Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhanced surface normal computation by exploiting RGB-D sensory information

Reliable surface normal computation is fundamental for a broad range of computer vision application areas, e.g. object segmentation, classification and recognition. Naturally, the surface normal is computed on the acquired depth data, whereby the normal quality is dependent on noise performance and resolution of the underlying image modality. The tendency of combining different imaging sensors into one device is increasing and leads to a new sampling density, which can be used to compensate or reduce the drawbacks of modalities. This paper presents a novel method for computing surface normals on RGB-D images by combining superpixel segmentation in color space with plane fitting in depth space. For evaluation we perform a qualitative comparison between our method and two standard methods for computing normal maps in diverse indoor scenes. Our results show an improvement in computing normal maps with clear and crisp-edges. Furthermore, our proposed method approximates valid normal information in areas where the depth sensor returned errors or depth inhomogeneities. These results emphasize our assumption that under normal light conditions edges in depth space are coherent to edges in color space.
Perinatal Immunotoxicity: Why Adult Exposure Assessment Fails to Predict Risk

Recent research has pointed to the developing immune system as a remarkably sensitive toxicologic target for environmental chemicals and drugs. In fact, the perinatal period before and just after birth is replete with dynamic immune changes, many of which do not occur in adults. These include not only the basic maturation and distribution of immune cell types and selection against autoreactive lymphocytes but also changes designed specifically to protect the pregnancy against immune-mediated miscarriage. The newborn is then faced with critical immune maturational adjustments to achieve an immune balance necessary to combat myriad childhood and later-life diseases. All these processes set the fetus and neonate completely apart from the adult regarding immunotoxicologic risk. Yet for decades, safety evaluation has relied almost exclusively upon exposure of the adult immune system to predict perinatal immune risk. Recent workshops and forums have suggested a benefit in employing alternative exposures that include exposure throughout early life stages. However, issues remain concerning when and where such applications might be required. In this review we discuss the reasons why immunotoxic assessment is important for current childhood diseases and why adult exposure assessment cannot predict the effect of xenobiotics on the developing immune system. It also provides examples of developmental immunotoxicants where age-based risk appears to differ. Finally, it stresses the need to replace adult exposure assessment for immune evaluation with protocols that can protect the developing immune system.
Space-Time-Frequency Domain Water-Filling in MIMO-OFDM Fading System

In this paper, we have derived the form of the maximum capacity for MIMO-OFDM system by adaptively allocating power in space, time and frequency domains in the case of perfect channel side information at the receiver (CSIR) and a zero-mean spatially white (ZMSW) channel distribution at the transmitter. Both the effects of Rayleigh fast fading and shadowing on the ergodic capacity are considered. The ergodic capacities achieved by the three different power allocation schemes, filling water in space-time-frequency domain, filling water in space-frequency domain and equally allocating power, are compared. For the ergodic capacity, the optimal power allocation scheme is filling water in space-time-frequency domain, which can obtain the maximal capacity as well as reduce the computation complexity.
Investigating the emotional intelligence of adolescents with and without disabilities

Investigating the Emotional Intelligence of Adolescents With and Without Disabilities by Leota Tucker Dr. Susan Miller, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Special Education University of Nevada, Las Vegas This study involved an investigation of the emotional intelligence profiles of three groups of adolescents: those with learning disabilities, those with an emotional disturbances, and adolescents without disabilities. A 2 (gender) X 3 (group) X 4 (subscale) mixed design with repeated measures on subscale was used to determine whether differences in emotional intelligence, as measured by the BarOn EQi.YV, existed among these three groups of adolescents. Specifically, performance within the four subscales of intrapersonal, interpersonal, stress management and adaptability as well as in the overall composite scores were compared to detect differences between gender, and disability groups. A total of 66 middle and high school students (38 males and 28 females) participated in this study, of these 66 participants, 33 had learning disabilities, 14 had emotional disturbances, and 19 had no disability. The participants ranged in age from 13.0 years old to 18.7 years old.
A weighted fair queuing algorithm for charging electric vehicles on a smart grid

We are concerned with charging electric vehicles at home. The energy demand from electric vehicles can increase more rapidly than our ability to increase the generating capacity or the distribution facilities in the electric network. Our objective is to use a smart power distribution algorithm to reduce the inconvenience to electric vehicle owners. When there isn't sufficient capacity to charge all of the vehicles simultaneously, we will select different subsets of vehicles to charge in each 5 minute interval. The smart grid will control a switch on each charger. The order in which we charge the vehicles has a significant effect on the number of vehicles that are delayed when they would like to leave the charging station, and the amount of time that they are delayed. By reducing these measures, electric vehicles can be deployed more rapidly. We compare a weighted fair queuing algorithm for selecting the charging order and compare it with a first-come-first-served algorithm and a round robin charging rule. The weights are selected based on the battery level when vehicles arrive at their charging stations. We assume that there is a correlation between day-to-day driving distances, and charge vehicles that require more charge more rapidly. The three charging rules are evaluated using measured data on the power usage, commuting characteristics, and the distribution of commuting times.
Measurement of breath hydrogen and methane, together with lactase genotype, defines the current best practice for investigation of lactose sensitivity

Abstract Background Currently, there is no ‘gold standard’ for detecting patients with sensitivity to lactose. Biochemical investigation by a breath hydrogen test alone detects <50% cases. Breath methane and symptoms are not recorded as standard practice. The clinical value of analysing C/T13910 and G/A22018 polymorphisms, strongly associated with lactose sensitivity, has not been established. Methods Two hundred and ten patients with unexplained gut and systemic symptoms and controls were challenged with 50 g lactose. Breath hydrogen and methane were measured and symptoms recorded. All were genotyped for two polymorphisms, C/T13910 and G/A22018. Results CC13910/GG22018 in 14.5%, CT13910/GA22018 in 39% and TT13910/AA22018 in 46.5%. One hundred percent of CC13910/GG22018 were lactose sensitive having a breath hydrogen >20 ppm within 6 h and symptoms. But the breath hydrogen test lacked sensitivity and specificity in the other groups. There was elevated breath hydrogen in 21% of CT13910/GA22018 and 15% of TT13910/AA22018 by 6 h, whereas 17 and 30.9% had elevated breath methane alone. Breath methane and breath hydrogen with clinical symptoms improved sensitivity and specificity, increasing detection of lactose sensitivity in genotypes CT/GA and TT/AA from <50 to >75%. Conclusions The data presented define the current best practice for the clinical identification of lactose sensitivity. Patients were first genotyped. Those identified as CC with symptoms should immediately undertake a 12-week lactose-free diet. Those identified as CT or TT should undertake a breath hydrogen and methane test. Those positive for hydrogen or methane along with symptoms or with symptoms only, should also undertake a lactose-free diet. Those with high hydrogen without symptoms should be investigated for causes other than lactose sensitivity.
A novel approach to path planning for multiple robots in bi-connected graphs

This paper addresses a problem of path planning for multiple robots. An abstraction where the environment for robots is modeled as an undirected graph with robots placed in its vertices is used (this abstraction is also known as the problem of pebble motion on graphs). A class of the problem with bi-connected graph and at least two unoccupied vertices is defined. A novel polynomial-time solution algorithm for this class of problem is proposed. It is shown in the paper that the new algorithm significantly outperforms the existing state-of-the-art techniques applicable to the problem. Moreover, the performed experimental evaluation indicates that the new algorithm scales up well which make it suitable for practical problem solving.
Three isomeric bis(methoxycarbonyl)[2.2]paracyclophanes.

The title isomers 4,16- (pseudo-ortho), 4,15- (pseudo-gem) and 4,12-bis(methoxycarbonyl)[2.2]paracyclophane (pseudo-para), C(20)H(20)O(4), all show the typical structural features of [2.2]paracyclophanes (flattened boat conformation of the rings, lengthened single bonds in the bridges and narrow ring angles at the bridgehead atoms). The 4,12-isomer displays crystallographic inversion symmetry. The carbonyl groups adopt a conformation in which they are directed away from the ring systems towards the nearest bridge; the corresponding angle at the ring substituent atom is widened. Crystal packing involves C-H.pi interactions for the 4,15-isomer and weak C-H.O hydrogen bonds for the other two isomers.
Particle Filter-based Multi-part Human Tracking with Failure Adjustment in Video Sequences

The study presents a human tracking system in video sequences. To track the target, we first detect humans in a video according to a Gaussian background model. We then track the humans by using color histogram as the features and using particle filters as the tracking kernel. Since a human is not a rigid object, his appearance may be greatly affected by his motion. In our applications, human bodies imaged are generally large. We decompose each human body into three parts: head, torso, and hip-leg, represent them by three shrunk rectangles, and track them by particle filters. In this way we can reduce possible tracking failures by checking the interrelationship among these three parts. We use support vector machines (SVM) to detect tracking failures and abnormal body parts since the abnormal situations are very diversified and cannot be easily encoded in rules. If a single part is abnormal, its position can be adjusted from the other parts and tracked using the system dynamic model. If two or three parts are abnormal, we re-initialize the tracking process of the three parts around their predicted positions. By testing on 22 video clips from six scenes, the experimental results showed that our three-part tracking system with failure detection and correction can track correctly about 95% persons until the 105th frame. With respect to the body parts, our system has about 95%, 83%, and 91% tracking rates for head, torso, and hip-leg respectively until the 105th frame. The tracking rate of a human increase 20% comparing with that of the whole-body tracker. These rates show the effectiveness of the proposed system.
Toward defining the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease: Recommendations from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association workgroup

The pathophysiological process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is thought to begin many years before the diagnosis of AD dementia. This long “preclinical” phase of AD would provide a critical opportunity for therapeutic intervention; however, we need to further elucidate the link between the pathological cascade of AD and the emergence of clinical symptoms. The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association convened an international workgroup to review the biomarker, epidemiological, and neuropsychological evidence, and to develop recommendations to determine the factors which best predict the risk of progression from “normal” cognition to mild cognitive impairment and AD dementia. We propose a conceptual framework and operational research criteria, based on the prevailing scientific evidence to date, to test and refine these models with longitudinal clinical research studies. These recommendations are solely intended for research purposes and do not have any clinical implications at this time. It is hoped that these recommen
Explaining Left Lateralization for Words in the Ventral Occipitotemporal Cortex

Reading is a uniquely human task and therefore any sign of neuronal activation that is specific to reading is of considerable interest. One intriguing observation is that ventral occipitotemporal (vOT) activation is more strongly left lateralized for written words than other visual stimuli. This has contributed to claims that left vOT plays a special role in reading. Here, we investigated whether left lateralized vOT responses for words were the consequence of visual feature processing, visual word form selectivity, or higher level language processing. Using fMRI in 82 skilled readers, our paradigm compared activation and lateralization for words and nonlinguistic stimuli during different tasks. We found that increased left lateralization for words relative to pictures was the consequence of reduced activation in right vOT rather than increased activation in left vOT. We also found that the determinants of lateralization varied with the subregion of vOT tested. In posterior vOT, lateralization depended on the spatial frequency of the visual inputs. In anterior vOT, lateralization depended on the semantic demands of the task. In middle vOT, lateralization depended on a combination of visual expertise in the right hemisphere and semantics in the left hemisphere. These results have implications for interpreting left lateralized vOT activation during reading. Specifically, left lateralized activation in vOT does not necessarily indicate an increase in left vOT processing but is instead a consequence of decreased right vOT function. Moreover, the determinants of lateralization include both visual and semantic factors depending on the subregion tested.
Cell Invasion by Neisseria meningitidis Requires a Functional Interplay between the Focal Adhesion Kinase, Src and Cortactin

Entry of Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) into human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) is mediated by fibronectin or vitronectin bound to the surface protein Opc forming a bridge to the respective integrins. This interaction leads to cytoskeletal rearrangement and uptake of meningococci. In this study, we determined that the focal adhesion kinase (FAK), which directly associates with integrins, is involved in integrin-mediated internalization of N. meningitidis in HBMEC. Inhibition of FAK activity by the specific FAK inhibitor PF 573882 reduced Opc-mediated invasion of HBMEC more than 90%. Moreover, overexpression of FAK mutants that were either impaired in the kinase activity or were not capable of autophosphorylation or overexpression of the dominant-negative version of FAK (FRNK) blocked integrin-mediated internalization of N. meningitidis. Importantly, FAK-deficient fibroblasts were significantly less invaded by N. meningitidis. Furthermore, N. meningitidis induced tyrosine phosphorylation of several host proteins including the FAK/Src complex substrate cortactin. Inhibition of cortactin expression by siRNA silencing and mutation of critical amino acid residues within cortactin, that encompass Arp2/3 association and dynamin binding, significantly reduced meningococcal invasion into eukaryotic cells suggesting that both domains are critical for efficient uptake of N. meningitidis into eukaryotic cells. Together, these results indicate that N. meningitidis exploits the integrin signal pathway for its entry and that FAK mediates the transfer of signals from activated integrins to the cytoskeleton. A cooperative interplay between FAK, Src and cortactin then enables endocytosis of N. meningitidis into host cells.
Systematic Validation and Atomic Force Microscopy of Non-Covalent Short Oligonucleotide Barcode Microarrays

Background Molecular barcode arrays provide a powerful means to analyze cellular phenotypes in parallel through detection of short (20–60 base) unique sequence tags, or “barcodes”, associated with each strain or clone in a collection. However, costs of current methods for microarray construction, whether by in situ oligonucleotide synthesis or ex situ coupling of modified oligonucleotides to the slide surface are often prohibitive to large-scale analyses. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we demonstrate that unmodified 20mer oligonucleotide probes printed on conventional surfaces show comparable hybridization signals to covalently linked 5′-amino-modified probes. As a test case, we undertook systematic cell size analysis of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome-wide deletion collection by size separation of the deletion pool followed by determination of strain abundance in size fractions by barcode arrays. We demonstrate that the properties of a 13K unique feature spotted 20 mer oligonucleotide barcode microarray compare favorably with an analogous covalently-linked oligonucleotide array. Further, cell size profiles obtained with the size selection/barcode array approach recapitulate previous cell size measurements of individual deletion strains. Finally, through atomic force microscopy (AFM), we characterize the mechanism of hybridization to unmodified barcode probes on the slide surface. Conclusions/Significance These studies push the lower limit of probe size in genome-scale unmodified oligonucleotide microarray construction and demonstrate a versatile, cost-effective and reliable method for molecular barcode analysis.
Andrographolide Suppresses MV4-11 Cell Proliferation through the Inhibition of FLT3 Signaling, Fatty Acid Synthesis and Cellular Iron Uptake

Background: Andrographolide (ADR), the main active component of Andrographis paniculata, displays anticancer activity in various cancer cell lines, among which leukemia cell lines exhibit the highest sensitivity to ADR. In particular, ADR was also reported to have reduced drug resistance in multidrug resistant cell lines. However, the mechanism of action (MOA) of ADR’s anticancer and anti-drug-resistance activities remain elusive. Methods: In this study, we used the MV4-11 cell line, a FLT3 positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line that displays multidrug resistance, as our experimental system. We first evaluated the effect of ADR on MV4-11 cell proliferation. Then, a quantitative proteomics approach was applied to identify differentially expressed proteins in ADR-treated MV4-11 cells. Finally, cellular processes and signal pathways affected by ADR in MV4-11 cell were predicted with proteomic analysis and validated with in vitro assays. Results: ADR inhibits MV4-11 cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. With a proteomic approach, we discovered that ADR inhibited fatty acid synthesis, cellular iron uptake and FLT3 signaling pathway in MV4-11 cells. Conclusions: ADR inhibits MV4-11 cell proliferation through inhibition of fatty acid synthesis, iron uptake and protein synthesis. Furthermore, ADR reduces drug resistance by blocking FLT3 signaling.
Accessory Gene Regulator Polymorphism and Vancomycin Minimum Inhibitory Concentration in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia with a vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2 µg/mL presents a high rate of therapeutic failure in response to vancomycin. In addition, polymorphism in accessory gene regulator (agr) is associated with vancomycin therapeutic effects. The association between agr polymorphism and vancomycin MICs was investigated in MRSA isolates. Methods Agr group-specific PCR was conducted on 118 MRSA bloodstream isolates. Vancomycin susceptibility tests were conducted, while E-test GRD (bioMérieux SA, France) was used to detect heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA). Results Of the 118 MRSA isolates, 59 (50.0%), 43 (36.4%), and 10 (8.5%) isolates belonged to agr group I, II, and III, respectively. Six isolates could not be classified. Twenty-six, 73, and 19 isolates presented a vancomycin MIC of 2, 1, and 0.5 µg/mL, respectively. Nine (34.6%), 14 (53.8%), and 2 (7.7%) isolates with MICs of 2 µg/mL belonged to agr group I, II, and III, respectively. Thirty-seven (50.6%), 26 (35.6%), and 6 (8.2%) isolates with MICs of 1 µg/mL belonged to agr group I, II, and III, respectively. Thirteen (68.4%), 3 (15.8%), and 2 (10.5%) isolates with MICs of 0.5 µg/mL belonged to agr group I, II, and III, respectively. The agr group II presented more isolates with MIC of 2 µg/mL (32.6%) than the agr non-group II (16%). Four isolates tested positive for hVISA. Three of them belonged to agr group II. Conclusions MRSA isolates with vancomycin MIC of 2 µg/mL were more common in agr group II than in agr non-group II.
Evaluating a learning environment for case-based argumentation skills

CAT0 is an intelligent learning environment designed to help &@ting law students learn basic skills of making arguments with cases, through practice in theory-testing and argumentation tasks. CAT0 models ways in which experts compare and contrast cases, assess the significance of similarities and differences between cases in light of general domain knowledge, and use the same general knowledge to organize multi-case arguments by issues. CAT0 communicates its model to students by presenting dynamically-generated argumentation examples and reifying (i.e., making visible) argument structure. Also, the CAT0 Tools reduce some of the distracting complexity of the students’ task. gal education seeks to teach. But they are difficult to learn and time-consuming to teach. If computer-based instruction can help students get some extra practice in basic skills and free up instructor’s time for more advanced topics, much would be gained. We evaluated CAT0 in the context of a second-semester Iegal writing course taught at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. We found that 7.5 hours of CAT0 instruction led to a statistically significant improvement in students’ basic argumentation skills, comparable to that achieved, in the same amount of time, by an experienced legal writing instructor teaching small groups of students in a more traditional way. On a more advanced memo-writing assignment, meant to explore the “frontier” of the CAT0 instruction, students taught by the legal writing instructor did better, indicating that more is needed if CAT0 is to help students to improve their memo-writing skills. CAT0 employs a computational model of case-based argumentation that addresses eight basic argument moves and more elaborate multi-case arguments. The model includes a “Factor Hierarchy,” which represents more nbstract. , but still domain-specific, legal knowledge about the meaning of the factors used to represent cases. CAT0 uses the Factor Hierarchy for a number of purposes, among them to organize multi-case arguments by issues and to make arguments about the significance of distinctions. To generate the latter, CAT0 strategically selects alternative interpretations of cases to elaborate a “deeper” (or more. abstract) contrast or parallel between cases.