Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new multi-level framework for deformable contour optimization

Application of dynamic programming to the deformable contours has many advantages, such as guaranteed optimality and numerical stability. However, long execution times of these methods almost always force researchers to use dynamic programming in combination with multiresolution methods. Multiresolution methods shorten the execution time by subsampling the original images after an application of a smoothing filter. However, this speedup comes at the expense of contour optimality due to the loss of details in the decreased resolution. In this paper, we present a new multi-level framework for deformable contour optimization, which can achieve faster optimization times and performs better than current multiresolution methods. To form the new levels, this method uses a very efficient algorithm to segment the original images with respect to the deformable contour external energy instead of subsampling. An exhaustive search on these segments is carried out by dynamic programming. A novel gradient descent algorithm is employed to find optimal internal energy for large image segments, where the external energy remains constant due to segmentation. We also introduce a new algorithm to pass the contour information more precisely between the levels. We present an analysis of time and performance comparisons with the current multiresolution methods by the experiments done on variety of medical images, which confirmed efficiency and accuracy of our framework.
Inhibition of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)-A Causes a Paradoxical Increase in Tumor Blood Flow and Up-Regulation of VEGF-D

Purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A is an important mediator of angiogenesis in almost all solid tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of VEGF-A expression on tumor growth, perfusion, and chemotherapeutic efficacy in orthotopic 9L gliosarcomas. Experimental Design: Stable 9L cell lines underexpressing and overexpressing VEGF-A were generated. Anatomic, susceptibility contrast, and continuous arterial spin-labeling magnetic resonance imaging were used to quantify the volume, blood volume, and blood flow of tumors orthotopically grown from these and wild-type 9L cells. Histologic, immunohistochemical, and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analyses were also done on excised tumors. Finally, the effects of carmustine chemotherapy were also evaluated. Results: Orthotopic tumors underexpressing VEGF-A had slower growth rates (increased median survival), greater blood flow, vessel density, and VEGF-D expression, but no statistical difference in blood volume and chemotherapeutic sensitivity, compared with tumors with wild-type levels of VEGF-A. Tumors overexpressing VEGF-A had faster growth rates, greater blood volume, vessel density, and blood flow but no statistical difference in VEGF-D expression and chemotherapeutic sensitivity compared with wild-type VEGF-A-expressing tumors. Conclusion: Blood volume and blood flow are independent and different biomarkers of tumor perfusion. Therefore, both should be measured when characterizing the efficacy of antiangiogenic therapies. Underexpression of VEGF-A does not result in complete inhibition of angiogenesis. Moreover, these tumors have a different perfusion phenotype, suggesting that angiogenesis is mediated by an alternative pathway. The results indicate that VEGF-D is a plausible alternative mediator of this angiogenesis.
XML Parsers and XSL Processors

This seminar paper concentrates on XML (Extensible Markup Language) parsers and XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) processors. XML parsers are used for reading XML formatted data, either just to ensure that it is properly formed or to store it in the system memory for further processing. XSL processors are used to transform and format XML data to different presentation formats. There are two architecturally different major types of XML parsers: SAX (Simple API for XML) and DOM (Document Object Model) parsers. SAX parsers are event-based; they generate events during parsing whereas DOM parsers build tree representations out of the XML data. Parsers can also be categorized according to their validation capabilities. Non-validating parsers are only able to check if an XML document is wellformed whereas validating parsers can additionally check if the XML document conforms to its DTD (Document Type Definition). Currently there are some parser implementations available in all categories although their capabilities and quality varies extensively. XSL processing is a complex task involving transforming tree structured XML data in several iterations. Most XSL processors are only capable of doing XSLT (XSL Transformations) leaving the formatting part, which is the other half of XSL, out. These processors come in different forms and functionality, which makes choosing a processor difficult. The XSL part of the XML specification is new and still evolving resulting in that only the biggest joint developer groups are able to keep up and implement the latest changes. XML seems to be ready for serious applications. There are a sufficient number of good enough quality parsers and XSL processors available. Clearly there are a lot of developers and designers who believe in XML and they have put vast amounts of work into different tools, which now are ready to be used by anyone. XML Parsers and XSL Processors Research Seminar on Digital Media ii
BAX inhibitor‐1 regulates autophagy by controlling the IRE1α branch of the unfolded protein response

Karen Castillo, Diego Rojas-Rivera, Fernanda Lisbona, Benjamı́n Caballero, Melissa Nassif, Felipe A Court, Sebastian Schuck, Consuelo Ibar, Peter Walter, Jimena Sierralta, Alvaro Glavic and Claudio Hetz* Center for Molecular Studies of the Cell, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, Millennium Nucleus for Regenerative Biology, Department of Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, P. Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA, Center for Genome Regulation, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile and Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
Graph-based multi-modal scene detection for movie and teleplay

Automatic scene detection is a fundamental step for efficient video searching and browsing. This paper presents our current work on scene detection that integrates three effective strategies into a single framework. For each video, firstly, a coherence signal is constructed by graph modal obtained from the similarity matrix in a temporal interval. Secondly, the signal is optimized by scene transition graph (STG) analysis and audio classification, in which scene clues hidden in multimedia are discovered from the video. Finally, the scene boundaries are identified by window function. In experiments, we compare the proposed scene detection method with three typical algorithms on teleplay and movies, and the results of our method, yielding an average 0.85 F-measure, is the best one.
Persian Wordnet Construction using Supervised Learning

This paper presents an automated supervised method for Persian wordnet construction. Using a Persian corpus and a bi-lingual dictionary, the initial links between Persian words and Princeton WordNet synsets have been generated. These links will be discriminated later as correct or incorrect by employing seven features in a trained classification system. The whole method is just a classification system which has been trained on a train set containing a pre-existing Persian wordnet, FarsNet, as a set of correct instances. A set of some sophisticated distributional and semantic features is proposed to be used in the classification system. Furthermore, a set of randomly selected links have been added to training data as incorrect instances. The links classified as correct are collected to be included in the final wordnet. State of the art results on the automatically derived Persian wordnet is achieved. The resulted wordnet with a precision of 91.18% includes more than 16,000 words and 22,000 synsets.
Creating effective invited spaces : putting the lens on early childhood teacher education practica : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

i Acknowledgements . iii Te Wero – The Challenge . xiii Chapter One Introduction . 1 1.1. The Aim of the Study . 2 1.2. The Rationale for the Study . 3 1.3. Organisation of the Thesis . 4 Chapter Two Literature Review . 7 2.
Interactive Motion Planning for Concentric Tube Robots

Concentric tube robots may enable new, safer minimally invasive surgical procedures by taking curved paths to difficult-to-reach areas of a patient’s anatomy. Operating these devices is hard due to their complex and unintuitive kinematics. Existing position control methods for driving the robot’s tip can cause the robot to collide with sensitive structures in the anatomy associated with patient injury, and prior motion planning methods that offer collision avoidance are too slow for a surgeon to interactively control the robot during a procedure. In this paper, we present a motion planning method that can compute collision-free motion plans for concentric tube robots at interactive rates. Our planner’s high speed enables surgeons to continuously and freely drive the robot’s tip while the planner ensures that the robot’s shaft does not collide with any anatomical obstacles. Our method achieves its high speed and accuracy by combining offline precomputation of a collisionfree roadmap with online position control. We demonstrate our interactive planner in a simulated neurosurgical scenario where a user guides the robot’s tip through the environment while the robot automatically avoids collisions with the anatomical obstacles.
Physical modeling of NBTI: From individual defects to devices

Given the rapid recovery of the degradation induced by bias-temperature stress, the understanding and modeling of NBTI has been a challenge for nearly half a century. With the introduction of the time-dependent defect spectroscopy (TDDS), NBTI could be studied at the single defect level, confirming that it is dominated by a collection of first-order reactions rather then the previously invoked reaction-diffusion mechanism. The most intriguing feature of these first-order processes is the wide distribution of their time constants, which can be visualized in capture/emission time (CET) maps. In the following we clarify the microscopic link between individual defects seen in TDDS studies and the response of a large ensemble visible in the CET maps. In particular, we show how the distribution of the individual defect parameters can be extracted from measurements on large-area devices.
Comparison of two XML query languages from the perspective of learners

Two XML query languages were tested for intuitivity, learnability and memorability. The languages differ with relation to the query structures like the use of variables, iterators and reference to attributes. One of the languages, XQuery, is a procedural, expressive and data-oriented query language that is suitable even for programming purposes; the other, XIL, is more declarative, document-oriented query language with a simpler syntax. A query-writing test with the learners of the languages was executed. The study indicates that, in the query writing, the more procedural query language yields a greater number of correct queries. Similarity between the tested languages, and to SQL, is discussed from the point of view of learnability.
Fukui matrix : a simple approach to the analysis of the Fukui function and its positive character

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A Low-cost , 20-DOF Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand : Design , Actuation and Modeling

In order to effectively develop the control methods of an anthropomorphic robotic hand, it is important for researchers to have fast and easy access to modify any design parameters. To this end, we detail the process of designing a 20 degrees of freedom, cable-driven, anthropomorphic robotic hand. The prototyping process makes the most of 3D printing technology, and takes important factors such as maintainability and modification into consideration. Skin pads and finger segments of the robotic hand can all be quickly assembled with other components through reliable, structural coupling. And each modular finger can be individual modified with little effort. We also adopt a custom-designed physics engine to model the robotic hand in order to efficiently compute the kinematic configuration. Good performance of tactile sensing, force behaviors, and actuation speed are observed in experiments. Overall, we show our anthropomorphic robotic hand to be cost-effective and flexible to design and control requirements.
Checkout my map: Version control for fleetwide visual localisation

This paper is about underpinning long-term operations of fleets of vehicles using visual localisation. In particular it examines ways in which vehicles, considered as independent agents, can share, update and leverage each others' visual experiences in a mutually beneficial way. We draw on our previous work in Experience-based Navigation (EBN) [1], in which a visual map supporting multiple representations of the same place is built, yielding real-time localisation capability for a solitary vehicle. We now consider how any number of such agents might operate in concert via data sharing policies that are germane to the shared task of lifelong localisation. We rapidly construct considerable maps by the conjoining of work distributed to asynchronous processes, and share expertise amongst the team by the selective dispensing of mission-specific map contents. We demonstrate and evaluate our system against 100km of data collected in North Oxford over a period of a month featuring diverse deviation in appearance due to atmospheric, lighting, and structural dynamics. We show that our framework is capable of creating maps in a fraction of the time required by single-agent EBN, with no significant loss in localisation robustness, and is able to furnish robots on real-world forays with maps which require much less storage.
Salmonella Typhimurium Strain ATCC14028 Requires H2-Hydrogenases for Growth in the Gut, but Not at Systemic Sites

Salmonella enterica is a common cause of diarrhea. For eliciting disease, the pathogen has to colonize the gut lumen, a site colonized by the microbiota. This process/initial stage is incompletely understood. Recent work established that one particular strain, Salmonella enterica subspecies 1 serovar Typhimurium strain SL1344, employs the hyb H2-hydrogenase for consuming microbiota-derived H2 to support gut luminal pathogen growth: Protons from the H2-splitting reaction contribute to the proton gradient across the outer bacterial membrane which can be harvested for ATP production or for import of carbon sources. However, it remained unclear, if other Salmonella strains would use the same strategy. In particular, earlier work had left unanswered if strain ATCC14028 might use H2 for growth at systemic sites. To clarify the role of the hydrogenases, it seems important to establish if H2 is used at systemic sites or in the gut and if Salmonella strains may differ with respect to the host sites where they require H2 in vivo. In order to resolve this, we constructed a strain lacking all three H2-hydrogenases of ATCC14028 (14028hyd3) and performed competitive infection experiments. Upon intragastric inoculation, 14028hyd3 was present at 100-fold lower numbers than 14028WT in the stool and at systemic sites. In contrast, i.v. inoculation led to equivalent systemic loads of 14028hyd3 and the wild type strain. However, the pathogen population spreading to the gut lumen featured again up to 100-fold attenuation of 14028hyd3. Therefore, ATCC14028 requires H2-hydrogenases for growth in the gut lumen and not at systemic sites. This extends previous work on ATCC14028 and supports the notion that H2-utilization might be a general feature of S. Typhimurium gut colonization.
A Perspective on the Revival of Structural (In) Stability With Novel Opportunities for Function: From Buckliphobia to Buckliphilia

Buckling of slender structures is traditionally regarded as a first route toward failure. Here, we provide an alternative perspective on a burgeoning movement where mechanical instabilities are exploited to devise new classes of functional mechanisms that make use of the geometrically nonlinear behavior of their postbuckling regimes. Selected examples are highlighted across length-scales to illustrate some of the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.
Collision Avoidance for Airport Traffic simulation evaluation

A Collision Avoidance for Airport Traffic (CAAT) concept for the airport Terminal Maneuvering Area (TMA) was evaluated in a simulation study at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center. CAAT is being designed to enhance surface situation awareness and provide cockpit alerts of potential conflicts during runway, taxi, and low altitude air-to-air operations. The purpose of the study was to evaluate pilot reaction to conflict events in the TMA near the airport, different alert timings for various scenarios, alerting display concepts, and directive alerting concepts. This paper gives an overview of the conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) concept, simulation study, and test results.
Games on graphs: A minor modification of payoff scheme makes a big difference

Many techniques developed in simulations of physical models have been adopted in studies of game theory by researchers including physicists and mathematicians. In this work, we show that a seemingly non-essential mechanism —what we refer to as a “payoff scheme”— has a large impact on strategic outcomes of some games. The payoff scheme here refers to how each player's payoff is calculated in each round after the states of all of the players are determined. Conventionally either the accumulated or the average payoff of a player is used, where its payoff is calculated from pairing up the player with all of its neighboring players. Here we consider to calculate the payoff from pairing up with only one random player from the neighboring players. The average payoff scheme that involves averaging over all of the neighbors should, in a sense, be equivalent to repeatedly randomly pairing up with one neighbor a time, which we refer to as the stochastic payoff scheme. However, our simulation of games on graphs shows that, in many cases, the two payoff schemes lead to qualitatively different levels of cooperation: Seemingly non-essential modifications might have large impact on behavioral outcomes. We have also observed that results from the stochastic scheme are more robust than the average scheme: different updating rules and initial states of the players do not have a large impact on the final level of cooperation in the former case when compared with those in the latter case.
Dependency Tree Based Sentence Compression

We present a novel unsupervised method for sentence compression which relies on a dependency tree representation and shortens sentences by removing subtrees. An automatic evaluation shows that our method obtains result comparable or superior to the state of the art. We demonstrate that the choice of the parser affects the performance of the system. We also apply the method to German and report the results of an evaluation with humans.
Do "isolated" planetary mass objects orbit invisible stellar mass companions?

We propose that the ``isolated'' planetary mass objects observed by Zapatero Osorio et al in the $\sigma$ Orionis cluster might actually be in orbit around invisible stellar mass companions such as mirror stars. Mirror matter is expected to exist if parity is an unbroken symmetry of nature. Future observations can test this idea by looking for a periodic Doppler shift in the radiation emitted by the planets. The fact that the observations show an inverse dependence between the abundance of the these objects and their mass may argue in favour of the mirror matter hypothesis.
Specific language impairment in language-minority children from low-income families.

BACKGROUND Recent evidence suggests that specific language impairment (SLI) might be secondary to general cognitive processing limitations in the domain of executive functioning. Previous research has focused almost exclusively on monolingual children with SLI and offers little evidence-based guidance on executive functioning in bilingual children with SLI. Studying bilinguals with SLI is important, especially in the light of increasing evidence that bilingualism can bring advantages in certain domains of executive functioning. AIMS To determine whether executive functioning represents an area of difficulty for bilingual language-minority children with SLI and, if so, which specific executive processes are affected. METHODS & PROCEDURES This cross-cultural research was conducted with bilingual children from Luxembourg and monolingual children from Portugal who all had Portuguese as their first language. The data from 81 eight-year-olds from the following three groups were analysed: (1) 15 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg with an SLI diagnosis; (2) 33 typically developing Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg; and (3) 33 typically developing Portuguese-speaking monolinguals from Portugal. Groups were matched on first language, ethnicity, chronological age and socioeconomic status, and they did not differ in nonverbal intelligence. Children completed a battery of tests tapping: expressive and receptive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, verbal and visuospatial working memory, selective attention and interference suppression. OUTCOMES & RESULTS The bilingual SLI group performed equally well compared with their typically developing peers on measures of visuospatial working memory, but had lower scores than both control groups on tasks of verbal working memory. On measures of selective attention and interference suppression, typically developing children who were bilingual outperformed their monolingual counterparts. For selective attention, performance of the bilingual SLI group did not differ significantly from the controls. For interference suppression the bilingual SLI group performed significantly less well than typically developing bilinguals but not monolinguals. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This research provides further support to the position that SLI is not a language-specific disorder. The study indicates that although bilingual children with SLI do not demonstrate the same advantages in selective attention and interference suppression as typically developing bilinguals, they do not lag behind typically developing monolinguals in these domains of executive functioning. This finding raises the possibility that bilingualism might represent a protective factor against some of the cognitive limitations that are associated with SLI in monolinguals.