Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BLIND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT ASSESSMENT BY GRADIENT RATIOING AT VISIBLE EDGES

The contrast of outdoor images acquired under adverse weath er conditions, especially foggy weather, is altered by the scattering of daylight by atmospheric particles. As a consequence, different methods have been designed to restore the contrast of these images. However, there is a l ack of methodology to assess the performances of the methods or to rate them. Unlike image quality assessment or image restoration areas, there is no easy way to have a reference image, which makes the problem not straig h forward to solve. In this paper, an approach is proposed which consists in computing the ratio between the g radient of the visible edges between the image before and after contrast restoration. In this way, an indic ator of visibility enhancement is provided based on the concept of visibility level, commonly used in lighting e ngineering. Finally, the methodology is applied to contrast enhancement assessment and to the comparison of to ne-mapping operators.
Cramér-Rao Bound for Hybrid GNSS-Terrestrial Cooperative Positioning

In this contribution we derive an expression of the Cramér-Rao bound for hybrid cooperative positioning, where GNSS information is combined with terrestrial range measurements through exchange of peer-to-peer messages. These results provide a theoretical characterization of achievable performance of hybrid positioning schemes, as well as allow to identify critical network configurations and devise optimized node placement strategies.
The impact of interference on large-scale cloud radio access networks

In the 5th generation cellular system, a large-scale cloud radio access network is one of the most promising structures for providing high quality-of-service to end users. This extended abstract presents the impact of interference on such a system. Based on stochastic geometry and probabilistic order notation, the scaling exponents of the guaranteed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and the maximum allowed users are derived. This result is effective to understand the impact of interference on the 5G system.
Herb 2.0: Lessons Learned From Developing a Mobile Manipulator for the Home

We present the hardware design, software architecture, and core algorithms of Herb 2.0, a bimanual mobile manipulator developed at the Personal Robotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. We have developed Herb 2.0 to perform useful tasks for and with people in human environments. We exploit two key paradigms in human environments: that they have structure that a robot can learn, adapt and exploit, and that they demand general-purpose capability in robotic systems. In this paper, we reveal some of the structure present in everyday environments that we have been able to harness for manipulation and interaction, comment on the particular challenges on working in human spaces, and describe some of the lessons we learned from extensively testing our integrated platform in kitchen and office environments.
The rate of stable crack growth (SCG) in automotive steels sheets

Ľ. Ambriško, M. Cehlár, D. Marasová Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology, Košice, Slovakia The main aim of this paper is determining the stable crack growth (SCG) rate for automotive steel sheets. The SCG was monitored using the non-contact videoextensometry technique. CT (Compact Tension) specimens of three steel grades were loaded by eccentric tension under two loading conditions. The SCG characteristics including rate depend on steel grade, on the rolling direction as well as on the loading rate. Linear relation between the SCG rate and δR-curve slope was determined.
Derivative Evaluation Function Learning Using Genetic Operators

This work studies the application of genetic algorithms to the domain of game playing, emphasising on learning a static evaluation function. Learning involves experience generation, hypothesis generation and hypothesis evaluation. Most learning systems use preclassified examples to guide the search in the hypothesis space and to evaluate current hypotheses. In game learning, it is very difficult to get classified examples. Genetic Algorithms provide an alternative approach. Competing hypotheses are evaluated by tournaments. New hypotheses are generated by genetic operators. We introduce a new framework for applying genetic algorithms to game evaluation-function learning. The evaluation function is learned by its derivatives rather than learning the function itself. We introduce a new genetic operator, called derivative crossover, that accelerates the search for static evaluation function. The operator performs cross-over on the derivatives of the chromosomes. We have demonstrated experimentally the advantage of tile derivative crossover for learning an evaluation function.
Formal Data and Behavior Requirements Engineering : A Scenario-based Approach

The KLuB projectis an attemptto useformal methodsin theprocessandproductof requirementsengineeringof informationsystems.In thework presentedhere,thescenario techniquewasusedfor requirementselicitation.Scenarios, which have beenrecognizedasan effective techniquefor eliciting requirements, focususuallyon behavior andless on data.An additionalobjectiveof theprojectwasto integratedataandbehavior in a formal specification,basedon statemachines.Semanticintegrationof dataandbehavior wasachieved by introducingthe conceptof compatibility betweendatavaluesandsystemstates.Scenariointegration is alsoachieved basedon datavalues. An additional objectivewasto automateasmuchaspossibletherequirementselicitationprocess.TheKLuB processinvolvesthree steps: the ScenarioAcquisition step,the BaselineElicitation step,and the Integrationstep,which is completely formalandcanbeautomated.
Algebraic methods in the theory of lower bounds for Boolean circuit complexity

We use algebraic methods to get lower bounds for complexity of different functions based on constant depth unbounded fan-in circuits with the given set of basic operations. In particular, we prove that depth k circuits with gates NOT, OR and MODp where p is a prime require Exp(&Ogr;(n1/2k)) gates to calculate MODr functions for any r ≠ pm. This statement contains as special cases Yao's PARITY result [ Ya 85 ] and Razborov's new MAJORITY result [Ra 86] (MODm gate is an oracle which outputs zero, if the number of ones is divisible by m).
Surgical management of traumatic parenchymal lesions.

INDICATIONS Patients with parenchymal mass lesions and signs of progressive neurological deterioration referable to the lesion, medically refractory intracranial hypertension, or signs of mass effect on computed tomographic (CT) scan should be treated operatively. Patients with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 6 to 8 with frontal or temporal contusions greater than 20 cm3 in volume with midline shift of at least 5 mm and/or cisternal compression on CT scan, and patients with any lesion greater than 50 cm3 in volume should be treated operatively. Patients with parenchymal mass lesions who do not show evidence for neurological compromise, have controlled intracranial pressure (ICP), and no significant signs of mass effect on CT scan may be managed nonoperatively with intensive monitoring and serial imaging. TIMING AND METHODS Craniotomy with evacuation of mass lesion is recommended for those patients with focal lesions and the surgical indications listed above, under Indications. Bifrontal decompressive craniectomy within 48 hours of injury is a treatment option for patients with diffuse, medically refractory posttraumatic cerebral edema and resultant intracranial hypertension. Decompressive procedures, including subtemporal decompression, temporal lobectomy, and hemispheric decompressive craniectomy, are treatment options for patients with refractory intracranial hypertension and diffuse parenchymal injury with clinical and radiographic evidence for impending transtentorial herniation.
Title Difficulties in using the exact closed-form PEP formula for BERcalculation of S-T codes

— The formula for the exact union bound (EUB) on BER based on the exact closed-form Pair-wise Error Probability (PEP) is most accurate for calculating the bit-error-rates (BERs) of Space-Time (S-T) codes in Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems. In this paper, it is shown that using the exact closed-form PEP formula for numerical calculations of the PEP or the EUB on BER could produce negative results. The formula for the exact closed-form PEP is therefore reexamined and explanations for the problem are given. A simple trick is suggested to reduce the effect of the problem. A new upper bound on PEP derived using the HÖlder Inequality is proposed to replace the exact closed-form PEP formula. Numerical calculation results show that the union bound based on the proposed new upper bound on PEP is a very tight bound to the EUB and doesn't have the problem of negative results.
A Full On-Chip CMOS Clock-and-Data Recovery IC for OC-192 Applications

In this paper, a fully integrated OC-192 clock-and-data recovery (CDR) architecture in standard 0.18-mum CMOS is described. The proposed architecture integrates the typically large off-chip filter capacitor by using two feed-forward paths configuration to generate zero and pole and satisfies SONET jitter requirements with a total power dissipation (including the buffers) of 290 mW. The measured RMS jitter of the recovered data is 0.74 ps with a bit-error rate less than 10-12 when the input pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) data pattern has a pattern length of 215 - 1 and a total horizontal eye closure of 0.54 peak-to-peak unit interval (Ulpp) due to the added intersymbol interference distortion by passing data through 9-in FR4 printed circuit board trace. The chip exceeds SONET OC-192 jitter tolerance mask, and high-frequency jitter tolerance is over 0.31 Ulpp by applying PRBS data with a pattern length of 231 - 1.
Interleukin (IL) 4, in the absence of antigen stimulation, induces an anergy-like state in differentiated CD8+ TC1 cells: loss of IL-2 synthesis and autonomous proliferation but retention of cytotoxicity and synthesis of other cytokines

Naive T cells in the periphery mainly secrete interleukin (IL) 2 upon activation. After stimulation in the presence of appropriate costimulators, both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differentiate into effector cells secreting distinct T helper (Th) 1- and Th2-like cytokine patterns. Subsequent to differentiation, both CD4+ (Th1 and Th2) and CD8+ (TC1 and TC2) cells are stable and cannot be induced to differentiate into the opposite pattern or revert to the naive cytokine secretion pattern. We now show that IL-4 caused committed TC1 bulk populations or clones to lose the ability to synthesize IL-2. The cells retained the ability to secrete interferon (IFN) gamma, granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and tumor necrosis factor, did not synthesize any Th2 cytokines, and did not alter cell surface marker expression. IL-4 rapidly inhibited IL-2-synthesizing ability in the absence or presence of antigen-presenting cells, thus demonstrating that IL-4 acted directly on TC1 cells. The defect in IL-2 synthesis could not be reversed by subsequent stimulation with potent antigen-presenting cells in the presence of IL-2 and anti-IL-4, or with anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 antibodies. Both IL-2+ and IL-2- TC1 cells were strongly cytotoxic toward allogeneic but not syngeneic targets. However, IL-2- TC1 cells were unable to proliferate unless exogenous IL- 2 was provided. TC1 cells that lose IL-2 synthesis but retain IFN-gamma synthesis and cytotoxicity may be similar to the "anergic" cells induced by stimulation of CD4+ or CD8+ cells in the absence of costimulators. These results suggest that during a mixed type 1/type 2 response in vivo, IL-4 may induce the IL-2+ TC1-->IL-2-TC1 conversion, and thus curtail the expansion of the TC1 response without impairing short-term effector function.
Is the Linear Ballistic Accumulator Model Really the Simplest Model of Choice Response Times: A Bayesian Model Complexity Analysis

Brown and Heathcote (2008) proposed the LBA as the simplest model of choice and response time data. This claim was, in part, based on the LBA requiring fewer parameters to fit most data sets than the leading alternative, the Ratcliff diffusion model (Ratcliff & Tuerlinckx, 2002). However, parameter counts fail to take into account functional form complexity, or how the parameters interact in the model when being estimated from data. We usedpD, or the “effective number of parameters”, calculated from Markov Chain Monte Carlo samples, to take these factors into account. We found that in a relatively simple, simulated, data set and on average in a complex, real, data set that the diffusion had fewer effective parameters than the LBA.
Study of the Bioremediation of Atrazine under Variable Carbon and Nitrogen Sources by Mixed Bacterial Consortium Isolated from Corn Field Soil in Fars Province of Iran

Atrazine herbicide that is widely used in corn production is frequently detected in water resources. The main objectives of this research were focused on assessing the effects of carbon and nitrogen sources on atrazine biodegradation by mixed bacterial consortium and by evaluating the feasibility of using mixed bacterial consortium in soil culture. Shiraz corn field soil with a long history of atrazine application has been explored for their potential of atrazine biodegradation. The influence of different carbon compounds and the effect of nitrogen sources and a different pH (5.5–8.5) on atrazine removal efficiency by mixed bacterial consortium in liquid culture were investigated. Sodium citrate and sucrose had the highest atrazine biodegradation rate (87.22%) among different carbon sources. Atrazine biodegradation rate decreased more quickly by the addition of urea (26.76%) compared to ammonium nitrate. Based on the data obtained in this study, pH of 7.0 is optimum for atrazine biodegradation. After 30 days of incubation, the percent of atrazine reduction rates were significantly enhanced in the inoculated soils (60.5%) as compared to uninoculated control soils (12%) at the soil moisture content of 25%. In conclusion, bioaugmentation of soil with mixed bacterial consortium may enhance the rate of atrazine degradation in a highly polluted soil.
Quantification of small cyclic disulfide‐rich peptides

Cyclic disulfide‐rich peptides ranging in size from ∼14 to 29 amino acids have been found in a wide variety of organisms and have exciting biological and medicinal applications due to their stability and structure. Many of these peptides can be chemically synthesized, but their small size and limited number of chromophore‐containing amino acids make them difficult to quantify by methods routinely used for large proteins. A comparison of the precision and accuracy of gravimetric, UV‐ and NMR‐based methods in current use for the quantification of small peptides is presented for a representative set of cyclic disulfide‐rich peptides. The study shows that gravimetric and UV absorbance methods should be used with caution for small peptides and all methods should be carefully validated. For the routine quantification of small disulfide‐rich peptides, we recommend comparison of the analytical reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography trace or UV absorbance at 214 nm with that of a standard peptide solution quantified by amino acid analysis. An accurate quantification method that is simple and cost effective will assist in comparison of inhibition and activity data between different laboratories and peptides and correct calculation of synthesis yields. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 98: 518–524, 2012.
PHYLOGENY OF DINOFLAGELLATES BASED ON MITOCHONDRIAL CYTOCHROME B AND NUCLEAR SMALL SUBUNIT RDNA SEQUENCE COMPARISONS 1

Despite their evolutionary and ecological importance, dinoflagellate phylogeny remains poorly resolved. Here we explored the utility of mitochondrial cytochrome b (cob) in inferring a dinoflagellate tree and focused on resolving the relationship between fucoxanthin‐and peridinin‐containing taxa. Trees were inferred using cob and small subunit rDNA alone or in combination as concatenated data and including members of the six major dinoflagellate orders. Many regions of the cob DNA or protein and rDNA trees were congruent with support for the monophyly of Symbiodinium spp. Freudenthal and of the Prorocentrales and the early divergence of Crypthecodinium cohnii Seligo in Grasse. However, these markers provided differing support for the monophyly of Pfiesteria spp. Steidinger et Burkholder (only supported strongly by rDNA) and of the fucoxanthin dinoflagellates with Akashiwo sp. (Hirasaka) Hansen et Moestrup (Gymnodiniales, only supported strongly by the cob data). The approximately unbiased (AU) test was used to assess these results using 13‐and 11‐taxon (excluding apicomplexans) backbone maximum likelihood trees inferred from the combined cob+rDNA data. The AU test suggested that our data were insufficient to resolve the phylogenetic position of Symbiodinium spp. and that the ancestral position of C. cohnii might have resulted from long‐branch attraction to the apicomplexan outgroup. We found significant support, however, for the association of fucoxanthin dinoflagellates with Akashiwo sp. The monophyly and relatively derived position of the Gymnodiniales in our cob DNA and protein trees and in the cob+rDNA tree is consistent with the tertiary endosymbiotic origin of the plastid in fucoxanthin dinoflagellates.
Small hepatocytes in culture develop polarized transporter expression and differentiation

Rat small hepatocytes have been shown to proliferate in culture and to form organoids with differentiated hepatocytes in vitro. To evaluate the degree of polarized transporter differentiation of rat small hepatocytes during 9 weeks of culturing, we studied the time-dependent expression and subcellular localization of the major bile salt and organic anion transport systems of hepatocytes [i.e. the basolateral sodium-taurocholate co-transporting protein (Ntcp), organic-anion-transporting polypeptide 1b2 (Oatp1b2), the canalicular bile-salt export pump (Bsep) and multidrug-resistance-associated protein 2 (Mrp2)]. Small hepatocytes proliferated and differentiated in culture and formed sharply demarcated colonies as assessed by morphology, α-fetoprotein, albumin and Mrp1 expression. Polarized surface transporter expression was evident after 5 weeks of culturing for Ntcp, Oatp1b2 and Mrp2, and after 7 weeks for Bsep. After 9 weeks in culture, the vast majority of matured hepatocytes expressed Ntcp/Oatp1b2 at the basolateral and Bsep/Mrp2 at the canalicular plasma-membrane domains. This polarized transporter expression was accompanied by canalicular secretion of fluorescein-diacetate and cholylglycyl-fluorescein. Furthermore, an anastomizing three-dimensional network of bile canaliculi developed within piling-up colonies. These data demonstrate that cultured rat small hepatocytes acquire a fully differentiated transporter expression phenotype during their development into hepatic `organoid-like' clusters of mature hepatocytes. Thereby, the time-dependent sequence of transporter expression mirrored the ontogenesis of transporter expression in developing rat liver, supporting the concept that small hepatocytes correspond to the hepatocyte lineage derived from embryonic hepatoblasts and/or from a different pool of `committed hepatocyte progenitor cells'.
A decentralized scheduler for distributed video streaming in a server-less video streaming system

Recently, a server-less video-on-demand architecture has been proposed to eliminate costly dedicated video servers and yet it is highly scalable and reliable. However, because of the potentially large number of user hosts streaming video data to a receiver for playback, the aggregate network traffic can become very bursty, leading to significant packet loss at the access routers. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel network-aware transmission scheduler called least schedulable first (LSF) to reduce the traffic burstiness. Simulation results show that LSF can reduce the congestion-induced packet loss from over 95% to 0.05% in a 500-host system at 0.95 system utilization. Moreover, LSF can adapt to variations in the underlying network, is inherently distributed, and does not require synchronization among hosts in the system.
Analysis of spatially oriented topic versatility over time on social media

People in different regions or times may have different views and therefore may talk about different sub-topics in a social media. Versatility of a topic in this research refers to the degree to which a topic discussed in a social media covers different points of view or sub-topics. We introduce this notion of versatility for individual topics embedded in Twitter data originated from different regions over time. Uniqueness of a region with respect to a topic is first computed based on how its term distribution differs from those in other regions. Uniqueness values associated with all the regions for a topic are then used to compute its versatility. Since versatility of a topic captures its characteristics across different regions, identifying versatile topics can help understanding regional interests and thus providing region-dependent services. In addition, it becomes possible to identify regions with minority sub-topics, which can be buried easily. By analyzing topic versatility over time, furthermore, we can analyze the behavior of a topic in terms of when it is diverged or converged across the regions.
Ablation of brain by erbium laser: study of dynamic behavior and tissue damage

In this work two aspects of the ablation of brain by Erbium laser have been mainly addressed: the time evolution of the phenomenon and the damages, both thermal and mechanical, produced in the tissues. The time resolved images acquired during the laser interaction revealed that deep lacerations develop in the tissue due to a mechanical stress. The damages have been evaluated by studying the changes in the autofluorescence emission properties and the reduction in enzymatic activities (NADH Oxidase and ATPase). The results obtained in this study indicate that the thermal alterations resulting from the exposure to Erbium laser are limited, whereas the mechanical damages can be very pronounced.
Mechanisms of the Scaffold Subunit in Facilitating Protein Phosphatase 2A Methylation

The function of the biologically essential protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) relies on formation of diverse heterotrimeric holoenzymes, which involves stable association between PP2A scaffold (A) and catalytic (C or PP2Ac) subunits and binding of variable regulatory subunits. Holoenzyme assembly is highly regulated by carboxyl methylation of PP2Ac-tail; methylation of PP2Ac and association of the A and C subunits are coupled to activation of PP2Ac. Here we showed that PP2A-specific methyltransferase, LCMT-1, exhibits a higher activity toward the core enzyme (A–C heterodimer) than free PP2Ac, and the A-subunit facilitates PP2A methylation via three distinct mechanisms: 1) stabilization of a proper protein fold and an active conformation of PP2Ac; 2) limiting the space of PP2Ac-tail movement for enhanced entry into the LCMT-1 active site; and 3) weak electrostatic interactions between LCMT-1 and the N-terminal HEAT repeats of the A-subunit. Our results revealed a new function and novel mechanisms of the A-subunit in PP2A methylation, and coherent control of PP2A activity, methylation, and holoenzyme assembly.