Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adult age differences in task switching.

Age differences in 2 components of task-set switching speed were investigated in 118 adults aged 20 to 80 years using task-set homogeneous (e.g., AAAA .) and task-set heterogeneous (e.g., AABBAABB . ) blocks. General switch costs were defined as latency differences between heterogeneous and homogeneous blocks. whereas specific switch costs were defined as differences between switch and nonswitch trials within heterogeneous blocks. Both types of costs generalized over verbal, figural, and numeric stimulus materials; were more highly correlated to fluid than to crystallized abilities; and were not eliminated after 6 sessions of practice, indicating that they reflect basic and domain-general aspects of cognitive control. Most important, age-associated increments in costs were significantly greater for general than for specific switch costs, suggesting that the ability to efficiently maintain and coordinate 2 alternating task sets in working memory instead of 1 is more negatively affected by advancing age than the ability to execute the task switch itself.
IMAGE MATCHING USING DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING APPLICATION TO STEREOVISION AND IMAGE INTERPOLATION

This paper presents an original algorithm called the Or thogonal Algorithm for image matching using dynamic pro gramming and experimental results from its application to stereovision and image interpolation The algorithm provides a dense continuous and di er entiable eld of bidimensional displacements like classical optical ow detection algorithms It is based on an itera tive search for a displacement eld that minimizes the L or L distance between two images Both images are sliced into parallel and overlapping strips Corresponding strips are aligned using dynamic programming exactly as D rep resentations of speech signal are with the DTW algorithm Two passes are performed using orthogonal slicing direc tions This process is iterated in a pyramidal fashion while reducing the spacing and width of the strips Very good results have been obtained for stereovision and image inter polation
Multi-perspective vehicle detection and tracking: Challenges, dataset, and metrics

The research community has shown significant improvements in both vision-based detection and tracking of vehicles, working towards a high level understanding of on-road maneuvers. Behaviors of surrounding vehicles in a highway environment is found as an interesting starting point, of why this dataset is introduced along with its challenges and evaluation metrics. A vision-based multi-perspective dataset is presented, containing a full panoramic view from a moving platform driving on U.S. highways capturing 2704×1440 resolution images at 12 frames per second. The dataset serves multiple purposes to be used as traditional detection and tracking, together with tracking of vehicles across perspectives. Each of the four perspectives have been annotated, resulting in more than 4000 bounding boxes in order to evaluate and compare novel methods.
An Efficient Pre-Traceback Architecture for the Viterbi Decoder Targeting Wireless Communication Applications

A large portion of silicon area and the energy consumed by the Viterbi decoder (VD) is dedicated to the survivor memory and the access operations associated with it. In this work, an efficient pre-traceback architecture for the survivor-path memory unit (SMU) of high constraint length VD targeting wireless communication applications is proposed. Compared to the conventional traceback approach which is based on three kinds of memory access operations: decision bits write, traceback read, and decode read, the proposed architecture exploits the inherent parallelism between the decision bit write and decode traceback operation by introducing pre-traceback operation. Consequently, the proposed pre-traceback approach reduces the survivor memory read operations by 50%. As a result of the reduction of the memory access operations, compared to the conventional 2-pointer traceback algorithm, the size of the survivor memory as well as the decoding latency is reduced by as much as 25%. Implementation results show that the pre-traceback architecture achieves up to 11.9% energy efficiency and 21.3% area saving compared to the conventional traceback architecture for typical wireless applications
Dissipation of contractile forces: the missing piece in cell mechanics

Mechanical forces are key regulators of cell and tissue physiology. The basic molecular mechanism of fiber contraction by the sliding of actin filament upon myosin leading to conformational change has been known for decades. The regulation of force generation at the level of the cell, however, is still far from elucidated. Indeed, the magnitude of cell traction forces on the underlying extracellular matrix in culture is almost impossible to predict or experimentally control. The considerable variability in measurements of cell-traction forces indicates that they may not be the optimal readout to properly characterize cell contractile state and that a significant part of the contractile energy is not transferred to cell anchorage but instead is involved in actin network dynamics. Here we discuss the experimental, numerical, and biological parameters that may be responsible for the variability in traction force production. We argue that limiting these sources of variability and investigating the dissipation of mechanical work that occurs with structural rearrangements and the disengagement of force transmission is key for further understanding of cell mechanics.
Asynchronous Distributed Control of Biogas Supply and Multienergy Demand

In this paper, we study the coordination between biogas producers who can use the biogas themselves, exchange biogas with their neighbors, or deliver it to the various energy grids, such as the low pressure gas grid or the power grid. These producers are called prosumers. In this setting, gas storage, fuel cells, microcombined heat power systems, and heat buffers are all part of the prosumers’ node. We aim to optimize the imbalance, profit, and comfort levels per prosumer, while taking the constraints of the energy grids into account and while allowing prosumers to exchange energy with each other. This results in a two-layer optimization problem formulation. In addition, in practice, the communication between prosumers among each other and with grid operators is done in an asynchronous manner. In this paper, we study the problem of two-layer optimization for biogas prosumers embedded in multiple energy grids, while the (bidirectional) communication between the various partners is done asynchronously. We prove the convergence of the asynchronous coordination algorithm that uses both the inputs and the states. We conduct simulations for the biogas prosumer setting, using realistic data to illustrate the convergence of the algorithm and to study its practical implementation.
Combining Metabolic Fingerprinting and Footprinting to Understand the Phenotypic Response of Hpv16 E6 Expressing Cervical Carcinoma Cells Exposed to the Hiv Anti-viral Drug Lopinavir

Recently, it has been reported that the anti-viral drug, lopinavir, which is currently used as a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor, could also inhibit E6-mediated proteasomal degradation of mutant p53 in E6-transfected C33A cells. In this study, C33A parent control cells and HPV16 E6-transfected cells were exposed to lopinavir at concentrations ranging from 0 to 30 mM. The phenotypic response was assessed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy directly on cells (the metabolic fingerprint) and on the cell growth medium (the metabolic footprint). Multivariate analysis of the data using both principal components analysis (PCA) and canonical variates analysis (PC-CVA) showed trends in scores plots that were related to the concentration of the drug. Inspection of the PC-CVA loadings vector revealed that the effect was not due to the drug alone and that several IR spectral regions including proteins, nucleotides and carbohydrates contributed to the separation in PC-CVA space. Finally, partial least squares regression (PLSR) could be used to predict the concentration of the drug accurately from the metabolic fingerprints and footprints, indicating a dose related phenotypic response. This study shows that the combination of metabolic fingerprinting and footprinting with appropriate chemometric analysis is a valuable approach for studying cellular responses to anti-viral drugs.
Context-based Media Geotagging of Personal Photos

This paper addresses the problem of automatic geotagging of media within the context of a personal media collection. In contrast with textual and visual methods which tackle the same problem we ap- proach it focusing on analysis of contextual information. An event as a context aggregator plays the central role in our approach. The proposed method automatically estimates geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) within the temporal boundaries of events computed from a personal media collection. Proposed framework interpolates or extrapolates GPS information rely on geoannotated media entities from the collection. The process of interpolation is automatically performed by the framework based on temporal distances between samples in combination with using free on-line navigation service. All this leads to a new cost efficient and intelli- gible event-centered way to enrich the collection with geographical information. Experimental results show that we are able to assign geographical coordinates for 83% of images within an error of 5 km.
The behavior of GFRP-stiffened and -unstiffened shells under cyclic axial loading and unloading

The results of an experimental study on the cyclic axial loading and unloading behaviors of thin-walled GFRP cylindrical shells are presented. Each specimen was tested first under pure axial compression until the first visible damage occurred, At that point, loading stopped and the unloading step started until the load returned to zero. Based on the results, it seems that for cyclic loading, using stiffened shells is better than using unstiffened shells. On the other hand, the damage growth in the stiffened shells is slower than in the unstiffened shells. For aerospace and aircraft structures, which have been using cyclic axial loading, it seems that composite structures with composite helical stiffeners are better than unstiffened composite structures.
Thing MusicGenre Jazz Rock ElectronicFusion Big Band Alternative Rock New Wave Prog Rock Dance Breakbeat Ambient Downbeat Trance House Techno Trip Hop Drum

A challenge for preference based recommender systems is to elicit user preferences in an accurate and efficient manner. Eliciting preferences from the user in the form of a query that is then used to filter items from a database can result in a coarse recommendation with numerous results returned. The problem lies in the user’s knowledge concerning the items among which they are searching. Unless the user is a domain expert, their preferences are likely to be expressed in a vague manner and so vague results (in the form of irrelevant alternatives) are returned. On the other hand, the advent of the world wide web has delivered an abundance of data at our fingertips. Information gathered from the web, reduced to structured ontologies, can prove useful in focussing preference elicitation mechanisms. In this paper we present a preference elicitation process which allows users to communicate their preferences in a simple manner, through examples presented to them. The system then makes use of an ontology model, based on expert information and social web resources. It elicits the user’s preferences guided by this ontology in an interactive and dynamic manner. We show that this leads to more effective recommendations. We evaluate our work through empirical experiments and discuss the results in terms of preference elicitation coverage as well as the prediction accuracy of the preference model.
Effects of leucokinin-VIII on Aedes Malpighian tubule segments lacking stellate cells

SUMMARY The diuretic peptide leucokinin is known to increase fluid secretion in Malpighian tubules of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti by increasing a transepithelial Cl- conductance. The present study sought to examine whether stellate cells provided this transepithelial conductance in Aedes Malpighian tubules as they do in Drosophila Malpighian tubules. Aedes Malpighian tubule segments with and without stellate cells were perfused in vitro for measurements of the transepithelial voltage (Vt), resistance (Rt) and Cl- diffusion potentials (DPCl). In 11 tubule segments containing both principal cells and stellate cells, 1 μmol l-1 leucokinin-VIII added to the peritubular bath immediately and significantly decreased Vt from 39.3±14.3 mV to 2.3±0.7 mV, decreased Rt from 12.4±2.6 kΩcm to 2.4±0.3 kΩcm, and increased DPCl from 8.2±1.2 mV to 42.1±5.4 mV. These effects of leucokinin-VIII were qualitatively and quantitatively similar in six tubule segments containing no stellate cells; Vt decreased from 37.8±7.0 mV to 3.4±0.6 mV, Rt decreased from 8.8±2.1 kΩcm to 1.7±0.2 kΩcm, and DPCl increased from 5.8±2.6 mV to 50.0±2.1 mV. Thus, stellate cells are not required for signaling or mediating the effects of leucokinin in Malpighian tubules of Aedes aegypti. The results further support previous observations that principal cells signal the effects of leucokinin to increase the Cl- conductance of the paracellular pathway through septate (or tight) junctions.
Optical methods of investigation for book papers conservation with nanoparticles

In the last decade, on the world wide it has been started to be applied the conservation of cultural heritage with nanomaterials. A deep investigation about the degradation mechanism of cultural heritage means the decisive step in the historical paper conservation. In particular, by using these compatible methods, it is possible to perform interventions without modification of the physicochemical and mechanical behavior of the materials, ensuring long-lasting effects. In this study alkaline nano-sized particles have been synthesized, as non-aqueous dispersions, because of their efficiency for the preservation of cellulose-based materials. The particles size and theirs size distribution have been measured by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) technique. The historical papers have been treated with the obtained nanoparticles and then the initial and treated book papers have been examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
Speech segmentation using probabilistic phonetic feature hierarchy and support vector machines

We propose a method that combines a probabilistic phonetic feature hierarchy with support vector machines for segmentation of continuous speech into five classes - vowel, sonorant consonant, fricative, stop and silence. We show that by using the hierarchy, only four binary classifiers are required to recognize the five classes. Due to the probabilistic nature of the hierarchy, the method overcomes the disadvantage of the traditional acoustic-phonetic methods where the error is carried down the hierarchy. In addition, the hierarchical approach allows the use of comparable amount of training data of two classes that each binary classifier is designed to discriminate. The segmentation method with 13 knowledge based parameters performs considerably better than a context-dependent hidden Markov model (HMM) based approach that uses 39 mel-cepstrum based parameters.
A general graph theoretic framework for multi-layer channel routing

In this paper we propose a general framework for viewing a class of heuristics for track assignment in channel routing from a purely graph theoretic angle. Within this framework we propose algorithms for computing routing solutions using optimal or near optimal number of tracks for several well-known benchmark channels in the two-layer VH. Three-layer HVH, and multi-layer V/sub i/H/sub i/ and V/sub i/H/sub i+1/ routing models. Within the same framework we also design an algorithm for minimizing the total wire length in the two-layer VH and three-layer HVH routing models.
Development and validation of an automated and ultrasensitive immunoturbidimetric assay for C-reactive protein.

C-Reactive protein (CRP) is a marker of acute phase response to inflammation that increases rapidly within hours of disease onset. CRP measurements have been used for many years in the management of a variety of clinical situations, such as bacterial infections, ischemic necrosis of tissue, and active inflammatory conditions (1). Recent studies of CRP concentrations within the conventional reference interval have suggested new clinical applications. CRP is a prognostic risk factor for coronary heart disease in both patients with angina (stable or not) and in apparently healthy subjects (2), and distinguishes rapidly destructive vs slowly progressive osteoarthritis (3). In neonates, CRP >1–2 mg/L could be associated with serious disease, usually bacterial infection (4). In most of these studies, the authors have proposed a cutoff point for CRP of 2–3 mg/L. Recent reports show median values in healthy controls of 0.58–1.72 mg/L, and 95 percentile ranges of ∼0.1–6.0 mg/L (5)(6). Nevertheless, these results can be influenced by the sensitivity of the methodology used for CRP quantification. Among the many commercially available assays for CRP, the most common use fluid-phase or particle-enhanced turbidimetric or nephelometric procedures (7). Such assays are suitable for the measurement of proteins at concentrations >5–10 mg/L. New methods of measuring CRP have lower limits of detection one-tenth those of earlier methods (8)(9). Some use expensive monoclonal antibodies, and others use higher sample volumes and antibody concentrations in the reaction mixtures, which can increase nonspecific reactions (10). We describe a microparticle reagent that we use in an optimized turbidimetric procedure with immunopurified polyclonal antibodies against CRP. It allows lower antibody coverage on the microparticle reagent and provides highly sensitive and robust particle-enhanced turbidimetric immunoassay for serum CRP. In addition, we present a new procedure of sequential covalent coupling of IgG and bovine serum albumin …
An approach to tune fuzzy controllers based on reinforcement learning for autonomous vehicle control

In this paper, we suggest a new approach for tuning parameters of fuzzy controllers based on reinforcement learning. The architecture of the proposed approach is comprised of a Q estimator network (QEN) and a Takagi-Sugeno-type fuzzy inference system (TSK-FIS). Unlike other fuzzy Q-learning approaches that select an optimal action based on finite discrete actions, the proposed controller obtains the control output directly from TSK-FIS. With the proposed architecture, the learning algorithms for all the parameters of the QEN and the FIS are developed based on the temporal-difference (TD) methods as well as the gradient-descent algorithm. The performance of the proposed design technique is illustrated by simulation studies of a vehicle longitudinal-control system.
Using Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes to Refine Genome Assemblies and to Build Virtual Genomes

Recent years have seen an explosion in the sequencing of genomes, including those of ruminants. A number of assemblies of the sequence of the bovine genome are now available (Elsik, et al., 2009; Zimin, et al., 2009). Although the sheep genome sequence is not such a high priority, the International Sheep Genomics Consortium (ISGC_website) has a long term strategy to develop a number of tools for the application of genomics in sheep research and breeding (Archibald, et al., 2010). We have demonstrated recently how comparative genomics and Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC)-libraries can be used to construct detailed virtual genomes as a framework for genome assemblies of related species (Dalrymple, et al., 2007). As new and improved genome assemblies of the genomes contributing to an initial virtual genome assembly are produced, the virtual genomes will need to be regularly updated to incorporate the latest available information. In the original analysis, three genomes (bovine, dog and human) with various levels of coverage and stages of assembly were used (Dalrymple, et al., 2007). With the availability of increasing numbers of assemblies, the benefit of using more than three genomes, or the most appropriate evolutionary distances of the genomes, is not immediately clear. Here we describe the construction of a modified version of the bovine Btau3.1 assembly using cattle and sheep BACs and the use of this assembly in the construction of an updated virtual sheep genome, combining information from the original sheep virtual genome (vsg 1.2) and the horse (Wade, et al., 2009) and dog (Lindblad-Toh, et al., 2005) genomes. The impact of inclusion of additional genome sequences is analysed. The approach described here for sheep is an example of an approach which can be applied more broadly to genomes of any source, for example for the fish species, tilapia (Soler, et al., 2010) and catfish (Liu, et al., 2009). Indeed, the same principles also apply to the detection of differences between different individuals of the same species.
Neuroenergetics Original Research Article

imaging, NIRS continuous-wave measurement systems have poor spatial sampling and are ill-equipped to discriminate these noise sources (Klaessens et al., 2005; Davis et al., 2006). Though not yet widely used, progress with diffuse optical tom-ography (DOT) techniques has begun to provide higher functional neuroimaging performance than fNIRS while maintaining simple instrumentation (Benaron et al. 2010a,b). High-density DOT systems sample many source–detector pairs (SD-pairs) at multiple separations. The depth sensitivity of the measurements varies with the source–detector distance: closely spaced SD-pairs sample shallowly, while more widely spaced pairs penetrate deeply. This feature supports two methods for increasing the ability to discriminate signals arising from the brain. First, source–detector distances can be chosen such that some measurements are preferentially sensitive to scalp, skull, and systemic hemodynamic fluctuations, while others sample into the brain. Shallow measurements are then assumed to be a measure of the superficial and systemic noise and can be regressed from deeper pairs. The regressed data should produce a more accurate measure of hemodynamic trends unique to the brain, resulting in an image of hemodynamic changes throughout a three-dimensional volume of the head, spatially separating contributions from deep and shallow sources.