Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of data-driven motion estimation in comparison to the usage of external-surrogates in cardiac SPECT imaging

Motion estimation methods in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be classified into methods which depend on just the emission data (data-driven), or those that use some other source of information such as an external surrogate. The surrogate-based methods estimate the motion exhibited externally which may not correlate exactly with the movement of organs inside the body. The accuracy of data-driven strategies on the other hand is affected by the type and timing of motion occurrence during acquisition, the source distribution, and various degrading factors such as attenuation, scatter, and system spatial resolution. The goal of this paper is to investigate the performance of two data-driven motion estimation schemes based on the rigid-body registration of projections of motion-transformed source distributions to the acquired projection data for cardiac SPECT studies. Comparison is also made of six intensity based registration metrics to an external surrogate-based method. In the data-driven schemes, a partially reconstructed heart is used as the initial source distribution. The partially-reconstructed heart has inaccuracies due to limited angle artifacts resulting from using only a part of the SPECT projections acquired while the patient maintained the same pose. The performance of different cost functions in quantifying consistency with the SPECT projection data in the data-driven schemes was compared for clinically realistic patient motion occurring as discrete pose changes, one or two times during acquisition. The six intensity-based metrics studied were mean-squared difference, mutual information, normalized mutual information (NMI), pattern intensity (PI), normalized cross-correlation and entropy of the difference. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the performance is reported using Monte-Carlo simulations of a realistic heart phantom including degradation factors such as attenuation, scatter and system spatial resolution. Further the visual appearance of motion-corrected images using data-driven motion estimates was compared to that obtained using the external motion-tracking system in patient studies. Pattern intensity and normalized mutual information cost functions were observed to have the best performance in terms of lowest average position error and stability with degradation of image quality of the partial reconstruction in simulations. In all patients, the visual quality of PI-based estimation was either significantly better or comparable to NMI-based estimation. Best visual quality was obtained with PI-based estimation in one of the five patient studies, and with external-surrogate based correction in three out of five patients. In the remaining patient study there was little motion and all methods yielded similar visual image quality.
Memory Processes of Sequential Action Selection

We have devised a unified framework with which we can make predictions about several types of human error—omissions, perseverations, and PCE—across multiple tasks with data collected from multiple labs. Previously we have demonstrated this model for PCE from two tasks (Tamborello & Trafton, 2013). Now we demonstrate it for omissions and perseverations in Altmann, Trafton and Hambrick’s (Altmann, Trafton, & Hambrick, 2014) UNRAVEL task.
Convergence and consistency analysis for FastSLAM

The main contribution of this paper is an analysis of the FastSLAM algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. The convergence properties of the landmark uncertainty for FastSLAM are provided. The proofs clearly show that the limit of the uncertainty for the landmark estimation has no relationship with the vehicle's initial pose uncertainty. Furthermore, the consistency of vehicle pose in FastSLAM is analyzed by Monte Carlo tests and finding that through reducing the control noise and measurement noise the consistency of the vehicle pose can't be improved remarkably, whereas, by cancelling the re-sampling process in FastSLAM the consistency of the vehicle pose can be enhanced obviously.
Real-Time Ground-Plane Based Mobile Localization Using Depth Camera in Real Scenarios

Existing robot localization methods often rely on particular characteristics of the environment, such as vertical walls. However, these approaches loose generality once the environment does not show that structure, e.g., in domestic environments, making the deployment of autonomous self-locating robots difficult. This paper addresses the problem of absolute online self-localization in a known map, where the only required structure in the environment is a planar ground. In particular, we rely on the transitions between the ground and any other non-planar structure. The approach is based on the ground point-cloud and plane model perceived by a depth-camera. The ground detection algorithm is robust to small shifts on camera orientation during the robot motion, by determining the calibration parameters on-the-fly. Then the edges of the ground point-cloud are estimated, which can be originated by obstacles in the environment. The localization is obtained using a particle filter fusing the odometry with a novel observation model reflecting the quality of the match between the ground edges and the nearest obstacles. For this purpose, a cost function was implemented based on a distance-to-obstacles grid map. Experimental results using the ISR-CoBot robot are presented, run in different scenarios, including a bookshop during working hours.
Multiple regions of G alpha 16 contribute to the specificity of activation by the C5a receptor.

The C5a chemoattractant factor receptor, when expressed in COS-7 cells, can stimulate phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C activity through the activation of the G16 isoform of the heterotrimeric G protein, but not through the G11 isoform. To identify the regions of the G alpha 16 subunit protein that are responsible for its activation by the C5a receptor, a series of chimeras between G alpha 16 and G alpha 11 were constructed and tested for their ability to be activated by the C5a receptor. Co-transfection experiments with chimeras in which the carboxyl-terminal regions of G alpha 11 were replaced with the corresponding regions of G alpha 16 demonstrated that changes in the carboxyl terminus, e.g., replacement of 134 amino acids, were not sufficient to confer receptor specificity. An additional segment encompassing residues 220-240 of G alpha 16 was required to confer C5a-induced activation. Testing of a reciprocal series of chimeras composed of G alpha 16 sequences at the amino terminus and G alpha 11 sequences at the carboxyl terminus revealed that certain sequences extending from the amino terminus to amino acid 209 of G alpha 16 were sufficient to endow the chimera with much of the specificity for C5a-induced activation. These results suggest that receptor specificity may involve specific conformations of the G protein stabilized by concerted interactions of multiple amino acid sequences distributed throughout the G alpha protein.
Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of Ketorolac Tromethamine-Loaded Biodegradable Microspheres as a Depot System for Parenteral Delivery

Ketorolac tromethamine, a potent nonnarcotic analgesic agent and 800 times more potent than aspirin, is indicated for the short-term management of moderate to such severe painful states as post operative pain, acute musculoskeletal pain, and dental pain. It Given every 6 hr intramuscularly in patients for acute pain, to avoid frequent dosing and patient inconvenience Ketorolac from ethamine was found suitable for parenteral depot system by biodegradable microspheres for the present study. Ketorolac tromethamine-loaded microspheres were prepared by o/w emulsion solvent evaporation technique using different polymers viz. polycaprolactone, poly-dl-lactide (Resomer) and poly lactic acid (PLA). To tailor the release profile of drug for several days, blends of Resomer and PLA were prepared with polycaprolactone in different ratios. Higher encapsulation efficiency was obtained with microspheres made with pure Resomer. Surface topography was studied by scanning electron microscopy, which showed spherical shape of microspheres. Residual solvent analysis was carried out to determine the residual amount of dichloromethane in microspheres and the content was found within permissible limits. Differential scanning calorimetric studies also were carried out to study any drug polymer interactions. We concluded that with careful selection of different polymers and their combinations, we can tailor the release of ketorolac tromethamine for long periods.
Fast modular multiplication execution in residue number system

In the paper, we propose a new method of modular multiplication computation, based on Residue Number System. We use an approximate method to find the approximate method a residue from division of a multiplication on the given module. We substitute expensive modular operations, by fast bit right shift operations and taking low bits. The carried-out simulation on Kintex7 XC7K70T board showed that the offered method allows to win in time on average for 75%, and in the area - on average for 80% relatively to modified method from work [1] that makes it more applicable for the hardware implementation of the cryptography primitives constructed over a simple finite field.
Learning user preferences in mechanism design

In designing a mechanism for allocation of a divisible resource, the designer needs to know the player utility functions, which are often infinitely dimensional, in order to choose the appropriate pricing and allocation rules. This paper utilizes Gaussian process regression learning techniques to infer general player preferences by a designer in a mechanism design setting. In pricing mechanisms, the price taking players are charged with the appropriate value of Lagrange multiplier, in order to achieve efficiency. This value is obtained iteratively through learning. Likewise, the reserve price in auction mechanisms with price anticipating players, a parameter in allocation and pricing rules, is modified iteratively using online learning to move the system solution to near efficiency. A numerical example illustrates the approach and demonstrates the online learning algorithm.
Effect of Monosodium Glutamate on Various Lipid Fractions and Certain Antioxidant Enzymes in Arterial Tissue of Chronic Alcoholic Adult Male Mice

Oral ingestion of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to chronic alcoholic adult male mice at dose levels of 4 and 8 mg/g body weight for seven consecutive days caused a significant increase in lipid fractions, lipid peroxidation, xanthine oxidase, whereas the levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and its metabolizing enzymes like glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were significantly decreased in the arterial tissue. These observations suggested that ingestion of MSG to chronic alcoholic animals had no beneficial effect and thereby, could act as an additional factor for the initiation of atherosclerosis.
Pure distal trisomy 2q: A rare chromosomal abnormality with recognizable phenotype

We present clinical and molecular cytogenetic results of two unrelated patients with isolated distal trisomy of 2q33‐qter and 2q35‐q37.3 and a remarkable similar facial appearance. Common craniofacial features included a high hairline, broad nasal bridge, prominent nasal tip, thin upper lip vermillion, and large ears. Contrary to patients with duplications proximal to 2q33, the children with pure trisomy distal to 2q35 have normal or increased body measurements and show no major malformations. Moderate psychomotor delay was a constant finding. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Continuous Approach To Robot Motion Planning With Many Degrees Of Freedom

There is a need for highly redundant manipulators to work in complex, cluttered environments. We explore kinematics and path planning for highly redundant manipulators by meals of a coniinuous inaiiipulator model, which captures the macroscopic shape of highly redundant manipulators. A path for the continuous manipillator model can be found by finding a smooth path for it,s end-effector under a rnaxiiiium curvature/torsion constraint. Free space decomposition into primary convex regions is suited to finding such smooth paths. On t,op of the free space representatim, we have developed an algorit8hm to find a continuous curvature path in 2-1> with a maximum curvature constraint. We report on an experiment conducted to measure the efficiency of the algorithm. The 2-I3 path planning algorithm could he used for path planning in 3-U space by restricting the manipulator movement. Alternatively, 3-D free space can be decomposed into primary convex regions. ‘Ihe path planning problem has been shown to be PSPAGE-complete in terms of DOF of tlhe rnanipulator. However, DOF of the manipulator is a resource to be utilized in our approach, because the error bound on the mapping improves with the nuuiber of I)OF of the manipulator.
Behavior of Non-metallic Inclusions in a Continuous Casting Tundish with Channel Type Induction Heating

A generalized three dimensional mathematical model, which adopted the Euler-Lagrange approach, has been developed for the motion of inclusions in a continuous casting tundish with channel type induction heating. The inclusion trajectories were obtained by numerical solution of the motion equation including gravity, buoyancy, drag, lift, added mass, Brownian, electromagnetic pressure and thermophoretic forces. Besides, the collision and coalescence of inclusions and adhesion to the lining solid surfaces were also taken into account. The Brownian, Stokes and turbulent collision were clarified, separately. Then the effect of induction heating power on the inclusion behavior was demonstrated. A reasonable agreement between the experimental observation and numerical results was obtained. The results indicate that the electromagnetic pressure force significantly promotes the removal of inclusions, especially for the bigger inclusion. Although the thermophoretic force goes against the removal of inclusions, its influence is negligibly small. The removal ratio of inclusions in the tundish with induction heating increases from 67.45% to 96.43%, while the power varies from 800 kW to 1 200 kW. The collision and coalescence should be included when model the inclusion motion, because it can promote the removal of inclusion. The turbulent and Brownian collision becomes more active with the increasing power, while the Stokes collision is just opposite.
Code layout optimizations for transaction processing workloads

Commercial applications such as databases and Web servers constitute the most important market segment for high-performance servers. Among these applications, on-line transaction processing (OLTP) workloads provide a challenging set of requirements for system designs since they often exhibit inefficient executions dominated by a large memory stall component. This behavior arises from large instruction and data footprints and high communication miss rates. A number of recent studies have characterized the behavior of commercial workloads and proposed architectural features to improve their performance. However, there has been little research on the impact of software and compiler-level optimizations for improving the behavior of such workloads. This paper provides a detailed study of profile-driven compiler optimizations to improve the code layout in commercial workloads with large instruction footprints. Our compiler algorithms are implemented in the context of Spike, an executable optimizer for the Alpha architecture. Our experiments use the Oracle commercial database engine running an OLTP workload, with results generated using both full system simulations and actual runs on Alpha multiprocessors. Our results show that code layout optimizations can provide a major improvement in the instruction cache behavior, providing a 55% to 65% reduction in the application misses for 64-128 K caches. Our analysis shows that this improvement primarily arises from longer sequences of consecutively executed instructions and more reuse of cache lines before they are replaced. We also show that the majority of application instruction misses are caused by self-interference. However, code layout optimizations significantly reduce the amount of self-interference, thus elevating the relative importance of interference with operating system code. Finally, we show that better code layout can also provide substantial improvements in the behavior of other memory system components such as the instruction TLB and the unified second-level cache. The overall performance impact of our code layout optimizations is an improvement of 1.33 times in the execution time of our workload.
An Improved Method for Quantifying Hematozoa by Digital Microscopy

Intensity of hematozoan infection is infrequently quantified because accurate calculations require visual counts of parasites relative to a large number of erythrocytes. Manual quantification of erythrocytes can be circumvented by using ImageJ software (developed by the National Institutes of Health) to count erythrocyte nuclei from digital images. Here we use the ratio of microscope erythrocyte counts to digital image erythrocyte counts (field:image ratio) to extrapolate erythrocyte counts from smaller digital images to the microscope's larger field of view. Field:image ratios were consistently calculated from 10 slides (resampling P=0.049) and used to rapidly estimate intensity of infection within 50,000 or more erythrocytes. Intensity of hematozoan infection calculated from manual quantification of 2,000 erythrocytes was significantly lower (0.46 times) than intensity calculated from digital quantification of 50,000 erythrocytes (bootstrap P=0.02). We contend that digital quantification of hematozoan infection offers a rapid and precise method to quantify infections of low to moderate intensity.
The histone subcode: poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 (Parp‐1) and Parp‐2 control cell differentiation by regulating the transcriptional intermediary factor TIF1β and the heterochromatin protein HPlα

Recent advances reveal emerging unique functions of poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 (Parp‐1) and Parp‐2 in heterochromatin integrity and cell differentiation. However, the chromatin‐mediated molecular and cellular events involved remain elusive. Here we describe specific physical and functional interactions of Parp‐1 and Parp‐2 with the transcriptional intermediary factor (TlF1β) and the heterochromatin proteins (HP1) that affect endodermal differentiation. We show that Parp‐2 binds to TlF1β with high affinity both directly and through HP1α. Both partners colocalize at pericentric heterochromatin in primitive endoderm‐like cells. Parp‐2 also binds to HP1β but not to HP1γ. In contrast Parp‐1 binds weakly to TlF1β and HP1β only. Both Parps selectively poly(ADP‐ribosyl)ate HP1α. Using shRNA approaches, we provide evidence for distinct participation of both Parps in endodermal differentiation. Whereas Parp‐2 and its activity are required for the relocation of TlF1β to heterochromatic foci during primitive endodermal differentiation, Parp‐1 and its activity modulate TlF1β‐HP1α association with consequences on parietal endodermal differentiation. Both Parps control TlF1β transcriptional activity. In addition, this work identifies both Parps as new modulators of the HP1‐mediated subcode histone. — Quénet, D. , Gasser, V. , Fouillen, L. , Cammas, F. , Sanglier‐Cianferani, S. , Losson, R. , Dantzer, F. The histone subcode: poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 (Parp‐1) and Parp‐2 control cell differentiation by regulating the transcriptional intermediary factor TIF1β and the heterochromatin protein HPlα. FASEB J. 22, 3853–3865 (2008)
Regulation of Membrane Protein Degradation by Starvation‐Response Pathways

The multivesicular body (MVB) pathway delivers membrane proteins to the lumen of the vacuole/lysosome for degradation. The resulting amino acids are transported to the cytoplasm for reuse in protein synthesis. Our study shows that this amino acid recycling system plays an essential role in the adaptation of cells to starvation conditions. Cells respond to amino acid starvation by upregulating both endocytosis and the MVB pathway, thereby providing amino acids through increased protein turnover. Our data suggest that increased Rsp5‐dependent ubiquitination of membrane proteins and a drop in Ist1 levels, a negative regulator of endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) activity, cause this response. Furthermore, we found that target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) and a second, unknown nutrient‐sensing system are responsible for the starvation‐induced protein turnover. Together, the data indicate that protein synthesis and turnover are linked by a common regulatory system that ensures adaptation and survival under nutrient‐stress conditions.
Gaussian Two-Way Relay Channel with Private Information for the Relay

We introduce a generalized two-way relay channel where two sources exchange information (not necessarily of the same rate) with help from a relay, and each source additionally sends private information to the relay. We consider the Gaussian setting where all point-to-point links are Gaussian channels. For this channel, we consider a two-phase protocol consisting of a multiple access channel (MAC) phase and a broadcast channel (BC) phase. We propose a general decode-and-forward (DF) scheme where the MAC phase is related to computation over MAC, while the BC phase is related to BC with receiver side information. In the MAC phase, we time share a capacity-achieving code for the MAC and a superposition code with a lattice code as its component code. We show that the proposed DF scheme is near optimal for any channel conditions, in that it achieves rates within half bit of the capacity region of the two-phase protocol.
Risk and resilience: health inequalities, working conditions and sickness benefit arrangements: Analysis from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey.

In this article we ask whether the level of sickness benefit provision may protect the health of employees, particularly those who are most exposed to hazardous working conditions and those who have a lower education. The study uses the European Working Condition Survey 2010, with information on 20,626 individuals from 28 countries. Health was measured by self-reported mental well-being and self-rated general health. Country-level sickness benefit provision was constructed using spending data from Eurostat. Group specific associations were fitted using cross-level interaction terms between sickness benefit provision and physical and psychosocial working conditions respectively, as well as with low education. The mental well-being of employees exposed to psychosocial job strain and physical hazards, or who had low education, was better in countries with more generous sickness benefit provision. These results were similar for men andstronger for women than men women and robust to the inclusion of GDP and country fixed effects. In the analyses of self-reported general health, few group specific associations were found. This paper concludes that generous sickness benefit provision may strengthen employee’s resilience against mental health risks at work and risks associated with low education. Consequently, generous sickness benefit provision also contribute to reduce social inequalities in mental health.