Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fine-grain annotation of cricket videos

The recognition of human activities is one of the key problems in video understanding. Action recognition is challenging even for specific categories of videos, such as sports, that contain only a small set of actions. Interestingly, sports videos are accompanied by detailed commentaries available online, which could be used to perform action annotation in a weakly-supervised setting. For the specific case of Cricket videos, we address the challenge of temporal segmentation and annotation of actions with semantic descriptions. Our solution consists of two stages. In the first stage, the video is segmented into "scenes", by utilizing the scene category information extracted from text-commentary. The second stage consists of classifying videoshots as well as the phrases in the textual description into various categories. The relevant phrases are then suitably mapped to the video-shots. The novel aspect of this work is the fine temporal scale at which semantic information is assigned to the video. As a result of our approach, we enable retrieval of specific actions that last only a few seconds, from several hours of video. This solution yields a large number of labelled exemplars, with no manual effort, that could be used by machine learning algorithms to learn complex actions.
Neural dynamics underlying complex behavior in a songbird [dissertation

Zebra finches memorize a tutor song as juveniles, and then faithfully reproduce this song for the remainder of their lives. This thesis investigates how the intricate and concerted activity of ensembles of neurons in the zebra finch brain gives rise to this complex behavior. The first section of the thesis demonstrates how neurons in RA, a pre-motor song control nucleus, coordinate their activity to generate the instantaneous spectral and temporal structure seen in the song. Similar sounds are produced by entirely different ensembles of RA neurons. Additionally, rapidly changing patterns of RA neural activity are capable of generating constant acoustic outputs. This is a new form of neural coding, previously unobserved in any other system. This unusual neural representation provides a concise account of an unexplained aspect of song learning. The second part of the thesis develops a new, noninvasive method of altering the auditory feedback heard by singing zebra finches. This type of feedback perturbation causes the normally stable songs of adult birds to deteriorate, indicating that auditory feedback is essential to song control throughout life. Restoration of the normal auditory feedback heard by these birds enables the gradual recovery of their original songs, demonstrating that a memory of the original song persists in the song control system despite the destabilization of the behavior. The song is thus maintained by an active feedback control process. The final project investigates the role of nucleus LMAN in real-time song control via auditory feedback. Neurons in nucleus LMAN were previously believed to compare auditory feedback to a memorized song template. The result of this comparison was thought to be used as an error-correction signal to update the motor control program. By recording from individual LMAN neurons while simultaneously manipulating the auditory feedback heard by the singing bird, it is shown that during singing, rather than auditory feedback, LMAN processes an efference copy of the motor commands used to generate the bird's song. This suggests a different model of the system, in which the efference copy is the basis of the real-time error-correction signal. Taken together, these three projects significantly expand our knowledge of the neural mechanisms responsible for the generation of birdsong.
Mild hepatitis at recommended doses of acetaminophen in patients with evidence of constitutionally enhanced cytochrome P450 system activity

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is used throughout the world for pain relief and antipyresis in both children and adults. In many countries, it can be purchased without a medical prescription and it is also a common component of a number of over‐the‐counter remedies for colds, influenza and the like. Fasting, malnutrition and use of alcohol and/or other drugs are thought to play causal roles in hepatotoxicity associated with recommended doses of acetaminophen although liver injury provoked by therapeutic doses has also been observed in the absence of these factors. We describe two patients who experienced subclinical hepatotoxic reactions after taking acetaminophen at therapeutic doses. The results of an antipyrine metabolism test suggest the presence of constitutional hyperactivity of the cytochrome P450‐dependent mixed function oxidative system in both patients. We hypothesize that the latter contributed to the hepatotoxicity and that it may play a role in idiosyncratic reactions to this drug.
The Effect of IT Capital on Hospital Efficiency

The academic literature on hospital information technology is relatively sparse despite its important implications for hospital management, with only limited empirical evidence linking implementation of hospital IT systems with improvements in health care quality, financial and operational performance. This study aims to corroborate the observational evidence by using a cost function estimation approach to examine the impact of IT capital investments on hospital cost efficiency.
Dependable Self-Hosting Distributed Systems Using Constraints

We describe a technique for writing distributed applications which manage themselves over one or more utility computing infrastructures: by dynamically acquiring new computational resources, deploying themselves on these resources, and releasing others when no longer required. Unlike prior work, such management functionality is closely integrated with the application, allowing greater freedom in application-specific policies and faster response to failures and other changes in the environment without requiring any external management system. We address the programming complexity of this approach by applying constraint logic programming, and describe Rhizoma, an experimental runtime to explore these ideas. We present early experience of deploying self-hosting applications on PlanetLab using Rhizoma.
Efficacy and Safety of Cerebrolysin for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Cerebrolysin was reported to be effective in the neurological improvement of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in experimental models, while data from clinical trials were inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to explore the efficacy and safety of cerebrolysin for AIS. PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials, which intervened within 72 hours after the stroke onset. We investigated the efficacy and safety outcomes, respectively. Risk ratios and mean differences were pooled with fixed-effects model or random-effects model. Seven studies were identified, involving 1779 patients with AIS. The summary results failed to demonstrate significant superiority of cerebrolysin in the assessment of efficacy outcomes of mRS and BI. Similarly, administration of cerebrolysin had neutral effects on safety outcomes compared with placebo, including mortality and SAE. However, the number of included studies was small, especially in the analysis of efficacy outcomes, which might cause publication bias and inaccurate between-studies variance in the meta-analysis. Conclusively, although it seemed to be safe, routine use of cerebrolysin to improve the long-term rehabilitation after stroke could not be supported by available evidence.
Evaluation of Remote Interface Component Alternatives for Teaching Tele-Robotic Operation

The Internet developments as well as the increase in PCs’ capabilities and bandwidth capacity have made remote learning through the internet a convenient and practical learning preference, leading to a variety of new learning interfaces and methods. This chapter discusses a remote learning study conducted at the Computer-Integrated-Manufacturing (CIM) Laboratory in Tel-Aviv University. The goal is to provide remote end-users with an interface that enables them to teleoperate a robotic arm in conditions as close as possible to hands-on operation in the laboratory. This study evaluates the contribution of different interface components to the overall performance and the learning ability of potential end-users. Based on predefined experimental tasks, the study compares alternative interface designs for teleoperation. The three performance measures of the robot operation task are (1) the number of steps that are required to complete the given task, (2) the number of errors during the execution stage, and (3) the improvement rate of users. Guidelines for a better design of remote learning interfaces in robotics are provided based on the experimental results. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1945-6.ch063
Semantic search log analysis: A method and a study on professional image search

Existing methods for automatically analyzing search logs describe search behavior on the basis of syntactic differences (overlapping terms) between queries. Although these analyses provide valuable insights into the complexity and successfulness of search interactions, they offer a limited interpretation of the observed searching behavior, as they do not consider the semantics of users' queries. In this article we propose a method to exploit semantic information in the form of linked data to enrich search queries so as to determine the semantic types of the queries and the relations between queries that are consecutively entered in a search session. This work provides also an in-depth analysis of the search logs of professional users searching a commercial picture portal. Compared to previous image search log analyses, in particular those of professional users, we consider a much larger dataset. We analyze the logs both in a syntactic way and using the proposed semantic approach and compare the results. Our findings show the benefits of using semantics for search log analysis: the identified types of query modifications cannot be appropriately analyzed by only considering term overlap, since queries related in the most frequent ways do not usually share terms. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Risk of pulmonary complications after elective abdominal surgery.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Intra-abdominal operations are relatively high risk for pulmonary complications. Previous research has more intensely investigated cardiac operative risk, but recent work suggests that significant pulmonary complications may be more common than cardiac complications and associated with longer length of stay. This study identified risk indicators for pulmonary complications after elective abdominal operations. DESIGN Nested case-control. SETTING University affiliated Veterans Affairs hospital. PATIENTS We used a computerized registry of all 2,291 patients undergoing elective abdominal operations from 1982 to 1991. Ascertainment and verification of pulmonary and cardiac complications were systematic and explicit. Charts of all 116 patients identified by the registry as having complications and 412 (19%) randomly selected from 2,175 remaining patients were reviewed to verify complications, using explicit criteria and independent abstraction of preoperative and postoperative components of charts. From 528 validated subjects (23% of the cohort), 82 cases and 82 control subjects were closely matched by operation type and age, +/- 10 years. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The primary outcome measure was postoperative pulmonary complications. Among 82 cases with pulmonary complications, 27 (33%) also had cardiac complications. Preoperative variables independently associated with pulmonary complications by multivariable analysis (p < or = 0.05) included the following: Charlson comorbidity index (per point odds ratio [OR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.004 to 2.6), Goldman cardiac risk index (per point OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.17 to 3.6), abnormal chest radiograph (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.07 to 9.4), and abnormal findings on lung examination (OR, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.04 to 32). Equal proportions of cases and control subjects had preoperative diagnostic spirometry. No component of spirometry predicted complications, including severity of obstructive lung disease. CONCLUSIONS For pulmonary operative risk, abnormal results of lung examination and chest radiography plus cardiac and overall comorbidity were important. Spirometry was not helpful. Because 33% of cases had both cardiac and pulmonary complications, future studies should prospectively examine comparative incidence, outcomes, and predictors of both type of complications.
New Edge Detection Enhancement Method based on Cooperation between Edge Algorithms

detection algorithms are important tools in image processing applications for carrying out much information and being relatively easy to produce. Sobel; Canny; and logarithmic algorithms (1) are among several edge detection algorithms used frequently nowadays. The evalution of such edge detection algorithms is an old problem. Authors (1)(3) tend to use visual evaluation that limits the comparison between different edge images. In this paper, we present a new edge enhancement method and five different measures that can be used to statistically evaluate edge detection algorithms. The new edge enhancement method is based on cooperation between different edge detection algorithms. The new edge preserves the advantages of each edge image. Experimental results using two edge detection algorithms proved the efficiency of this method.
Active code completion

In this paper, we propose a complementary technique called active code completion. When the developer invokes the code completion menu, the editor looks for a palette definition associated with the type of the expression being entered. If found, an option to use this palette is added to the code completion menu. When the developer selects this option, source code is not inserted immediately. Instead, the palette definition takes control of the code completion interface. The developer can then interact with this interface to provide parameters and other information related to her intent, and receive immediate feedback about the effect these choices will have on the object's behavior. When the developer indicates that she is satisfied with these choices, the palette generates code that is inserted at the cursor.
Screen feedback in human-robot interaction: How to enhance robot expressiveness

The feedback of a robot is a powerful means to establish smooth human-robot interaction (HRI). We report on a user study to assess the applicability of a screen in a human-robot game-playing scenario. The screen was deployed to compensate for expressive shortcomings of a social robot due to its mechanical limitations of non-movable facial features. The participants played Rock-Paper-Scissors with the robot for which we programmed the right hand to show gestures. Half of the participants received facial expressions via a screen during the game, whereas the other half did not get screen feedback. We annotated the video-recorded interactions and collected questionnaire and interview data to assess the applicability of the screen. With our data we could show noteworthy results: First, the robot which provided facial expressions was rated more intelligent. Second, the participants who had interacted with the robot showing facial expressions, rated the task as more attractive than participants who did not receive facial expressions from the robot. The fact that we could not detect a negative influence of the screen, underlines the applicability of a screen in an HRI game-playing scenario to display facial expressions and contribute to an enhanced interaction.
Hippocampal hyperactivation in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease

The examination of individuals who carry fully penetrant genetic alterations that result in familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) provides a unique model for studying the early presymptomatic disease stages. In AD, deficits in episodic and associative memory have been linked to structural and functional changes within the hippocampal system. This study used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine hippocampal function in a group of healthy, young, cognitively‐intact presymptomatic individuals (average age 33.7 years) who carry the E280A presenilin‐1 (PS1) genetic mutation for FAD. These PS1 subjects will go on to develop the first symptoms of the disease around the age of 45 years. Our objective was to examine hippocampal function years before the onset of clinical symptoms.
Elastic properties of boron carbides

Boron carbides made by hot pressing exist as a single phase with compositions between 10 and 20 atomic percent carbon. The longitudinal and shear ultrasonic velocities were measured on fully dense boron carbides with compositions throughout the single‐phase region. Both longitudinal and shear velocities decreased rapidly when the carbon content was below 13 atomic percent. Young’s modulus, shear modulus, bulk modulus, compressibility, and Poisson’s ratio, were calculated from the ultrasonic velocities. The results show that boron carbides become substantially more compressible for carbon concentrations below 13%. This softening is consistent with B12 icosahedra replacing B11C icosahedra in this composition range.
Membrane models of biological systems

rewriting systems on multisets (ARMS) are a simple construct in the context of Computational living systems, constituting a class of P systems that have been devised for modelling systems dynamics, with the belief that [177]: Environment + Computational living systems = Computation in agreement with the vision of living beings as computing entities whose computation purpose is keeping themselves alive. The model itself in its basic formulation is composed of a multiset of objects and a set of rewriting rules, while its intuitive meaning can be traced back to the study of abstract chemical machines [24]. As in classic P systems, the multiset of objects models the population of chemicals present into the system while rewriting rules are an abstraction of biochemical reactions. This is consistent with the idea of employing multisets as a representation formalism for undistinguishable floating chemical molecules uniformly distributed and randomly moving in a common environment. Rewriting rules model biochemical reactions between elements of the multiset defining the state of the system at each instant. A rewriting rule r over an alphabet A is a pair r = (α, β) where α, β ∈ A∗, it is denoted as α → β and its meaning is that α is replaced by β. Strings are a representation of multisets, thereby rewriting rules specified in this way can be thought as rewriting rules on multisets, but often strings α and β are substrings of the string representing the multiset encoding the state of the system. Following the terminology of [178], an ARMS is defined as a pair:
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter G1 and High-Density Lipoprotein Promote Endothelial NO Synthesis Through a Decrease in the Interaction of Caveolin-1 and Endothelial NO Synthase

Objective—To investigate whether cholesterol efflux to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) via ATP-binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) modulates the interaction of caveolin (Cav) 1 and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS). Methods and Results—ABCG1 promotes cholesterol and 7-oxysterol efflux from endothelial cells (ECs) to HDL. It was previously reported that ABCG1 protects against dietary cholesterol-induced endothelial dysfunction by promoting the efflux of 7-oxysterols to HDL. Increased cholesterol loading in ECs is known to cause an inhibitory interaction between Cav-1 and eNOS and impaired NO release. In human aortic ECs, free cholesterol loading promoted the interaction of Cav-1 with eNOS, reducing eNOS activity. These effects of cholesterol loading were reversed by HDL in an ABCG1-dependent manner. HDL also reversed the inhibition of eNOS by cholesterol loading in murine lung ECs, but this effect of HDL was abolished in Cav-1–deficient murine lung ECs. Increased interaction of Cav-1 with eNOS was also detected in aortic homogenates of high-cholesterol diet–fed Abcg1−/− mice, paralleling a decrease in eNOS activity and impaired endothelial function. Conclusion—The promotion of cholesterol efflux via ABCG1 results in a reduced inhibitory interaction of eNOS with Cav-1.
Tailor-made resealable micro(bio)reactors providing easy integration of in situ sensors

Flow microreactors utilizing immobilized enzymes are of great interest in biocatalysis development. Most of the common devices are permanently closed, single-use systems, which allow limited physical and chemical surface modifications and evaluation methods. In this paper we will present resealable flowcells that overcome these limitations and moreover allow a quick and easy integration of sensor systems, because of the use of modular building blocks. The devices were utilized to study the enzyme activity of glucose oxidase immobilized on chemically modified glass surfaces under flow conditions, employing integrated optical oxygen sensors for on-line monitoring.
Fatigue curve and stress strain response for stainless steel

Niobium stabilized austenitic stainless steel (X6CrNiNb1810 mod) was studied in strain controlled fatigue tests ranging from low cycle (LCF) to high cycle (HCF) regime in RT air. An experimental strain life curve was determined as a base line for component specific evaluations and for comparison with the Langer and Chopra curves, which are the basis of the ASME III and NRC RG 1.207 design criteria. Stress strain responses were carefully measured to clarify the strain amplitude dependent fatigue behaviour of this steel.
A New Implementation of a Dual (Paper and Cryptographic) Voting System

We report on the design and implementation of a new cryptographic voting system, designed to retain the "look and feel" of standard, paper-based voting used in our country Israel while enhancing security with end-to-end verifiability guaranteed by cryptographic voting. Our system is dual ballot and runs two voting processes in parallel: one is electronic while the other is paper-based and similar to the traditional process used in Israel. Consistency between the two processes is enforced by means of a new, specially-tailored paper ballot format. We examined the practicality and usability of our protocol through implementation and field testing in two elections: the first being a student council election with over 2000 voters, the second a political party's election for choosing their leader. We present our findings, some of which were extracted from a survey we conducted during the first election. Overall, voters trusted the system and found it comfortable to use.
Multimicrophone speech dereverberation using spatiotemporal and spectral processing

Speech signals acquired in a reverberant room with microphones positioned at a distance from the talker are degraded in quality due to reverberation and measurement noise. Therefore, enhancement of reverberant speech is important in hands-free telecommunications applications. The perceptual effects of reverberation can be linked to the room impulse response (RIR) between the talker and the microphone and are characterized by: (i) colouration, due to the strong early reflections and (ii) a distant 'echoey' quality due to the decaying tail of the RIR. Accordingly, we present a two-stage multimicrophone method for speech dereverberation. First, spatiotemporal averaging is performed on the linear prediction residual, which primarily reduces the effects of the early reflections. Secondly, a spectral subtraction method is employed to reduce late reverberation. Simulation results with measured RIRs and additive white Gaussian noise illustrate the performance of this method and show that the combined approach performs better than each of the two stages individually.