Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multilevel statistical shape models: A new framework for modeling hierarchical structures

Statistical shape models are commonly used in various applications of computer vision. Nevertheless, these models are not well adapted to hierarchical structures. This paper proposes a solution to this problem by presenting a general framework to build multilevel statistical shape models. Based on multilevel component analysis, the idea is to decompose the data into a within-individual and a between-individual component. As a result, several sub-models are deduced and can be treated separately, each level characterizing one sub-model. In this paper, we present a multilevel model of the human spine. The results show that such a modelization offers more flexibility and allows deformations that classical statistical models can simply not generate.
Genetic Modifiers of the Phenotypic Level of Deoxyribonucleic Acid-Conferred Novobiocin Resistance in Haemophilus

Leidy, Grace (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), Iris Jaffee, and Hattie E. Alexander. Genetic modifiers of the phenotypic level of deoxyribonucleic acid-conferred novobiocin resistance in Haemophilus. J. Bacteriol. 92:1464–1468. 1966. —An apparent increase in novobiocin resistance in Haemophilus aegyptius after a second exposure to a particular H. influenzae transforming deoxyribonucleic acid was shown to be the result not of multi-step transformation but of the action of a gene functioning as an enhancement modifier. The modifier is very closely linked to a streptomycin resistance gene (which is linked to a novobiocin resistance marker); it affects the natural degree of resistance to both novobiocin and kanamycin to a measurable degree. Evidence of a repressor of the enhancement modifier is reported.
The influence of symptom experiences and attributions on adherence to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART): a six-month prospective, follow-up study

Abstract Objective. To examine changes in individuals’ experiences of symptoms over the first six months of taking highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and to assess the impact of symptom experiences and attributions on adherence to HAART. Methods. A prospective study where consecutive HIV positive individuals initiating HAART completed validated questionnaires assessing their experiences of symptoms, depression, beliefs about HAART and adherence, before starting treatment and after one, three and six months of treatment. Results. Rates of low (<95%) adherence to HAART increased over time (p<0.001). Overall, the number of HIV or HAART-related symptoms reported did not change significantly over follow-up. However, symptom experiences differed between those reporting high (≥95%) adherence and those reporting low adherence. Individuals reporting high adherence experienced a decrease in symptoms they attributed to HIV (p<0.05), and a decrease in the symptoms they attributed to HAART-side effects (p<0.05) over time. This decrease in symptoms over time was not seen among individuals reporting low adherence. A lack of symptomatic improvement was associated with increasing doubts about the continued necessity for HAART (p<0.05). Conclusions. The findings suggest that adherence to HAART is influenced by individuals’ experiences of both HIV and HAART-related symptoms. Patients who experience persistent symptoms while on HAART may begin to doubt their continued need for treatment and respond by missing doses. These findings have implications for the development of evidence-based interventions to increase adherence.
Remarks on free field realization of SL(2,R)/U(1) × U(1) WZNW model

Free field representations of vertex algebra in SL(2,)k/U(1) ? U(1) WZNW model are constructed by considering a twisted version of the Bershadsky-Kutasov free field description of discrete states in the two-dimensional black hole CFT. These correspond to conjugate representations describing primary states in the model on SL(2,)/U(1) ? U(1). A particular evaluation of these leads to identities due to the spectral flow symmetry of s(2)k algebra. The computation of correlation functions violating the ? inding number conservation is discussed and, as an application, these are compared with analogous results known for the sine-Liouville theory. Exact agreement is observed between both analytic structures.
On bounding problems of quantitative information flow

Researchers have proposed formal definitions of quantitative information flow based on information theoretic notions such as the Shannon entropy, the min entropy, the guessing entropy, belief, and channel capacity. This paper investigates the hardness of precisely checking the quantitative information flow of a program according to such definitions. More precisely, we study the “bounding problem” of quantitative information flow, defined as follows: Given a program M and a positive real number q, decide if the quantitative information flow of M is less than or equal to q. We prove that the bounding problem is not a k-safety property for any k even when q is fixed, for the Shannon-entropy-based definition with the uniform distribution, and therefore is not amenable to the self-composition technique that has been successfully applied to checking non-interference. We also prove complexity theoretic hardness results for the case when the program is restricted to loop-free Boolean programs. Specifically, we show that the problem is PP-hard for all definitions, showing a gap with non-interference which is coNP-complete for the same class of programs. The paper also compares the results with the recently proved results on the comparison problems of quantitative information flow.
Proteome analysis and identification of symbiosis‐related proteins from Medicago truncatula Gaertn. by two‐dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

Time‐course analysis of root protein profiles was studied by two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and silver staining in the model plant Medicago truncatula, inoculated either with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae or with the nitrogen fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. Protein modifications in relation to the development of both symbioses included down‐ and upregulations, as well as newly induced polypeptides. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time of flight‐mass spectrometry after trypsin digestion clearly identified one polypeptide induced in nodulated roots as a M. truncatula leghemoglobin. Internal sequencing with a quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer and database searches confirmed the induction of proteins previously described in root symbioses, and revealed the implication of other proteins. In nodulated roots, one polypeptide was identified as an elongation factor Tu from S. meliloti, while another one could not be assigned a function. In mycorrhizal roots, analyzed proteins also included a protein of unknown function, as well as a glutathione‐S‐transferase, a fucosidase, a myosin‐like protein, a serine hydroxymethyltransferase and a cytochrome‐c‐oxidase. These results emphasize the usefulness of proteome analysis in identifying molecular events occurring in plant root symbioses.
Partial and full attitude synchronization of multiple underactuated spacecraft

We study leaderless attitude synchronization problem of multiple underactuated spacecraft in this paper. We adopt the special parameterizations of attitude proposed by Tsiotras et al. (1995) to describe attitude kinematics, which has been shown to be very convenient for control of underactuated axisymmetric spacecraft with two control torques. It is assumed that angular velocity commands are possible and this paper is confined to the kinematic level. We first propose a partial attitude synchronization controller that is based on the exchange of each spacecraft's information with local neighbors. Under a necessary and general connectivity assumption and by use of an appropriate Lyapunov function, we show that the attitudes of spacecraft converge to a fixed or time-varying synchronization trajectory. Then, full attitude synchronization of multiple underactuated spacecraft is considered, where the discontinuous distributed algorithm is proposed. Simulations are given to validate the theoretical results and indicate several interesting observations.
Satellite analysis of the severe 1987 forest fires in northern China and southeastern Siberia

Meteorological conditions, extremely conducive to fire development and spread in the spring of 1987, resulted in forest fires burning over extremely large areas in the boreal forest zone in northeastern China and the southeastern region of Siberia. The great China fire, one of the largest and most destructive forest fires in recent history, occurred during this period in the Heilongjiang Province of China. Satellite imagery is used to examine the development and areal distribution of 1987 forest fires in this region. Overall trace gas emissions to the atmosphere from these fires are determined using a satellite-derived estimate of area burned in combination with fuel consumption figures and carbon emission ratios for boreal forest fires.
Physcomitrella patens Activates Defense Responses against the Pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

The moss Physcomitrella patens is a suitable model plant to analyze the activation of defense mechanisms after pathogen assault. In this study, we show that Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolated from symptomatic citrus fruit infects P. patens and cause disease symptoms evidenced by browning and maceration of tissues. After C. gloeosporioides infection, P. patens reinforces the cell wall by the incorporation of phenolic compounds and induces the expression of a Dirigent-protein-like encoding gene that could lead to the formation of lignin-like polymers. C. gloeosporioides-inoculated protonemal cells show cytoplasmic collapse, browning of chloroplasts and modifications of the cell wall. Chloroplasts relocate in cells of infected tissues toward the initially infected C. gloeosporioides cells. P. patens also induces the expression of the defense genes PAL and CHS after fungal colonization. P. patens reporter lines harboring the auxin-inducible promoter from soybean (GmGH3) fused to β-glucuronidase revealed an auxin response in protonemal tissues, cauloids and leaves of C. gloeosporioides-infected moss tissues, indicating the activation of auxin signaling. Thus, P. patens is an interesting plant to gain insight into defense mechanisms that have evolved in primitive land plants to cope with microbial pathogens.
Reinforcement Learning for Online Information Seeking

Search, recommendation, and online advertising are the three most important information-providing mechanisms on the web. These information seeking techniques, satisfying users' information needs by suggesting users personalized objects (information or services) at the appropriate time and place, play a crucial role in mitigating the information overload problem. With recent great advances in deep reinforcement learning (DRL), there have been increasing interests in developing DRL based information seeking techniques. These DRL based techniques have two key advantages -- (1) they are able to continuously update information seeking strategies according to users' real-time feedback, and (2) they can maximize the expected cumulative long-term reward from users where reward has different definitions according to information seeking applications such as click-through rate, revenue, user satisfaction and engagement. In this paper, we give an overview of deep reinforcement learning for search, recommendation, and online advertising from methodologies to applications, review representative algorithms, and discuss some appealing research directions.
A Visualization Based Approach for Digital Signature Authentication

We propose a visualization based approach for digital signature authentication. Using our method, the speed and pressure aspects of a digital signature process can be clearly and intuitively conveyed to the user for digital signature authentication. Our design takes into account both the expressiveness and aesthetics of the derived visual patterns. With the visual aid provided by our method, digital signatures can be authenticated with better accuracy than using existing methods—even novices can examine the authenticity of a digital signature in most situations using our method. To validate the effectiveness of our method, we conducted a comprehensive user study which confirms positively the advantages of our approach. Our method can be employed as a new security enhancement measure for a range of business and legal applications in reality which involve digital signature authorization and authentication.
Heart Rate Detection During Sleep Using a Flexible RF Resonator and Injection-Locked PLL Sensor

Novel nonintrusive technologies for wrist pulse detection have been developed and proposed as systems for sleep monitoring using three types of radio frequency (RF) sensors. The three types of RF sensors for heart rate measurement on wrist are a flexible RF single resonator, array resonators, and an injection-locked PLL resonator sensor. To verify the performance of the new RF systems, we compared heart rates between presleep time and postsleep onset time. Heart rates of ten subjects were measured using the RF systems during sleep. All three RF devices detected heart rates at 0.2 to 1 mm distance from the skin of the wrist over clothes made of cotton fabric. The wrist pulse signals of a flexible RF single resonator were consistent with the signals obtained by a portable piezoelectric transducer as a reference. Then, we confirmed that the heart rate after sleep onset time significantly decreased compared to before sleep. In conclusion, the RF system can be utilized as a noncontact nonintrusive method for measuring heart rates during sleep.
Lower bounds for adaptive collect and related objects

An <i>adaptive</i> algorithm, whose step complexity adjusts to the number of active processes, is attractive for situations in which the number of participating processes is highly variable. This paper studies the number and type of multi-writer registers that are needed for adaptive algorithms. We prove that if a collect algorithm is <i>f</i> -adaptive to total contention, namely, its step complexity is <i>f(k)</i>, where <i>k</i> is the number of processes that ever took a step, then it uses Ω(<i>f</i><sup>-1</sup>(<i>n</i>) multi-writer registers, where <i>n</i> is the total number of processes in the system.Furthermore, we show that competition for the underlying registers is inherent for adaptive collect algorithms. We consider <i>c-write</i> registers, to which at most <i>c</i> processes can be concurrently about to write. Special attention is given to <i>exclusive-write</i> registers, the case <i>c</i>=1 where no competition is allowed, and <i>concurrent-write</i> registers, the case <i>c</i>=<i>n</i> where any amount of competition is allowed. A collect algorithm is <i>f</i>-adaptive to point contention, if its step complexity is <i>f</i>(<i>k</i>), where <i>k</i> is the maximum number of simultaneously active processes. Such an algorithm is shown to require Ω(<i>f</i><sup>-1</sup> (n<over>c)) concurrent-write registers, even if an unlimited number of <i>c</i>-write registers are available. A smaller lower bound is also obtained in this situation for collect algorithms that are <i>f</i>-adaptive to total contention.The lower bounds also hold for nondeterministic implementations of <i>sensitive</i> objects from historyless objects.Finally, we present lower bounds on the step complexity in solo executions (i.e., without any contention), when only <i>c</i>-write registers are used: For weak test&set objects, we present an ΩΩ(log <i>n</i><over>log <i>c</i> +log log <i>n</i>) lower bound. Our lower bound for collect and sensitive objects is Ω(<i>n</i>-1<over><i>c</i>).
On Complete Coverage Path Planning Algorithms for Non-holonomic Mobile Robots: Survey and Challenges

The problem of determining a collision free path within a region is an important area of research in robotics. One significant aspect of this problem is coverage path planning, which is a process to find a path that passes through each reachable position in the desired area. This task is fundamental to many robotic applications such as cleaning, painting, underwater operations, mine sweeping, lawn mowing, agriculture, monitoring, searching, and rescue operations. The total coverage time is significantly influenced by total number of turns, optimization of backtracking sequence, and smoothness in the complete coverage path. There is no comprehensive literature review on backtracking optimization and path smoothing techniques used in complete coverage path planning. Although the problem of coverage path planning has been addressed by many researchers. However, existing state of the art needs to be significantly improved, particularly in terms of accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and optimization. This paper aims to present the latest developments, challenges regarding backtracking sequence optimization, smoothness techniques, limitations of existing approaches, and future research directions.
A small-AC-signal injection based harmonic power sharing method for islanded microgrids

This paper proposes a novel control method for harmonic power sharing in an islanded microgrid, without employing any control interconnections between the distributed generation (DG) units. The fundamental real and reactive power is shared by implementing conventional P-f and Q-V droop control. A virtual negative output impedance at harmonic frequency is introduced to control the distribution of harmonic power. Moreover, a small-AC-signal is injected in each DG unit for dynamically regulating the magnitude of its virtual negative harmonic output impedance to realize evenly sharing of harmonic power among all DG units according to their available harmonic power capacities. This novel method can also provide improved load voltage quality and does not need information about line impedance. Simulation results on PSCAD are offered to validate the proposed method.
Production of Polyvinyl Alcohol Oxidase by a Symbiotic Mixed Culture

Production of polyvinly alcohol (PVA) oxidase by Pseudomonas sp. strain VM15C, a PVA degrader of a symbiotic PVA-utilizing mixed culture, was examined in various cultures. Despite the absence of PVA in the culture in nutrient broth, VM15C showed approximately the same productivity of PVA oxidase activity as that in the culture with PVA as the sole carbon source, whereas the productivity in the culture with glucose was lower than that of either the nutrient broth or the PVA culture. PVA oxidase activity produced in the nutrient broth culture was predominantly present in the cells, and most of the activity appeared to be in the cytoplasm. In contrast, in the culture with PVA as the sole carbon source, the activity was present in the culture fluid in a larger ratio than in the nutrient broth culture. Thus, production of PVA oxidase activity by this strain was constitutive and repressible, although localization of the produced activity was changed by growth conditions.
Visualization and Molecular Analysis of Actin Assembly in Living Cells

Actin filament assembly is critical for eukaryotic cell motility. Arp2/3 complex and capping protein (CP) regulate actin assembly in vitro. To understand how these proteins regulate the dynamics of actin filament assembly in a motile cell, we visualized their distribution in living fibroblasts using green flourescent protein (GFP) tagging. Both proteins were concentrated in motile regions at the cell periphery and at dynamic spots within the lamella. Actin assembly was required for the motility and dynamics of spots and for motility at the cell periphery. In permeabilized cells, rhodamine-actin assembled at the cell periphery and at spots, indicating that actin filament barbed ends were present at these locations. Inhibition of the Rho family GTPase rac1, and to a lesser extent cdc42 and RhoA, blocked motility at the cell periphery and the formation of spots. Increased expression of phosphatidylinositol 5-kinase promoted the movement of spots. Increased expression of LIM–kinase-1, which likely inactivates cofilin, decreased the frequency of moving spots and led to the formation of aggregates of GFP–CP. We conclude that spots, which appear as small projections on the surface by whole mount electron microscopy, represent sites of actin assembly where local and transient changes in the cortical actin cytoskeleton take place.
Plasma glutathione S‐transferase P1‐1 levels in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Many tumors contain high amounts of the detoxification enzyme glutathione S‐transferase P1‐1 (GSTP1‐1). Elevated levels of GSTP1‐1 have also been detected in serum and plasma from patients with gastrointestinal, lung, or head and neck tumors. The authors of this report evaluated the role of GSTP1‐1 as a plasma tumor marker in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) of the larynx, hypopharynx, or oropharnyx and in patients with benign head and neck lesions (BHNL).
Correlations between self‐rating and observer‐rating of psychopathology in at‐risk mental state and first‐episode psychosis patients: influence of disease stage and gender

Research findings on the correlations between self‐rating and observer‐rating of schizophrenic psychopathology are inconsistent and have rarely considered first‐episode psychosis (FEP) and at‐risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis patients. This study investigates these correlations in ARMS and FEP patients and how they are moderated by disease stage and gender.
Effects of Age, Exercise Duration, and Test Conditions on Heart Rate Variability in Young Endurance Horses

Although cardiac recovery is an important criterion for ranking horses in endurance competitions, heart rate variability (HRV) has hardly ever been studied in the context of this equestrian discipline. In the present study, we sought to determine whether HRV is affected by parameters such as age, exercise duration and test site. Accordingly, HRV might be used to select endurance horses with the fastest cardiac recovery. The main objective of the present study was to determine the effects of age, exercise duration, and test site on HRV variables at rest and during exercise and recovery in young Arabian endurance horses. Over a 3-year period, 77 young Arabian horses aged 4–6 years performed one or more exercise tests (consisting of a warm-up, cantering at 22 km.h−1and a final 500 m gallop at full speed) at four different sites. Beat-to-beat RR intervals were continuously recorded and then analyzed (using a time-frequency approach) to determine the instantaneous HRV components before, during and after the test. At rest, the root-mean-square of successive differences in RR intervals (RMSSD) was higher in the 4-year-olds (54.4 ± 14.5 ms) than in the 5-or 6-year-olds (44.9 ± 15.5 and 49.1 ± 11.7 ms, respectively). During the first 15 min of exercise (period T), the heart rate (HR) and RMSSD decreased with age. In 6-year-olds, RMSSD decreased as the exercise duration increased (T: 3.0 ± 1.4 vs. 2T: 3.6 ± 2.2 vs. 3T: 2.8 ± 1.0). During recovery, RMSSD was negatively correlated with the cardiac recovery time (CRT) and the recovery heart rate (RHR; R = −0.56 and −0.53, respectively; p < 0.05). At rest and during exercise and recovery, RMSSD and several HRV variables differed significantly as a function of the test conditions. HRV in endurance horses appears to be strongly influenced by age and environmental factors (such as ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and track quality). Nevertheless, RMSSD can be used to select endurance horses with the fastest cardiac recovery.