Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Scene perception: inferior temporal cortex neurons encode the positions of different objects in the scene

Inferior temporal cortex (IT) neurons have reduced receptive field sizes in complex natural scenes. This facilitates the read‐out of information about individual objects from IT, but raises the question of whether more than the single object present at the fovea is represented by the firing of IT neurons, as would be important for whole scene perception in which several objects may be located without eye movements. Recordings from IT neurons with five simultaneously presented objects, each subtending 7°, with one object at the fovea and the other four centred 10° eccentrically in the parafovea, showed that although 38 IT neurons had their best response to an effective stimulus at the fovea, eight IT neurons had their best response to an object when it was located in one or more of the parafoveal positions. Moreover, of 54 neurons tested for asymmetric parafoveal receptive fields, 35 (65%) had significantly different responses for different parafoveal positions. The asymmetry was partly related to competition within the receptive fields, as only 21% of the neurons had significant asymmetries when tested with just one object present located at the same parafoveal positions. The findings thus show that some evidence is conveyed by a population of IT neurons about the relative positions of several simultaneously presented objects in a scene extending well into the parafovea during a single fixation, and this is likely to be important in whole scene perception with multiple objects, including specifying the relative positions of different objects in a scene.
Applying parallel computation algorithms in the design of serial algorithms

The goal of this paper is to point out that analyses of parallelism in computational problems have practical implications even when multi-processor machines are not available. This is true because, in many cases, a good parallel algorithm for one problem may turn out to be useful for designing an efficient serial algorithm for another problem. A unified framework for cases like this is presented. Particular cases, which are discussed in this paper, provide motivation for examining parallelism in problems like sorting, selection, minimum-spanning-tree, shortest route, maxflow, matrix multiplication, as well as scheduling and locational problems.
A Support Vector Machine-Based Dynamic Network for Visual Speech Recognition Applications

Visual speech recognition is an emerging research field. In this paper, we examine the suitability of support vector machines for visual speech recognition. Each word is modeled as a temporal sequence of visemes corresponding to the different phones realized. One support vector machine is trained to recognize each viseme and its output is converted to a posterior probability through a sigmoidal mapping. To model the temporal character of speech, the support vector machines are integrated as nodes into a Viterbi lattice. We test the performance of the proposed approach on a small visual speech recognition task, namely the recognition of the first four digits in English. The word recognition rate obtained is at the level of the previous best reported rates.
Object Tracking based on Particle Filtering with Multiple Appearance Models

In this paper, we propose a novel method to track an object whose appearance is evolving in time. The tracking procedure is performed by a particle filter algorithm in which all possible appearance models are explicitly considered using a mixture decomposition of the likelihood. Then, the component weights of this mixture are conditioned by both the state and the current observation. Moreover, the use of the current observation makes the estimation process more robust and allows handling complementary features, such as color and shape information. In the proposed approach, these estimated component weights are computed using a Support Vector Machine. Tests on a mouth tracking problem show that the multiple appearance model outperforms classical single appearance likelihood.
Adaptive multi-scaled simulation algorithm for biochemical reaction in complex systems

A new hybrid simulation method is introduced that adaptively combines the four most efficient simulation methods at different scales by dynamically partitioning the reactions according to both the reaction propensity and the molecular abundance. Simulation results prove it to be accurate but much more efficient than SSA. This could provide an accurate and efficient multiscale solution for biochemical reaction simulations in systems biology, since it covers more scales efficiently and can be easily updated by “plugging-in” the latest algorithm in a specified level.
Cognitive LF-Ant: A Novel Protocol for Healthcare Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, the authors present the Cognitive LF-Ant protocol for emergency reporting in healthcare wireless sensor networks. The protocol is inspired by the natural behaviour of ants and a cognitive component provides the capabilities to dynamically allocate resources, in accordance with the emergency degree of each patient. The intra-cluster emergency reporting is inspired by the different capabilities of leg-manipulated ants. The inter-cluster reporting is aided by the cooperative modulation diversity with spectrum sensing, which can detect new emergency reporting requests and forward them. Simulations results show the decrease of average delay time as the probability of opportunistic access increases, which privileges the emergency reporting related to the patients with higher priority of resources' usage. Furthermore, the packet loss rate is decreased by the use of cooperative modulation diversity with spectrum sensing.
Time-minimal path planning in dynamic current fields

Numerous approaches have been proposed for path planning in dynamic current fields, for a fixed departure time. However, in many applications, the departure time is not necessarily known in advance, but can vary in a time window. In this context, the choice of a good departure time is a critical issue. That is why we introduce in this paper a new approach, called symbolic wavefront expansion, determining both the path and the departure time minimizing the travel time of the vehicle. The key idea of this approach is to propagate and compose functions instead of numerical values, with appropriate operators.
Assembly of Smooth Muscle Myosin by the 38k Protein, a Homologue of a Subunit of Pre-mRNA Splicing Factor-2

Smooth muscle myosin in the dephosphorylated state does not form filaments in vitro. However, thick filaments, which are composed of myosin and myosin-binding protein(s), persist in smooth muscle cells, even if myosin is subjected to the phosphorylation– dephosphorylation cycle. The characterization of telokin as a myosin-assembling protein successfully explained the discrepancy. However, smooth muscle cells that are devoid of telokin have been observed. We expected to find another ubiquitous protein with a similar role, and attempted to purify it from chicken gizzard. The 38k protein bound to both phosphorylated and dephosphorylated myosin to a similar extent. The effect of the myosin-binding activity was to assemble dephosphorylated myosin into filaments, although it had no effect on the phosphorylated myosin. The 38k protein bound to myosin with both COOH-terminal 20 and NH2-terminal 28 residues of the 38k protein being essential for myosin binding. The amino acid sequence of the 38k protein was not homologous to telokin, but to human p32, which was originally found in nuclei as a subunit of pre-mRNA splicing factor-2. Western blotting showed that the protein was expressed in various smooth muscles. Immunofluorescence microscopy with cultured smooth muscle cells revealed colocalization of the 38k protein with myosin and with other cytoskeletal elements. The absence of nuclear immunostaining was discussed in relation to smooth muscle differentiation.
A Novel Relay Selection Scheme with Simplified Power Allocation for Wireless Relay Networks

In order to avoid the resource inefficiency of all-participated cooperation in wireless amplify-and-forward relay networks, a novel relay selection scheme based on the channel gain of the source-relay and relay-destination links is proposed. A condition is introduced to maximize the upper bound of the overall received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The relay nodes which have bad channel conditions are excluded in turn from the cooperation so that their released resources can be reallocated to other nodes. This paper adopts a simplified power allocation scheme that assumes each selected relay has equal power. The total power is optimally assigned between the source and the relay set. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve similar BER performance with the scheme which employs all relays and optimal power allocation, but only applies a subset of available relays.
LDPC codes associated with linear representations of geometries

We look at low density parity check codes over a finite field $\mathbb K$ associated with finite geometries $T$2*$(\mathcal K)$, where $\mathcal K$ is any subset of PG$(2,q)$, with $q=p$h, $p$≠char$\mathbb K$. This includes the geometry $LU(3,q)$D, the generalized quadrangle $T$2*$(\mathcal K)$ with $\mathcal K$ a hyperoval, the affine space AG$(3,q)$ and several partial and semi-partial geometries. In some cases the dimension and/or the code words of minimum weight are known. We prove an expression for the dimension and the minimum weight of the code. We classify the code words of minimum weight. We show that the code is generated completely by its words of minimum weight. We end with some practical considerations on the choice of $\mathcal K$.
Prospective cohort study of fever incidence and risk in elderly persons living at home

Objective To determine the incidence of fever among elderly persons under home medical management, diagnosis at fever onset and outcomes from a practical standpoint. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting 5 clinics in residential areas of Tokyo that process an average of 50–200 outpatients/day. Participants Patients (n=419) aged ≥65 years who received home medical management from the five clinics between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010. Main outcome measures Fever (≥37.5°C or ≥1.5°C above usual body temperature), diagnosis at onset and outcomes (cure at home, hospitalisation and death). Results The incidence of fever was 2.5/1000 patient-days (95% CI 2.2 to 2.8). Fever occurred at least once (229 fever events) among one-third of the participants during the study period. Fever was more likely to arise in the wheelchair users or bedridden than in ambulatory individuals (HR 1.9 (95% CI 1.3 to 2.8; p<0.01); in patients with moderate-to-severe rather than those with none-to-mild cognitive impairment (HR, 1.7 (95% CI 1.1 to 2.6, p=0.01); and in those whose care-need levels were ≥3 rather than ≤2 (HR, 4.5 (95% CI 2.9 to 7.0; p<0.01). The causes of fever were pneumonia/bronchitis (n=103), skin and soft tissue infection (n=26), urinary tract infection (n=22) and the common cold (n=13). Fever was cured in 67% and 23% of patients at home and in hospital, respectively, and 5% of patients each died at home and in hospital. Antimicrobial agents treated 153 (67%) events in the home medical care setting. Conclusions Fever was more likely to occur in those requiring higher care levels and the main cause of fever was pneumonia/bronchitis. Healthcare providers should consider the conditions of elderly residents with lower objective functional status.
A fractional-N frequency divider for SSCG using a single dual-modulus integer divider and a phase interpolator

A fractional-N frequency divider for 2.5GHz SSCG is implemented by using a single 79/80 dual-modulus integer divider and a phase interpolator. The dual-modulus divider accepts one of the 4-phase 2.5GHz VCO outputs as input. The outputs of the dual-modulus divider is sampled by the 4-phase VCO outputs to generate 5-phase signals, which are used to generate a fractional-N divided signal with the division ratio 79+K/64 (K=0~64) by using a 1/16 phase interpolator and a phase rotator. The output jitter due to the quantization noise as in delta-sigma modulator (DSM) based divider is eliminated. An implementation of the SSCG using the proposed fractional-N divider in a 0. 11μm CMOS process gives a chip area of 0.3 × 0.32mm2, a power of 13.4mW at 1.2V.
Signature-Free Asynchronous Binary Byzantine Consensus with t < n/3, O(n2) Messages, and O(1) Expected Time

This article is on broadcast and agreement in asynchronous message-passing systems made up of n processes, and where up to t processes may have a Byzantine Behavior. Its first contribution is a powerful, yet simple, all-to-all broadcast communication abstraction suited to binary values. This abstraction, which copes with up to t < n/3 Byzantine processes, allows each process to broadcast a binary value, and obtain a set of values such that (1) no value broadcast only by Byzantine processes can belong to the set of a correct process, and (2) if the set obtained by a correct process contains a single value v, then the set obtained by any correct process contains v. The second contribution of this article is a new round-based asynchronous consensus algorithm that copes with up to t < n/3 Byzantine processes. This algorithm is based on the previous binary broadcast abstraction and a weak common coin. In addition to being signature-free and optimal with respect to the value of t, this consensus algorithm has several noteworthy properties: the expected number of rounds to decide is constant; each round is composed of a constant number of communication steps and involves O(n2) messages; each message is composed of a round number plus a constant number of bits. Moreover, the algorithm tolerates message reordering by the adversary (i.e., the Byzantine processes).
Socio‐Cognitive Phenotypes Differentially Modulate Large‐Scale Structural Covariance Networks

Abstract Functional neuroimaging studies have suggested the existence of 2 largely distinct social cognition networks, one for theory of mind (taking others’ cognitive perspective) and another for empathy (sharing others’ affective states). To address whether these networks can also be dissociated at the level of brain structure, we combined behavioral phenotyping across multiple socio‐cognitive tasks with 3‐Tesla MRI cortical thickness and structural covariance analysis in 270 healthy adults, recruited across 2 sites. Regional thickness mapping only provided partial support for divergent substrates, highlighting that individual differences in empathy relate to left insular‐opercular thickness while no correlation between thickness and mentalizing scores was found. Conversely, structural covariance analysis showed clearly divergent network modulations by socio‐cognitive and ‐affective phenotypes. Specifically, individual differences in theory of mind related to structural integration between temporo‐parietal and dorsomedial prefrontal regions while empathy modulated the strength of dorsal anterior insula networks. Findings were robust across both recruitment sites, suggesting generalizability. At the level of structural network embedding, our study provides a double dissociation between empathy and mentalizing. Moreover, our findings suggest that structural substrates of higher‐order social cognition are reflected rather in interregional networks than in the the local anatomical markup of specific regions per se.
Canonizing Graphs of Bounded Tree Width in Logspace

Graph canonization is the problem of computing a unique representative, a canon, from the isomorphism class of a given graph. This implies that two graphs are isomorphic exactly if their canons are equal. We show that graphs of bounded tree width can be canonized by logarithmic-space (logspace) algorithms. This implies that the isomorphism problem for graphs of bounded tree width can be decided in logspace. In the light of isomorphism for trees being hard for the complexity class logspace, this makes the ubiquitous class of graphs of bounded tree width one of the few classes of graphs for which the complexity of the isomorphism problem has been exactly determined.
Fahrplanbasiertes Energiemanagement in Smart Grids

Die Zunahme dezentraler, volatiler Stromerzeugung im Rahmen der Energiewende fuhrt schon heute zu Engpassen in Stromnetzen. Eine Losung dieser Probleme verspricht die informationstechnische Vernetzung und Koordination der Erzeuger und Verbraucher in Smart Grids. Diese Arbeit prasentiert einen Energiemanagement-Ansatz, der basierend auf Leistungsprognosen und Flexibilitaten der Akteure spezifische, aggregierte Leistungsprofile approximiert. Hierbei werden Netzrestriktionen berucksichtigt.
Wavelet-based Color Image Watermarking using Adaptive Entropy Casting

An adaptive robust image watermarking technique for color image authentication is proposed. In the proposed approach, the Y channel of a Yuv color host image and a concatenated RGB color-image watermark are decomposed into wavelet coefficients. The contextual entropies of the host wavelet coefficients are computed by a log-sum entropy measurement. Then the watermark wavelet coefficients are embedded into the host wavelet coefficients with larger entropy in the corresponding wavelet subbands. An adaptive casting strategy is utilized to embed the watermark coefficients for fully controlling the imperceptibility of watermarked images and the robustness of watermarks. The experimental results show that the proposed approach provides extra robustness against JPEG-compression and image-processing attacks; moreover, the proposed approach has no need of the original host image to extract watermarks
ActiServ: Activity Recognition Service for mobile phones

Smart phones have become a powerful platform for wearable context recognition. We present a service-based recognition architecture which creates an evolving classification system using feedback from the user community. The approach utilizes classifiers based on fuzzy inference systems which use live annotation to personalize the classifier instance on the device. Our recognition system is designed for everyday use: it allows flexible placement of the device (no assumed or fixed position), requires only minimal personalization effort from the user (1–3 minutes per activity) and is capable of detecting a high number of activities. The components of the service are shown in an evaluation scenario, in which recognition rates up to 97% can be achieved for ten activity classes.
Differential Effect of Phosphorylation-Defective Survivin on Radiation Response in Estrogen Receptor-Positive and -Negative Breast Cancer

Survivin is a key member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, and is considered a promising therapeutic target due to its universal overexpression in cancers. Survivin is implicated in cellular radiation response through its role in apoptosis, cell division, and DNA damage response. In the present study, analysis of publically available data sets showed that survivin gene expression increased with breast cancer stage (p < 0.00001) and was significantly higher in estrogen receptor-negative cancers as compared to estrogen receptor-positive cancers (p = 9e-46). However, survivin was prognostic in estrogen receptor-positive tumors (p = 0.03) but not in estrogen receptor-negative tumors (p = 0.28). We assessed the effect of a survivin dominant-negative mutant on colony-formation (2D) and mammosphere-formation (3D) efficiency, and radiation response in the estrogen receptor-positive MCF7 and estrogen receptor-negative SUM149 breast cancer cell lines. The colony-formation efficiency was significantly lower in the dominant-negative survivin-transduced cells versus control MCF7 cells (0.42 vs. 0.58, p < 0.01), but it was significantly higher in dominant-negative population versus control-transduced SUM149 cells (0.29 vs. 0.20, p < 0.01). A similar, non-significant, trend in mammosphere-formation efficiency was observed. We compared the radiosensitivity of cells stably expressing dominant-negative survivin with their controls in both cell lines under 2D and 3D culture conditions following exposure to increasing doses of radiation. We found that the dominant-negative populations were radioprotective in MCF7 cells but radiosensitive in SUM149 cells compared to the control-transduced population; further, Taxol was synergistic with the survivin mutant in SUM149 but not MCF7. Our data suggests that survivin modulation influences radiation response differently in estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer subtypes, warranting further investigation.
SemEval-2010 Task 14: Evaluation Setting for Word Sense Induction & Disambiguation Systems

This paper presents the evaluation setting for the SemEval-2010 Word Sense Induction (WSI) task. The setting of the SemEval-2007 WSI task consists of two evaluation schemes, i.e. unsupervised evaluation and supervised evaluation. The first one evaluates WSI methods in a similar fashion to Information Retrieval exercises using F-Score. However, F-Score suffers from the matching problem which does not allow: (1) the assessment of the entire membership of clusters, and (2) the evaluation of all clusters in a given solution. In this paper, we present the use of V-measure as a measure of objectively assessing WSI methods in an unsupervised setting, and we also suggest a small modification on the supervised evaluation.
Azopolymer‐based micro‐ and nanopatterning for photonic applications

Azopolymers comprise a unique materials platform, in which the photoisomerization reaction of azobenzene mole- cules can induce substantial material motions at molecular, mesoscopic, and even macroscopic length scales. In particular, amorphous azopolymer films can form stable surface relief pat- terns upon exposure to interfering light. This allows obtaining large-area periodic micro- and nanostructures in a remarkably simple way. Herein, recent progress in the development of azopolymer-based surface-patterning techniques for photonic applications is reviewed. Starting with a thin azopolymer layer, one can create a variety of photonic elements, such as diffrac- tion gratings, microlens arrays, plasmonic sensors, antireflec- tion coatings, and nanostructured light-polarization converters, either by using the azopolymer surface patterns themselves as optical elements or by utilizing them to microstructure or nanostructure other materials. Both of these domains are cov- ered, with the aim of triggering further research in this fasci- nating field of science and technology that is far from being harnessed. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2013, 00, 000-000