Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Research of Levenberg-Marquardt Algorithm in Curve Fittings on Multiple GPUs

During the study of biological viruses, a large number of fluorescent particle images are photographed by ultra-microscopes in order to observe the motion and variation of viruses. However, due to diffraction effects, the luminance values of these fluorescent images are distributed in the form of the Point Spread Function. Considering the popularity and robustness of the Levenberg-Marquardt Algorithm (LMA), in this paper the LMA is adopted to achieve Gaussian fitting. Because plenty of matrix operations are involved in this algorithm, it is appropriate to take advantage of GPU to deal with this parallel problem. Plus, the increase of the image dataset brings us much trouble, such as the growth of total running time and out-of-memory problem. Therefore, we also achieve quick Gaussian fitting on multiple GPUs. Test and analysis results show that near proportional growth of computing speed can be reached as the number of GPUs increases. And this work also has shown in using different quantity of GPUs, all input image data sizes can obtain some speedup and larger data sizes can obtain more efficient speedup.
Inactivation of the Pta-AckA Pathway Causes Cell Death in Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT During growth under conditions of glucose and oxygen excess, Staphylococcus aureus predominantly accumulates acetate in the culture medium, suggesting that the phosphotransacetylase-acetate kinase (Pta-AckA) pathway plays a crucial role in bacterial fitness. Previous studies demonstrated that these conditions also induce the S. aureus CidR regulon involved in the control of cell death. Interestingly, the CidR regulon is comprised of only two operons, both encoding pyruvate catabolic enzymes, suggesting an intimate relationship between pyruvate metabolism and cell death. To examine this relationship, we introduced ackA and pta mutations in S. aureus and tested their effects on bacterial growth, carbon and energy metabolism, cid expression, and cell death. Inactivation of the Pta-AckA pathway showed a drastic inhibitory effect on growth and caused accumulation of dead cells in both pta and ackA mutants. Surprisingly, inactivation of the Pta-AckA pathway did not lead to a decrease in the energy status of bacteria, as the intracellular concentrations of ATP, NAD+, and NADH were higher in the mutants. However, inactivation of this pathway increased the rate of glucose consumption, led to a metabolic block at the pyruvate node, and enhanced carbon flux through both glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Intriguingly, disruption of the Pta-AckA pathway also induced the CidR regulon, suggesting that activation of alternative pyruvate catabolic pathways could be an important survival strategy for the mutants. Collectively, the results of this study demonstrate the indispensable role of the Pta-AckA pathway in S. aureus for maintaining energy and metabolic homeostasis during overflow metabolism.
Person identification from action styles

We consider a problem of identifying people based on their styles in performing actions from an arbitrary predefined set of action types. We present a generative model describing the action instance creation process and derive a probabilistic identity inference scheme, which implicitly includes action type inference as one of its components. Our experiments validate the power of the approach. We report high recognition rates on four publicly available action recognition datasets and one dataset for person authentication, on which we obtain state-of-the-art results. We make use of existing action representations and show that combining them with an action-specific Mahalanobis metric, learned from examples, improves the results.
Comparison of simulation systems for marine propeller characteristics

This paper analyzes the basic theory of propeller simulation system, which plays a more and more important role in the electric propulsion systems development. Four different modes, including dual connection of two thyristor H-bridge and DC/DC with PWM rectifier DC motor modes, field oriented control and direct torque control AC motor modes are discussed. Each mode's topology and its own advantages and disadvantages are also described. The simulation and experimental results are given in the end, which are used to examine some modes working characteristics
Hybrid Semantic Analysis for Mapping Adverse Drug Reaction Mentions in Tweets to Medical Terminology

Social networks, such as Twitter, have become important sources for active monitoring of user-reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Automatic extraction of ADR information can be crucial for healthcare providers, drug manufacturers, and consumers. However, because of the non-standard nature of social media language, automatically extracted ADR mentions need to be mapped to standard forms before they can be used by operational pharmacovigilance systems. We propose a modular natural language processing pipeline for mapping (normalizing) colloquial mentions of ADRs to their corresponding standardized identifiers. We seek to accomplish this task and enable customization of the pipeline so that distinct unlabeled free text resources can be incorporated to use the system for other normalization tasks. Our approach, which we call Hybrid Semantic Analysis (HSA), sequentially employs rule-based and semantic matching algorithms for mapping user-generated mentions to concept IDs in the Unified Medical Language System vocabulary. The semantic matching component of HSA is adaptive in nature and uses a regression model to combine various measures of semantic relatedness and resources to optimize normalization performance on the selected data source. On a publicly available corpus, our normalization method achieves 0.502 recall and 0.823 precision (F-measure: 0.624). Our proposed method outperforms a baseline based on latent semantic analysis and another that uses MetaMap.
Function Focused Care for Assisted Living Residents With Dementia.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Assisted living (AL) residents with dementia require assistance with activities of daily living, encounter limited opportunities to engage in physical activity, and often exhibit challenging behavioral symptoms. The Function Focused Care Intervention for the Cognitively Impaired (FFC-CI) teaches and motivates direct care workers (DCWs) to engage residents with dementia in activities that optimize function and activity while minimizing behavioral symptoms. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of FFC-CI on function, physical activity, behavior, and falls. DESIGN AND METHODS A cluster-randomized trial included 96 residents with dementia and 76 DCWs from 4 ALs. Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate outcomes at 3 and 6 months. RESULTS There were no treatment by time differences with regard to resident behavior, mood, counts of physical activity based on actigraphy, falls, and function. There were significant increases in physical activity based on kilocalories burned (p = .001), time spent in physical activity based on survey results (p = .001), and time spent in repetitive behaviors, such as wandering (p = .01) among the control group over time. There were no treatment by time differences with regard to DCW beliefs, knowledge, or performance of FFC, except for less decline in job satisfaction among the treatment group (p = .002). Treatment fidelity with regard to delivery and receipt were poor due to high staff attrition in the treatment group (46% vs. 16%) and limited site support. IMPLICATIONS The findings from this study can be used to adapt future FFC intervention studies to improve treatment fidelity and optimize intervention efficacy.
Design and Validation of Methods Searching for Risk Factors in Genotype Case-Control Studies

Accessibility of high-throughput genotyping technology allows genome-wide association studies for common complex diseases. This paper addresses two challenges commonly facing such studies: (i) searching an enormous amount of possible gene interactions and (ii) finding reproducible associations. These challenges have been traditionally addressed in statistics while here we apply computational approaches--optimization and cross-validation. A complex risk factor is modeled as a subset of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with specified alleles and the optimization formulation asks for the one with the maximum odds ratio. To measure and compare ability of search methods to find reproducible risk factors, we propose to apply a cross-validation scheme usually used for prediction validation. We have applied and cross-validated known search methods with proposed enhancements on real case-control studies for several diseases (Crohn's disease, autoimmune disorder, tick-borne encephalitis, lung cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis). Proposed methods are compared favorably to the exhaustive search: they are faster, find more frequently statistically significant risk factors, and have significantly higher leave-half-out cross-validation rate.
Inferring document utility via a decision-making based retrieval model

It is well known that a query is an approximate representation of the user's information needs since it does not provide a sufficient specification of the attended results. Numerous studies addressed this issue using techniques for better eliciting either document or query representations. More recent studies investigated the use of search context to better understand the user intent, driven by the query, in order to deliver personalized information results. In this article, we propose a personalized information retrieval model that leverages the information relevance by its usefulness to both the query and the user's profile, expressed by his main topics of interest. The model is based on the influence diagram formalism which is an extension of Bayesian networks dedicated to decision problems. This graphical model offers an intuitive way to represent, in the same framework, all the basic information (terms, documents, user interests) surrounding the user's information need and also, quantify their mutual influence on the relevance estimation. Experimental results demonstrate that our model was successful at eliciting user queries according to dynamic changes of the user interests.
Signalling molecules and cytokine production in T cells of multiple myeloma‐increased abnormalities with advancing stage

T‐cell immune dysfunction in patients with malignant tumours has been attributed to the altered expression of components of the T‐cell receptor (TCR)/CD3 complex and their associated intracellular protein tyrosine kinases. In this study, four‐colour flow cytometry was applied to study the surface bound molecules TCRαβ, CD28, CD152 and CD154 involved in T‐cell signalling and the signal transduction molecules CD3ζ, p56lck, p59fyn, ZAP‐70 and phosphatidyl‐inositol‐3 kinase (PI3‐k) as well as the intracellular cytokines interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐2 as a functional read‐out of non‐stimulated and superantigen (staphylococcus enterotoxin B)‐stimulated blood T cells of multiple myeloma (MM) patients at different stages of the disease. Multiple abnormalities were demonstrated in the CD4 and CD8 populations, both under non‐stimulated and superantigen‐stimulated conditions. There was a marked reduction, particular in advanced stage MM, in the proportion of CD4 and CD8 cells expressing CD28, CD152, CD3ζ, p56lck, ZAP‐70 and PI3‐k. The level of intracellular T‐cell cytokines (IFN‐γ, IL‐2 and IL‐4) was normal or increased in non‐stimulated cells but activation‐induced cytokine production was impaired. These results illustrated profound and multiple T‐cell signalling defects, from the surface and down‐stream, consistent with involvement of a master T‐cell function, especially in advanced stage MM. These data should be taken into consideration when developing immune‐based therapeutic approaches and when applying new emerging technologies that aim to restore T‐cell functions.
Nucleotide diversity patterns of local adaptation at drought‐related candidate genes in wild tomatoes

We surveyed nucleotide diversity at two candidate genes LeNCED1 and pLC30‐15, involved in an ABA (abscisic acid) signalling pathway, in two closely related tomato species Solanum peruvianum and Solanum chilense. Our six population samples (three for each species) cover a range of mesic to very dry habitats. The ABA pathway plays an important role in the plants’ response to drought stress. LeNCED1 is an upstream gene involved in ABA biosynthesis, and pLC30‐15 is a dehydrin gene positioned downstream in the pathway. The two genes show very different patterns of nucleotide variation. LeNCED1 exhibits very low nucleotide diversity relative to the eight neutral reference loci that were previously surveyed in these populations. This suggests that strong purifying selection has been acting on this gene. In contrast, pLC30‐15 exhibits higher levels of nucleotide diversity and, in particular in S. chilense, higher genetic differentiation between populations than the reference loci, which is indicative of local adaptation. In the more drought‐tolerant species S. chilense, one population (from Quicacha) shows a significant haplotype structure, which appears to be the result of positive (diversifying) selection.
Lightly supervised and unsupervised acoustic model training

The last decade has witnessed substantial progress in speech recognition technology, with today? s state-of-the-art systems being able to transcribe unrestricted broadcast news audio data with a word error of about 20%. However, acoustic model development for these recognizers relies on the availability of large amounts of manually transcribed training data. Obtaining such data is both time-consuming and expensive, requiring trained human annotators and substantial amounts of supervision. This paper describes some recent experiments using lightly supervised and unsupervised techniques for acoustic model training in order to reduce the system development cost. The approach uses a speech recognizer to transcribe unannotated broadcast news data from the Darpa TDT-2 corpus. The hypothesized transcription is optionally aligned with closed-captions or transcripts to create labels for the training data. Experiments providing supervision only via the language model training materials show that including texts which are contemporaneous with the audio data is not crucial for success of the approach, and that the acoustic models can be initialized with as little as 10 min of manually annotated data. These experiments demonstrate that light or no supervision can dramatically reduce the cost of building acoustic models.
An Extension Convergent Validity Study of the "Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders" and the Achenbach "Teacher's Report Form" with Middle and High School Students with Emotional Disturbances.

We sought to extend instrument validation research for the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) (Walker & Severson, 1990) using convergent validation techniques. Associations between Critical Events, Adaptive Behavior, and Maladaptive Behavior indices of the SSBD were examined in relation to syndrome, broadband, and total scores of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher’s Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach, 2001). Both measures were conducted with 65 students with emotional disturbance in grades 6 through 12. Overall convergent validity of the SSBD and TRF was strong, particularly for TRF externalizing problems and associated syndromes. Results provide further support for use of the SSBD in the assessment of behavioral functioning of students with emotional disturbance and extend validation for use of this instrument with secondary students.
Enhanced Mutability Associated with a Temperature-Sensitive Mutant of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant tsD1 of vesicular stomatitis virus, New Jersey serotype, is the sole representative of complementation group D. Clones derived from this mutant exhibited three different phenotypes with respect to electrophoretic mobility of the G and N polypeptides of the virion in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. Analysis of non-ts pseudorevertants showed that none of the three phenotypes was associated with the temperature sensitivity of mutant tsD1. Additional phenotypes, some also involving the NS polypeptide, appeared during sequential cloning, indicating that mutations were generated at high frequency during replication of tsD1. Furthermore, mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility of the G, N, NS, and M polypeptides were induced in heterologous viruses multiplying in the same cells as tsD1. These heterologous viruses included another complementing ts mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey and ts mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana and Chandipura virus. Complete or incomplete virions of tsD1 appeared to be equally efficient inducers of mutations in heterologous viruses. Analysis of the progeny of a mixed infection of two complementing ts mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey with electrophoretically distinguishable G, N, NS, and M proteins yielded no recombinants and excluded recombination as a factor in the generation of the electrophoretic mobility variants. In vitro translation of total cytoplasmic RNA from BHK cells indicated that post-translational processing was not responsible for the aberrant electrophoretic mobility of the N, NS, and M protein mutants. Aberrant glycosylation could account for three of four G protein mutants, however. Some clones of tsD1 had an N polypeptide which migrated faster in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel than did the wild type, suggesting that the polypeptide might be shorter by about 10 amino acids. Determination of the nucleotide sequence to about 200 residues from each terminus of the N gene of one of these clones, a revertant, and the wild-type parent revealed no changes compatible with synthesis of a shorter polypeptide by premature termination or late initiation of translation. The sequence data indicated, however, that the N-protein mutant and its revertant differed from the parental wild type in two of the 399 nucleotides determined. These sequencing results and the phenomenon of enhanced mutability associated with mutant tsD1 reveal that rapid and extensive evolution of the viral genome can occur during the course of normal cytolytic infection of cultured cells.
Agents’ Perceptions of What Makes Offenders Successful in Intensive Supervised Release

The current study addresses what makes an offender successful in the Intensive Supervised Release program (ISR) by looking at agents’ perceptions based on past success and failures and focusing on counseling strategies that are implemented in this correctional field. The participants of this study are made up of ten ISR agents between age 35 and 50 years old, consisting of two female and eight male agents. This study is qualitative in nature and the data obtained was assessed by using a semi-standardized interview. Each interview was transcribed in order to identify salient themes regarding agents’ perceptions of what makes an offender successful in the ISR program. The offender’s internal motivation for success was identified as the biggest indicator for success. The implications of this study indicate that further training regarding working with a client with mental illness may be beneficial for the agents, as well as developing interventions that help the offender achieve motivation for success. Running head: Intensive Supervised Release ii
Codesign of an impulse generator and miniaturized antennas for IR-UWB

The codesign of an impulse generator and miniaturized antennas for ultra-wideband impulse radio is described. The impulse generator, discussed by Bragga in 2004, is designed with differential outputs that are fed to the antenna, producing an optimum match of the generator to the antenna, an improved magnitude response, and reduced ringing of the radiated pulse. The impulse generator is preceded by a programmable pulse-position modulator and consists of a triangular pulse generator and a cascade of complex first-order systems, which, in turn, are made up of differential pairs employing partial positive feedback to approximate a Gaussian monocycle waveform. The complete pulse generator is fabricated in IBM 0.18-/spl mu/m Bi-CMOS IC technology. Measurements show the correct operation of the circuit for supply voltages of 1.8 V and a power consumption of 45 mW. The output pulse approximates the Gaussian monocycle having a pulse duration of about 375 ps. Proper modulation of the pulse in time is confirmed. A number of antennas with differentially fed baluns and input impedances of 100 /spl Omega/ have been designed. From measurements, it can be seen that ringing is considerably smaller as compared to conventionally fed antennas.
Data Clustering and Similarity

In this article, we study the notion of similarity within the context of cluster analysis. We begin by studying different distances commonly used for this task and highlight certain important properties that they might have, such as the use of data distribution or reduced sensitivity to the curse of dimensionality. Then we study inter- and intra-cluster similarities. We identify how the choices made can influence the nature of the clusters.
MPISTE: A Mobile, Personalised, Interactive Story Telling Environment

This article describes an environment based on the user’s physical location to tell interactive stories on mobile devices. First, the technology to physically locate the user is presented. Thence the project, called MPISTE, is put into context with related projects. The paper continues with the description of the project and its design as part of a project to develop an affective virtual guide. The work described herein consists of two parts. The first one is the client, which was developed (using J2ME) for Smart-phones. The client is connected via bluetooth to devices such as RFID and GPS for locating the user. The second one is the server (web-server), which receives requests from the former and these are answered via serv lets, which relay petitions to a relational database. The communication protocol used to communicate the mobile phone with the server is EDGE/3GSM. Finally, an ongoing application is presented: museum guidance for the severely motor-impaired. MPISTE is mounted on a robotic wheelchair which guides the user among the museum’s rooms while providing location-aware interactive audio stories.