Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An adaptive texture selection framework for ultra-high resolution UAV imagery

The capacity for additional textural derivatives to compensate for the lack of broader spectral sensitivity of consumer grade digitial cameras is established within a UAV context. A texture selection framework utilising random forest machine learning, was developed for application with ultra-high spatial resolution UAV imagery limited to the visible spectrum. The framework represents an adaptive approach, providing a rapid assessment of different texture measures relative to a specific user-defined application. This framework is illustrated within the context of UAV salt marsh mapping. This study highlights the importance of texture selection for improving classification of UAV imagery exhibiting high local spatial variance.
Video image processing for moving object detection and segmentation using background subtraction

Moving objects often contain almost important information for surveillance videos, traffic monitoring, human motion capture etc. Background subtraction methods are widely exploited for moving object detection in videos in many applications. Moving object segmentation is the application in video processing. Segmentation helps in detecting various features of moving objects for further video/image processing. In this paper object detection and segmentation is proposed and they are compared using background subtraction algorithm (object detection) and segmentation algorithm (edge detection and thresholding). The experiment results show that the proposed method gives better results.
Leisure-Time Physical Activity Moderates the Longitudinal Associations between Work-Family Spillover and Physical Health

Abstract Previous research has documented associations between negative and positive work-family spillover and physical health. Using an effort-recovery model, the study tested the hypothesis that engagement in greater leisure-time physical activity would facilitate recovery processes that buffer the negative health effects of increasing work-family spillover. Employed adults (N = 1,354) completed two waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MI-DUS). Results indicated that an increase in negative work-family spillover across nine years was associated with decreased physical health and increased number of chronic conditions at Time 2. Moreover, more time spent on moderate leisure-time physical activity buffered many of the associations between increasing negative spillover and declining health. Implications of the findings are discussed.
A life lived differently : an exploration of how living with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) impacts upon people's identity

Existing literature provides an insight into CFS/ME, but it is fractured, in that it does little to serve understanding, empathy or coping. Moreover the experiences of people with CFS/ME are under theorised. The literature demonstrates that issues of identity appear central to the lived experience of chronic illness, yet the mechanisms underpinning identity are not fully explored. Consequently there is little understanding of the crisis of identity in CFS/ME. Therefore, the aims and objectives of the current research endeavoured to examine identity within the context of the lived experience of CFS/ME. Drawing upon Wenger’s (1998) ‘Communities of Practice’ theory (CoP), the current research aimed to make transparent the mechanism of identity by exploring the lived experience of identity in chronic illness; specifically CFS/ME. It is argued throughout, that a millennia of meaning underpins the crisis of identity in CFS/ME and that CoP, whilst predominantly a social theory of learning, was re-conceptualised here to illuminate the crisis of identity in chronic illness. Data were gathered via a closed Facebook group; cfsid, which was created for the purpose of the current research. Participants (n. 37) contributed over time and in depth and in so doing revealed the complex foundation of their shifting identities. The data was analysed using a theoretical thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Aligned with CoP, the key findings indicate that the mechanism underpinning the crisis of identity in CFS/ME is the changing nature of participation. The history of CFS/ME is one defined by scepticism and as such the controversy surrounding CFS/ME interacted with the lived experience of the illness for participants. The lived experience of CFS/ME for participants was reliably defined by their inability to participate in either life or self. Lives and selves were unrecognisable, but all was not lost as acceptance and adjustment allowed participants to negotiate ways in which they could participate despite their CFS/ME. Participants’ experiences of participation emerged within the analysis as a journey to finding a new way to be in the world. On looking to the future, if people with CFS/ME are to be better supported and enabled within their lived experience of chronic illness, the burdening history of CFS/ME needs to be replaced by legitimacy, and the importance of the negotiation of participation in chronic illness needs to be illuminated further.
Using cricket sensor nodes for Pioneer robot localization

Localization helps robots to navigate and plan its path. The outdoor localization systems fail in localization of indoor applications because of indoor environment and inability of radio frequency signals from GPS satellites, which are difficult to penetrate the walls. The objective of this paper is to solve the problem of indoor localization of Pioneer robots using simple, cheap nodes which act as beacons. The localization problem is solved with various algorithms like trilateration, multilateration, and Extended Kalman Filter. With these algorithms, localization of Pioneer robots is achieved with simple beacons using distance estimation techniques.
Addressing the Syntax / Semantics / Pragmatics interface : The Acquisition of the Japanese Additive Particle mo Kazumi Matsuoka

The semantic interpretation of adverbs such as only, also, and even has been a central issue of alternative semantics for focus (Rooth 1985, 1996). Some focus adverbs, including only in English, set a limit to the range of alternative sets by their syntactic position and / or prosodic patterns. In the following example, the syntactic position of only affects the range of alternative sets (as indicated in the parentheses).
Point-based Rendering of Water Surfaces with Splashes Simulated by Particle-based Simulation

Creating realistic animations of water is a challenging problem in the ﬁeld of computer graphics. To create realistic animations of water, the ﬂuid simulation of the movement of water is necessary. In recent years, attention has been paid to particle-based ﬂuid simulation. Although several methods have been proposed to render the results of the particle-based simulation, there are few methods to render splashes. This paper presents an efﬁcient rendering method for the results of the particle-based simulation with splashes. We calculate the water surfaces and the surfaces of the splashes by assigning the density to each particle and extracting iso-surfaces. The surfaces of the water and splashes are then sampled by points. This makes it possible to render the water surfaces and splashes efﬁciently by using point-based rendering.
Stochastic genome-nuclear lamina interactions

The nuclear lamina (NL) is thought to aid in the spatial organization of interphase chromosomes by providing an anchoring platform for hundreds of large genomic regions named lamina associated domains (LADs). Recently, a new live-cell imaging approach demonstrated directly that LAD-NL interactions are dynamic and in part stochastic. Here we discuss implications of these new findings and introduce Lamin A and BAF as potential modulators of stochastic LAD positioning.
Automatic Generation of Non-uniform and Context-Dependent HMMs Based on the Variational Bayesian Approach

We propose a new method both for automatically creating non-uniform, context-dependent HMM topologies, and selecting the number of mixture components based on the Variational Bayesian (VB) approach. Although the Maximum Likelihood (ML) criterion is generally used to create HMM topologies, it has an over-fitting problem. Recently, to avoid this problem, the VB approach has been applied to create acoustic models for speech recognition. We introduce the VB approach to the Successive State Splitting (SSS) algorithm, which can create both contextual and temporal variations for HMMs. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can automatically create a more efficient model than the original method. We evaluated a method to increase the number of mixture components by using the VB approach and considering temporal structures. The VB approach obtained almost the same performance as the smaller number of mixture components in comparison with that obtained by using ML-based methods.
Destructin-1 is a collagen-degrading endopeptidase secreted by Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome

Significance This work identifies molecular factors produced by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome in bats. Our study reveals the repertoire of redox enzymes and hydrolytic enzymes secreted by P. destructans. We establish that a secreted serine peptidase, Destructin-1, is a major component of the P. destructans secretome. This peptidase was purified and shown to degrade collagen, the major structural protein in mammalian connective tissue. Furthermore, chemical inhibition of Destructin-1 blocked collagen degradation in conditioned media from P. destructans. We therefore propose that serine endopeptidases aid in invasive growth and tissue destruction by the fungus, and represent potential targets for therapeutic intervention in white-nose syndrome. Pseudogymnoascus destructans is the causative agent of white-nose syndrome, a disease that has caused the deaths of millions of bats in North America. This psychrophilic fungus proliferates at low temperatures and targets hibernating bats, resulting in their premature arousal from stupor with catastrophic consequences. Despite the impact of white-nose syndrome, little is known about the fungus itself or how it infects its mammalian host. P. destructans is not amenable to genetic manipulation, and therefore understanding the proteins involved in infection requires alternative approaches. Here, we identify hydrolytic enzymes secreted by P. destructans, and use a novel and unbiased substrate profiling technique to define active peptidases. These experiments revealed that endopeptidases are the major proteolytic activities secreted by P. destructans, and that collagen, the major structural protein in mammals, is actively degraded by the secretome. A serine endopeptidase, hereby-named Destructin-1, was subsequently identified, and a recombinant form overexpressed and purified. Biochemical analysis of Destructin-1 showed that it mediated collagen degradation, and a potent inhibitor of peptidase activity was identified. Treatment of P. destructans-conditioned media with this antagonist blocked collagen degradation and facilitated the detection of additional secreted proteolytic activities, including aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases. These results provide molecular insights into the secretome of P. destructans, and identify serine endopeptidases that have the clear potential to facilitate tissue invasion and pathogenesis in the mammalian host.
9 Graph Cutting Procedures 9.1 Bartals Cutting Scheme

Last class we began looking at how to embed arbitrary metrics into distributions of trees, and proved the following theorem due to Bartal (1996): Theorem 9.1 (Bartal (1996)) Given a metric (X, d) with diameter ∆, let DT be the set of all tree metrics that dominate d. Then, −−−−−−−−→ distr(DT). In the last class, we proved Theorem 9.1 assuming the following theorem on graph decom-positions: Theorem 9.2 Given a graph G = (V, E) with edge lengths, and a parameter δ, there exists a procedure that deletes edges E such that: 1. Each connected component C in (V, E − E) has (weak) diameter smaller than δ. 2. P r[edge e is cut] ≤ 8 log n · (d(e)/δ). In this class, we will describe two randomized algorithms that accomplish the required graph decomposition, which will implicitly define the distribution of trees that are used in the embedding. Let us make two assumptions about the edge lengths d(e): 1. The edge lengths are integers; i.e., d(e) ∈ Z +. This assumption can be discharged by taking rational approximations and scaling. Hence, the smallest edge length is 1. 2. We can assume for the above theorem that d(e) ≤ δ 8. Indeed, if edge e has d(e) > δ 8 , then we can just delete the edge. Since 8d(e) δ≥1 , the quantity 8 log n · (d(e)/δ) ≥ 1 for n ≥ 2, and hence the theorem still holds. This asusmption will be convenient later in the class. The first graph cutting procedure is essentially due to Bartal (1996). The algorithm is simple: it picks an arbitrary vertex, and constructs a component with a sufficiently small diameter by cutting all edges at a certain (random) distance away from the chosen vertex. The distance is essentially chosen from a distribution that falls off exponentially with distance from the vertex. It then removes the component from the graph, and iterates on the remaining graph until the remaining graph has a small diameter. We formalize this as follows:
Selective Iterative Waterfilling for Digital Subscriber Lines

This paper presents a high-performance, low-complexity, quasi-distributed dynamic spectrum management (DSM) algorithm suitable for DSL systems. We analytically demonstrate that the rate degradation of the distributed iterative waterfilling (IW) algorithm in near-far scenarios is caused by the insufficient utilization of all available frequency and power resources due to its nature of noncooperative game theoretic formulation. Inspired by this observation, we propose the selective IW (SIW) algorithm that can considerably alleviate the performance degradation of IW by applying IW selectively to different groups of users over different frequency bands so that all the available resources can be fully utilized. For users, the proposed SIW algorithm needs at most times the complexity of the IW algorithm, and is much simpler than the centralized optimal spectrum balancing (OSB), while it can offer a rate performance much better than that of the IW and close to the maximum possible rate region computed by the OSB in realistic near-far DSL scenarios. Furthermore, its predominantly distributed structure makes it suitable for DSL implementation.
HIF 1 α is a critical regulator of secretory differentiation and activation , but not vascular expansion , in the mouse mammary gland

In response to hypoxia, tissues attempt to restore homeostasis by regulating cellular metabolism and by inducing angiogenesis (reviewed by Semenza, 2000). Both of these processes are primarily regulated by a heterodimeric transcription factor complex known as the hypoxia inducible factor 1 or HIF1 (Semenza, 2000). The HIF1 heterodimer includes HIF1α, a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein induced and stabilized by hypoxia, and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) protein (also termed HIF1β), which is expressed constitutively and heterodimerizes with multiple bHLH partners. Under normoxic conditions, HIF1 α protein is rapidly degraded through targeted ubiquitination mediated by direct binding of its oxygen dependent domain to the β subunit of the von Hippel Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor protein (reviewed by Kondo and Kaelin, 2001). In response to hypoxia, HIF1 α protein accumulates, owing to decreased interaction with VHL (Krek, 2000). An increase in HIF1 α protein is first detectable at partial pressures of oxygen equivalent to 6% O 2, and is maximal between 0.5-1.0% O 2 (Stroka et al., 2001). In a hypoxic environment, HIF1 activates the hypoxic response elements (HREs) of target gene regulatory sequences (Huang et al., 1998; Salceda and Caro, 1997), resulting in the transcription of genes implicated in the control of metabolism and angiogenesis, as well as apoptosis and cellular stress (reviewed by Giordano and Johnson, 2001). Some of the direct targets include erythropoietin, the angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), glucose transporters and multiple glycolytic enzymes. The connection between the hypoxic response and angiogenesis is also clear from the study of individuals with VHL disease, an autosomal, dominantly inherited cancer syndrome. Individuals heterozygous for one inactivating mutation in VHLare predisposed to developing a variety of tumor types, including renal clear cell carcinomas that are massively hypervascular with highly elevated levels of VEGF expression caused by constitutive HIF1 activity in response to inactivation of the second VHL allele (Kondo and Kaelin, 2001). Recently, HIF1α has been demonstrated to be upregulated in a variety of human solid tumors, in particular breast tumors that exhibit high rates of proliferation (Bos et al., 2001; Zhong et al., 1999). Zhong et al. reported that HIF1 α protein was overexpressed in breast tumors, as well as bordering ‘normal’ areas adjacent to tumors, but not in normal breast tissue (Zhong t al., 1999). These observations in breast tumors are consistent with our previous findings that HIF1 α functions as a positive 1713 Development 130, 1713-1724 © 2003 The Company of Biologists Ltd doi:10.1242/dev.00403
Design of a self checking Reed Solomon encoder

In this paper, an innovative self-checking Reed Solomon encoder architecture is described. The presented architecture exploits some properties of the arithmetic operations in GF(2/sup 3/) related to the parity of the binary representation of the field elements. Moreover, a method for introducing self-checking capabilities on all the arithmetic structures used in the Reed Solomon encoder is presented. Finally the self-checking encoder architecture has been mapped on a FPGA evaluating its area overhead.
Linear Ensembles of Word Embedding Models

This paper explores linear methods for combining several word embedding models into an ensemble. We construct the combined models using an iterative method based on either ordinary least squares regression or the solution to the orthogonal Procrustes problem. We evaluate the proposed approaches on Estonian---a morphologically complex language, for which the available corpora for training word embeddings are relatively small. We compare both combined models with each other and with the input word embedding models using synonym and analogy tests. The results show that while using the ordinary least squares regression performs poorly in our experiments, using orthogonal Procrustes to combine several word embedding models into an ensemble model leads to 7-10% relative improvements over the mean result of the initial models in synonym tests and 19-47% in analogy tests.
A High Memory Bandwidth FPGA Accelerator for Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication

Sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SMVM) is a crucial primitive used in a variety of scientific and commercial applications. Despite having significant parallelism, SMVM is a challenging kernel to optimize due to its irregular memory access characteristics. Numerous studies have proposed the use of FPGAs to accelerate SMVM implementations. However, most prior approaches focus on parallelizing multiply-accumulate operations within a single row of the matrix (which limits parallelism if rows are small) and/or make inefficient uses of the memory system when fetching matrix and vector elements. In this paper, we introduce an FPGA-optimized SMVM architecture and a novel sparse matrix encoding that explicitly exposes parallelism across rows, while keeping the hardware complexity and on-chip memory usage low. This system compares favorably with prior FPGA SMVM implementations. For the over 700 University of Florida sparse matrices we evaluated, it also performs within about two thirds of CPU SMVM performance on average, even though it has 2.4x lower DRAM memory bandwidth, and within almost one third of GPU SVMV performance on average, even at 9x lower memory bandwidth. Additionally, it consumes only 25W, for power efficiencies 2.6x and 2.3x higher than CPU and GPU, respectively, based on maximum device power.
Effective SNR mapping algorithms for link prediction model in 802.16e

Link layer abstraction is crucial both the cross layer simulation and design and the interface to complete a system level simulator. The calibration takes an important role within this design. In this paper we have used several kinds of algorithms like EESM, CESM and LESM for the instantaneous channel, calibration and evaluation of the link level interface in WiMAX system 802.16e. In order to have real world situations, we are also using the adaptative modulation and coding (AMC), hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) and PUSC/FUSC permutation besides of OFDM systems. Plenty of simulations were made for evaluate the different algorithms and the results show that EESM has better accuracy that the others.
Cavo-tricuspid isthmus radiofrequency ablation using a novel remote navigation catheter system in patients with typical atrial flutter.

AIMS A new remote catheter system (AMIGO™ Remote Catheter System) compatible with conventional ablation catheters is now commercially available but no data about its performance in clinical use during ablation have been reported. This study evaluates the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of cavo-tricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation with this system in patients with typical atrial flutter (AFl). METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty patients with typical AFl underwent CTI ablation using the new remote catheter navigation system with 8 mm tip or irrigated catheters in three centres following each centre's routine practice. The endpoint was stable bidirectional CTI block. CTI ablation was successful in 98% of patients. Ablation was completed manually in one patient. The overall procedure, fluoroscopy, and radiofrequency times (median ± standard deviation, range) were 123 ± 42 (50-250), 24 ± 13 (3-82), and 10 ± 8 (1.17-43.3) min, respectively. Three patients had vascular complications not requiring surgical intervention. There were no complications related to the remote catheter manipulation system. CONCLUSION Cavo-tricuspid isthmus ablation for typical AFl can be safely and effectively performed with the AMIGO™. The learning curve seems to be short even for physicians with limited ablation experience.
Master-slave servo manipulator system for the PRIDE facility

A prototype of a master-slave servo manipulator system has been developed for the use in the PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration) facility. The PRIDE facility is designed to have an argon-atmosphere cell which prohibits direct access by human operators. Therefore, all the operation and maintenance of the process equipment is performed remotely through a master-slave manipulation. In this paper, we describe a motion-decoupled joint design of a cable-driven mechanism, a weight balancing analysis, and an interface system. The prototype manipulator system has been installed at a mock-up facility and the performance test of the manipulator system is currently carried out.
A dynamic programming approach to automated trust negotiation for multiagent systems

We consider a framework where agents perform trust formation on behalf of human users in open environment like pervasive computing or the Internet. In this paper, an automated trust negotiation framework by van der Host et al. (2004) is proposed, to support such trust agents, and a protocol is presented. In the framework, the preference for the disclosure of credentials and policies are explicitly included in contrast to ordinary ATN frameworks studied in network authentication domain. The proposed protocol is based on dynamic programming and successfully performs the exchange of credentials and policies without unnecessary disclosure of them.