Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Saliency and memorability driven retargeting

Wide range of display devices led to the requirement of resizing an image by preserving important information of an image. Image retargeting is the process of changing the size or aspect ratio of an image according to the target display size. The motive of the proposed approach is to remove or add a seam (making a single pixel path from top to bottom or left to right) in order to change the image size. By iteratively removing or adding lowest energy seams, size or aspect ratio of an image can be changed. The proposed image retargeting approach makes use of a combination of global (saliency, memorability) and local (corner measure) energy measures in order to define energy contribution of a pixel. Quantitative assessment of the proposed approach is carried out by a recent quality assessment metric which makes use of global geometric structures and local pixel correspondences. We show that the proposed approach is able to achieve state-of-the-art results for various types of natural images.
Two-dimensional beam scanning antenna array with 90-degree SIW twist

In this paper, several two-dimensional multibeam antennas are presented based on the compact substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) twist technology. Firstly, four 90° couplers and four 90° SIW twists are combined to feed a 2×2 multibeam integrated antenna array. Simulated and measured results show that the gain of the antenna is larger than 8.5 dBi. The antenna beam scans at different angles in the two-dimensional plane excited at different ports. Then, a sixteen-beam two-dimensional multibeam antenna array is designed based on the 4×4 Butler matrix. Such a beamforming network (BFN) includes eight SIW Butler matrices and sixteen 90° SIW twists. Integrated with sixteen antipodal linearly tapered slot antennas (ALTSAs), several beams with different directions can be generated.
Effect of Compatibilizers on the Mechanical Properties of Waste Polypropylene/Waste Ground Rubber Tire Composites

In this study, waste polypropylene and waste ground rubber tire(WGRT) composites were prepared by using a modular intermeshing co-rotating twin screw extruder. The effect of three main factors such as WGRT contents, particle size, compatibilizers on the properties of waste PP/WGRT composites was extensively investigated. Tensile strength of the composites was decreased with an increase in WGRT contents, whereas elongation at break and impact strength were increased. The tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength of the composites with the smaller size of the WGRT were more enhanced. Addition of PP-g-MA into waste PP/WGRT composites exhibited better tensile strength. However, elongation at break and impact strength were slightly decreased with increasing of PP-g-MA. On the other hand, tensile strength, impact strength and elongation at break of the composites were increased by adding the EPDM-g-MA and SEBS-g-MA. Especially, elongation at break was significantly increased compared to the composite with PP-g-MA.
Reformulated tenofovir gel for use as a dual compartment microbicide.

OBJECTIVES Coital use of 1% tenofovir gel was shown to be modestly effective at preventing HIV transmission when applied vaginally in the CAPRISA 004 trial. Because the gel is hyperosmolar, which would reduce the integrity of the epithelium and induce fluid movement into the lumen, rectal use may not be acceptable. This study evaluated the pre-clinical safety and efficacy of a reformulated (reduced osmolality) tenofovir gel product. METHODS Reduced glycerine (RG)-tenofovir gel was compared with the original tenofovir gel for physiochemical characteristics, product safety and anti-HIV-1 activity. RESULTS The formulations were similar in all characteristics except for osmolality and spreadability/firmness. The RG-tenofovir gel had a 73% lower osmolality, a 29.6% increase in spreadability and a 27% decrease in firmness as compared with the original tenofovir gel. When applied to epithelial cell monolayers, tenofovir gel showed a transient reduction in the transepithelial resistance while the RG-tenofovir gel did not. Both gels retained ectocervical and colorectal explant viability. However, tenofovir gel treatment resulted in epithelial stripping that was absent after RG-tenofovir gel treatment of the polarized explants. Anti-HIV-1 activity was confirmed by lack of HIV-1 infection in polarized explants treated with either gel as compared with the control explants. CONCLUSIONS Reducing the osmolality of the tenofovir gel resulted in improved epithelial integrity, which suggests better safety upon rectal use. The improved gel safety did not compromise drug release or anti-HIV-1 activity. These data support the use of this gel as a dual compartment microbicide.
Cross-Domain Answer Ranking using Importance Sampling

We consider the problem of learning how to rank answers across domains in community question answering using stylistic features. Our main contribution is an importance sampling technique for selecting training data per answer thread. Our approach is evaluated across 30 community sites and shown to be significantly better than random sampling. We show that the most useful features in our model relate to answer length and overlap with question.
Hierarchical Aggregation for Information Visualization: Overview, Techniques, and Design Guidelines

We present a model for building, visualizing, and interacting with multiscale representations of information visualization techniques using hierarchical aggregation. The motivation for this work is to make visual representations more visually scalable and less cluttered. The model allows for augmenting existing techniques with multiscale functionality, as well as for designing new visualization and interaction techniques that conform to this new class of visual representations. We give some examples of how to use the model for standard information visualization techniques such as scatterplots, parallel coordinates, and node-link diagrams, and discuss existing techniques that are based on hierarchical aggregation. This yields a set of design guidelines for aggregated visualizations. We also present a basic vocabulary of interaction techniques suitable for navigating these multiscale visualizations.
Biochemical Determination of Tissue Ossification Markers in Experimentally-induced Myringosclerosis

Objectives: To explore myringosclerotic tissue levels of two bone modeling markers: osteopontin (OPN) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in experimentally-induced, histologically-confirmed myringosclerosis (MS). Materials & Methods: The right middle ear of 24 normal healthy growing male Wister rats was inoculated, via transtympanic access, by Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3, after a period of 8 weeks the tympanic membrane (TM) was examined Otomicroscopically for transparency and graded as normal TM, mild or marked opacification. Then, tympanic bullae were removed and a part of myringosclerotic plaque was excised for ELISA estimation of tissue extract levels of OPN and OPG and the remainder of the TM was stained with hematoxylin-eosin for light microscopic grading of TM inflammation according to extent of calcification into 5 grades. Results: 20 ears developed otoscopically defined myringosclerotic changes, 14 ears showed mild and 6 had marked opacification that was localized in 4 ears and diffuse in 2 ears. Histological examination reported inflammation of grade III in 7, grade IV in 13 and grade V in 4 specimens. Mean estimated tissue extract level of OPN and OPG in studied animals were significantly higher compared to control animals with a positive significant correlation between histological grading and tissue-extract levels of both OPG and OPN and a positive significant correlation between otoscopic grading and tissue-extract levels of OPG, but the correlation was non-significant with OPN Conclusion: Increased myringosclerotic tissue extract levels of both bone modeling markers indicated their possible role in initiation and/or progression of sclerotic changes in TM after chronic suppurative otitis media.
Process Models in Software Engineering

Software systems come and go through a series of passages that account for their inception, initial development, productive operation, upkeep, and retirement from one generation to another. This article categorizes and examines a number of methods for describing or modeling how software systems are developed. It begins with background and definitions of traditional software life cycle models that dominate most textbook discussions and current software development practices. This is followed by a more comprehensive review of the alternative models of software evolution that are of current use as the basis for organizing software engineering projects and technologies.
Generating model transformation rules from examples using an evolutionary algorithm

We propose an evolutionary approach to automatically generate model transformation rules from a set of examples. To this end, genetic programming is adapted to the problem of model transformation in the presence of complex input/output relationships (i.e., models conforming to meta-models) by generating declarative programs (i.e., transformation rules in this case). Our approach does not rely on prior transformation traces for the model-example pairs, and directly generates executable, many-to-many rules with complex conditions. The applicability of the approach is illustrated with the well-known problem of transforming UML class diagrams into relational schemas, using examples collected from the literature.
Motion blur removal with orthogonal parabolic exposures

Object movement during exposure generates blur. Removing blur is challenging because one has to estimate the motion blur, which can spatially vary over the image. Even if the motion is successfully identified, blur removal can be unstable because the blur kernel attenuates high frequency image contents. We address the problem of removing blur from objects moving at constant velocities in arbitrary 2D directions. Our solution captures two images of the scene with a parabolic motion in two orthogonal directions. We show that our strategy near-optimally preserves image content, and allows for stable blur inversion. Taking two images of a scene helps us estimate spatially varying object motions. We present a prototype camera and demonstrate successful motion deblurring on real motions.
Investigations on Armstrong relations, dependency inference, and excluded functional dependencies

This paper rst presents some new results on excluded functional dependencies, i.e., FDs which do not hold on a given relation schema. In particular, we show how excluded dependencies relate to Armstrong relations, and we state criteria for deciding whether a set of excluded dependencies characterizes a set of FDs. In the rest of the paper, complexity issues related to the following three problems are studied : to construct an Armstrong relation for a cover F of functional dependencies (FDs), to construct a cover of FDs that hold in a relation R (dependency inference), and, given a cover F and a relation R, to decide if all the FDs that hold in R can be derived from F. The rst two problems are known to have exponential complexity. We give a new proof for the second problem by showing that dependency inference can be used to compute all keys of a relation instance. We prove that the third problem is co-NP-complete. Further, it is shown that the problems can be solved in polynomial time if it is known that a relation scheme satisses some additional properties, which are polynomially recognizable themselves.
The Equation for Response to Selection and Its Use for Prediction

The Breeder Genetic Algorithm (BGA) was designed according to the theories and methods used in the science of livestock breeding. The prediction of a breeding experiment is based on the response to selection (RS) equation. This equation relates the change in a population's fitness to the standard deviation of its fitness, as well as to the parameters selection intensity and realized heritability. In this paper the exact RS equation is derived for proportionate selection given an infinite population in linkage equilibrium. In linkage equilibrium the genotype frequencies are the product of the univariate marginal frequencies. The equation contains Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection as an approximation. The theorem shows that the response is approximately equal to the quotient of a quantity called additive genetic variance, VA, and the average fitness. We compare Mendelian two-parent recombination with gene-pool recombination, which belongs to a special class of genetic algorithms that we call univariate marginal distribution (UMD) algorithms. UMD algorithms keep the genotypes in linkage equilibrium. For UMD algorithms, an exact RS equation is proven that can be used for long-term prediction. Empirical and theoretical evidence is provided that indicates that Mendelian two-parent recombination is also mainly exploiting the additive genetic variance. We compute an exact RS equation for binary tournament selection. It shows that the two classical methods for estimating realized heritabilitythe regression heritability and the heritability in the narrow sensemay give poor estimates. Furthermore, realized heritability for binary tournament selection can be very different from that of proportionate selection. The paper ends with a short survey about methods that extend standard genetic algorithms and UMD algorithms by detecting interacting variables in nonlinear fitness functions and using this information to sample new points.
Liposomes and nanotechnology in drug development: focus on ocular targets

Poor drug delivery to lesions in patients’ eyes is a major obstacle to the treatment of ocular diseases. The accessibility of these areas to drugs is highly restricted by the presence of barriers, including the corneal barrier, aqueous barrier, and the inner and outer blood–retinal barriers. In particular, the posterior segment is difficult to reach for drugs because of its structural peculiarities. This review discusses various barriers to drug delivery and provides comprehensive information for designing nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery systems for the treatment of ocular diseases. Nanoparticles can be designed to improve penetration, controlled release, and drug targeting. As highlighted in this review, the therapeutic efficacy of drugs in ocular diseases has been reported to be enhanced by the use of nanoparticles such as liposomes, micro/nanospheres, microemulsions, and dendrimers. Our recent data show that intravitreal injection of targeted liposomes encapsulating an angiogenesis inhibitor caused significantly greater suppression of choroidal neovascularization than did the injection of free drug. Recent progress in ocular drug delivery systems research has provided new insights into drug development, and the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery is thus a promising approach for advanced therapy of ocular diseases.
A Novel Approach for Improving the Quality of Open Fault Diagnosis

With the shrinking process technologies and the use of copper process, open defects on interconnect wires, contacts and vias often cause failure. Development of an efficient fault diagnosis method for open faults is desired. However, the diagnosis method for open faults has not been established yet. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for improving the diagnostic quality of open faults by introducing a threshold function in which the logical value of the line with open defect depends on the weighted logical values of its adjacent lines. By using the threshold function, we can deduce not only a faulty line but also an open defect site at the faulty line. Experimental results show that the proposed method can identify an exact faulty line in most cases with a very small computation cost. The proposed method can also identify the open defect site within 25%-length of the faulty line.
Automated root cause isolation of performance regressions during software development

Performance is crucial for the success of an application. To build responsive and cost efficient applications, software engineers must be able to detect and fix performance problems early in the development process. Existing approaches are either relying on a high level of abstraction such that critical problems cannot be detected or require high manual effort. In this paper, we present a novel approach that integrates performance regression root cause analysis into the existing development infrastructure using performance-aware unit tests and the revision history. Our approach is easy to use and provides software engineers immediate insights with automated root cause analysis. In a realistic case study based on the change history of Apache Commons Math, we demonstrate that our approach can automatically detect and identify the root cause of a major performance regression.
Allelic loss on chromosome 17p and p53 mutations in human endometrial carcinoma of the uterus.

To understand the involvement of allelic losses and inactivation of tumor suppressor genes for the development of endometrial carcinoma of the uterus (EC), 24 cases of EC were examined for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) using a total of 57 polymorphic DNA markers covering all 23 pairs of chromosomes. LOH was observed at 27 loci on 10 different chromosomes, i.e., chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, and 21, but was not detected at loci on chromosomes 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, and X. It was observed only in seven of 24 cases, and the other 19 cases did not show LOH at any loci examined, including five cases of tumors with a high proportion of adenomatous hyperplasia. Among seven tumors with LOH at one or more loci, five tumors showed LOH at loci on the short arm of chromosome 17. Furthermore, mutations of the p53 gene, which is located on the short arm of chromosome 17, were detected in three of these 24 tumors by a polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism analysis and subsequent DNA sequencing. In two of these three tumors, p53 mutations were accompanied by the loss of wild-type p53 alleles. These results suggest that inactivation of the p53 gene is involved in the development of EC as in the case of several other types of human cancers.
The Selectivity of Task-Dependent Attention Varies with Surrounding Context

Attention is thought to operate by enhancing the target of interest and suppressing the surroundings. We hypothesized that the spatial profile of attention depends on the surround's relationship to the target. Using high-density electroencephalographic measurements, we examined the spatial profile of attention to a grating target surrounded by an annular grating that was either coextensive with the target (unsegmented) or appeared segmented from it due to a gap or phase offset. We directly probed the spread of attention from the central target into the surround by flickering the surround and monitoring frequency-tagged steady-state visual-evoked potentials. Observers were required to detect a contrast increment that occurred only on the target. Successful detection of the increment required selecting the target and suppressing the surround, particularly when the target did not readily segment from the surround. The profile of attention was investigated in five visual regions of interest (ROIs) (V1, V4, V3A, lateral occipital complex, and human middle temporal area), mapped in a separate anatomical magnetic resonance imaging scan. We found that in most ROIs, attention to the target generated smaller responses from the surrounding annulus when it was contiguous compared with when it was clearly segmented. This result shows that the profile of attention depends on task demands and on surrounding context; attention is tightly focused when the target region needs to be isolated but loosely focused when the target region is clearly segmented.
Efficacy of tranexamic acid mouthwash as an alternative for factor replacement in gingival bleeding during dental scaling in cases of hemophilia: A randomized clinical trial

Objective: The objective of the following study is to evaluate freshly prepared tranexamic acid mouth wash (FTAMW) as an alternative to factor replacement therapy (FRT) in controlling gingival bleeding in hemophiliacs during dental scaling. Materials and Methods: Experimental treatment regime (ETR) involved saline transfusion followed by FTAMW and the control treatment regime (CTR) involved FRT followed by placebo mouthwash. A total of 22 hemophiliacs randomly received dental scaling under either CTR or ETR at two different visits, following a split mouth design. They were instructed to use the rendered mouthwash 4 times a day for 5 days and record the mouthwash usage and bleeding episodes in a logbook. The difference in the bleeding episodes was analyzed using Chi-square test with the level of significance predetermined at 0.05. Results: Totally 19 patients completed the study. Seven patients reported no bleeding either in ETR or CTR; five patients noticed bleeding in CTR, but not in ETR. Three patients noticed bleeding in ETR, but not in CTR. Patients reported ease in usage and cost-effectiveness of ETR. Conclusion: FTAMW was found to be an effective alternative to FRT in controlling gingival hemorrhage in hemophiliacs during dental scaling.
Discovering Conceptual Relations from Text

Non-taxonomic relations between concepts appear as a major building block in common ontology definitions. In fact, their definition consumes much of the time needed for engineering an ontology. We here describe a new approach to discover non-taxonomic conceptual relations from text building on shallow text processing techniques. We use a generalized association rule algorithm that does not only detect relations between concepts, but also determines the appropriate level of abstraction at which to define relations. This is crucial for an appropriate ontology definition in order that it be succinct and conceptually adequate and, hence, easy to understand, maintain, and extend. We also perform an empirical evaluation of our approach with regard to a manually engineered ontology. For this purpose, we present a new paradigm suited to evaluate the degree to which relations that are learned match relations in a manually engineered ontology.
Stimulation of Cell Surface Plasminogen Activation by Heparin and Related Polyionic Substances

The functional operation of the cell surface pro-u-PA and plasminogen activating system has previously been shown to depend on the assembly of u-PA receptors, plasminogen binding sites, and their respective ligands at the focal adhesions of cell extensions. We now show that additional factors operate that affect the persistence of functional activity and that evidently involve charge interactions mediated by polyanions, such as those found in the cell surface proteoglycans. Heparin-like compounds and protamine were identified as fast-acting stimulators of cell surface plasminogen activation. Heparin stabilized surface u-PA activity during plasminogen activation, and we propose that a heparin binding site exists in the kringle structure of u-PA. Heparin at 40 micrograms/ml could reduce u-PA loss to only 20% compared with 60% on control cells activating plasminogen. Protamine (25 micrograms/ml) exerted a strong stimulatory effect on the level of generated bound plasmin and notably prolonged the persistence of this activity, so that 100 minutes after addition of plasminogen the level of plasmin on protamine-treated cells was five times higher than on control-treated cells. The effect of protamine on plasmin clearance suggests that an unknown plasmin inhibitor may be produced by rhabdomyosarcoma cells, whose action is accelerated by endogenous polyanions, in an analogous manner to thrombin inactivation by antithrombin III and protease nexin on endothelial cells and fibroblasts, respectively. The stimulatory effects of heparin and protamine do not affect the inactivation of cell surface u-PA by recombinant PAI-2.