Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating Spatial Averages of Environmental Parameters Based on Mobile Crowdsensing

Mobile crowdsensing can facilitate environmental surveys by leveraging sensor-equipped mobile devices that carry out measurements covering a wide area in a short time without bearing the costs of traditional field work. In this article, we examine statistical methods to perform an accurate estimate of the mean value of an environmental parameter in a region based on such measurements. The main focus is on estimates produced by considering the mobile device readings at a random instant in time. We compare stratified sampling with different stratification weights to sampling without stratification as well as an appropriately modified version of systematic sampling. Our main result is that stratification with weights proportional to stratum areas can produce significantly smaller bias for a moderate number of strata and gets arbitrarily close to the true area average as the number of mobiles increases. The performance of the methods is evaluated for an application scenario where we estimate the mean area temperature in a linear region that exhibits the so-called Urban Heat Island effect, with mobile users moving in the region according to the Random Waypoint Model.
Long Noncoding RNA GAS5, Which Acts as a Tumor Suppressor via microRNA 21, Regulates Cisplatin Resistance Expression in Cervical Cancer

Objectives The aims of this study were to investigate the functions of GAS5 as a tumor suppressor in cervical cancer and explore the mechanism. Methods The expression of GAS5 and microRNA 21 (miR-21) was detected in primary cervical cancer tissue specimens, as well as in cervical cancer cell lines. We identified the interaction of GAS5 and miR-21 by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and dual-luciferase reporter assay. We also studied the functions of GAS5 in proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion in cervical cancer cells in vitro and vivo. Finally, the impact of GAS5 on cisplatin resistance and its mechanism in cervical cancer cells was also identified. Results The expression of GAS5 and miR-21 was detected in primary cervical cancer tissue specimens, as well as in cervical cancer cell lines. GAS5, which is a tumor suppressor playing roles in inhibiting the malignancy of cervical cancer cells, including proliferation in vivo and vitro, migration, and invasion, has a low expression in cervical cancer tissue and cervical cancer cell lines, whereas miR-21 expression is high. GAS5 significantly decreased the expression of miR-21, and there is a reciprocal repression of gene expression between GAS5 and miR-21. Besides, most importantly, we found that high expression of GAS5 and low expression of miR-21 can enhance the sensitivity of SiHa/cDDP cancer cells to cisplatin. A further experiment for identifying the mechanism of cisplatin resistance by GAS5 showed that GAS5 can not only regulate phosphatase and tensin homolog through miR-21 but also influence the phosphorylation of Akt. Conclusions Our results indicate that GAS5 is a direct target of miR-21 and can predict the clinical staging of cervical cancer. Most importantly, GAS5 can also influence cisplatin resistance in cervical cancer via regulating the phosphorylation of Akt. All of these suggest that GAS5 may be a novel therapeutic target for treating cervical cancer.
The accuracy of cell vertex finite volume methods on quadrilateral meshes

For linear first-order hyperbolic equations in two dimensions we restate the cell vertex finite volume scheme as a finite element method. On structured meshes consisting of distorted quadrilaterals, the global error is shown to be of second order in various mesh-dependent norms, provided that the quadrilaterals are close to parallelograms in the sense that the distance between the midpoints of the diagonals is of the same order as the measure of the guadrilateral. On tensor product nonuniform meshes, the cell vertex scheme coincides with the familiar box scheme. In this case, second-order accuracy is shown without any additional assumption on the regularity of the mesh, which explains the insensitivity of the cell vertex scheme to mesh stretching in the coordinate directions, observed in practice. 17 refs.
Max-Margin Discriminant Projection via Data Augmentation

In this paper, we introduce a new max-margin discriminant projection method, which takes advantage of the latent variable representation for support vector machine (SVM) as the classification criterion. Specifically, the proposed model jointly learns the discriminative subspace and classifier in a Bayesian framework by conditioning on augmented variables. Moreover, an extended nonlinear model is developed based on the kernel trick, where the similar model can be used in this setting with few modifications. To explore the sparsity in the kernel expansion, we use the spike-and-slab prior to seek basis vectors (BVs) from the corresponding candidates. Unlike existing methods, which employ BVs to approximate the original feature space, in our method BVs are sought to associate the final classification task. Thanks to the conditionally conjugate property, the parameters in our models can be inferred via the simple and efficient Gibbs sampler. Finally, we test our methods on synthesized and real-world data, including large-scale data sets to demonstrate their efficiency and effectiveness.
Universität Des Saarlandes Fachrichtung 6.1 – Mathematik Variational Image Fusion with Optimal Local Contrast Variational Image Fusion with Optimal Local Contrast

Multispectral imaging Exposure fusion Decolourisation Figure 1: Exemplary applications of our general variational image fusion technique. Each of the resulting composite images (top) condenses the most important information from the input stack (bottom). Abstract In this paper, we present a general variational method for image fusion. In particular, we combine different images of the same subject to a single composite that offers optimal exposedness, saturation, and local contrast. Previous research approaches this task by first pre-computing application specific weights based on the input, and then combining these weights with the images to the final composite later on. In contrast, we design our model assumptions directly on the fusion result. To this end, we formulate the output image as a convex combination of the input and incorporate concepts from perceptually inspired contrast enhancement such as a local and nonlinear response. This output-driven approach it the key to the versatility of our general image fusion model. In this regard, we demonstrate the performance of our fusion scheme with several applications such as exposure fusion , multispectral imaging, and decolourisation. For all application domains, we conduct thorough validations that illustrate the improvements compared to state-of-the-art approaches that are tailored to the individual tasks.
Physicochemical Characterization of Alginate Beads Containing Sugars and Biopolymers

Alginate hydrogels are suitable for the encapsulation of a great variety of biomolecules. Several alternatives to the conventional alginate formulation are being studied for a broad range of biotechnological applications; among them the addition of sugars and biopolymers arises as a good and economic strategy. Sugars (trehalose and β-cyclodextrin), a cationic biopolymer (chitosan), an anionic biopolymer (pectin), and neutral gums (Arabic, guar, espina corona, and vinal gums) provided different characteristics to the beads. Here we discuss the influence of beads composition on several physicochemical properties, such as size and shape, analyzed through digital image analysis besides both water content and activity. The results showed that the addition of a second biopolymer, β-CD, or trehalose provoked more compact beads, but the fact that they were compact not necessarily implies a concomitant increase in their circularity. Espina corona beads showed the highest circularity value, being useful for applications which require a controlled and high circularity, assuring quality control. Beads with trehalose showed lower water content than the rest of the system, followed by those containing galactomannans (espina corona, vinal, and guar gums), revealing polymer structure effects. A complete characterization of the beads was performed by FT-IR, assigning the characteristics bands to each individual component.
Wet-process feasible candlelight OLED

Candlelight-based, blue-hazard free lighting sources are friendly to the human eye and physiology, museum artifacts, ecosystems, the environment, and the night sky. Wet processing enables organic devices to be fabricated cost-effectively with a large area-size via continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing. We demonstrate here a candlelight organic light-emitting diode (OLED) using a wet process to deposit at least the layers of emission, hole-injection, and hole-transportation. The resulting 1918 K candlelight OLED is about 50 and 15 times safer to the retina and in terms of melatonin generation protection, respectively, as compared with the 5000 K white LED, CFL and OLED. It can reach a maximum brightness of 38 000 cd m−2, equivalent to 42 000 candlelight in one square meter, and its efficacy is 300 times that of candle and 3 times that of an incandescent bulb. This study may serve as a starting point to begin a healthy-light based “Lighting Renaissance” with feasible commercialization.
Neurofunctional changes after a single mirror therapy intervention in chronic ischemic stroke

ABSTRACT Background: Mirror therapy (MT) is becoming an alternative rehabilitation strategy for various conditions, including stroke. Although recent studies suggest the positive benefit of MT in chronic stroke motor recovery, little is known about its neural mechanisms. Purpose: To identify functional brain changes induced by a single MT intervention in ischemic stroke survivors, assessed by both transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Materials and methods: TMS and fMRI were used to investigate 15 stroke survivors immediately before and after a single 30-min MT session. Results: We found statistically significant increase in post-MT motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude (increased excitability) from the affected primary motor cortex (M1), when compared to pre-MT MEP. Post-MT fMRI maps were associated with a more organized and constrained pattern, with a more focal M1 activity within the affected hemisphere after MT, limited to the cortical area of hand representation. Furthermore, we find a change in the balance of M1 activity toward the affected hemisphere. In addition, significant correlation was found between decreased fMRI β-values and increased MEP amplitude post-MT, in the affected hemisphere. Conclusion: Our study suggests that a single MT intervention in stroke survivors is related to increased MEP of the affected limb, and a more constrained activity of the affected M1, as if activity had become more constrained and limited to the affected hemisphere.
Comparison of the Effects of a Pharmaceutical Industry Decision Guide and Decision Aids on Patient Choice to Intensify Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. To compare the effects a pharmaceutical industry decision guide and International Patient Decision Aids Standard (IPDAS) compliant patient decision aids (PtDA) on patient medication beliefs and choice to intensify therapy. Methods. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, who had never taken etanercept (Enbrel), took part in a mail survey. They were presented with a hypothetical decision scenario where they were asked to consider adding etanercept to their current regimen. Each patient was randomized to review 1 of 3 forms of an etanercept-specific decision support: a long PtDA (LONG DA), a short PtDA (SHORT DA), or the manufacturer’s Enbrel decision guide (Pharm Booklet). Results. We had 402 RA patients participate in the study (response rate, 52%). Of the patients randomized to the Pharm Booklet, 30.6% elected to initiate etanercept. Only 14.6% and 14.0% of patients who reviewed the LONG DA or SHORT DA choose to take etanercept (χ2 = 15.7; P < 0.001). Patients who reviewed the LONG DA or SHORT DA had a greater increase in knowledge about etanercept than those who reviewed the Pharm Booklet. There was no difference in decisional conflict among the groups. A logistic regression model explained 44.2% (R2 = 0.442) of patient choice to intensify therapy by initiating etanercept. The strongest predictor of choice to intensify therapy were beliefs about etanercept’s ability to improve symptoms (OR = 2.56, 96%CI [1.71, 3.80]), and its use by others like the respondent (OR = 2.24, 95%CI [1.49, 3.35]). Mediation analysis confirmed the presence of a partial mediating effect of decision support on patients’ intent to take etanercept (OR = 0.59, 95%CI [0.39, 0.89]). Conclusions. Patients supported by the Pharm Booklet were twice as likely to choose to intensify therapy. The Pharm Booklet’s effects are partially mediated through persuasive communication techniques that influence patients’ beliefs that symptoms will improve, and increase social normative beliefs, rather than by increasing the relevant knowledge, clarifying patient values about positive or negative treatment outcomes, or increasing their self-efficacy.
Development of Acyclovir-Loaded Albumin Nanoparticles and Improvement of Acyclovir Permeation Across Human Corneal Epithelial T Cells.

PURPOSE The aim of the present study was to develop acyclovir (ACV) ocular drug delivery systems of bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoparticles as well as to assess their in vitro transcorneal permeation across human corneal epithelial (HCE-T) cell multilayers. METHODS The ACV-loaded BSA nanoparticles were prepared by desolvation method along with physicochemical characterization, cytotoxicity, as well as in vitro transcorneal permeation studies across HCE-T cell multilayers. RESULTS The nanoparticles appeared to be spherical in shape and nearly uniform in size of about 200 nm. The size of nanoparticles became smaller with decreasing BSA concentration, while the ratios of water to ethanol seemed not to affect the size. Increasing the amount of ethanol in desolvation process led to significant reduction of drug entrapment of nanoparticles with smaller size and more uniformity. The ACV-loaded BSA nanoparticles prepared were shown to have no cytotoxic effect on HCE-T cells used in permeation studies. The in vitro transcorneal permeation results revealed that ACV could permeate through the HCE-T cell multilayers significantly higher from BSA nanoparticles than from aqueous ACV solutions. CONCLUSION The ACV-loaded BSA nanoparticles could be prepared by desolvation method without glutaraldehyde in the formulation. ACV could increasingly permeate through the multilayers of HCE-T cells from the ACV-loaded BSA nanoparticles. Therefore, the ACV-loaded BSA nanoparticles could be a highly potential ocular drug delivery system.
Metronomic low-dose oral cyclophosphamide and methotrexate plus or minus thalidomide in metastatic breast cancer: antitumor activity and biological effects.

BACKGROUND We previously demonstrated efficacy and impact on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for metronomic cyclophosphamide (C) and methotrexate (M) in patients with breast cancer. New metronomic schedules were investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with advanced breast cancer were randomized to receive oral C (50 mg daily) and M (2.5 mg twice daily on days 1 and 4) (arm A) or the same regimen plus thalidomide (200 mg daily) (arm B). RESULTS The mean VEGF level decreased from 378.9 (+/-274.4) pg/ml at baseline to 305.9 (+/-203.6) pg/ml at 2 months (P<0.001), with similar change with respect to baseline in both arms. In 171 evaluable patients we observed three complete remissions (CR) in both arms A and B, 15 partial remission (PR) in arm A and seven in arm B, for an overall response of 20.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 12.9% to 31%] in arm A and 11.8% (95% CI 5.8% to 20.6%) in arm B. The clinical benefit (CR+PR+SD>or=24 weeks) was 41.5% for both arms. Toxicity was generally mild. Higher neurological toxicity (2% versus 60%; P<0.0001) and constipation (8% versus 51%; P<0.0001) was observed in arm B. CONCLUSIONS Metronomic low-dose CM induced a drop in VEGF, and was effective and minimally toxic. The addition of thalidomide did not improve results.
Pyrenoid functions revealed by proteomics in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Organelles are intracellular compartments which are themselves compartmentalized. Biogenic and metabolic processes are localized to specialized domains or microcompartments to enhance their efficiency and suppress deleterious side reactions. An example of intra-organellar compartmentalization is the pyrenoid in the chloroplasts of algae and hornworts. This microcompartment enhances the photosynthetic CO2-fixing activity of the Calvin-Benson cycle enzyme Rubisco, suppresses an energetically wasteful oxygenase activity of Rubisco, and mitigates limiting CO2 availability in aquatic environments. Hence, the pyrenoid is functionally analogous to the carboxysomes in cyanobacteria. However, a comprehensive analysis of pyrenoid functions based on its protein composition is lacking. Here we report a proteomic characterization of the pyrenoid in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Pyrenoid-enriched fractions were analyzed by quantitative mass spectrometry. Contaminant proteins were identified by parallel analyses of pyrenoid-deficient mutants. This pyrenoid proteome contains 190 proteins, many of which function in processes that are known or proposed to occur in pyrenoids: e.g. the carbon concentrating mechanism, starch metabolism or RNA metabolism and translation. Using radioisotope pulse labeling experiments, we show that pyrenoid-associated ribosomes could be engaged in the localized synthesis of the large subunit of Rubisco. New pyrenoid functions are supported by proteins in tetrapyrrole and chlorophyll synthesis, carotenoid metabolism or amino acid metabolism. Hence, our results support the long-standing hypothesis that the pyrenoid is a hub for metabolism. The 81 proteins of unknown function reveal candidates for new participants in these processes. Our results provide biochemical evidence of pyrenoid functions and a resource for future research on pyrenoids and their use to enhance agricultural plant productivity. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD004509.
Semiring-based constraint satisfaction and optimization

We introduce a general framework for constraint satisfaction and optimization where classical CSPs, fuzzy CSPs, weighted CSPs, partial constraint satisfaction, and others can be easily cast. The framework is based on a semiring structure, where the set of the semiring specifies the values to be associated with each tuple of values of the variable domain, and the two semiring operations (+ and X) model constraint projection and combination respectively. Local consistency algorithms, as usually used for classical CSPs, can be exploited in this general framework as well, provided that certain conditions on the semiring operations are satisfied. We then show how this framework can be used to model both old and new constraint solving and optimization schemes, thus allowing one to both formally justify many informally taken choices in existing schemes, and to prove that local consistency techniques can be used also in newly defined schemes.
Tesselating Switzerland of the Past Bachelor

This project continues to improve an existing framework for positioning historical aerial images on the current map. The framework consists of three main parts, an image fetching step, an image matching step and an exporting step, that converts the processed aerial images in to the needed format to view them on the included interactive web map. The main focus was laid on improving the image matching step to get more accurate results, especially at the borders of the images. A slight improvement was achieved by respecting the geometrical constraints, such as angles and distances, between points. Another approach was considered, in which the matching quality gets improved by displacing, rotating and scaling small image parts until they fit best. The framework was entirely written in Python, but to improve the performance of the matching step, the software was rewritten in C++. From the rewriting results a speed-up up to 100 % for the matching step. Considering that the rewritten matching step uses multiple feature matcher, instead of just one, the speed-up is not negligible. The overall runtime to process one image is however about four times slower since an additional part which applies the matching step recursively to subpatches of the image was introduced. Moreover the software works with OpenData images which have no copyright. Therefore, the resulting images shown on the interactive map can be made publicly accessible.
On the symbol error probability of general order rectangular qam in nakagami-m fading

Recently, Beaulieu, following an ingenious concept, presented a closed-form expression for a useful integral, which was used for the evaluation of the symbol error probability (SEP) of general order rectangular quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in slow Rayleigh fading. In this letter, these results are extended to Nakagami-m fading channels, deriving a novel closed-form formula for the average over Nakagami-m fading of the product of two Gaussian Q-functions, which can be efficiently used to study the impact of fading severity on the error performance of general rectangular QAM constellations
FaceVR: Real-Time Facial Reenactment and Eye Gaze Control in Virtual Reality

We propose FaceVR, a novel image-based method that enables video teleconferencing in VR based on self-reenactment. State-of-the-art face tracking methods in the VR context are focused on the animation of rigged 3d avatars. While they achieve good tracking performance the results look cartoonish and not real. In contrast to these model-based approaches, FaceVR enables VR teleconferencing using an image-based technique that results in nearly photo-realistic outputs. The key component of FaceVR is a robust algorithm to perform real-time facial motion capture of an actor who is wearing a head-mounted display (HMD), as well as a new data-driven approach for eye tracking from monocular videos. Based on reenactment of a prerecorded stereo video of the person without the HMD, FaceVR incorporates photo-realistic re-rendering in real time, thus allowing artificial modifications of face and eye appearances. For instance, we can alter facial expressions or change gaze directions in the prerecorded target video. In a live setup, we apply these newly-introduced algorithmic components.