Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stereoscopic scene flow estimation with global motion prior

Scene flow estimation jointly recovers dense scene structure and motion from at least two pairs of stereo images, thus generalizing classical disparity and optical flow estimation. Such a complete description of the scene has many uses in the field of automated driving such as dynamic traffic object detection or infrastructure element detection. Estimation of the structure and motion of each scene element is a difficult problem because of the large number of unknowns that need to be assessed. In order to increase the accuracy and the robustness of the estimation, we propose to extend the piecewise rigid scene model used in modern state of the art scene flow algorithms with a global motion prior that presumes that a large number of objects in the scene are static. For obtaining the scene flow result, we proposed a two-step iterative approach: A Nelder-Mead nonlinear minimization accompanied by a spatial propagation of current best estimation to neighboring image regions.
The T/G−13915 variant upstream of the lactase gene (LCT) is the founder allele of lactase persistence in an urban Saudi population

Background: The prevalence of lactase persistence is high in Saudi Arabia. Objective: To identify a DNA variant for the lactase persistence/non-persistence trait in adult Arabs in Saudi Arabia. Methods: We sequenced DNA from 432 anonymous neonatal blood donors from five different regions of Saudi Arabia to cover the 400 bp region surrounding the previously identified lactase persistence/non-persistence variant C/T−13910 residing in intron 13 of the MCM6 gene. Results: Two anonymous blood donors carried the C/T−13910 genotype. One variant, T/G −13915, residing 5 bp upstream of the C/T−13910 variant, was present in 332 of 432 (76.9%) of the neonatal samples, compatible with previous prevalence figures of lactase persistence in urban Saudi populations. Determination of disaccharidase activities in 25 intestinal biopsy samples showed a highly significant correlation between lactase activity and the T/G−13915 genotypes (p<0.001; Fisher exact test) as well as between the L:S ratio and the aforementioned genotypes (p<0.001; Fisher exact test). Conclusion: The T/G−13915 variant is the founder mutation of lactase persistence in an urban Saudi population. The results obtained here have implications for genetic testing of adult-type hypolactasia and to analysis of human evolution, the origin of cattle domestication and migrations of the populations in the Arabian peninsula.
A Prediction Based Server Cluster Capacity Planning Strategy

Cloud computing is an Internet-based service which provides shared virtual resource and data to accomplish certain computation. In order for the servers to have sufficient resources when the request arrives, as well as save server resources as much as possible, we propose a prediction-based server capacity planning and dynamic scheduling algorithm. There are mainly three steps in our capacity planning algorithm. The first step characterizes the given data on several indices and then present an effective model in order to predict the oncoming demands in the near future. The second step generates the workload of servers combined with the predicted demands and then make capacity planning based on this workload. Thus it's obvious that the effectiveness of capacity planning depends on the accuracy of prediction to a great extent. Finally, a demand prediction based strategy on workload allocation is brought out. A dynamic resource allocation strategy is given to ensure the quality of service at any moment in future meanwhile taking energy consumption into consideration. The results of the experiment show that the required server number decreases by 33% after the prediction-based capacity planning applying on server scheduling.
Integer arithmetic over ciphertext and homomorphic data aggregation

Typical encryptions cannot allow computations on the ciphertext-a conflict between exploiting the power of cloud computing and protecting user privacy. One candidate solution to this problem is fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), which will enable cloud servers to perform complicated computation on behalf of clients without clients' private information being revealed. But FHE is generally considered very computationintensive. We implement integer arithmetic, which is the basis of many data aggregation functionalities, over FHE for the first time and evaluate the performance from a practical perspective. Our work will provide some reference on the application of FHE to the cloud.
A Low-Cost, Flexible and Portable Volumetric Capturing System

Multi-view capture systems are complex systems to engineer. They require technical knowledge to install and intricate processes to setup related mainly to the sensors' spatial alignment (i.e. external calibration). However, with the ongoing developments in new production methods, we are now at a position where the production of high quality realistic 3D assets is possible even with commodity sensors. Nonetheless, the capturing systems developed with these methods are heavily intertwined with the methods themselves, relying on custom solutions and seldom - if not at all - publicly available. In light of this, we design, develop and publicly offer a multi-view capture system based on the latest RGB-D sensor technology. For our system, we develop a portable and easy-to-use external calibration method that greatly reduces the effort and knowledge required, as well as simplify the overall process.
On the Dynamics and Control of Flexible Multibody Systems with Closed Loops

The motion control problem for cooperating flexible robot arms manipulating a large rigid payload is considered. An output that depends on the payload position and contributions from the joint motion of each arm is constructed whose rate yields the passivity property with respect to a special input. The input is a combination of the torques from each arm and contains a free load-sharing parameter. The passivity property is shown to depend on the payload mass properties, and in cases where the payload is large, a passivity-based controller combining feedforward and feedback as elements is devised, which yields tracking. An experimental facility consisting of two planar 3-DoF arms is used to implement the strategies. Good tracking is observed and compared with simulation predictions for closed-loop flexible multibody systems.
K-Means Clustering in Dual Space for Unsupervised Feature Partitioning in Multi-view Learning

In contrast to single-view learning, multi-view learning trains simultaneously distinct algorithms on disjoint subsets of features (the views), and jointly optimizes them, so that they come to a consensus. Multi-view learning is typically used when the data are described by a large number of features. It aims at exploiting the different statistical properties of distinct views. A task to be performed before multi-view learning – in the case where the features have no natural groupings – is multi-view generation (MVG): it consists in partitioning the feature set in subsets (views) characterized by some desired properties. Given a dataset, in the form of a table with a large number of columns, the desired solution of the MVG problem is a partition of the columns that optimizes an objective function, encoding typical requirements. If the class labels are available, one wants to minimize the inter-view redundancy in target prediction and maximize consistency. If the class labels are not available, one wants simply to minimize inter-view redundancy (minimize the information each view has about the others). In this work, we approach the MVG problem in the latter, unsupervised, setting. Our approach is based on the transposition of the data table: the original instance rows are mapped into columns (the "pseudo-features"), while the original feature columns become rows (the "pseudo-instances"). The latter can then be partitioned by any suitable standard instance-partitioning algorithm: the resulting groups can be considered as groups of the original features, i.e. views, solution of the MVG problem. We demonstrate the approach using k-means and the standard benchmark MNIST dataset of handwritten digits.
Comparison of the Neuroapoptotic Properties of Equipotent Anesthetic Concentrations of Desflurane, Isoflurane, or Sevoflurane in Neonatal Mice

Background:Volatile anesthetics facilitate surgical procedures and imaging studies in millions of children every year. Neuronal cell death after prolonged exposure to isoflurane in developing animals has raised serious concerns regarding its safe use in children. Although sevoflurane and desflurane are becoming more popular for pediatric anesthesia, their cytotoxic effects have not been compared with those of isoflurane. Accordingly, using newborn mice, the current study established the respective potencies of desflurane, isoflurane, and sevoflurane and then compared equipotent doses of these anesthetics regarding their effects on cortical neuroapoptosis. Methods:Minimum alveolar concentrations were determined in littermates (aged 7–8 days, n = 42) using tail-clamp stimulation in a bracketing study design. By using equipotent doses of approximately 0.6 minimum alveolar concentration, another group of littermates was randomly assigned to receive desflurane, isoflurane, or sevoflurane or to fast in room air for 6 h. After exposure, animals (n = 47) were euthanized, neocortical apoptotic neuronal cell death was quantified, and caspase 3 activity was compared between the four groups. Results:The minimum alveolar concentration was determined to be 12.2% for desflurane, 2.7% for isoflurane, and 5.4% for sevoflurane. After a 6-h exposure to approximately 0.6 minimum alveolar concentration of desflurane, isoflurane, or sevoflurane, neuronal cell death and apoptotic activity were significantly increased, irrespective of the specific anesthetic used. Conclusions:In neonatal mice, equipotent doses of the three commonly used inhaled anesthetics demonstrated similar neurotoxic profiles, suggesting that developmental neurotoxicity is a common feature of all three drugs and cannot be avoided by switching to newer agents.
Dual recognition of phosphoserine and phosphotyrosine in histone variant H2A.X by DNA damage response protein MCPH1

Tyr142, the C-terminal amino acid of histone variant H2A.X is phosphorylated by WSTF (Williams-Beuren syndrome transcription factor), a component of the WICH complex (WSTF-ISWI chromatin-remodeling complex), under basal conditions in the cell. In response to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), H2A.X is instantaneously phosphorylated at Ser139 by the kinases ATM and ATR and is progressively dephosphorylated at Tyr142 by the Eya1 and Eya3 tyrosine phosphatases, resulting in a temporal switch from a postulated diphosphorylated (pSer139, pTyr142) to monophosphorylated (pSer139) H2A.X state. How mediator proteins interpret these two signals remains a question of fundamental interest. We provide structural, biochemical, and cellular evidence that Microcephalin (MCPH1), an early DNA damage response protein, can read both modifications via its tandem BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domains, thereby emerging as a versatile sensor of H2A.X phosphorylation marks. We show that MCPH1 recruitment to sites of DNA damage is linked to both states of H2A.X.
Endocrine, metabolic, and endocannabinoid alterations in rats exhibiting high anxiety-related behaviors

Anxiety disorders are major risk factors for obesity. However, the mechanisms accounting for this susceptibility remain unclear. Animal models have proved to be useful tools for understanding the role of emotional functioning in the development and maintenance of metabolic alterations implicated in obesity. Here we sought to determine the predictive value of behavioral indices of anxiety for hormonal and metabolic imbalances in rats. Adult Lewis rats were screened on the elevated plus maze (EPM). K-means clustering was used to divide the rats into two groups based on their anxiety index in the EPM: low (LA) and high anxiety (HA) rats. This proxy of anxiety combines individual EPM parameters and accepted ratios into a single score. Four weeks later, we measured markers of endocrine and metabolic function. We found that relative LA rats, the HA rats exhibited reduced latencies to exit a modified light-dark conflict test. Our results show that the HA rats displayed increased corticosterone levels when compared to LA rats. Furthermore, the HA rats weighted more and exhibited an enhanced glycemic response to exogenously administered glucose during the glucose tolerance test, indicating glucose intolerance. Notably, when compared to LA rats, the HA rats showed higher circulating levels of the endogenous cannabinoid, 2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycerol (2-AG). Together, these data indicate that patterns of emotional reactivity associated with anxiety may share common pathological pathways with metabolic complications implicated in obesity. Uncovering metabolic risk factors for anxiety disorders have the potential to strongly impact how we treat mental illnesses. Objective To test the hypothesis that indices of anxiety in the elevated plus maze have predictive value for alterations implicated in obesity, which include heightened emotional reactivity, and dysregulated corticosterone, glucose metabolism, and circulating endocannabinoid levels.
Chronic maternal infusion of full‐length adiponectin in pregnant mice down‐regulates placental amino acid transporter activity and expression and decreases fetal growth

• Fetal growth is positively correlated to maternal adiposity, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. • Maternal circulating levels of adiponectin, a hormone secreted by adipose tissue, are negatively correlated to maternal adiposity and fetal growth, suggesting that maternal adiponectin may limit fetal growth. • Here we report that chronic administration of adiponectin to pregnant mice inhibits placental insulin and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling, down‐regulates the activity and expression of key placental nutrient transporters, and decreases fetal growth. • We have identified a novel physiological mechanism by which the endocrine functions of maternal adipose tissue influence fetal growth by altering placental function. • These findings may help us better understand the factors determining birth weight in normal pregnancies and in pregnancy complications associated with altered maternal adiponectin levels such as obesity and gestational diabetes.
JOINT OPTIMIZATION OF AN HIDDEN MARKOV MODEL-NEURAL NETWORK HYBRID FOR CHORD ESTIMATION

In the following we present a system for chord estimation, based on a combination of a neural network and an Hidden Markov Model. The approach is based on Bengio et al.’s [1] system for automated speech recognition and modified for musical chord estimation. The system consists of a neural network with softmax activation, that is trained to approximate Pitch Class Profiles from a constant Q transform. An Hidden Markov Model is used to classify the chords. Both are trained separately at first and then are jointly optimized.
“Half of the Sites” Binding ofd-Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Dehydrogenase Folding Intermediate with GroEL*

Twod-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) folding intermediate subunits bind with chaperonin 60 (GroEL) to form a stable complex, which can no longer bind with additional GAPDH intermediate subunits, but does bind with one more lysozyme folding intermediate or one chaperonin 10 (GroES) molecule, suggesting that the two GAPDH subunits bind at one end of the GroEL molecule displaying a “half of the sites” binding profile. For lysozyme, GroEL binds with either one or two folding intermediates to form a stable 1:1 or 1:2 complex with one substrate on each end of the GroEL double ring for the latter. The 1:1 complex of GroEL·GroES binds with one lysozyme or one dimeric GAPDH folding intermediate to form a stable ternary complex. Both complexes of GroEL·lysozyme1 and GroEL·GAPDH2 bind with one GroES molecule only at the other end of the GroEL molecule forming a trans ternary complex. According to the stoichiometry of GroEL binding with the GAPDH folding intermediate and the formation of ternary complexes containing GroEL·GAPDH2, it is suggested that the folding intermediate of GAPDH binds, very likely in the dimeric form, with GroEL at one end only.
Nuclear translocation of the Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein mSTI1 is regulated by cell cycle kinases

The co-chaperone murine stress-inducible protein 1 (mSTI1), an Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein (Hop) homologue, mediates the assembly of the Hsp70/Hsp90 chaperone heterocomplex. The mSTI1 protein can be phosphorylated in vitro by cell cycle kinases proximal to a putative nuclear localization signal (NLS), which substantiated a predicted casein kinase II (CKII)-cdc2 kinase-NLS (CcN) motif at position 180-239 and suggested that mSTI1 might move between the cytoplasm and the nucleus under certain cell cycle conditions. The mechanism responsible for the cellular localization of mSTI1 was probed using NIH3T3 fibroblasts to investigate the localization of endogenous mSTI1 and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-tagged mSTI1 mutants. Localization studies on cell lines stably expressing NLSmSTI1-EGFP and EGFP demonstrated that the NLSmSTI1 was able to promote a nuclear localization of EGFP. The mSTI1 protein was exclusively cytoplasmic in most cells under normal conditions but was present in the nucleus of a subpopulation of cells and accumulated in the nucleus following inhibition of nuclear export (leptomycin B treatment). G1/S-phase arrest (using hydroxyurea) and inhibition of cdc2 kinase (using olomoucine) but not inhibition of casein kinase II (using 5,6-dichlorobenzimidazole riboside), increased the proportion of cells with endogenous mSTI1 nuclear staining. mSTI1-EGFP behaved identically to endogenous mSTI1. The functional importance of key residues was tested using modified mSTI1-EGFP proteins. Inactivation and phosphorylation mimicking of potential phosphorylation sites in mSTI1 altered the nuclear translocation. Mimicking of phosphorylation at the mSTI1 CKII phosphorylation site (S189E) promoted nuclear localization of mSTI1-EGFP. Mimicking phosphorylation at the cdc2 kinase phosphorylation site (T198E) promoted cytoplasmic localization of mSTI1-EGFP at the G1/S-phase transition,whereas removal of this site (T198A) promoted the nuclear localization of mSTI1-EGFP under the same conditions. These data provide the first evidence of nuclear import and export of a major Hsp70/Hsp90 co-chaperone and the regulation of this nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling by cell cycle status and cell cycle kinases.
Predicting the Usability of Telemedicine Systems in Different Deployments through Modelling and Simulation

The success of telemedicine systems requires suciently high productivity, satisfaction and low error rates: in short, usability. However, the costs associated with performing pre-deployment usability studies of- ten make them infeasible. This results in usability problems which may manifest dierently in dierent deployment contexts and cause dierent levels of ineciency and discomfort to their users, potentially even lead- ing to errors which may threaten patients' lives. This paper shows by means of examples how experimentation with dierent workloads, user proles and system characteristics can suggest problems that may arise in deploying a telemedicine system into new contexts. Such approaches might support the roll-out of large telemedicine implementations, as the one currently planned in the UK.
SDRAN-based user association and resource allocation in heterogeneous wireless networks

Integrating different types of wireless access technologies in heterogeneous networks provides flexible choices for users to handover to a more preferable network that satisfies their needs. In this paper, we discuss the recent 802.21. 1 Software Defined Radio Access Network (SDRAN) architecture that couples the Software Defined Networking (SDN) mechanisms by the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover Services. Based on this architecture, we propose a centralized handover algorithm that manages user association and downlink capacity resource allocation. The algorithm is formulated as a Generalized Assignment Problem (GAP) which maximizes the overall profit of mobile nodes which is studied in terms of power consumption and Received Signal Strength (RSS). Comprehensive simulation has been conducted; It is shown that the formulated algorithm reduces the overall consumed power and increases the average relative received signal strength while demanding an extra number of HOs.
Comparative Particle Swarm Optimization (CPSO) for solving optimization problems

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a stochastic and population-based intelligence search algorithm, which has been demonstrated to solve optimization problem effectively. However, as the particle properties become increasingly similar after several generations, the particles tend to cluster around the best (fittest) particle in the swarm, which results in premature convergence of the PSO algorithm. In other words, the particles get trapped in the local optimal solution. In this paper, a new conception of PSO is proposed, which is based on comparing the experience of all particles in the swarm to generate a better position, and guide all particles toward the best possible solution. Experiments conducted on three benchmark functions show that the new algorithm is more efficient than standard PSO.
Review of statistical methodologies for the detection of parent-of-origin effects in family trio genome-wide association data with binary disease traits

The detection of parent-of-origin effects aims to identify whether the functionality of alleles, and in turn associated phenotypic traits, depends on the parental origin of the alleles. Different parent-of-origin effects have been identified through a variety of mechanisms and a number of statistical methodologies for their detection have been proposed, in particular for genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS have had limited success in explaining the heritability of many complex disorders and traits, but successful identification of parent-of-origin effects using trio (mother, father and offspring) GWAS may help shed light on this missing heritability. However, it is important to choose the most appropriate parent-of-origin test or methodology, given knowledge of the phenotype, amount of available data and the type of parent-of-origin effect(s) being considered. This review brings together the parent-of-origin detection methodologies available, comparing them in terms of power and type I error for a number of different simulated data scenarios, and finally offering guidance as to the most appropriate choice for the different scenarios.
Item Sets that Compress

One of the major problems in frequent item set mining is the explosion of the number of results: it is difficult to find the most interesting frequent item sets. The cause of this explosion is that large sets of frequent item sets describe essentially the same set of transactions. In this paper we approach this problem using the MDL principle: the best set of frequent item sets is that set that compresses the database best. We introduce four heuristic algorithms for this task, and the experiments show that these algorithms give a dramatic reduction in the number of frequent item sets. Moreover, we show how our approach can be used to determine the best value for the min-sup threshold.