face track of his/her. This is tremendously challenging because on one hand, faces in TV-series are captured in largely uncontrolled conditions with complex appearance variations, and on the other hand, retrieval task typically needs efficient representation with low time and space complexity. To handle this problem, we propose a compact and discriminative representation for the huge body of video data, named compact video code (CVC). Our method first models the face track by its sample (i.e., frame) covariance matrix to capture the video data variations in a statistical manner. To incorporate discriminative information and obtain more compact video signature suitable for retrieval, the high-dimensional covariance representation is further encoded as a much lower dimensional binary vector, which finally yields the proposed CVC. Specifically, each bit of the code, i.e., each dimension of the binary vector, is produced via supervised learning in a max margin framework, which aims to make a balance between the discriminability and stability of the code. Besides, we further extend the descriptive granularity of covariance matrix from traditional pixel-level to more general patch-level, and proceed to propose a novel hierarchical video representation named spatial pyramid covariance along with a fast calculation method. Face retrieval experiments on two challenging TV-series video databases, i.e., the Big Bang Theory and Prison Break, demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed CVC over the state-of-the-art retrieval methods. In addition, as a general video matching algorithm, CVC is also evaluated in traditional video face recognition task on a standard Internet database, i.e., YouTube Celebrities, showing its quite promising performance by using an extremely compact code with only 128 bits.
Time series prediction using DirRec strategy

This paper demonstrates how the selection of Prediction Strategy is important in the Long-Term Prediction of Time Series. Two strategies are already used in the prediction purposes called Recursive and Direct. This paper presents a third one, DirRec, which combines the advantages of the two already used ones. A simple k-NN approximation method is used and all three strategies are applied to two benchmarks: Santa Fe and Poland Electricity Load time series.
DIDACTICAL ANALYSIS : A NON EMPIRICAL QUALITATIVE METHOD FOR RESEARCH IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

The methods used for the research in Mathematical Sciences Education are common for Psychology, Pedagogy and other related fields. But, to be honest, many of these approaches lead to too punctual results, not very important and with few possibilities to modify substantially the educational practice. The reason could lies in the inadequacy of such methods to cover the complexity of the field, in which many factors are operating in a non isolated way and interconnected to each other through relationships which need to be identified and analysed previously in a global framework under the mathematical knowledge as a common factor. To carry out this previous task, about which we must decide later the usage of the most suitable methods, we have been using a non empirical integrating research procedure, called Didactical Analysis, built up in the conjunction of meta-analysis and qualitative approaches. This paper exposes the principles, the conceptual framework and the techniques that make up this still being studied methodology.
The zebrafish mutant lbk/vam6 resembles human multisystemic disorders caused by aberrant trafficking of endosomal vesicles

The trafficking of intracellular vesicles is essential for a number of cellular processes and defects in this process have been implicated in a wide range of human diseases. We identify the zebrafish mutant lbk as a novel model for such disorders. lbk displays hypopigmentation of skin melanocytes and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), an absence of iridophore reflections, defects in internal organs (liver, intestine) as well as functional defects in vision and the innate immune system (macrophages). Positional cloning, an allele screen, rescue experiments and morpholino knock-down reveal a mutation in the zebrafish orthologue of the vam6/vps39 gene. Vam6p is part of the HOPS complex, which is essential for vesicle tethering and fusion. Affected cells in the lbk RPE, liver, intestine and macrophages display increased numbers and enlarged intracellular vesicles. Physiological and behavioural analyses reveal severe defects in visual ability in lbk mutants. The present study provides the first phenotypic description of a lack of vam6 gene function in a multicellular organism. lbk shares many of the characteristics of human diseases and suggests a novel disease gene for pathologies associated with defective vesicle transport, including the arthrogryposis-renal dysfunction-cholestasis (ARC) syndrome, the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, the Chediak-Higashi syndrome and the Griscelli syndrome.
Latticed Simulation Relations and Games

Multi-valued Kripke structures are Kripke structures in which the atomic propositions and the transitions are not Boolean and can take values from some set. In particular, latticed Kripke structures, in which the elements in the set are partially ordered, are useful in abstraction, query checking, and reasoning about multiple view-points. The challenges that formal methods involve in the Boolean setting are carried over, and in fact increase, in the presence of multivalued systems and logics. We lift to the latticed setting two basic notions that have been proven useful in the Boolean setting. We first define latticed simulation between latticed Kripke structures. The relation maps two structures M1 and M2 to a lattice element that essentially denotes the truth value of the statement "every behavior of M1 is also a behavior of M2". We show that latticed-simulation is logically characterized by the universal fragment of latticed µ-calculus, and can be calculated in polynomial time. We then proceed to defining latticed two-player games. Such games are played along graphs in which each transition have a value in the lattice. The value of the game essentially denotes the truth value of the statement "the ∨-player can force the game to computations that satisfy the winning condition". An earlier definition of such games involved a zigzagged traversal of paths generated during the game. Our definition involves a forward traversal of the paths, and it leads to better understanding of multi-valued games. In particular, we prove a min-max property for such games, and relate latticed simulation with latticed games.
An Adaptive Geographic Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we propose an adaptive geographic routing protocol, which is composed of two routing protocols. According to the topology of the network, the adaptive geographic routing protocol can select a suitable protocol to route a packet around a hole in the sensor network. Experimental results show that the adaptive geographic routing protocol can route a packet in a suitable path and shorten the length of the path.
European rational approach for the genetics of diabetic complications--EURAGEDIC: patient populations and strategy.

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephropathy is likely to be a complex genetic trait. To date, most diabetic nephropathy candidate gene studies have tested a limited number of genes and variants in small sized populations, or in populations that were poorly matched or phenotyped. The main objective of the EURAGEDIC study was to address these problems. METHODS Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes were tested for association with overt diabetic nephropathy (persistent albuminuria >300 mg/24 h) in a large (n=2499) Type 1 diabetes case/control study. Testing for transmission disequilibrium in 541 independent parent-offspring trios with or without diabetic nephropathy was applied for validation of consistency. Candidate genes were selected based on previous linkage studies, knowledge of metabolic pathways, and animal models. A comprehensive SNP discovery in more than 100 candidate genes was performed by direct sequencing. RESULTS In total, 1176 cases with diabetic nephropathy and 1323 diabetic controls with longstanding normoalbuminuria were included from three European populations (Denmark, Finland, France). Data were collected on HbA(1c), blood pressure, urinary albumin excretion rate, kidney function, retinopathy, smoking, medication and cardiovascular disease. To summarize the relevant non-genetic predictors for diabetic nephropathy a baseline phenotypic model fitted to EURAGEDIC data included the covariates: sex, diabetes duration, HbA(1c) and smoking as well as pair-wise interactions. CONCLUSIONS The EURAGEDIC study is designed and powered to identify and validate common alleles as genetic risk factors for diabetic nephropathy in Type 1 diabetic patients.
Tests of Graphic Visuals and Cigarette Package Warning Combinations: Implications for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

The World Health Organization recently adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a groundbreaking public health treaty that will require that warning information in the form of text, pictures, or a combination of these two forms cover at least 30% of the front and back of cigarette packages. In three studies using smokers from the United States and Canada, the authors examine the effects of specific graphic visuals in the context of current U.S. verbal warnings. The findings indicate that including both graphic visual warnings, such as those used in Canada, and warning statements currently used in the United States can decrease the perceived attractiveness of the package and create higher levels of negative affect, such as fear or anxiety. The results also show that the addition of the specific visual warnings examined to the U.S. statements increases smokers’ perceived intentions of quitting smoking compared with warning statements alone. The authors offer implications for public policy and public health and provide suggestions for further research.
MusicJacket: the efficacy of real-time vibrotactile feedback for learning to play the violin

This research investigates the potential for vibrotactile feedback to enhance motor learning in the context of playing the violin. A prototype has been built which delivers vibrotactile feedback to the arms to indicate to a novice player how to correctly hold the violin and how to bow in a straight manner. This prototype was tested in a pilot user study with four complete beginners. Observations showed improvements in three of the four players whilst receiving the feedback. We also discuss the pros and cons of using negative feedback to enhance learning.
Name Discrimination and Email Clustering using Unsupervised Clustering and Labeling of Similar Contexts

In this paper, we apply an unsupervised word sense discrim- ination technique based on clustering similar contexts (Purandare and Pedersen, 2004) to the problems of name discrimination and email clus- tering. Names of people, places, and organizations are not always unique. This can create a problem when we refer to or seek out information about such entities. When this occurs in written text, we show that we can clus- ter ambiguous names into unique groups by identifying which contexts are similar to each other. It has been previously shown by (Pedersen, Pu- randare, and Kulkarni, 2005) that this approach can be successfully used for discrimination of names with two-way ambiguity. Here we show that it can be extended to multiway distinctions as well. We adapt the clus- ter labeling technique introduced by (Kulkarni, 2005) for the multiway distinctions of name discrimination. On the similar lines of contextual similarity, we also observe that email messages can be treated as con- texts, and that in clustering them together we are able to group them based on their underlying content rather than the occurrence of speciflc strings.
Four‐dimensional spectral‐spatial RF pulses for simultaneous correction of B1+ inhomogeneity and susceptibility artifacts in T2*‐weighted MRI

Susceptibility artifacts and excitation radiofrequency field B1+ inhomogeneity are major limitations in high‐field MRI. Parallel transmission methods are promising for reducing artifacts in high‐field applications. In particular, three‐dimensional RF pulses have been shown to be useful for reducing B1+ inhomogeneity using multiple transmitters due to their ability to spatially shape the slice profile. Recently, two‐dimensional spectral‐spatial pulses have been demonstrated to be effective for reducing the signal loss susceptibility artifact by incorporating a frequency‐dependent through‐plane phase correction. We present the use of four‐dimensional spectral‐spatial RF pulses for simultaneous B1+ and through‐plane signal loss susceptibility artifact compensation. The method is demonstrated with simulations and in T2*‐weighted human brain images at 3 T, using a four‐channel parallel transmission system. Parallel transmission was used to reduce the in‐plane excitation resolution to improve the slice‐selection resolution between two different pulse designs. Both pulses were observed to improve B1+ homogeneity and reduce the signal loss artifact in multiple slice locations and several human volunteers. Magn Reson Med 64:1–8, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Experiment with Ontology Mapping using Concept Similarity

This paper describes a system for automatically mapping between concepts in different ontologies. The motivation for the research stems from the Diogene project, in which the project's own ontology covering the ICT domain is mapped to external ontologies, in order that their associated content can automatically be included in the Diogene system. An approach involving measuring the similarity of concepts is introduced, in which standard Information Retrieval indexing techniques are applied to concept descriptions. A matrix representing the similarity of concepts in two ontologies is generated, and a mapping is performed based on two parameters: the domain coverage of the ontologies, and their levels of granularity. Finally, some initial experimentation is presented which suggests that our approach meets the project's unique set of requirements.
Formally optimal boxing

An important implementation decision in polymorphically typed functional programming language is whether to represent data in boxed or unboxed form and when to transform them from one representation to the other. Using a language with explicit representation types and boxing/unboxing operations we axiomatize equationally the set of all explicitly boxed versions, called completions, of a given source program. In a two-stage process we give some of the equations a rewriting interpretation that captures eliminating boxing/unboxing operations without relying on a specific implementation or even semantics of the underlying language. The resulting reduction systems operate on congruence classes of completions defined by the remaining equations E, which can be understood as moving boxing/unboxing operations along data flow paths in the source program. We call a completion eopt formally optimal if every other completion for the same program (and at the same representation type) reduces to eopt under this two-stage reduction. We show that every source program has formally optimal completions, which are unique modulo E. This is accomplished by first “polarizing” the equations in E and orienting them to obtain two canonical (confluent and strongly normalizing) rewriting systems. The completions produced by Leroy's and Poulsen's algorithms are generally not formally optimal in our sense. The rewriting systems have been implemented and applied to some simple Standard ML programs. Our results show that the amount of boxing and unboxing operations is also in practice substantially reduced in comparison to Leroy's completions. This analysis is intended to be integrated into Tofte's region-based implementation of Standard ML currently underway at DIKU.
The domain structure and distribution of Alu elements in long noncoding RNAs and mRNAs

Approximately 75% of the human genome is transcribed and many of these spliced transcripts contain primate-specific Alu elements, the most abundant mobile element in the human genome. The majority of exonized Alu elements are located in long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and the untranslated regions of mRNA, with some performing molecular functions. To further assess the potential for Alu elements to be repurposed as functional RNA domains, we investigated the distribution and evolution of Alu elements in spliced transcripts. Our analysis revealed that Alu elements are underrepresented in mRNAs and lncRNAs, suggesting that most exonized Alu elements arising in the population are rare or deleterious to RNA function. When mRNAs and lncRNAs retain exonized Alu elements, they have a clear preference for Alu dimers, left monomers, and right monomers. mRNAs often acquire Alu elements when their genes are duplicated within Alu-rich regions. In lncRNAs, reverse-oriented Alu elements are significantly enriched and are not restricted to the 3′ and 5′ ends. Both lncRNAs and mRNAs primarily contain the Alu J and S subfamilies that were amplified relatively early in primate evolution. Alu J subfamilies are typically overrepresented in lncRNAs, whereas the Alu S dimer is overrepresented in mRNAs. The sequences of Alu dimers tend to be constrained in both lncRNAs and mRNAs, whereas the left and right monomers are constrained within particular Alu subfamilies and classes of RNA. Collectively, these findings suggest that Alu-containing RNAs are capable of forming stable structures and that some of these Alu domains might have novel biological functions.
Simplifying the kinematic calibration of parallel mechanisms using vision-based metrology

In this paper, a vision-based measuring device is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to be an accurate, flexible, and low-cost tool for the kinematic calibration of parallel mechanisms. The accuracy and ease of use of the proposed vision sensor are outlined, with the suppression of the need for an accurate calibration target, and adequacy to the kinematic calibration process is investigated. In particular, identifiability conditions with the use of such an exteroceptive sensor are derived, considering the calibration with inverse or implicit models. Extensive results are given, with the evaluation of the measuring device and the calibration of an H4 robot. Using the full-pose measurement, an experimental analysis of the optimal calibration model is achieved, with study of the kinematic behavior of the mechanism. The efficiency of the provided method is thus evaluated, and the applicability of vision-based measuring devices to the context of kinematic calibration of parallel mechanisms is discussed.
An Object-Graph Planning Algorithm

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Zika Virus Methyltransferase: Structure and Functions for Drug Design Perspectives

ABSTRACT The Flavivirus Zika virus (ZIKV) is the causal agent of neurological disorders like microcephaly in newborns or Guillain-Barre syndrome. Its NS5 protein embeds a methyltransferase (MTase) domain involved in the formation of the viral mRNA cap. We investigated the structural and functional properties of the ZIKV MTase. We show that the ZIKV MTase can methylate RNA cap structures at the N-7 position of the cap, and at the 2′-O position on the ribose of the first nucleotide, yielding a cap-1 structure. In addition, the ZIKV MTase methylates the ribose 2′-O position of internal adenosines of RNA substrates. The crystal structure of the ZIKV MTase determined at a 2.01-Å resolution reveals a crystallographic homodimer. One chain is bound to the methyl donor (S-adenosyl-l-methionine [SAM]) and shows a high structural similarity to the dengue virus (DENV) MTase. The second chain lacks SAM and displays conformational changes in the αX α-helix contributing to the SAM and RNA binding. These conformational modifications reveal a possible molecular mechanism of the enzymatic turnover involving a conserved Ser/Arg motif. In the second chain, the SAM binding site accommodates a sulfate close to a glycerol that could serve as a basis for structure-based drug design. In addition, compounds known to inhibit the DENV MTase show similar inhibition potency on the ZIKV MTase. Altogether these results contribute to a better understanding of the ZIKV MTase, a central player in viral replication and host innate immune response, and lay the basis for the development of potential antiviral drugs. IMPORTANCE The Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with microcephaly in newborns, and other neurological disorders such as Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is urgent to develop antiviral strategies inhibiting the viral replication. The ZIKV NS5 embeds a methyltransferase involved in the viral mRNA capping process, which is essential for viral replication and control of virus detection by innate immune mechanisms. We demonstrate that the ZIKV methyltransferase methylates the mRNA cap and adenosines located in RNA sequences. The structure of ZIKV methyltransferase shows high structural similarities to the dengue virus methyltransferase, but conformational specificities highlight the role of a conserved Ser/Arg motif, which participates in RNA and SAM recognition during the reaction turnover. In addition, the SAM binding site accommodates a sulfate and a glycerol, offering structural information to initiate structure-based drug design. Altogether, these results contribute to a better understanding of the Flavivirus methyltransferases, which are central players in the virus replication.