Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On detection of novel categories and subcategories of images using incongruence

Novelty detection is a crucial task in the development of autonomous vision systems. It aims at detecting if samples do not conform with the learnt models. In this paper, we consider the problem of detecting novelty in object recognition problems in which the set of object classes are grouped to form a semantic hierarchy. We follow the idea that, within a semantic hierarchy, novel samples can be defined as samples whose categorization at a specific level contrasts with the categorization at a more general level. This measure indicates if a sample is novel and, in that case, if it is likely to belong to a novel broad category or to a novel sub-category. We present an evaluation of this approach on two hierarchical subsets of the Caltech256 objects dataset and on the SUN scenes dataset, with different classification schemes. We obtain an improvement over Weinshall et al. and show that it is possible to bypass their normalisation heuristic. We demonstrate that this approach achieves good novelty detection rates as far as the conceptual taxonomy is congruent with the visual hierarchy, but tends to fail if this assumption is not satisfied.
Effects of nicotinic cholinergic system manipulations on paired-associate learning (PAL) in mice

Rationale: The ability to perform on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery touchscreen paired-associate learning (PAL) test is predictive of Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Recently, an automated computer touchscreen PAL task for mice has been developed. Pharmacological validation of this task is warranted to establish it as a useful tool in future drug discovery pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Objectives: This investigation provides a systematic analysis of nicotinic involvement within the PAL task for mice. Particularly, the effects of systemic administration of nicotinic cholinergic agents (agonist and antagonist) on PAL task performance in C57BL/6 mice were investigated. This was done to detect whether bidirectional modification of performance is consequent upon these manipulations. Methods: Upon acquiring the PAL task, nicotine (nicotinic receptor agonist; 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/kg) and mecamylamine (nicotinic receptor antagonist; 0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally to the mice in a within-subjects design, prior to daily sessions in the PAL task. Results: Nicotine did not have any significant effect on PAL performance improvement at any doses. However, mecamylamine did increase perseverative responding and reaction time in the mice. Such impairment effects are interpreted as being attentional in nature. Conclusion: This investigation indicates that mice indeed acquire the rodent PAL task, deeming it a valuable tool for future drug discovery. Further, the nicotinic cholinergic system appears to be implicated in PAL task performance, with greater effects seen with deactivation rather than activation of the system, and with these effects appearing to be of an attentional nature. Keywords: paired-associate learning (PAL); Alzheimer’s disease; nicotinic cholingeric system; touchscreen
Novel FDTD Huygens source enables highly complex simulation scenarios on ordinary PCs

This article demonstrated the effectiveness of a novel FDTD source called Huygens source. The source uses a generalized TFSF implementation and enables straightforward FDTD unidirectional subgridding with tremendous savings in DPU time and memory onsumption. Furthermore, the incident field can be provided by other numerical EM tools like MoM and the new FDTD Huygens sources acts as a powerful hybridization between the two methods.
Neurostimulation of the Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Pathway Ameliorates Disease in Rat Collagen-Induced Arthritis

Introduction The inflammatory reflex is a physiological mechanism through which the nervous system maintains immunologic homeostasis by modulating innate and adaptive immunity. We postulated that the reflex might be harnessed therapeutically to reduce pathological levels of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis by activating its prototypical efferent arm, termed the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. To explore this, we determined whether electrical neurostimulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway reduced disease severity in the collagen-induced arthritis model. Methods Rats implanted with vagus nerve cuff electrodes had collagen-induced arthritis induced and were followed for 15 days. Animals underwent active or sham electrical stimulation once daily from day 9 through the conclusion of the study. Joint swelling, histology, and levels of cytokines and bone metabolism mediators were assessed. Results Compared with sham treatment, active neurostimulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway resulted in a 52% reduction in ankle diameter (p = 0.02), a 57% reduction in ankle diameter (area under curve; p = 0.02) and 46% reduction overall histological arthritis score (p = 0.01) with significant improvements in inflammation, pannus formation, cartilage destruction, and bone erosion (p = 0.02), accompanied by numerical reductions in systemic cytokine levels, not reaching statistical significance. Bone erosion improvement was associated with a decrease in serum levels of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) from 132±13 to 6±2 pg/mL (mean±SEM, p = 0.01). Conclusions The severity of collagen-induced arthritis is reduced by neurostimulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway delivered using an implanted electrical vagus nerve stimulation cuff electrode, and supports the rationale for testing this approach in human inflammatory disorders.
AN INTRODUCTION TO NONCOMMUTATIVE DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY ON QUANTUM GROUPS

We give a pedagogical introduction to the differential calculus on quantum groups by stressing at all stages the connection with the classical case (q→1 limit). The Lie derivative and the contraction operator on forms and tensor fields are found. A new, explicit form of the Cartan-Maurer equations is presented. The example of a bicovariant differential calculus on the quantum group GLq(2) is given in detail. The softening of a quantum group is considered, and we introduce q curvatures satisfying q Bianchi identities, a basic ingredient for the construction of q gravity and q gauge theories.
Macrophage and Retinal Pigment Epithelium Phagocytosis

Noninflammatory monocyte macrophages use αvβ3 integrin to selectively bind apoptotic cells, initiating their phagocytic removal. In a related process, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) employs αvβ5 integrin to recognize spent photoreceptor outer segment particles (OS). Here, we show that apoptotic cells and OS compete for binding to these receptors, indicating that OS and apoptotic cells expose surface signals recognizable by αvβ3 and αvβ5. Particle binding to αvβ5 required protein kinase C (PKC) activation. In RPE, αvβ5 binding was maximally activated even before any phagocytic challenge and was reduced by PKC inhibitors. In macrophages, it was dormant but became activated upon PKC stimulation. PKC-activated αvβ5-mediated binding in macrophages differed from constitutive binding to the same integrin receptor in RPE cells in that the former followed much faster kinetics, similar to particle binding mediated by αvβ3. Activation of αvβ5 for particle binding correlated with its recruitment into a detergent-insoluble fraction, a process sensitive to pharmacological modulation of PKC in both types of phagocytes. Furthermore, αvβ5 but not αvβ3 particle binding required actin microfilaments. These data constitute the first evidence that noninflammatory phagocytes actively regulate the earliest phase of phagocytic clearance, particle binding, by controlling receptor activity.
Expanding the Engagement Model: The Role of the Specialist Advocate in Supporting Parents With Learning Disabilities in Child Protection Proceedings

The quality of the relationship between parents and professionals, during the child protection process, is key to ensuring the welfare of the children involved. This article discusses the role of the specialist crisis advocate when supporting parents with learning disabilities during the child protection process. It provides an insight into the hostile environment of child protection, as discussed by the child protection professionals, and the role of the advocate as a facilitator of positive engagement between the parents and professionals and in supporting improvements in practice.
An adaptive fast multiple reference frames selection algorithm for H.264/AVC

To make full use of the temporal correlation of video sequences, H.264/AVC adopts multiple reference frames to enhance the coding quality. While the performance being improved, the complexity of computation has been increased linearly, too. In this paper, we study motion characteristic of video sequences and spatial correlation in video frames first, and then we propose an adaptive fast multiple reference frames selection algorithm. It can decrease the number of reference frames for motion compensation, and reduce the complexity of coding adaptively according to the features of video sequences. The results show that our algorithm achieves 45% coding time saving on average with unnoticeable quality loss.
Intensity Segmentation of the Human Brain with Tissue dependent Homogenization

High-precision segmentation of the human cerebral cortex based on T1-weighted MRI is still a challenging task. When opting to use an intensity based approach, careful data processing is mandatory to overcome inaccuracies. They are caused by noise, partial volume effects and systematic signal intensity variations imposed by limited homogeneity of the acquisition hardware. We propose an intensity segmentation which is free from any shape prior. It uses for the first time alternatively grey (GM) or white matter (WM) based homogenization. This new tissue dependency was introduced as the analysis of 60 high resolution MRI datasets revealed appreciable differences in the axial bias field corrections, depending if they are based on GM or WM. Homogenization starts with axial bias correction, a spatially irregular distortion correction follows and finally a noise reduction is applied. The construction of the axial bias correction is based on partitions of a depth histogram. The irregular bias is modelled by Moody Darken radial basis functions. Noise is eliminated by nonlinear edge preserving and homogenizing filters. A critical point is the estimation of the training set for the irregular bias correction in the GM approach. Because of intensity edges between CSF (cerebro spinal fluid surrounding the brain and within the ventricles), GM and WM this estimate shows an acceptable stability. By this supervised approach a high flexibility and precision for the segmentation of normal and pathologic brains is gained. The precision of this approach is shown using the Montreal brain phantom. Real data applications exemplify the advantage of the GM based approach, compared to the usual WM homogenization, allowing improved cortex segmentation.
Circulating microRNA biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction: are we approaching clinical application?

Patients at high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are still difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the most widely used standard risk prediction models predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) rather poorly, since these risk calculators are mostly driven by age. Therefore, most young subjects are regarded as low risk merely based on their age, despite sometimes quite obvious adverse risk factors. Circulating biomarkers that can help to improve the identification of individuals at risk are therefore highly needed.
Estramustine binds a MAP-1-like protein to inhibit microtubule assembly in vitro and disrupt microtubule organization in DU 145 cells

The twofold purpose of the study was (a) to determine if a MAP-1-like protein was expressed in human prostatic DU 145 cells and (b) to demonstrate whether a novel antimicrotubule drug, estramustine, binds the MAP-1-like protein to disrupt microtubules. SDS-PAGE and Western blots showed that a 330-kD protein was associated with microtubules isolated in an assembly buffer containing 10 microM taxol and 10 mM adenylylimidodiphosphate. After purification to homogeneity on an A5m agarose column, the 330-kD protein was found to promote 6 S tubulin assembly. Turbidimetric (A350), SDS-PAGE, and electron microscopic studies revealed that micromolar estramustine inhibited assembly promoted by the 330-kD protein. Similarly, estramustine inhibited binding of the 330-kD protein to 6-S microtubules independently stimulated to assemble with taxol. Immunofluorescent studies with beta- tubulin antibody (27B) and MAP-1 antibody (MI-AI) revealed that 60 microM estramustine (a) caused disassembly of MAP-1 microtubules in DU 145 cells and (b) removed MAP-1 from the surfaces of microtubules stabilized with 0.1 microM taxol. Taken together the data suggested that estramustine binds to a 330-kD MAP-1-like protein to disrupt microtubules in tumor cells.
Achieving the Optimal Diversity-Versus-Multiplexing Tradeoff for MIMO Flat Channels With QAM Space–Time Spreading and DFE Equalization

The use of multiple transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) antennas allows to transmit multiple signal streams in parallel and hence to increase communication capacity. We have previously introduced simple convolutive linear precoding schemes that spread transmitted symbols in time and space, involving spatial spreading, delay diversity and possibly temporal spreading. In this paper we show that the use of the classical multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) decision feedback equalizer (DFE) (but with joint detection) for this system allows to achieve the optimal diversity-versus-multiplexing tradeoff introduced in Zheng and Tse, "Diversity and multiplexing: A fundamental tradeoff in multiple-antenna channels," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, May 2003, when a minimum mean squared error (MMSE) design is used. One of the major contributions of this work is the diversity analysis of a MMSE equalizer without the Gaussian approximation. Furthermore, the tradeoff is discussed for an arbitrary number of transmit and receive antennas. We also show the tradeoff obtained for a MMSE zero forcing (ZF) design. So, another originality of this paper is to show that the MIMO optimal tradeoff can be attained with a suboptimal receiver, in this case a DFE, as opposed to optimal maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE)
Structure of QnrB1, a Plasmid-mediated Fluoroquinolone Resistance Factor*

QnrB1 is a plasmid-encoded pentapeptide repeat protein (PRP) that confers a moderate degree of resistance to fluoroquinolones. Its gene was cloned into an expression vector with an N-terminal polyhistidine tag, and the protein was purified by nickel affinity chromatography. The structure of QnrB1 was determined by a combination of trypsinolysis, surface mutagenesis, and single anomalous dispersion phasing. QnrB1 folds as a right-handed quadrilateral β-helix with a highly asymmetric dimeric structure typical of PRP-topoisomerase poison resistance factors. The threading of pentapeptides into the β-helical fold is interrupted by two noncanonical PRP sequences that produce outward projecting loops that interrupt the regularity of the PRP surface. Deletion of the larger upper loop eliminated the protective effect of QnrB1 on DNA gyrase toward inhibition by quinolones, whereas deletion of the smaller lower loop drastically reduced the protective effect. These loops are conserved among all plasmid-based Qnr variants (QnrA, QnrC, QnrD, and QnrS) and some chromosomally encoded Qnr varieties. A mechanism in which PRP-topoisomerase poison resistance factors bind to and disrupt the quinolone-DNA-gyrase interaction is proposed.
Solid theory and soft implementation in policy design: Florida compact development policies

Abstract Florida's 1985 Growth Management Act (GMA) was amended with three policies in the 1990s: the 1993 Transportation Concurrency, 1996 Sustainable Communities Demonstration Project and the 1999 Urban Infill and Redevelopment. These policies seek to restrain urban and suburban developments that spread towards agricultural and natural systems and, instead, to direct growth to urban areas and to increase compact development. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the legislation of Florida's three compact development policies and its potential impact on local communities. Evaluation is conducted along three elements of policy design: causal theory, implementation tool and intergovernmental implementation process. The conclusion is that the three policies display sound alternative theories and unique intervention modes to alleviate and manage the sprawl problem through a distinct compact development solution; albeit the design of implementation tools and processes is problematic. Discretionary tools are too flexible and lack specific prescriptions for implementation. Intergovernmental planning processes and state-level coordination are overly decentralized and state power is gradually transferred to local governments. To sum up, Florida compact development policies offer solid theories and soft implementation tools and processes. Hence, the relation between theory and implementation also seems weak. These shortcomings in policy design may lead to implementation breakdowns and limited outcomes. To increase effectiveness in implementation, comprehensive policy design should correct these problems in advance. In addition to sound theories, design should offer feasible implementation mechanisms and link them to theories.
Personality, Outdoor Recreation, and Expected Consequences

Results of exploratory research on relationships between personality characteristics (measured by Jackson's Personality Research Form), choice of recreation activities engaged in actively, frequency of participation in those activities, and the desired consequences (i.e., satisfying experiences) expected from that participation are reported. Ss were test groups of 50 recreationists per activity engaging in one of nine different activities when interviewed on-site. Ss were classified by sex into active and nonactive participants in each of the activities. Participation was measured using respondents' recall of total days of having engaged at least once in specified activities during the preceding 12 months. The results are tentative because of small sample sizes. The indicate that (1) personality probably influences the choice of a recreation activity in which a person engages the most frequently (direct associations were weak, and further research is needed), (2) personality characteristics are significantly related to the amount of participation in a preferred activity once that choice has been made, (3) the personality profile of both male and female active recreationists differs from national norms, and (4) personality disposition influences the relative importance of different consequences that are desired and expected from specific activities.
"The New Machine": Discovering the Limits of ECCO

This essay explores some of the difficulties faced by eighteenth-century scholars when conducting research using scanned text-bases, particularly Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). It begins with an explanation of some of the general problems that face the users of all scanned text-bases. These problems are illustrated in an account of research undertaken into the history of the condom and its representation in eighteenth-century texts. The failure of ECCO searches to produce meaningful results brings these problems into sharp focus, but also suggests novel ways in which they may be overcome.
The chemical organization of signaling interactions

MOTIVATION Cellular chemical signaling pathways form complex networks that are beginning to be studied at the level of chemical kinetics and databases of reactions. Chemical reaction details are traditionally represented as lists of reactions and rates. This does not map readily to the block diagram representation familiar to biologists, and obscures the functional organization of signaling networks. This study examines motifs in signaling chemistry and reports common features that may help to formalize such a mapping between pathway block diagrams and the chemistry. The same motifs may facilitate data representation and provide functional abstraction of the chemistry. RESULTS I classified 74 interactions between 25 signaling pathways in terms of shared chemical motifs. All interactions in this dataset consist of a few communicating molecules from one set of pathways, and a replicating set of reactions and molecules from another. Each unique combination of interacting pathways duplicates the chemical reaction scheme of this replicating set, but involves different rate constants. Signaling pathways can therefore be described in an object-oriented manner as sets of core reactions with well-defined interfaces between pathways. This generalization lends itself to designing simulators and databases for signaling networks. AVAILABILITY Software and example models are freely available from http://www.ncbs. res.in/~bhalla/examples/EGFR_example. html.
Epidemiology of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes in the Italian cardiology network: the BLITZ-2 study.

AIMS Acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation (NSTEACS) represent an increasingly frequent cause of hospital admission. The BLITZ-2 study was planned to survey the epidemiology and management strategies of NSTEACS in the Italian cardiological network. METHODS AND RESULTS The study included 1888 patients with NSTEACS in 275 hospitals in 3 weeks. At admission, almost 20% of patients showed clinical signs of heart failure, half showed ST-segment depression, and half showed any positive biochemical myocardial necrosis marker. Patients admitted to hospitals without CathLab (n=973) were older (P=0.0005) and with higher Killip class on admission (P<0.0001) when compared with those admitted to hospitals with CathLab (n=915). During index hospitalization, 76% of the patients initially admitted to hospitals with invasive capability underwent coronary angiography and 39% percutaneous coronary intervention when compared with 39 and 17.2% of those admitted to hospitals without CathLab (P<0.001). Overall, 30-day mortality was 2.4% (2.0% in patients with invasive capability vs. 2.9% in hospitals without CathLab, P=0.2). Cardiac ischaemic events at 30 days (recurrent MI, recurrent angina, and re-hospitalization for ACS) were significantly higher in the group of patients admitted to hospitals without CathLab (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.24-2.35). However, after multivariable adjustment, only advanced age (OR 1.043, 95% CI 1.021-1.065, P<0.0001) and Killip class >1 (OR 1.633, 95% CI 1.020-2.614, P=0.04) resulted in independent predictors of death, in-hospital MI, and re-admission for ACS, whereas the absence of an on-site CathLab did not predict an adverse outcome (OR 1.104, 95% CI 0.734-1.660). CONCLUSION According to this, the nationwide registry outcome is only marginally influenced by invasive procedures. Contemporary management of patients with NSTEACS in Italy is primarily driven by resource availability.
Closed-Form BER Analysis of Alamouti-MRC Systems with ICSI in Ricean Fading Channels

In this letter, we derive an exact closed-form expression for the bit error rate (BER) of an M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) 2×NR system that employs Alamouti's space time block code (STBC) transmission and maximal ratio combining (MRC) reception, when imperfect channel state information (ICSI) is considered in a Ricean fading channel. An approximate yet accurate expression for the BER is also provided when a strong line of sight (LOS) component is considered. It is observed that the loss of orthogonality of Alamouti's code due to ICSI leads to a non-negligible noise enhancement.