Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward A Cognitive Computer Vision System

A truly cognitive computer vision system has not yet been built. Current vision system designs are based on mathematical and engineering considerations rather than on cognitive principles. The goal of our research project is to create a vision system that is both cognitively and neurally plausible. We are designing a human-like vision system to better understand how the human visual system works and to understand any engineering advantages it possesses. We are building a cognitive vision system that is suitable for a mobile robot. This system works in a manner similar to the human vision system, using saccadic, vergence and pursuit movements to extract information from visual input. At each fixation, the system builds a 3D model of a small region, combining information about distance, shape, texture and motion to create a local dynamic spatial model. These local 3D models are composed to create an overall 3D model of the robot and its environment. This approach turns the computer vision problem into a search problem whose goal is the acquisition of sufficient spatial understanding for the robot to succeed at its tasks. This paper gives an overview of our work, beginning with the cognitive principles and structure of our existing system. We give an example showing how our system renders a bouncing ball. Then we describe our current and future work, which includes integrating our cognitive approach with existing work on neural visual structures.
Psychometrische Eigenschaften zweier Skalen zur Erfassung interindividueller Unterschiede in der Präferenz zum Alleinsein

Zusammenfassung. Personen unterscheiden sich in der Neigung, Situationen aufzusuchen, in denen sie alleine sind und diese zu geniesen. Zur Erfassung dieser interindividuellen Unterschiede in der Praferenz zum Alleinsein stellen wir eine deutsche Version der Preference for Solitude Skala (Burger, 1995; PfS-dt) und ein von uns entwickeltes Inventar zur Messung der Praferenz zum Alleinsein (IPA) vor. Fur beide Instrumente wurden die psychometrischen Eigenschaften in einer grosen Stichprobe (N = 1122) untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass die PfS-dt und das IPA intern konsistent und faktoriell valide sind sowie eine gute Retestreliabilitat aufweisen (N = 80). Zusatzlich dazu liesen sich fur beide Inventare konvergente und diskriminante Zusammenhange zu anderen Personlichkeitsmerkmalen nachweisen. Beide Inventare waren auserdem in der Lage, uber die Big Five hinaus selbstberichtetes Verhalten zu pradizieren.
A novel method for computation of periodicity, aperiodicity and pitch of speech signals

The paper presents improvements to our previously proposed algorithm to compute the proportion of periodic and aperiodic energies in speech signals and to estimate the pitch period. Although previously the periodic and aperiodic energies were estimated independently of each other at each frame, a binary decision was made at each of the non-silent channels. We present an extension that replaces the binary decision with a measure of the degree of periodicity and aperiodicity in each channel. Evaluation on synthetic speech-like data shows a better agreement in the estimated SNR and the actual SNR by using this improvement. Moreover, in the task of estimating the SNRs, this method significantly outperforms a method based on cepstral coefficients. When the method is evaluated on a speech database, the periodicity and aperiodicity accuracy increase significantly. The previous pitch detector was prone to committing pitch doubling and pitch halving errors and was unable to detect pitch reliably in weakly periodic regions. Significant changes have reduced the error rate by 28.7%. The pitch detector is also able to detect accurately the pitch of the synthetic speech-like signals and to capture the jitter present in the signals.
Mercury contamination in reproductive age women in a Caribbean island: Vieques

Teratogenic amounts of mercury can avidly cross human placental barrier causing permanent neurological impairment to the developing fetus. A warning, from the USA Food and Drug Administration, advising reproductive age women to limit fish consumption, highlights the importance of this contaminating route.1 Internal mercury exposure in fish consuming communities in the Caribbean Basin has not been evaluated. Our study assessed mercury internal exposure for reproductive age women in a heavily industrialised area of north eastern Puerto Rico (NEPR) and its island municipality of Vieques, spared from industrial activities. Women of ages 16–49, attending their primary physician, were invited to participate. The study was free to all participants. The general population of Vieques was informed of the study dates. Bonafide residence in towns from San Juan to Ceiba, for the NEPR cohort, or Vieques, during the year preceding the hair sample was confirmed. Women with chemically treated hair during the three months preceding the study were excluded. Demographic, medical, nutritional, occupational, religious, residential, and cosmetic information was individually obtained. Completion of the study’s questionnaire and consent forms were prerequisites for hair sampling. The study was …
Quantifying medial temporal lobe damage in memory‐impaired patients †

Studies of memory‐impaired patients will be most useful when quantitative neuroanatomical information is available about the patients being studied. Toward that end, in the case of medial temporal lobe amnesia, protocols have been developed from histological material that identify the boundaries of relevant structures on magnetic resonance images. Because the size of these structures varies considerably in the normal population, some correction for overall brain size is usually employed when calculating volume measurements. Although different correction procedures have been used to normalize for brain size, there has been little study of how well different methods reduce variability and which methods might be most useful. We measured the volume of the hippocampal region (hippocampus proper, dentate gyrus, and subicular complex) and the volumes of the temporopolar, entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices in five memory‐impaired patients and 30 controls. We then compared three different methods for normalizing the volume measurements: normalization by intracranial volume, normalization by aligning the brain to a standard atlas, and normalization by brain area at the level of the anterior commissure. Normalization by intracranial volume reduced variability in the volume measurements of nearly all brain regions to a greater extent than did normalization by other methods. When normalized by intracranial volume, the patients exhibited a mean reduction in hippocampal volume of about 40% and negligible reductions in the volumes of other medial temporal lobe structures. On the basis of earlier histological analysis of two other patients (L.M. and W.H.), who also had reductions in hippocampal size of about 40%, we suggest that a volume reduction in this range likely indicates a nearly complete loss of hippocampal neurons. Published 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis of Risk Factors for Adjacent Segment Degeneration Occurring More than 5 Years after Fusion with Pedicle Screw Fixation for Degenerative Lumbar Spine

Study Design A retrospective study. Purpose We investigated the risk factors in adjacent segment degeneration (ASD) after more than 5 years of follow-up of lumbar spinal fusion. Overview of Literature There are many concerns regarding ASD followed by lumbar spinal fusion. However, there is a great deal of dispute about the risk factors. Methods A total of 55 patients who were followed up for more than 5 years after lumbar fusion were observed. Gender, age, residence, fusion method, number of fusion segments and radiological measurements were analyzed. In the radiological measurement, disc height, lumbar lordotic angle (LLA), fusion segment lordotic angle and fusion segment lordotic angle per level (FSLA per level) were estimated. In preoperative MRI, Pfirrmann's classification was used. The clinical result was evaluated by the criteria of Kim and Kim. Statistical univariate analysis was performed with the chi-square test by using SPSS ver. 12.0. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted with SAS ver. 9. Results There were 21 patients with adjacent segment degeneration. Further, there was little relationship between ASD and gender, age, residence, fusion method, number of fusion segments, degree of preoperative adjacent disc degeneration in MRI, or preoperative and postoperative LLA. However, the frequency of ASD was significantly low in cases where FSLA per level was >15° (p=0.009). There was no significant relationship between ASD and the clinical result. Conclusions In patients followed up for more than 5 years after lumbar spinal fusion, the most important factor in the prevention of ASD was the restoration of FSLA per level to >15°.
An Automatic 3D City Model : A Bayesian Approach Using Satellite Images

We propose a parametric model for automatic 3D reconstruction of urban areas from high resolution satellite data. An automatic building extraction method based on marked point processes is used to provide rectangular building footprints. Based on a parametric model with rectangular ground footprint, the proposed method is developed using a Bayesian approach : we search for the best configuration of parametric models with respect to both a priori knowledge of models and their interactions, and a likelihood which fits models to the DEM. A simulated annealing is used to find the configuration which maximizes the a posteriori density of the Bayesian expression
A VGA 30-fps optical-flow processor core based on Pyramidal Lucas and Kanade algorithm

This paper describes an optical-flow processor core for real-time video recognition. The processor is based on the Pyramidal Lucas and Kanade algorithm. It has small chip area, a high pixel rate, and high accuracy compared to conventional optical-flow processors. Introduction of search range limitation and the Carman filter to the original algorithm improves the optical-flow accuracy and reduces the processor hardware cost. Furthermore, window interleaving and window overlap methods can reduce the necessary clock frequency of the processor by 70%. The proposed processor can handle a VGA30-fps image sequence with 332 MHz clock frequency. The core size and power consumption in 90-nm process technology are estimated respectively as 3.50 times 3.00 mm2 and 600 mW.
When Work Is Home

The authors describe the work experiences of in-home day care providers, particularly their relationships with the parents of the children for whom they care throughout the day. The authors identify two unintended consequences of the providers' organizing structures and policies: feelings of stress and underappreciation in potential interactions. Ironically, the providers also instituted these same structures and policies to stay home with their own children and meet their own financial needs. This double bind of agency and constraint produced stress, which in turn compromised their interactions with their family and friends. Findings highlight the difficulties involved in managing work and family from a home-based business and draw particular attention to the relational challenges faced by the providers.
Full-Wave Analysis of Scattering for Geostationary Orbit Microwave Radiometer

A new quantitative analysis method of the influence of scattering of geostationary orbit microwave radiometer is presented. Using full-wave analysis module of TICRA, we obtain the energy ratio of each part of satellite structure and quantify the scattering of each structure. According to the analysis data, optimize the satellite structure design to avoid the scattering influence as far as possible.
E-Government for Distributed Autonomous Administrations

E-Government is no longer a concern of single public administration units. State wide E-Government strategies, E-Government architectures and frameworks are established now and public administrations are willing to suit the action to the word. Also, semantically enriched techniques for service description, discovery and invocation are ready to come into practice. The challenge is the appropriate use of all the relevant parts to meet the technical, organizational and legal requirements. The paper at hand provides an approach, how available techniques can be implemented in a light-weighted way to build ‘one-stop E-Government services’ on completely decentralized components. This allows to leave the control to where it belongs (every service contributor is responsible for its parts), to execute a service according to the local ICT but at the same time to meet the requirements for automated cross-administration cooperation. The introduced approach is illustrated with the example of Switzerland.
Social and economic exchange in the employee‐organization relationship: the moderating role of reciprocation wariness

Purpose – This paper examines the relationships that social and economic exchanges, two elements of the employee‐organization relationship (EOR), had with affective commitment, turnover intentions, employer trust, and altruism. The paper also aims to determine whether reciprocation wariness, reflecting fear of exploitation in reciprocation, moderated relationships that exchange elements had with outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 453 employees of a large Korean electronics organization completed a survey on their work attitudes, behaviors, and demographic characteristics.Findings – Results showed that reciprocation wariness moderated relations that social exchange had with commitment, turnover intentions, and trust, and that economic exchange had with turnover intentions.Research limitations/implications – The significance of examining social and economic exchange and of developing conceptualizations of the EOR that incorporate individual differences is discussed.Practical implications – Or.
Building Wireless Metropolitan Networks

This paper describes the main aspects of building wireless networks, as described by the eCity idea of municipal networks owned and controlled by a central authority versus the anarchic design of open communities using as a case study Patras Wireless Metropolitan Network. The paper points out the important economic aspects that lead to the rigorous development and notates the main issues when using commercial equipment, as in the hot-city project driven by Cisco and the City of Luxemburg. Some discussion is done to point out the main differences among the two case studies, in terms of offered services, network coverage and the impact to the local societies. The important criteria into characterizing each approach is a discussion on the vision, objectives, and the expected benefits to each of the involved parties. Finally, it is evaluated if such an investment is profitable and whether a wISP should deploy such an infrastructure even if the economic criteria propose otherwise. Finally, the paper concludes on how these could lead to further local business development, improving the value of the offered services.
Protective Effect of 3,4-Methylenedioxyphenol (Sesamol) on Stress-Related Mucosal Disease in Rats

Stress-related mucosal disease (SRMD) causes considerable morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. 3,4-Methylenedioxyphenol (sesamol) has been reported to have potent antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sesamol on water immersion restraint- (WIR-) induced SRMD in rats. Rat gastric ulcer and hemorrhage were induced by WIR. Rats were pretreated orally with various doses of sesamol (0.1, 0.3, and 1 mg/kg, resp.) 30 min before WIR. Gastric mucosal ulceration, hemoglobin, lipid peroxidation, mucus secretion, proinflammatory cytokines, and nuclear factor (NF)-κB levels were determined 4 h after WIR. In addition, the infiltration of neutrophil and macrophage into gastric mucosa was also determined after WIR. Water immersion restraint increased gastric mucosal ulcer and hemorrhage, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6 levels but failed to affect mucosal lipid peroxidation and mucus secretion compared with non-WIR. Sesamol significantly decreased gastric ulceration and hemorrhage and inhibited mucosal TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 production and NF-κB activity in WIR-treated rats. In addition, increased myeloperoxidase and CD68 levels in gastric mucosa were found in WIR-treated rats compared to non-WIR rats. Sesamol did not affect myeloperoxidase but decreased CD68 levels in mucosa in WIR-treated rats. Sesamol may protect against SRMD by inhibiting gastric mucosal proinflammatory cytokines in rats.
Implementing reliable distributed real-time systems with the Θ-model

A widely accepted viewpoint is that designs for distributed real-time systems should be based on synchronous computational models. Safety in such designs, however, requires that the target system behaves as the synchronous model postulates. We believe that this approach is rather risky, as it rests on solving distributed scheduling problems which are known to be NP-hard. We therefore advocate the use of more relaxed system models, namely asynchronous models equipped with unreliable failure detectors. To this end, we introduce a novel implementation of the perfect failure detector, resting on an abstract model without upper bounds on end-to-end message delays. Then, we demonstrate how this algorithm can be transferred from the abstract model into a real network/system architecture. Finally, we prove that this solution exhibits real-time behavior.
High‐pressure freezing of cell suspensions in cellulose capillary tubes

A procedure for efficient cryoimmobilization of large volumes of cell suspensions or micro‐organisms by high‐pressure freezing is described. This procedure uses transparent, porous cellulose capillary tubes with an inner diameter of 200 μm, into which the suspensions are drawn by capillary action. The tubes are processed by high‐pressure freezing and freeze‐substitution as if they were tissue samples. Centrifugation of suspensions at low temperatures is no longer necessary and cryopreparation is greatly facilitated.
Reactive Attachment Disorder: Recognition, Action, and Considerations for School Social Workers.

School social workers are increasingly faced with students who have attachment issues, those who have been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), as well as the families affected by this disorder. In this article, key features of the RAD diagnosis are presented. Other psychiatric disorders associated and confused with RAD are also discussed. The often ignored family and systemic focus of RAD and its effective treatment are emphasized. Recommendations for social work practice in this area are described.
High energy afterglows and flares from gamma-ray burst by inverse Compton emission

Aims. We perform a detailed study of inverse Compton (IC) emission for a fireball undergoing external shock (ES) in either a uniform or a wind-like interstellar medium, and assess the relative importance of IC and synchrotron emissions. Methods. We determine the primary model parameters driving the IC to synchrotron emission ratio in the case of a short duration central engine. We then investigate the case of ES by a long duration central engine, or delayed external shock (DES), a model that can account for some of the flares observed in gamma-ray bursts (GRB) X-ray light curves at late times. We present model predictions, in particular in terms of GeV vs. X-ray behavior, and compare them with other models proposed to explain the origin of flares. Results. We find that if most of the emission occurs when the fireball is in the fast cooling regime, then a substantial GeV emission is expected both for a short (standard ES) and a long (DES) duration central engine activity. In particular, in the context of standard ES we are able to account for the delayed emission observed in GRB 940217. In the case of DES, we find that IC scattering of X-ray flare photons can produce high energy flares in the GeV band, which can be detected by the Large Area Telescope aboard GLAST. The detectability of high energy flares improves with the burst kinetic energy E : about 30% of Swift GRBs showing flares in their X-ray light curve have sufficiently large kinetic energy so that the expected high flares can be detected by GLAST. One important prediction of the DES model is the simultaneity between low and high energy flares. To test this simultaneity, the peak energies of both flares need to fall below or within the observational bands. We predict that X-ray flares with peak energy of ~10 eV produce high energy flares with peak energy of around 100 MeV-GeV. Observations by Swift and GLAST then, can test the predicted simultaneity, thus helping to discriminate between different models.
Simulation and architecture improvements of atomic operations on GPU scratchpad memory

GPUs are increasingly used as compute accelerators. With a large number of cores executing an even larger number of threads, significant speed-ups can be attained for parallel workloads. Applications that rely on atomic operations, such as histogram and Hough transform, suffer from serialization of threads in case they update the same memory location. Previous work shows that reducing this serialization with software techniques can increase performance by an order of magnitude. We observe, however, that some serialization remains and still slows down these applications. Therefore, this paper proposes to use a hash function in both the addressing of the banks and the locks of the scratchpad memory. To measure the effects of these changes, we first implement a detailed model of atomic operations on scratchpad memory in GPGPU-Sim, and verify its correctness. Second, we test our proposed hardware changes. They result in a speed-up up to 4.9× and 1.8× on implementations utilizing the aforementioned software techniques for histogram and Hough transform applications respectively, with minimum hardware costs.
Pneumomediastinum and Bilateral Pneumothoraces Causing Respiratory Failure after Thyroid Surgery

We report the first case of severe respiratory failure after thyroid surgery requiring venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vvECMO). The patient was a 41-year-old woman with metastatic thyroid cancer. She underwent thyroidectomy, including left lateral and bilateral central neck dissection. During surgery, the patient developed pneumomediastinum with bilateral pneumothoraces. Despite early treatment with bilateral chest tubes and no evidence of a tracheal perforation, the patient developed severe respiratory failure after extubation on the intensive care unit. Because pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum might be more common than reported, and considering increasing cases of thyroid surgery, staff should remain vigilant of pulmonary complications after thyroid surgery.
Chicory R2R3-MYB transcription factors CiMYB5 and CiMYB3 regulate fructan 1-exohydrolase expression in response to abiotic stress and hormonal cues

Chicory R2R3-MYB transcription factors CiMYB5 and CiMYB3 activate promoters of 1-FEH genes (1-FEH1, 1-FEH2a, and 1-FEH2b) and are co-expressed with their target genes under various abiotic stress and phytohormone treatments.