Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monocular Visual SLAM with Robust and Efficient Line Features

Point features are predominantly used in Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping(VSLAM). However, only using point features usually lacks the robustness in the scenes such as low texture, illumination variance, and structured environments. To overcome the above limitations, line features were actively employed in previous studies. But not all line features are helpful for improving the robustness of SLAM, since they are easily affected by image noise and feature detection strategies. Meanwhile, line features are easier to degenerate than point features due to parallel to epipolar lines. In this paper, we proposed a monocular visual SLAM using robust line features. First, a Robust Line Segment Detector (RLSD) algorithm is proposed to reduce the influence of noise and outliers by using gradient operators, length suppression, and line segment fusion. And a line feature matching method based on optical-flow is employed to reduce the instability in similar and structured environments. Then, a direction constraint strategy is proposed to solve the problem of triangulation failure due to degradation, which is conducive to subsequent mapping and tracking. Finally, a Visual-Inertial Odometry(VIO) with combined point-line features is implemented. Experimental results on the EuRoC dataset demonstrate that our proposed system outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.
Constant Coefficient Multipliers Using Self-Similarity-Based Hybrid Binary-Unary Computing

Constant coefficient multipliers are widely used in digital signal processing and machine learning architectures. Researchers have proposed HBU-CCM (hybrid binary-unary constant coefficient multiplier), which is an approximate method that outperforms conventional binary and FloPoCo-KCM (table-based real multiplier) methods in terms of hardware cost at the expense of accuracy due to aliasing issues. SimBU (self-similarity-based hybrid binary-unary) is another method that was recently proposed to implement general nonlinear functions using self-similarities leading to few hardware resources. In this work, we use a simplified version of the SimBU algorithm to address the aliasing issues of HBU-CCM and improve accuracy. We also implement a convolution kernel for a Gaussian blurring filter to evaluate our method and compare it to previous works. Our method outperforms conventional binary and FloPoCo-KCM methods in terms of hardware cost with desired accuracy and with no aliasing error as opposed to HBU-CCM.
Rb-Sr Ages of Lamprophyre Dykes from Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica

Lamprophyre dykes intrude the late Proterozoic metamorphic terrain of Schimucher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica. Rb-Sr whole-rock/mineral isochron ages of two lamprophyre dykes are 455 ± 12 Ma (Sr 1 = 0.70886 ± 5) and 458 ± 6 Ma (Sr 1 = 0.71388 ± 98). This lamprophyre dyke activity of Schirmacher Oasis, may be interprete4 as a manifestation of post orogenic alkaline magmatism related to the Ross orogeny of the Transantarctic mountains.
TSTC: Two-Level Sparsity Tensor Core Enabling both Algorithm Flexibility and Hardware Efficiency

The tensor cores in modern GPUs lead to significant performance improvement in matrix multiplication, which is the primary operation in deep learning. However, existing hardware architectures face unstructured sparsity in deep learning, resulting in algorithm inflexibility and hardware inefficiency. The previous tensor core architecture requires matrices to be pruned into 2:4 sparse patterns, leading to algorithm inflexibility. Customized accelerators introduce extra architectures (e.g., interconnection networks for dynamic data routing or buffers for avoiding data conflicts) for unstructured sparse matrices, leading to hardware inefficiency. To tackle the contradiction between algorithm inflexibility and hardware inefficiency, we propose Two-level Sparsity Tensor Core (TSTC) in this paper. TSTC points out that the unstructured sparsity which enables algorithm flexibility can be maintained at the coarse-grained level, while hardware efficiency which requires structured sparsity can be ensured at the fine-grained level. For algorithm flexibility, we propose Flexible Sparse Block (FSB) pattern. FSB enables unstructured sparse matrices can be divided into fine-grained blocks with different structured sparsity. As a result, using FSB leads to up to 7.29x speed up compared with other formats. For hardware efficiency, we propose Dynamic Extendible Reduction Network (DERN). DERN enables different structured sparse reductions by only extending the data width on the standard reduction network without introducing interconnections or buffers. DERN enables TSTC to achieve 7.19x more energy savings under a similar speed. We also propose the whole flow, which can automatically deploy different sparse deep learning algorithms to TSTC. According to extensive experiments, TSTC achieves 1.24 x ~7.69 x speedup and 3.68 x~4.17 x energy savings than the tensor core and the SOTA customized accelerator.
Adaptive Fusion Dual-Branch Convolutional Surface Reconstruction

Implicit neural networks based on point convolution and voxel convolution have been successfully used for point cloud surface reconstruction. This paper proposes an adaptive fusion dual-branch convolutional occupancy network, focusing on the inefficiency of searching local surface based on point convolution technology in reconstruction and the roughness of generated volumetric features based on voxel convolution technology. Dual-branch convolution is used during the encoding stage of the point cloud to extract informative volumetric features. Specifically, the point convolution branch calculates the features of each point in the input point cloud, and the voxel convolution branch calculates the features of each voxel in the regular space of the point cloud. The features of the two branches are then combined using an adaptive fusion module. We performed trilinear interpolation on the feature volume. Experiments on the scene-level Synthetic Rooms dataset and the object-level ShapeNet dataset show that our approach outperforms other methods on most classical metrics.
Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Random Forest Framework for the Classification of Chronic Diseases

In this paper, a hybrid metaheuristic-based Machine learning approach has been propounded for the classification of various Chronic Diseases (CDs). The CDs often get misdiagnosed due to various issues viz., similar and overlapping symptoms, sensitive devices, lack of clinical experts, etc. Based on the above issues, this study has utilized a fusion of Particle Swarm Optimization with Random Forest (PSORF) for the automatic identification of CDs. The approach PSORF comprises of two main components: PSO for obtaining the minimal optimal feature set, also to optimize the performance of the RF classifier, and RF classifier for the classification of multiple CDs. In this research, five different CD datasets have been deployed onto a series of experiments have been conducted to identify the best approach for the classification of CDs. To address the issues of imbalanced and incomplete data in the datasets used, Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) and Expected Minimization (EM) Imputation techniques have been applied before training the model. This ensures the data quality is improved before being used for analysis. Furthermore, the performance of the PSO and RF classifiers has been compared with other metaheuristic and ML classifiers in terms of different performance metrics. For this purpose, Friedman’s tests have been employed to calculate the mean ranks of all the classifiers across all the datasets for different metrics. The results showed that the proposed technique achieved the highest mean rank in terms of Accuracy, F-measure, and Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) across all five datasets.
Daily Activity Profiles and Activity Fluctuations Correlate with BMI

The rising levels of obesity have been declared a global epidemic by the World Health Organization, with obesity rates surpassing 50% in many countries [1]. Between the late 1970s and the early 2000s in the U.S., the prevalence of obesity doubled while the prevalence of severe obesity more than tripled [1]. One of the factors underlying the obesity epidemic is secular changes in activity patterns due to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle [2]. A better understanding is needed of how daily activity patterns relate to obesity. In this study we use wrist-worn accelerometry from the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data set to develop a number of features that characterize daily activity profiles, as well as fluctuations in those profiles over time, and determine how those features correlate with body mass index (BMI). Using a data set of 2,882 subjects split evenly between a training and test fold, we constructed regression models that estimate BMI based on activity profiles and fluctuations. We found a correlation of r=0.47 between estimated and true BMI, resulting in detection of overweight, obese, and severely obese subjects with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.69, 0.73 and 0.85. These results indicate how patterns of activity levels across daily sleep/wake cycles are associated with higher risk for obesity.Clinical Relevance—This paper provides evidence that temporal patterns of daily activity, and fluctuations of these patterns over time, provide far greater explanatory power in estimating obesity than total activity level.
Heavy consumption of garlic (Allium sativum) exert nephro- and pulmonary toxicity at maternal and embryonic level in the Albino rats

ABSTRACT Despite the health benefits of herbals, random misuse of such therapy without consult tends to participate in public health issues. This study describes the nephro-and pulmonary toxicity effects of heavy consumption of garlic (Allium sativum) during developmental period. Two groups of ten healthy pregnant female Albino rats each were formed from the 20 in total. Gavages of distilled water were administered to the control group. Since garlic group rats orally received garlic aqueous extract (GAE) 1 ml/rat daily from gestational day (GD) 6 to 19. Kidney functions and lipid biomarkers were assayed along with histopathological investigations. Our results confirmed that the group that received garlic had significantly increased serum levels of urea, cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL. Moreover, the foetal and maternal tissues of the kidney and lung exhibited a varying degree of histopathological manifestations characterized by kidney necrosis and lung haemorrhage, severe congestion, and thickening of the blood vessels. Renal and pulmonary fibrosis were detectable by Masson’s trichrome. A positive expression of the foetal kidney and placental tissues towards Bax protein was noticed. In conclusion, depending on existing findings, the administration of higher concentrations of garlic could explode renal and pulmonary toxicity and decrease the rat’s weight. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Brain-muscle Interaction Analysis with Time-variant Granger Causality

This study uses time-variant Granger causality to calculate the amount of functional interaction with the inference of information flow direction. Four different motor tasks were taken into consideration. They are real movement (RM), movement intention (Inten), motor imagery (MI), and only looking at the virtual hand in three-dimensional head-mounted display (OL) tasks. For the purpose of task instructions, we designed the experimental tasks in a 3D-HMD virtual reality environment. Examining the causality between two different biological signals is still challenging, and there have been few studies of causality between brain and muscle signals. Thus, the main aim of this study is to proclaim that time-variant Granger causality is an easy-to-apply and effective method for inferring information flow direction between ascending and descending pathways of brain and muscle signals. Generally, our final results strongly proved that brain-muscle functional interaction changes according to the motor tasks executed. Furthermore, high functional interaction appears in RM, Inten and MI tasks (in some subjects) rather than OL task in both afferent and efferent directions. Among many functional interaction methods, time-variant Granger causality is one of the most basic and reliable methods for investigating two different neurophysiological signals, such as EEG and EMG, to calculate the direction of information.
Rapid assessment of small mammals at Draw River, Boi-Tano, and Krokosua Hills

This RAP provided a unique opportunity to increase our knowledge of the small mammal diversity of southwestern Ghana. 105 terrestrial small mammal captures, composed of six species of shrews and ten species of rodents, and 82 bat captures composed of 15 species were made. The shrew Crocidura obscurior is the first record for Ghana. Crocidura buettikoferi and C. foxi are first records for southwestern Ghana. At Krokosua Hills we documented the rare microbat Scotophilus nucella (IUCN Red List: Vulnerable), which was described in 1984 and hitherto known from only ten specimens from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda. Overall the small mammal species composition clearly reflects a forest fauna. Especially among the bats sampled, not a single savannah species was present despite partially degraded forest conditions.
USERS' GUIDES TO THE MEDICAL LITERATURE. II: HOW TO USE AN ARTICLE ABOUT THERAPY OR PREVENTION A. ARE THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY VALID ?

CLINICAL SCENARIO You are working as an internal medicine resident in a rheumatology rotation and are seeing a 19-year-old woman who has had systemic lupus erythematosus diagnosed on the basis of a characteristic skin rash, arthritis, and renal disease. A renal biopsy has shown diffuse proliferative nephritis. A year ago her creatinine level was 140 μmol/L, 6 months ago it was 180 μmol/L, and in a blood sample taken a week before this clinic visit, 220 μmol/L. Over the last year she has been taking prednisone, and over the last 6 months, cyclophosphamide, both in appropriate doses. You are distressed by the rising creatinine level and the rheumatology fellow with whom you discuss the problem suggests that you contact the hematology service to consider a trial of plasmapheresis. The fellow states that plasmapheresis is effective in reducing the level of the antibodies responsible for the nephritis and cites a number
Implications of host genetic variation on the risk and prevalence of 1 infectious diseases transmitted through the environment 2

8 Previous studies have shown that host genetic heterogeneity in the response to infectious 9 challenge can affect the emergence risk and the severity of diseases transmitted through 10 direct contact between individuals. However, there is substantial uncertainty about the degree 11 and direction of influence owing to different definitions of genetic variation, most of which 12 are not in line with the current understanding of the genetic architecture of disease traits. 13 Also, the relevance of previous results for diseases transmitted through environmental 14 sources is unclear. In this paper a compartmental genetic-epidemiological model was 15 developed to quantify the impact of host genetic diversity on epidemiological characteristics 16 of diseases transmitted through a contaminated environment. The model was parameterised 17 for footrot in sheep. Genetic variation was defined through continuous distributions with 18 varying shape and degree of dispersion for different disease traits. The model predicts a 19 strong impact of genetic heterogeneity on the disease risk and its progression and severity, as 20 well as on observable host phenotypes, when dispersion in key epidemiological parameters is 21 high. The impact of host variation depends on the disease trait for which variation occurs and 22 on environmental conditions affecting pathogen survival. In particular, compared to 23 3 homogeneous populations with the same average susceptibility, disease risk and severity is 1 substantially higher in populations containing a large proportion of highly susceptible 2 individuals, and the differences are strongest when environmental contamination is low. The 3 implications of our results for the recording and analysis of disease data, and for predicting 4 response to selection are discussed. 5
Identification and Preservation of Pituitary Gland in Pituitary Identification and Preservation of Pituitary Gland in Pituitary Surgery Surgery

Background: Suppressing hormone hyper-secretion, lowering tumour mass, preserving normal pituitary function, minimizing long-term effects from excess hormone production, and preventing tumour recurrence are all aims of pituitary tumour treatment. Aim of the study: The purpose of this study was to detect the pituitary gland during pituitary surgery in order to remove as much tumour as possible while preserving pituitary function and minimizing postoperative complications. Patients and Methods: From June 2019 to November 2021, this study was done at the Neurosurgery Departments of Al-Azhar University Hospitals "Al-Hussein" and "Bab El-Sheria," and the 6th of October Hospital for Health Insurance. In this study, a total of 30 participants with a pituitary single lesion who had trans-sphenoidal surgery were analyzed and evaluated for preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors. Preoperative and intraoperative gland tissue identification, operational issues, resection degree, and postoperative hormone deficiency were all taken into account. Results: Only 4.76 percent (1 out of 21) of individuals with healthy pituitary gland tissue required postoperative hormone replacement. In the nine cases where intraoperative gland tissue identification failed, postoperative hormone replacement was necessary in 66.67 percent (6 out of 9) of the cases. On postoperative MRI, 66.67 percent of patients had radical tumour excision, whereas 33.33 percent of patients (10) had tumour remnants. According to the findings, endoscopic trans-sphenoidal surgery can locate and retain pituitary gland tissue and function. After surgery, normal pituitary function is predicted if the gland tissue is preserved. Conclusion: Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery can identify and maintain pituitary gland tissue and function, according to this study.
Histological and histometrical studies on the Effects of Fluoride on the Femur in Rats

Background: Fluoride (F ) is a trace element that is incorporated into bone mineral during bone formation. This study assessed the effect of increasing Fluoride doses on the bone formation and microarchi tecture on the Femur of rats by histological, and histometrical methods. Materials and Methods : A total of 16 rats was divided into one group of control and three groups of animals that received 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 mg/kg of Fluoride daily for 3 weeks by gavage. Rats which were exposed to inorganic Fluoride in drinking water produced significantly more levels of bone le sions than the controls. Results : Numerous osteocyte lacunae buried at various dept hs were evident, and the lacunar walls were irregular with mineralized s egments running in all directions. The trabeculae of cancellous bone in th ese animals contained large amounts of osteoid. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that th e ingestion of Fluoride affected morphological changes in the Femur of rats.
Shear wave velocity, seismic attenuation, and thermal structure of the continental upper mantle

SUMMARY Seismic velocity and attenuation anomalies in the mantle are commonly interpreted in terms of temperature variations on the basis of laboratory studies of elastic and anelastic properties of rocks. In order to evaluate the relative contributions of thermal and non-thermal effects on anomalies of attenuation of seismic shear waves, Q −1 , and seismic velocity, Vs, we compare global maps of the thermal structure of the continental upper mantle with global Q −1 and Vs maps as determined from Rayleigh waves at periods between 40 and 150 s. We limit the comparison to three continental mantle depths (50, 100 and 150 km), where model resolution is relatively high. The available data set does not indicate that, at a global scale, seismic anomalies in the upper mantle are controlled solely by temperature variations. Continental maps have correlation coefficients of <0.56 between Vs and T and of <0.47 between Qs and T at any depth. Such low correlation coefficients can partially be attributed to modelling artefacts; however, they also suggest that not all of the Vs and Qs anomalies in the continental upper mantle can be explained by T variations. Global maps show that, by the sign of the anomaly, Vs and Qs usually inversely correlate with lithospheric temperatures: most cratonic regions show high Vs and Qs and low T, while most active regions have seismic and thermal anomalies of the opposite sign. The strongest inverse correlation is found at a depth of 100 km, where the attenuation model is best resolved. Significantly, at this depth, the contours of near-zero Qs anomalies approximately correspond to the 1000 ◦ C isotherm, in agreement with laboratory measurements that show a pronounced increase in seismic attenuation in upper mantle rocks at 1000‐1100 ◦ C. East‐west profiles of Vs, Qs and T where continental data coverage is best (50 ◦ N latitude for North America and 60 ◦ N latitude for Eurasia) further demonstrate that temperature plays a dominant, but
Cricopharyngeal achalasia is a common cause of dysphagia in patients with mtDNA deletions

To assess dysphagia, the authors examined 12 patients with Kearns–Sayre syndrome (KSS) or chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) due to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletion by videofluoroscopy and manometry. Cricopharyngeal achalasia was documented in nine of 12 patients (75%), whereas deglutitive coordination problems were found in one patient. Cricopharyngeal myotomy may be an effective treatment in selected cases with severe cricopharyngeal obstruction.
Levels of trace elements in soils on the Apodi-Mossoró River margin in Brazil.

The study examined the levels of trace elements in soil on the margin of the river Apodi / Mossoro, which has great importance for the state, being the largest river in Rio Grande do Norte. Samples of the soil layer 020 cm were taken at 24 points on the river Apodi-Mossoro, distributed along its length from the begin (Luiz Gomes-RN) to the end on the Atlantic Ocean (Areia Branca-RN). Samples were collected in July and October 2008. Zn, Mn and Pb were determined for Luiz Gomes, Rafael Fernandes, Pau dos Ferros, Apodi, Governador Dix-Sept Rosado, Mossoro and Areia Branca in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The worst values were in Mossoro city high concentrations of Pb and Mn of 106 and 41,095 mg/kg, respectively, while cities that were less affected are those located closer to the begining of the river, like Pau dos Ferros.