Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DEM Estimation for LASAR Based on Variational Model

This paper discusses the digital elevation model (DEM) estimation problem for the linear array synthetic aperture radar based on the variational model. Compared with the sparse recovery model, the one-to-one mapping between the horizontal grid nodes and the elevations is preserved explicitly, which is important for the topographic surveying and mapping mission. During the research, we find that since the mean square error criterion is insensitive to the amount of the elevation offsets, the numerical method by solving the Euler-Lagrange equation is unreliable and the global optimization method is necessary to solve the variational problem. With the ambiguity function localization and the sliding-window architecture, the global optimal path can be obtained by solving a series of local optimization problems provided that the observation matrix is row full rank. Furthermore, the local optimization problem can be relaxed as a sparse recovery problem and can be solved by a modified orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) method (named as Var-OMP), whose computational cost is acceptable for the actual data processing. By a series of numerical experiments, we show that the performance of Var-OMP is influenced by both the resolution enhancement factor (L) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The larger the SNR is, the better the performance is; the smaller L is, the more stable and faster the Var-OMP algorithm is. Compared with the sparse recovery methods, the variational model and the Var-OMP algorithm are more suitable for the DEM estimation application in the face of all kinds of terrains.
Experimental reproducibility in flow-chamber biofilms.

The structural organization of microbial communities is influenced by many factors, e.g. nutrient composition, shear stress and temperature. This paper presents a general method for quantitative comparison of biofilm structures and assessment of experimental reproducibility between independent biofilm experiments. By using a novel computer program, COMSTAT, biofilm structures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and an isogenic rpoS mutant were quantified. The strains were tagged with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and grown in flow chambers with a defined minimal medium as substrate. Three independent rounds of biofilm experiments were performed and in each round, each of the two variants was grown in two separate channels. Nine image stacks were acquired in each channel 146 h after inoculation. An analysis of variance model incorporating the factors experiment round, bacterial strain, channel number and image stack number was used to analyse the data calculated by COMSTAT. Experimental reproducibility was verified by estimating the magnitude of the variance of the effects round (sigma(2)R) and the interaction between bacterial strain and round (sigma(2)BR). Mean thickness of the wild-type and rpoS mutant biofilms was estimated at 6.31 microm (SE 0.81 microm) and 16.85 microm (SE 0.87 microm), respectively.
ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIAL CONTENT IN BLOOD BANK REFRIGERATORS.

Rasha Kifah Hassan, Ahmed Ibrahim Jessim, Ammar Salim Salman and Abbas Fadhil Salman. Ministry of Science and Technology, Treatment and disposing of chemical, biological and military hazardous wastes, Center for research and development, Baghdad – Iraq. Manuscript Info Abstract . Manuscript History Received: 02 January 2018 Final Accepted: 04 February 2019 Published: March 2019
Creating and Rendering Image-Based Visual Hulls

In this paper, we present efficient algorithms for creating and rendering image-based visual hulls. These algorithms are motivated by our desire to render real-time views of dynamic, real-world scenes. We first describe the visual hull, an abstract geometric entity useful for describing the volumes of objects as determined by their silhouettes. We then introduce the image-based visual hull, an efficient representation of an object''s visual hull. We demonstrate two desirable properties of the image-based visual hull. First, it can be computed efficiently (i.e., in real-time) from multiple silhouette images. Second, it can be quickly rendered from novel viewpoints. These two properties motivate our use of the image-based visual hull in a real-time rendering system that we are currently developing.
Placement of self-moving trays for the deskwork support system

We have proposed "attentive workbench (AWB)," a deskwork support system. Using cameras, projectors, and self-moving trays, the system supports human from both physical and informational aspects. This paper deals with the problem for estimating the object that a user needs. We present one of the approaches for accurate estimation of a necessary object from the user's pointing gesture. The system arranges the self-moving trays by itself based on the user's past action sequences. Using force-directed method, good placement, which decrease false estimations and is not moved very much from the initial placement, can be obtained. A description of the experimental results demonstrates the usefulness of the method proposed here.
Predicting Designability of Small Proteins from Graph Features of Contact Maps

Highly designable structures can be distinguished based on certain geometric graphical features of the interactions, confirming the fact that the topology of a protein structure and its residue-residue interaction network are important determinants of its designability. The most designable structures and least designable structures obtained for sets of proteins having the same number of residues are compared. It is shown that the most designable structures predicted by the graph features of the contact diagrams are more densely packed, whereas the poorly designable structures are more open structures or structures that are loosely packed. Interestingly enough, it can also be seen that the highly designable identified are also common structural motifs found in nature.
Monitoring RSS Feeds Based on User Browsing Pattern

RSS has been widely used to disseminate information on the Web over the years. With the help of RSS feed readers, a user may subscribe to the feeds that are published by her favorite blogs, news channels, or Websites, and access the most recent content from these information sources. However, when the size of the subscription list grows over time, it becomes less manageable for the user to catch up with the most up-to-date information. In this paper, we propose a Personal Information Manager that helps a user monitor the pool of information sources in her subscription list and recommends relevant articles based on her browsing history. In particular, in order for the manager to provide the most up-to-date content, we propose a retrieval scheduling algorithm that allocates limited system resources in an optimal way based on the user’s previous access pattern. Experiments show that our scheduling algorithm significantly improves the freshness of content when compared to other scheduling algorithms which do not take into account a user’s behavior.
Extensions to the delta rule for associative learning

The delta rule of associative learning has recently been used in several models of human category learning, and applied to categories with different relative frequencies, or base rates. Previous research has emphasized predictions of the delta rule after extensive learning. Our first experiment measures the relative acquisition rates of categories with different base rates, and the delta rule significantly and systematically deviates from the human data. We suggest that two additional mechanisms are involved, namely, short-term memory and strategic guessing. Two additional experiments highlight the effects of these mechanisms. The mechanisms are formalized and combined with the delta rule, and provide good fits to the data from all three experiments.
Interrater Reliability of the Functional Movement Screen

Minick, KI, Kiesel, KB, Burton, L, Taylor, A, Plisky, P, and Butler, RJ. Interrater reliability of the Functional Movement Screen. J Strength Cond Res 24(2): 479-486, 2010-The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a series of 7 tests that categorize fundamental movement. Each test is scored on an ordinal scale with 4 categories. The purpose of this study was to determine the interrater reliability of the FMS. Forty healthy subjects were videotaped while performing the FMS. The videos were independently scored by 4 raters, including 2 experts who instruct FMS training courses and 2 novices who completed a standardized training course on the FMS. Interrater reliability was analyzed using the weighted kappa statistic. The novice raters demonstrated excellent or substantial agreement on 14 of the 17 tests, whereas the expert raters did the same on 13 of the 17 tests. When the novice raters were paired with the expert raters, all 17 components demonstrated excellent or substantial agreement. These data indicate that the FMS can confidently be applied by trained individuals. This would suggest that the FMS can be confidently used to assess the movement patterns of athletes and to make decisions related to interventions for performance enhancement, and the FMS may assist in identifying athletes at risk for injury.
Isotropic Huber MRFS for structure super-resolution

Image super-resolution typically requires prior knowledge to overcome its under-determinedness. While recent generic prior models give impressive results, we note some common artifacts: blurry edges, jagged edges, staircase surfaces, and inconsistent colors. With understanding the underlying causes, we propose an improved generic prior model using isotropic Huber MRFs. In addition, to avoid the oversimplifying problem that generic models often encounter, we suggest applying them only to the structural component of an image, preserving the textural component. Experiments confirm that our framework successfully eliminates those artifacts while preserving textures. Showing competitive results, the GPU implementation allows near real-time application on video.
Using Bayesian classifier in relevant feedback of image retrieval

Relevance feedback is a powerful technique in content-based image retrieval (CBIR) and has been an active research area for the past few years. In this paper, we propose a new relevance feedback approach based on a Bayesian classifier, and it treats positive and negative feedback examples with different strategies. For positive examples, a Bayesian classifier is used to determine the distribution of the query space. A 'dibbling' process is applied to penalize images that are near the negative examples in the query and retrieval refinement process. The proposed algorithm also has a progressive learning capability that utilizes past feedback information to help the current query. Experimental results show that our algorithm is effective.
Crustal shear velocity structure of the western US 1 inferred from ambient seismic noise and earthquake 2 data

F. -C. Lin, Center for Imaging the Earth’s Interior, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80390-0390, USA. (fan-chi.lin@colorado.edu) M. P. Moschetti, Center for Imaging the Earth’s Interior, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80390-0390, USA. (morganm@ciei.colorado.edu) M. H. Ritzwoller, Center for Imaging the Earth’s Interior, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80390-0390, USA. (michael.ritzwoller@colorado.edu) Y. Yang, Center for Imaging the Earth’s Interior, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80390-0390, USA. (yingjie.yang@colorado.edu)
Market Participation by Rural Households in a Low-Income Country: An Asset Based Approach Applied to Mozambique

Market participation is both a cause and a consequence of economic development. Markets offer households the opportunity to specialize according to comparative advantage and thereby enjoy welfare gains from trade. Recognition of the potential of markets as engines of economic development and structural transformation gave rise to a market-led paradigm of agricultural development during the 1980s (Reardon and Timmer, 2006) that was accompanied by widespread promotion of market liberalization policy agendas in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other low-income regions. Furthermore, as households’ disposable income increases, so does demand for variety in goods and services, thereby inducing increased demand-side market participation, which further increases the demand for cash and thus supply-side market participation. The standard process of agrarian and rural transformation thus involves households’ transition from a subsistence mode, where most inputs are provided and most outputs consumed internally, to a market engagement mode, with inputs and products increasingly purchased and sold off the farm (Timmer, 1988; Staatz, 1994).
Ant colony optimization of rough set for HV bushings fault detection

In this paper we propose the optimization of Rough Set method using ant colony for oil-impregnated paper bushings. Ant colony is used to discretize the training data set. The ant colony optimized rough set is compare to a rough set who's data is discretized using equal frequency bin (EFB). Ant colony optimized (ACO) rough set results show an improvement compared to the EFB. The ACO rough set has an accuracy 4% high than that of EFB rough set. Rules generated are only a third for ACO compared to EFB. Although ACO takes longer to train, it proves to outperform EFB in all other respects.
Adjustive ecological restoration through stakeholder involvement: a case of riparian landscape restoration on privately owned land with public access

Ecological restoration involves a dual uncertainty or disagreement, one connected to changes in the environment and in human expertises, and another related to changes in views of acceptability over time and underlying value disagreements. While the former often is attended to under the notion of adaptive management, the latter is less often considered. The aim of this article is to investigate how a continuous involvement process can facilitate adjustments of ecological restoration, taking into account the values of all parties involved. Using a combination of a survey distributed to stakeholders in the involvement process and content analysis of the minutes from the series of meetings of the involvement process, the concerns and views of stakeholders, and the kinds of adjustment, which took place, were identified. Stakeholders were generally positive about being involved but expressed various concerns about the restoration approach itself, especially the open‐endedness, and about specific interventions. Three types of adjustment were identified: (1) project managers adjusted activities based on stakeholders' raised concerns and values; (2) stakeholders modified views in response to project managers as the restoration project proceeded; and (3) shifts in views took place within the stakeholder group based on exchanges with other stakeholders involved in the project. Mutual benefits and a higher level of mutual understanding were reached through the approach we call “adjustive ecological restoration. ” This approach depends on the ability to work with stakeholders, willingness to adjust, high levels of trust, and the leveling of expectations at the beginning of the process.
High resolution STM imaging with oriented single crystalline tips

Precise knowledge of the atomic and electronic structure of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) tips is crucial for correct interpretation of atomically resolved STM data and improvement of spatial resolution. Here we demonstrate that tungsten probes with controllable electronic structure can be fabricated using oriented single crystalline tips. High quality of the [001]-oriented W tips sharpened in ultra high vacuum was proved by electron microscopy. Distance dependent STM studies carried out on graphite (0001) surface demonstrate that application of crystallographically oriented single crystalline tips allows one to control the tip electron orbitals responsible for high resolution imaging under specific tunneling
MicroRNA-33a Mediates the Regulation of High Mobility Group AT-Hook 2 Gene (HMGA2) by Thyroid Transcription Factor 1 (TTF-1/NKX2–1)*

Background: TTF-1 inhibits lung cancer progression via HMGA2 down-regulation. Results: TTF-1 up-regulates miR-33a, which in turn directly represses HMGA2. Conclusion: The signaling axis of TTF-1 to HMGA2, important in controlling lung cancer metastasis, is mediated by miR-33a. Significance: This study explains the mechanism of HMGA2 suppression by TTF-1. In lung cancers, TTF-1 displays seemingly paradoxical activities. Although TTF-1 is amplified in primary human lung cancers, it inhibits primary lung tumors from metastasizing in a mouse model system. It was reported that the oncogenic proepithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) high mobility group AT-hook 2 gene (HMGA2) mediates the antimetastatic function of TTF-1. To gain mechanistic insight into the metastasis-critical signaling axis of TTF-1 to HMGA2, we used both reverse and forward strategies and discovered that microRNA-33a (miR-33a) is under direct positive regulation of TTF-1. By chromatin immunoprecipitation, we determined that TTF-1 binds to the promoter of SREBF2, the host gene of miR-33a. The 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of HMGA2 contains three predicted binding sites of miR-33a. We showed that the first two highly conserved sites are conducive to HMGA2 repression by miR-33a, establishing HMGA2 as a genuine target of miR-33a. Functional studies revealed that enforced expression of miR-33a inhibits the motility of lung cancer cells, and this inhibition can be rescued by overexpression of the form of HMGA2 without the 3′-UTR, suggesting that TTF-1 keeps the prometastasis gene HMGA2 in check via up-regulating miR-33a. This study reports the first miRNAs directly regulated by TTF-1 and clarifies how TTF-1 controls HMGA2 expression. Moreover, the documented importance of SREBF2 and miR-33a in regulating cholesterol metabolism suggests that TTF-1 may be a modulator of cholesterol homeostasis in the lung. Future studies will be dedicated to understanding how miRNAs influence the oncogenic activity of TTF-1 and the role of TTF-1 in cholesterol metabolism.
Divergence Preserving Interpolation on Anisotropic Quadrilateral Meshes

Abstract For the solution of incompressible fluid models with inf-sup stable finite element pairs for velocity and pressure, interpolation operators are desirable which preserve the property of discrete zero divergence and enjoy the same local approximation properties as standard interpolation operators. In this work, we show how an anisotropic interpolation operator can be modified preserving the discrete divergence and maintaining certain anisotropic interpolation properties. Beside the construction of such an operator for special anisotropic meshes, we discuss the applicability of anisotropic grid resolution of boundary layers for incompressible low-turbulent flow problems.
XPG Gene Polymorphisms Contribute to Colorectal Cancer Susceptibility: A Two-Stage Case-Control Study

Previous studies have reported that xeroderma pigmentosum group G (XPG) gene polymorphisms may modulate colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility. In this study, we performed a two-stage case-control study to comprehensively investigate the associations of five polymorphisms in the XPG gene with CRC risk in 1,901 cases and 1,976 controls from Southern China, including rs2094258 C>T, rs751402 C>T, rs2296147 T>C, rs1047768 T>C and rs873601 G>A. After combining data from two stages, we found that three of the studied polymorphisms (rs2094258 C>T, rs751402 C>T, and rs873601 G>A) were significantly associated with CRC susceptibility. After adjustment for age and gender, multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that carriers of the rs2094258 T alleles had an increased CRC risk [CT vs. CC: adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.36; TT vs. CC: adjusted OR=1.49, 95% CI=1.18-1.89; TT vs. CT/CC: adjusted OR=1.38, 95% CI=1.10-1.72]. Likely, rs873601 A allele also conferred increased CRC susceptibility. In contrast, a protective association was identified between rs751402 C>T polymorphism and the risk of CRC. In summary, our results indicated that these three polymorphisms were found to associate with CRC susceptibility in a Southern Chinese population.
Relationships among Brain Metabolites, Cognitive Function, and Viral Loads in Antiretroviral-Naı̈ve HIV Patients

This study aims to determine the relationship among cerebral metabolite concentrations (on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy or (1)H MRS), cognitive function, and clinical variables (CD4, plasma and CSF viral loads, and lipids) in antiretroviral medication-nai;ve HIV patients. We hypothesized that the probable glial markers myo-inositol [MI] and choline compounds [CHO] would correlate with cognitive function, CD4 count, and viral loads, but not with serum lipids. Forty-five antiretroviral-drug-nai;ve HIV patients and 25 control subjects were evaluated. Frontal lobe [MI], [CHO], and total creatine [CR] were elevated, while basal ganglia [CR] were decreased, with increasing dementia severity. As a group, HIV patients showed slowing on fine motor (Grooved Pegboard) and psychomotor function (Trails A & B), and deficits on executive function (Stroop tasks). Lower CD4 counts and elevated plasma viral loads were associated with elevated frontal white matter [MI], which in turn correlated with the Stroop tasks. These findings suggest that systemic factors (resulting from suppressed immune function and higher plasma viral load) may lead to glial proliferation (elevated [MI], [CHO], and [CR]) in the frontal white matter, which in turn may contribute to deficits on executive function in HIV. Studying antiretroviral-nai;ve patients minimized the confounding effects of antiretroviral treatment on the clinical, MRS, and neuropsychological variables, and allowed for a more accurate assessment of the relationships among these measurements. Metabolite concentrations, rather than metabolite ratios, should be measured since [CR], a commonly used reference for metabolite ratios, varies with disease severity in both frontal lobe and basal ganglia.
Finding the Near Workload Type between TPC-C and TPC-W Environments

Database system can be performed more than a database application and shown peculiar workload characteristics as a database application. However, as a database system can be performed a lot of database applications, detecting workload characteristics might be more difficult. This paper proposes the method of finding near workload characteristics by mixed workloads. The workload find method is evaluated by the modified k-NN algorithm that is an extension of the existing the fuzzy k-NN algorithm. The modified k-NN algorithm measures how close workloads in TPC-C or TPC-W are to the mixed workloads between TPC-C and TPC-W. Furthermore, the result of our method is better than others for finding near workloads because its results are lower than others in the oscillation depending on the k parameter and the error rate. This study is able to contribute to finding similar information for providing autonomic database analysis and intelligent service in ubiquitous environments.
Improved density-induced support vector data description

Support vector data description (SVDD) is a data description method which can give the target data set a spherically shaped description. A density-induced SVDD (D-SVDD) has been proposed to improve the SVDD. However, the dual optimization problem of the D-SVDD is not a simple optimization problem which makes the D-SVDD be not an easy data description method. This paper presents an improved density-induced SVDD. The hyper-spherically shaped boundary of our method resorts to a well-known quadratic programming problem, thus the proposed data description method improves the D-SVDD.