Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design, fabrication and first sea trials of a small-sized autonomous catamaran for heavy metals monitoring in coastal waters

We describe the design, realization and first sea trials of a small-sized Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) for environmental monitoring. The robot is being developed in the framework of the HydroNet European project [1] aiming at realizing a new multi-robot system for monitoring the quality of coastal waters, rivers and lagoons. One main innovation of the robot is the capability to measure heavy metals concentrations directly onboard using sensors ad hoc developed by the consortium. This enables the system to provide real-time measurements of heavy metals concentrations potentially changing the current water monitoring methodology in which the samples are collected by a dedicated boat and analyzed in laboratory. The robot is designed for long range missions and for lodging the onboard water analysis system. Some severe constraints imposed by the addressed scenarios are considered in the design: reduced length and limited weight for ease of transportability and deployment; low draft and protected propellers to enable the ASV to move safely in shallow waters with likely floating obstacles such as plastic bags.
Dynamic Analysis of Algebraic Structure to Optimize Test Generation and Test Case Selection

Where no independent specification is available, object-oriented unit testing is limited to exercising all interleaved method paths, seeking unexpected failures. A recent trend in unit testing, that interleaves dynamic analysis between each test cycle, has brought useful reductions in test-set sizes by pruning redundant prefix paths. This paper describes a dynamic approach to analyzing the algebraic structure of test objects, such that prefix paths ending in observer or transformer operations yielding unchanged, or derived states may be detected and pruned on-the-fly during testing. The fewer retained test cases are so close to the ideal algebraic specification cases that a tester can afford to confirm or reject these cases interactively, which are then used as a test oracle to predict many further test outcomes during automated testing. The algebra-inspired algorithms are incorporated in the latest version of the JWalk lazy systematic unit testing tool suite, which discovers key test cases, while pruning many thousands of redundant test cases.
Evidence-Based Approach for Interpretation of Epstein-Barr Virus Serological Patterns

ABSTRACT Diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is based on clinical symptoms and serological markers, including the following: immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies to the viral capsid antigen (VCA), heterophile antibodies, and IgG antibodies to the EBV early antigen-diffuse (EA-D) and nuclear antigen (EBNA-1). The use of all five markers results in 32 possible serological patterns. As a result, interpretation of EBV serologies remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to use a large population of patients to develop evidence-based tools for interpreting EBV results. This study utilized 1,846 serum specimens sent to the laboratory for physician-ordered EBV testing. Chart review was performed for more than 800 patients, and diagnoses were assigned based on physician-ordered testing, clinical presentation, and patient history. Testing for all five EBV antibodies was performed separately on all serum samples using the Bio-Rad BioPlex 2200 system. Presumed EBV diagnosis (based on previous publications) was compared to EBV diagnosis based on a medical record review for each serological pattern. Interestingly, of the 32 possible serological patterns, only 12 occurred in ≥10 patients. The remaining 20 patterns were uninterpretable because they occurred with such infrequency. Two easy-to-use tables were created to interpret EBV serological patterns based on whether three (EBV VCA IgG, IgM, and heterophile) or five markers are utilized. The use of these two tables allows for interpretation of >95% of BioPlex serological results. This is the first evidence-based study of its kind for EBV serology.
Novel regions of chromosomal amplification at 6p21, 5p13, and 12q14 in gastric cancer identified by array comparative genomic hybridization

Gastric cancer (GC) frequently displays changes in DNA copy number, but few studies have precisely correlated specific genetic alterations with changes in gene expression. We undertook both array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and expression analyses of 20 primary GCs using a cDNA microarray with more than 9,300 genes. Diverse clinical and histopathologic tumor subtypes, including signet‐ring tumors and tumors at the gastroesophageal junction, were analyzed. All tumors showed changes in gene copy number, with the majority showing multiple changes. Regions of gain and loss were generally consistent with previous cytogenetic reports; however, the use of aCGH greatly increased the resolution of measured genomic change. By comparing gene expression and high‐resolution measurement of gene copy number directly, we were able to identify several regions of high‐level gain associated with substantially increased gene expression that have not been defined previously in GC. Novel candidate oncogenes included dual‐specificity tyrosine‐(Y)‐phosphorylation‐regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) and protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7). © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
What Are Tweeters Doing: Recognizing Speech Acts in Twitter

Speech acts provide good insights into the communicative behavior of tweeters on Twitter. This paper is mainly concerned with speech act recognition in Twitter as a multi-class classification problem, for which we propose a set of word-based and character-based features. Inexpensive, robust and efficient, our method achieves an average F1 score of nearly 0.7 with the existence of much noise in our annotated Twitter data. In view of the deficiency of training data for the task, we experimented extensively with different configurations of training and test data, leading to empirical findings that may provide valuable reference for building benchmark datasets for sustained research on speech act recognition in Twitter.
201o International Conference on Computer and Communication Technologies in Agriculture Engineering 3-d Calibration of Ultrasound Image for Rural Mrcas *

To reduce the cost of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery (MRCAS) in rural medical of china, the researchers have focused on MRCAS investigation. They are inclined to select ultrasonography as medical image guidance because of its low cost, noninvasiveness and accuracy. 3-D calibration of ultrasound image is a very important technique of MRCAS. To improve the calibration precision, a method based on grid-string phantom and rapid algorithm for coordinate transformation is investigated. It accurately defines the spatial relationship between the US image plane and an external tracking device attached to the US probe. The phantom consists of two layers of grid-string planar arrays. The cross of the strings can rapidly guide the user to align the probe accurately for imaging; the cross coordinates are directly used in the algorithm for homologous points matching without any transformations. The calibration parameters are calculated by matching of homologous points in the image and the tracking device, then, the 2-D US image can be converted into 3-D US coordinates. The results show that this method can accelerate the speed of the calibration, simplify the calibration algorithm, reduce the influences of the US beam thickness on the precision and obtain the normal calibration precision and reconstruction accuracy of the 3-D US system.
Spliceosome-mediated decay (SMD) regulates expression of nonintronic genes in budding yeast

This study uncovers a role for the spliceosome in regulating mRNA expression levels. Transcriptome-wide studies reveal splice junctions in transcripts that are not known to have introns in budding yeast. Volanakis et al. show that spliceosomal cleavage of bromodomain factor 2 (BDF2) mRNA generates unstable products degraded by the nuclear surveillance machinery, and BDF2 regulation requires its paralog, Bdf1. The authors thus propose a mechanism—termed spliceosome-mediated decay (SMD)—for the regulation of gene expression involving splicing coupled to RNA decay.
Preservation of Digital Images: Question of Fixity

One of the most important aspects of the long-term digital-image preservation strategy is maintaining data fixity, i.e., assuring the integrity and authenticity of original data. This article aims to highlight the limitations of the approaches used to maintain the fixity of digital images in the digital preservation process and to offer perceptual hashing as a way to alleviate some of the limitations of current approaches, as well as discuss some non-technical implications of the described problems. This paper is exploratory, and while it includes a simple experiment description, it only outlines the problem and testing environment for a possible solution that could be elaborated on in further research. The most commonly used fixity maintaining techniques are immutability of data and file checksums/cryptographic hashes. On the other hand, planning for long-term preservation necessitates the need to migrate data into new future formats to maintain availability and sustainability, and the concept of the file itself should not be assumed to remain forever, which calls for other tools to ascertain the fixity of digital images. The problem goes beyond one that is exclusively technical: bitstream content is not ready for human perception, and the digital preservation strategy should include all the necessary technical steps to assure the availability of stored images to human eyes. This shifts the perspective on what should be considered the digital image in digital preservation. It is not the file, but a perceptible object, or, more specifically—instructions to create one. Therefore, it calls for additional tools to maintain fixity, such as perceptual hashing, transformation logging, and others.
Type-Based Publish/Subscribe

This paper presents type-based publish/subscribe, a new variant of the publish/subscribe paradigm. Producers publish message objects on a communication bus, and consumers subscribe to the bus by specifying the types of the objects they are interested in. Message objects are considered as first class citizens and are classified by their types, instead of arbitrarily fixed topics. By reusing the type scheme of the language to classify message objects, type-based publish/subscribe avoids any unnatural subscription scheme and provides for a seamless integration of a publish/subscribe middleware with the programming language. Type-based publish/subscribe has several quantifiable advantages over other publish/subscribe variants. In particular, the knowledge of the type of message objects enforces performance optimizations when combined with dynamic filters for content-based subscription. %from dynamically defined requirements. Our type-based publish/subscribe prototype is based on Distributed Asynchronous Collections (DACs), programming abstractions for publish/subscribe interaction. They are implemented using GJ, an extended Java compiler adding genericity to the Java language, and enable the expression of safely typed distributed interaction without requiring any generation of typed proxies.
Measurement of ocular torsion variation following superior oblique tenectomy.

PURPOSES To objectively evaluate the torsional effect of the superior oblique muscle-weakening surgery using the tenectomy technique proposed by Souza-Dias. METHODS The present prospective study included 10 patients (20 eyes) with horizontal strabismus, bilateral superior oblique overaction and A-pattern of 15 to 30 prism diopters who underwent superior oblique tenectomy. Objective assessment of ocular torsion was performed by retinography immediately before and one month after surgery. The amount of ocular torsion was determined by measuring the angle formed by a horizontal line drawn across the geometric center of the optic disc and a second line connecting this point to the fovea. RESULTS The median preoperative angle was 5.56° in the right eyes and -3.43° in the left eyes. The median postoperative angle was 1.84° in the right eyes and -3.12° in the left eyes. The angle variation was statistically significant in both eyes (p=0.012 and p=0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION The present study suggests that superior oblique tenectomy has an extorter effect, decreasing the intorsion detected on overaction of this muscle.
A personalized search using a semantic distance measure in a graph-based ranking model

The goal of search personalization is to tailor search results to individual users by taking into account their profiles, which include their particular interests and preferences. As these latter are multiple and change over time, personalization becomes effective when the search process takes into account the current user interest. This article presents a search personalization approach that models a semantic user profile and focuses on a personalized document ranking model based on an extended graph-based distance measure. Documents and user profiles are both represented by graphs of concepts issued from predefined web ontology, namely, the Open Directory Project directory (ODP). Personalization is then based on reordering the search results of related queries according to a graph-based document ranking model. This former is based on using a graph-based distance measure combining the minimum common supergraph and the maximum common subgraph between the document and the user profile graphs. We extend this measure in order to take into account a semantic recovery at exact and approximate concept-level matching. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our personalized graph-based ranking model compared with Yahoo and different personalized ranking models performed using classical graph-based measures or vector-space similarity measures.
A document retrieval system for assisting creative research

A document retrieval system for researchers in the field of science and technology is described. The main feature of the system is the visualization of the semantic relations between documents and interactive operation to it. The system has a test database composed of a large number of journal and conference papers. It elicits keywords from each paper by an automatic indexing algorithm and then visualizes the relations between the papers and their keywords in a metric space by a statistical method. We carried out several experiments. Through them we have confirmed that our system is effective because it can assist the users in their query formation and modification while they use it. Our system can also assist the users in their creative research because they can find the relations between the papers and their keywords which they haven't noticed so far. In the experiment on effectiveness of retrieval we have confirmed that our system can realize high recall and precision ratio.
An Improved Algorithm for Discounted Payoff Games

We show that an optimal counterstrategy against a fixed positional strategy in a generalized discounted payoff game, where edges have individual discounts, can be computed in O(mn log m) strongly polynomial time, where n and m are the number of vertices and edges in the game graph. This results in the best known strongly subexponential time bound for solving two-player generalized discounted payoff games.
Preservation of fertility in females with haematological malignancy

Several options are currently available for the preservation of fertility in cancer patients: embryo cryopreservation, oocyte cryopreservation or ovarian tissue cryopreservation. The choice of the most suitable strategy for preserving fertility depends on different parameters: the type and timing of chemotherapy, the type of cancer, the patient’s age and the partner status. Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is the only option available for prepubertal girls and woman who cannot delay the start of chemotherapy. So far, 15 live births have been obtained after orthotopic transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue.
Internet Censorship in Thailand: User Practices and Potential Threats

The "cat-and-mouse" game of Internet censorship and circumvention cannot be won by capable technology alone. Instead, that technology must be available, comprehensible, and trustworthy to users. However, the field largely focuses only on censors and the technical means to circumvent them. Thailand, with its superlatives in Internet use and government information controls, offers a rich case study for exploring users' assessments of and interactions with censorship. We survey 229 and interview 13 Internet users in Thailand, and report on their current practices, experienced and perceived threats, and unresolved problems regarding censorship and digital security. Our findings indicate that existing circumvention tools were adequate for respondents to access blocked information, that respondents relied to some extent on risky tool selection and inaccurate assessment of blocked content, and that attempts to take action with sensitive content on social media led to the most concrete threats with the least available technical defenses. Based on these findings and in direct response to these problems, we make recommendations for shifting objectives in anti-censorship work, as well as for technical directions and future research to address users' on-the-ground needs.
Inhalative iloprost – pharmacology and clinical application

Iloprost, as a stable analog of endogenous prostacyclin, has far-reaching pharmacological effects. For several years already it has been used successfully in its intravenous and inhalative forms for treating patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Since the development of efficient nebulizers that guarantee a constant output of the effective agent, inhalative iloprost has become an important alternative in the drug treatment of PH. Inhalative iloprost is an effective and safe partner for other classes of substances in combination therapy, which is becoming ever more frequently necessary. In addition, it is also used in the acute testing of pulmonary vasoreactivity and in intensive care therapy of manifest right heart failure.
SPIRiT: Iterative self‐consistent parallel imaging reconstruction from arbitrary k‐space

A new approach to autocalibrating, coil‐by‐coil parallel imaging reconstruction, is presented. It is a generalized reconstruction framework based on self‐consistency. The reconstruction problem is formulated as an optimization that yields the most consistent solution with the calibration and acquisition data. The approach is general and can accurately reconstruct images from arbitrary k‐space sampling patterns. The formulation can flexibly incorporate additional image priors such as off‐resonance correction and regularization terms that appear in compressed sensing. Several iterative strategies to solve the posed reconstruction problem in both image and k‐space domain are presented. These are based on a projection over convex sets and conjugate gradient algorithms. Phantom and in vivo studies demonstrate efficient reconstructions from undersampled Cartesian and spiral trajectories. Reconstructions that include off‐resonance correction and nonlinear ℓ1‐wavelet regularization are also demonstrated. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Noise-enhanced computation in a model of a cortical column

Varied sensory systems use noise in order to enhance detection of weak signals. It has been conjectured in the literature that this effect, known as stochastic resonance, may take place in central cognitive processes such as memory retrieval of arithmetical multiplication. We show, in a simplified model of cortical tissue, that complex arithmetical calculations can be carried out and are enhanced in the presence of a stochastic background. The performance is shown to be positively correlated to the susceptibility of the network, defined as its sensitivity to a variation of the mean of its inputs. For nontrivial arithmetic tasks such as multiplication, stochastic resonance is a collective property of the microcircuitry of the model network.
Use of lithography simulation for the calibration of equation-based design rule checks

Designers using one-dimension measurements in nanometer designs can't readily identify features prone to excessive variation during processing. Process simulation provides high resolution checking, but requires significant computing resources. Equation-based design rule checking (eqDRC) offers the DRC performance with capture of complex process issues using multi-dimensional equations. One challenge to adopting eqDRC is the definition and calibration of the equations. We will show how a lithographic simulator can be used to define and calibrate an eqDRC equation.
Bayesian pot-assembly from fragments as problems in perceptual-grouping and geometric-learning

A heretofore unsolved problem of great archaeological importance is the automatic assembly of pots made on a wheel from the hundreds (or thousands) of sherds found at an excavation site. An approach is presented to the automatic estimation of mathematical models of such pots from 3D measurements of sherds. A Bayesian approach is formulated beginning with a description of the complete set of geometric parameters that determine the distribution of the sherd measurement data. Matching of fragments and aligning them geometrically into configurations is based on matching break-curves (curves on a pot surface separating fragments), estimated axis and profile curve pairs for individual fragments and configurations of fragments, and a number of features of groups of break-curves. Pot assembly is a bottom-up maximum likelihood performance-based search. Experiments are illustrated on pots which were broken for the purpose, and on sherds from an archaeological dig located in Petra, Jordan. The performance measure can also be an aposteriori probability, and many other types of information can be included, e.g., pot wall thickness, surface color, patterns on the surface, etc. This can also be viewed as the problem of learning a geometric object from an unorganized set of free-form fragments of the object and of clutter, or as a problem of perceptual grouping.
3D-HIM: A 3D High-density Interleaved Memory for bipolar RRAM design

Because of its simple structure, high density and good scalability, resistive random access memory (RRAM) is expected to be a promising candidate to substitute traditional data storage devices, e.g., hard-disk drive (HDD). In a conventional three-dimensional (3D) bipolar RRAM design, an isolation layer is inserted between two adjacent memory layers. The fabrication of the isolation layer introduces the extra process complexity, increases fabrication cost, and causes some potential reliability issues. In this paper, we propose a 3D High-density Interleaved Memory (3D-HIM) design for bipolar RRAM, which can eliminate the need for forming isolation layers and further improve the density of the memory island. Meanwhile, we propose a Bi-Group Operation Scheme for 3D-HIM to access multiple cells among multiple layers and to avoid unexpected overwriting. The simulation results show that the proposed design is promising for a 3D stacking RRAM application with acceptable operation margin for a 32 × 32 × 8 array in a memory island. The sensing margin degradation and programming bias confine the size of the array due to sneak path conducting currents. We diminish impact of sneak path conducting current by applying a high Ron RRAM device which can be achieved by a small-scale RRAM device.