Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Sparse Walsh-Hadamard Transform : The SPRIGHT Algorithm

We consider the problem of stably computing the K-sparse N -point Walsh-Hadamard Transform (WHT) of a noisy input vector of length N , where K = O(N δ) scales sub-linearly in the signal dimension N for some δ ∈ (0, 1). The most efficient way known by far for computing the WHT of an arbitraryN -length signal is the Fast Walsh-Hadamard Transform (FWHT), which usesN samples and O(N logN) operations. However, given that the signal is K-sparse, can we perform the same task with much fewer samples and computations, even in the presence of noise? This paper answers the question affirmatively by presenting our SParse Robust Iterative Graphbased Hadamard Transform (SPRIGHT) algorithm, which computes the K-sparse N -point WHT in the presence of additive Gaussian noise, using a near-order-optimal number of samples O(K logN) and sub-linear computational complexity O(K logN). The SPRIGHT algorithm also admits the option of spending near-linear run-timeO(N logN) with an order-optimal sample costO(K logN), which maintains the same sample cost obtained in [1] for the noiseless scenario. ∗This work was supported by grants NSF CCF EAGER 1439725, and NSF CCF 1116404 and MURI CHASE Grant No. 556016.
Weighted root mean square approach to select the optimal smoothness parameter of the variational optical flow algorithms

Variational methods are the most widely used approaches for optical flow computation. Many complicated algorithms have been proposed to improve their performance, yet little work has focused on how to select the optimal smoothness parameter λ of the variational optical flow algorithm itself. We present a weighted root mean square error method to automatically select the optimal smoothness parameter λ. Furthermore, we detail a scientific method for selecting the reference λ0 based on the quality of the frame, and propose an efficient brute-force approach to assign a group of λ, that will reduce the number of λ candidates to be tested by cutting down the search range. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our methods.
Kernel-based clustering of image pixels with modified Differential Evolution

A modified differential evolution (DE) algorithm is presented for clustering the pixels of an image in its intensity space. The algorithm requires no prior information about the number of naturally occurring clusters in the image. It employs a kernel-induced similarity measure instead of the conventional sum-of-squares distance. Use of the kernel function makes it possible to partition data that is linearly non-separable and non hyper-spherical in the original input space, into homogeneous groups in a transformed high-dimensional feature space. A novel chromosome representation scheme is adopted for selecting the optimal number of clusters from several possible choices. Extensive performance comparison over a test-suit of five gray scale images (with ground truth) indicates that the proposed algorithm has an edge over a few state-of-the-art algorithms for automatic multi-class image segmentation.
Phylogenetic approaches in comparative physiology

SUMMARY Over the past two decades, comparative biological analyses have undergone profound changes with the incorporation of rigorous evolutionary perspectives and phylogenetic information. This change followed in large part from the realization that traditional methods of statistical analysis tacitly assumed independence of all observations, when in fact biological groups such as species are differentially related to each other according to their evolutionary history. New phylogenetically based analytical methods were then rapidly developed, incorporated into `the comparative method', and applied to many physiological, biochemical, morphological and behavioral investigations. We now review the rationale for including phylogenetic information in comparative studies and briefly discuss three methods for doing this (independent contrasts, generalized least-squares models, and Monte Carlo computer simulations). We discuss when and how to use phylogenetic information in comparative studies and provide several examples in which it has been helpful, or even crucial, to a comparative analysis. We also consider some difficulties with phylogenetically based statistical methods, and of comparative approaches in general, both practical and theoretical. It is our personal opinion that the incorporation of phylogeny information into comparative studies has been highly beneficial, not only because it can improve the reliability of statistical inferences, but also because it continually emphasizes the potential importance of past evolutionary history in determining current form and function.
A stiffness-based quality measure for compliant grasps and fixtures

This paper presents a systematic approach to quantifying the effectiveness of compliant grasps and fixtures of an object. The approach is physically motivated and applies to the grasping of two- and three-dimensional objects by any number of fingers. The approach is based on a characterization of the frame-invariant features of a grasp or fixture stiffness matrix. In particular, we define a set of frame-invariant characteristic stiffness parameters, and provide physical and geometric interpretation for these parameters. Using a physically meaningful scheme to make the rotational and translational stiffness parameters comparable, we define a frame-invariant quality measure, which we call the stiffness quality measure. An example of a frictional grasp illustrates the effectiveness of the quality measure. We then consider the optimal grasping of frictionless polygonal objects by three and four fingers. Such frictionless grasps are useful in high-load fixturing applications, and their relative simplicity allows an efficient computation of the globally optimal finger arrangement. We compute the optimal finger arrangement in several examples, and use these examples to discuss properties that characterize the stiffness quality measure.
Identification of high-affinity VEGFR3-binding peptides through a phage-displayed random peptide library

Objective Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) interaction with its receptor, VEGFR-3/Flt-4, regulates lymphangiogenesis. VEGFR-3/Flt-4 expression in cancer cells has been correlated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and lymphatic invasion. The objective of this study is to identify a VEGFR-3/Flt-4-interacting peptide that could be used to inhibit VEGFR-3 for ovarian cancer therapy. Methods The extracellular fragment of recombinant human VEGFR-3/Flt-4 (rhVEGFR-3/Flt-4) fused with coat protein pIII was screened against a phage-displayed random peptide library. Using affinity enrichment and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) screening, positive clones of phages were amplified. Three phage clones were selected after four rounds of biopanning, and the specific binding of the peptides to rhVEGFR-3 was detected by ELISA and compared with that of VEGF-D. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence analyses of ovarian cancer tissue sections was undertaken to demonstrate the specificity of the peptides. Results After four rounds of biopanning, ELISA confirmed the specificity of the enriched bound phage clones for rhVEGFR-3. Sequencing and translation identified three different peptides. Non-competitive ELISA revealed that peptides I, II, and III had binding affinities for VEGFR-3 with Kaff (affinity constant) of 16.4±8.6 µg/mL (n=3), 9.2±2.1 µg/mL (n=3), and 174.8±31.1 µg/mL (n=3), respectively. In ovarian carcinoma tissue sections, peptide III (WHWLPNLRHYAS), which had the greatest binding affinity, also co-localized with VEGFR-3 in endothelial cells lining lymphatic vessels; its labeling of ovarian tumors in vivo was also confirmed. Conclusion These finding showed that peptide III has high specificity and activity and, therefore, may represent a potential therapeutic approach to target VEGF-VEGFR-3 signaling for the treatment or diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
NEURAL BASIS OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION OF NATURAL SCENES: EMERGENCE OF OBJECT-BASED CODING IN THE PRIMATE VISUAL CORTEX

Discerning objects from their backgrounds is a fundamental process of vision. The coding of border-ownership in the early visual cortex is a neural correlate of this process. When stimulated with the contour of a figure, border-ownership selective neurons respond more strongly when the figure is on one side of their receptive field (the cell’s “preferred” side) versus the opposite side of their receptive field (Williford and von der Heydt 2013). So far, border-ownership coding has only been shown with simple displays of geometric shapes (e.g., squares). Here I studied border-ownership coding with static images of natural scenes by recording the responses of neurons in macaque visual cortex to occluding contours of objects in complex scenes. I found that subsets of neurons in visual area V2 signal the side of ownership of such contours. Decomposition of local and context influences in these neurons showed that the context-based border-ownership signals correlated with those for the edge of a square (which is locally ambiguous), but were weaker. I used stimuli with intermediate complexity along several dimensions to measure the relative influences of object shape, occlusion between objects, texture and color contrast to determine how they contribute to the border-ownership signal strength. I found that border-ownership signal decreases with the stimulus complexity. This ii ABSTRACT was especially pronounced when comparing a simple isolated square with a c-shape figure, overlapping squares, and natural stimuli. There were also smaller decreases when changing from uniform squares to natural texture squares and from squares to silhouettes of natural shapes. In conclusion, subsets of neurons in V2 do code for the border-ownership in natural scenes, however, the strength and accuracy of these early estimates of border-ownership decreases with the complexity of the visual stimulus. Thesis Advisor: Rüdiger von der Heydt Thesis Reader: Ernst Nieburwas especially pronounced when comparing a simple isolated square with a c-shape figure, overlapping squares, and natural stimuli. There were also smaller decreases when changing from uniform squares to natural texture squares and from squares to silhouettes of natural shapes. In conclusion, subsets of neurons in V2 do code for the border-ownership in natural scenes, however, the strength and accuracy of these early estimates of border-ownership decreases with the complexity of the visual stimulus. Thesis Advisor: Rüdiger von der Heydt Thesis Reader: Ernst Niebur
Effects of Instruction-Set Extensions on an Embedded Processor: A Case Study on Elliptic Curve Cryptography over GF(2/sup m/)

Elliptic-Curve cryptography (ECC) is promising for enabling information security in constrained embedded devices. In order to be efficient on a target architecture, ECCs require accurate choice/tuning of the algorithms that perform the underlying mathematical operations. This paper contributes with a cycle-level analysis of the dependencies of ECC performance from the interaction between the features of the mathematical algorithms and the actual architectural and microarchitectural features of an ARM-based Intel XScale processor. Another contribution is the cycle-level analysis of a modified ARM processor that includes a word-level finite field polynomial multiplier (poly_mul) in its data path. This extension constitutes a good trade-off between applicability in a number of contexts, the simplicity of integration within the processor, and performance. This paper points out the most advantageous mix of elliptic curve (EC) parameters both for the standard ARM-based Intel XScale platform and for the one equipped with the polyjnul unit. In particular, the latter case allows for more than 41 percent execution time reduction on the considered benchmarks. Last, this paper investigates the correlation between the possible architectural organizations of a processor equipped with poly_mul unit(s) and EC benchmark performance. For instance, only superscalar pipelines can exploit the features of out-of-order execution and only very complex organizations (for example, four way superscalar) can exploit a high number of available ALUs. Conversely, we show that there are no benefits in endowing the processor with more than one poly_mul, and we point out a possible trade-off between performance and complexity increase: A two-way in-order/out-of-order pipeline allows +50 percent and +90 percent of Instructions per Cycle (IPC), respectively. Finally, we show that there are no critical constraints on the latency and pipelining capability of the polyjnul unit for the basic EC point multiplication.
Model-driven design applied for e-learning and experiences from European research projects

Model-Driven design is commodity in computer science and has reached a maturity that enables the use of models in the domain of computer science in a similar way like construction plans are used in architecture. This paper puts "e-Learning" as a domain as "system under observation" and introduces model-driven design approaches by introducing a classification framework reflecting the e-Learning domain. Model-driven design is introduced and its application in the domain of e-Learning is discussed. Modelling methods and modelling tools for model-driven design in e-Learning are elaborated using results from European Research Projects. Potentials in applying model-driven design for e-Learning are outlined in the summary.
Spatial interpretations of preposition "at"

The current keyword- and substring matches-based retrieval methods most search engines rely on to answer spatial queries ignore the more specific interpretations of spatial relations. Moreover, the use of the general preposition "at" in natural language queries results in underspecified locations. This paper examines the use of "at" in a set of crowdsourced place descriptions and develops a methodology for interpreting "at" as one of the more location-specific, closely related spatial prepositions "in", "on", or "by". The application of suggested schemas in the paper enables the interpretation of "at" according to the granularity level and classification type of the spatial feature it refers to. The crowdsourced results show that most people use "at" to locate themselves either in relation to buildings, or to (naturally or artificially) bounded outdoor areas (at street level). When used with building level reference features, "at" is more likely to be interpreted as "in" the feature (mostly indoors) and less so "by" it. For reference features at street level, "at" is more likely to be interpreted as "in" the reference feature's region (within a bounded outdoor area) and less so "on" it (e.g., a water surface). The results indicate it is possible to use the proposed methodology for enabling search engines to better rank the results returned to natural language spatial queries by appropriately interpreting "at". The paper's research outcomes are an example of the use of crowdsourced information for improving the interaction between users and services.
Regulation of Dendritic Branching and Spine Maturation by Semaphorin3A-Fyn Signaling

A member of semaphorin family, semaphorin3A (Sema3A), acts as a chemorepellent or chemoattractant on a wide variety of axons and dendrites in the development of the nervous systems. We here show that Sema3A induces clustering of both postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) and presynaptic synapsin I in cultured cortical neurons without changing the density of spines or filopodia. Neuropilin-1 (NRP-1), a receptor for Sema3A, is present on both axons and dendrites. When the cultured neurons are exposed to Sema3A, the cluster size of PSD-95 is markedly enhanced, and an extensive colocalization of PSD-95 and NRP-1 or actin-rich protrusion is seen. The effects of Sema3A on spine morphology are blocked by PP2, an Src type tyrosine kinase inhibitor, but not by the PP3, the inactive-related compound. In the cultured cortical neurons from fyn−/− mice, dendrites bear few spines, and Sema3A does not induce PSD-95 cluster formation on the dendrites. Sema3A and its receptor genes are highly expressed during the synaptogenic period of postnatal days 10 and 15. The cortical neurons in layer V, but not layer III, show a lowered density of synaptic bouton-like structure on dendrites in sema3A- and fyn-deficient mice. The neurons of the double-heterozygous mice show the lowered spine density, whereas those of single heterozygous mice show similar levels of the spine density as the wild type. These findings suggest that the Sema3A signaling pathway plays an important role in the regulation of dendritic spine maturation in the cerebral cortex neurons.
Scene recognition for mobile robots by relational object search using Next-Best-View estimates from hierarchical Implicit Shape Models

We present an approach for recognizing indoor scenes in object constellations that require object search by a mobile robot, as they cannot be captured from a single viewpoint. In our approach that we call Active Scene Recognition (ASR), robots predict object poses from learnt spatial relations that they combine with their estimates about present scenes. Our models for estimating scenes and predicting poses are Implicit Shape Model (ISM) trees from prior work [1]. ISMs model scenes as sets of objects with spatial relations in-between and are learnt from observations. In prior work [2], we presented a realization of ASR, limited to choosing orientations for a fixed robot head with an approach to search objects that uses positions and ignores types. In this paper, we introduce an integrated system that extends ASR to selecting positions and orientations of camera views for a mobile robot with a pivoting head. We contribute an approach for Next-Best-View estimation in object search on predicted object poses. It is defined on 6 DoF viewing frustums and optimizes the searched view, together with the objects to be searched in it, based on 6 DoF pose predictions. To prevent combinatorial explosion when searching camera pose space, we introduce a hierarchical approach to sample robot positions with increasing resolution.
Is temporal summation of pain and spinal nociception altered during normal aging?

Abstract This study examines the effect of normal aging on temporal summation (TS) of pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (RIII). Two groups of healthy volunteers, young and elderly, received transcutaneous electrical stimulation applied to the right sural nerve to assess pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (RIII-reflex). Stimulus intensity was adjusted individually to 120% of RIII-reflex threshold, and shocks were delivered as a single stimulus or as a series of 5 stimuli to assess TS at 5 different frequencies (0.17, 0.33, 0.66, 1, and 2 Hz). This study shows that robust TS of pain and RIII-reflex is observable in individuals aged between 18 and 75 years and indicates that these effects are comparable between young and older individuals. These results contrast with some previous findings and imply that at least some pain regulatory processes, including TS, may not be affected by normal aging, although this may vary depending on the method.
Discovering Meaningful Connections between Resources in the Web of Data

We will show that semantically annotated paths lead to discovering meaningful, non-trivial relations and connections between multiple resources in large online datasets such as the Web of Data. Graph algorithms have always been key in pathnding applications (e.g., navigation systems). They make optimal use of available computation resources to nd paths in structured data. Applying these algorithms to Linked Data can facilitate the resolving of complex queries that involve the semantics of the relations between resources. In this paper, we introduce a new approach for nding paths in Linked Data that takes into account the meaning of the connections and also deals with scalability. An ecient technique combining pre-processing and indexing of datasets is used for nding paths between two resources in large datasets within a couple of seconds. To demonstrate our approach, we have implemented a testcase using the DBpedia dataset.
Cooperative Scheduling for Adaptive Duty Cycling in Asynchronous Sensor Networks

To support the sustainable operation of wireless sensor networks using limited energy, duty cycling is a promising solution. However, it is a challenge to guarantee each node communicating with its neighbors under duty cycle when the network is asynchronous. The challenge becomes bigger when nodes’ duty cycles are required to be adjusted separately according to their demands to save energy and achieve high channel utilization. Existing low power listening- and contention-based protocols are not energy-efficient and cannot ensure high channel utility. Additionally, synchronizationbased media access control (MAC) protocols suffer from extra energy consumption and low synchronization precision. This paper proposes a localized and on-demand (LOD) duty cycling scheme based on a specifically designed semi-quorum system. LOD can adjust duty cycle of each node adaptively according to its demand so as to avoid channel contention, consequently achieving high channel utilization. This allows the fairness for channel access within asynchronous sensor networks. Extensive experiments are conducted on a real test-bed of 100 TelosB nodes to evaluate the performance of LOD. As compared with B-MAC, LOD substantially reduces contention for channel access and the energy consumption, thus improving the network throughput significantly.
Significance of IgG-Avidity in Antenatal Rubella Diagnosis

Objective A descriptive study was carried out to determine the significance of IgG-affinity in the serological diagnosis of rubella infections in pregnancy. Materials and methods A total of 92 pregnant women who had never received antirubella vaccines were recruited by simple random selection and did not exceed 24 weeks of gestation were recruited from the antenatal clinics of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Rubella virus-specific IgG, IgG-affinity and IgM were tested, using the Indirect ELISA methods. Results IgG-Affinity tests showed that 2 (2.2%) out of the 92 pregnant women, who were in their first and second trimester pregnancies respectively, had primary Rubella infections, while 1 (1.1%) primigravidae had a re-infection with rubella virus. It was also discovered that out of the 13 multigravid subjects that reported to have lost previous pregnancies, 2 (15.4%) cases may have been due to rubella infections that occurred during organogenesis. Conclusion Although the isolation of the whole virus or the viral nucleic material is the best basis for diagnosis, IgG-affinity is a proven supplementary serological diagnosis, to distinguish reinfection or viral persistence from primary exposure for prompt and accurate diagnosis. This is necessary for proper counselling of pregnant women especially in low economies where molecular diagnosis may not be affordable.