Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computer vision applied to super resolution

Super-resolution (SR) restoration aims to solve the following problem: given a set of observed images, estimate an image at a higher resolution than is present in any of the individual images. Where the application of this technique differs in computer vision from other fields is in the variety and severity of the registration transformation between the images. In particular this transformation is generally unknown, and a significant component of solving the SR problem in computer vision is the estimation of the transformation. The transformation may have a simple parametric form, or it may be scene dependent and have to be estimated for every point. In either case the transformation is estimated directly and automatically from the images. We describe the two key components that are necessary for successful SR restoration: the accurate alignment or registration of the LR images and the formulation of an SR estimator that uses a generative image model together with a prior model of the super-resolved image itself. As with many other problems in computer vision, these different aspects are tackled in a robust, statistical framework.
Facility for automated testing of induction motors

The software and hardware design of an automated induction motor testing facility at Industrias IEM, Mexico, is described. The test motors range in power between 75 and 3000 hp, with 2-14 poles at voltages of up to 6600 V. The system performs seven tests in either a standard or a customized format, under the control of a personal computer/programmable controller combination. Test motor loading is accomplished by a synchronous machine controlled by a load-commutated converter, which returns the output power to the mains. Brief descriptions of the standard test formats, drive train, power distribution, control, software, and systems considerations are presented. <<ETX>>
Kinds of Features for Chinese Opinionated Information Retrieval

This paper presents the results of experiments in which we tested different kinds of features for retrieval of Chinese opinionated texts. We assume that the task of retrieval of opinionated texts (OIR) can be regarded as a subtask of general IR, but with some distinct features. The experiments showed that the best results were obtained from the combination of character-based processing, dictionary look up (maximum matching) and a negation check.
Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Dysfunctions among Indian Pregnant Women

Background and Objectives. Pregnancy triggers a wide range of changes in a woman's body leading to various musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Most commonly reported musculoskeletal discomforts by pregnant women are low back pain and symphysis pubis pain. The culture and the environmental factors may influence the discomforts experienced by a pregnant woman. There is a dearth of literature in India, regarding the common musculoskeletal dysfunctions experienced by a pregnant woman, and hence this study. Method. A questionnaire to identify the musculoskeletal dysfunction was developed; content was validated and was translated to local languages through parallel back translation. 261 primiparous pregnant women participated in the study and filled the questionnaire in their native language. Results. Among the musculoskeletal dysfunctions reported by the pregnant women, 64.6% reported calf muscle cramps, 37.1% reported foot pain, and 33.7% experienced low back pain in their third trimester. In the second trimester, common musculoskeletal dysfunctions experienced by the women were that of calf pain (47.8%), low back pain (42%), and pelvic girdle pain (37%). Conclusion. Musculoskeletal dysfunctions and general discomforts very commonly affect the activities of daily living of pregnant women. Understanding the common discomforts during various trimesters of pregnancy will help to develop a comprehensive program for prevention and cure.
Oxidative stress in retinal pigment epithelium cells increases exosome secretion and promotes angiogenesis in endothelial cells

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a monolayer located between the photoreceptors and the choroid, is constantly damaged by oxidative stress, particularly because of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As the RPE, because of its physiological functions, is essential for the survival of the retina, any sustained damage may consequently lead to loss of vision. Exosomes are small membranous vesicles released into the extracellular medium by numerous cell types, including RPE cells. Their cargo includes genetic material and proteins, making these vesicles essential for cell‐to‐cell communication. Exosomes may fuse with neighbouring cells influencing their fate. It has been observed that RPE cells release higher amounts of exosomes when they are under oxidative stress. Exosomes derived from cultured RPE cells were isolated by ultracentrifugation and quantified by flow cytometry. VEGF receptors (VEGFR) were analysed by both flow cytometry and Western blot. RT‐PCR and qPCR were conducted to assess mRNA content of VEGFRs in exosomes. Neovascularization assays were performed after applying RPE exosomes into endothelial cell cultures. Our results showed that stressed RPE cells released a higher amount of exosomes than controls, with a higher expression of VEGFR in the membrane, and enclosed an extra cargo of VEGFR mRNA. Angiogenesis assays confirmed that endothelial cells increased their tube formation capacity when exposed to stressed RPE exosomes.
Addressing the policy-bias of q-learning by repeating updates

Q-learning is a very popular reinforcement learning algorithm being proven to converge to optimal policies in Markov decision processes. However, Q-learning shows artifacts if the optimal action is played with a low probability, a situation that may arise due to wrong initialization of Q-values or due to convergence to an almost pure policy after which a change in the environment makes another action optimal. These artifacts was resolved in literature by the variant Frequency Adjusted Q-learning (FAQL). However, FAQL also suffered from practical concerns that limited the policy subspace for which the behavior was improved. Here, we introduce the Repeated Update Q-learning (RUQL), a variant of Q-learning that resolves the undesirable artifacts of Q-learning without the practical concerns of FAQL. We show (both theoretically and experimentally) the similarities and differences between RUQL and FAQL (the closest state-of-the-art). Experimental results verify the theoretical insights and show how RUQL outperforms FAQL and QL in non-stationary environments.
An Alternative Approach to Testing Dual Labour Market Theory

In this paper we suggest an alternative approach to testing for the dual structure of the labour market. The novelty of the suggested approach is that rather than considering wage determination we concentrate on the turnover. To perform the test we suggest using a latent class count data framework, which allows modelling the turnover in the unobserved primary and secondary markets in the appropriate way. To illustrate the suggested approach we apply our methodology to the German labour market data. Our testing procedure finds no support for the predictions of the dual labour market theory. We also consider the problem of inconclusiveness of the test for involuntary confinement to the secondary market.
Reaching for Sound Measures: An Ecologically Valid Estimate of Spatial Hearing in 2- to 3-Year-Old Children With Bilateral Cochlear Implants

Hypothesis A novel reaching for sound (RFS) methodology can yield a high level of spatial hearing ability in 2- to 3-year-old children with normal hearing and with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs). Background A growing number of children who are deaf are receiving BiCIs at a young age. Their spatial hearing abilities are emerging but highly variable within the population. Our novel reaching for sound method uses an ecologically valid approach that engages children and maintains their motivation. The present work was aimed at using the novel RFS method to evaluate spatial hearing in 2- to 3-year-olds with normal hearing and with BiCIs. Methods Six children with BiCIs and 15 children with NH, ages 2 to 3 years participated. In the BiCI group, testing was performed in bilateral or single CI (unilateral) conditions. Loudspeakers were separated by ±60, ±45, ±30, or ±15 degrees. On each trial, a small toy was hidden behind one of the loudspeakers, and the child’s task was to reach through a hole in the curtain above the loudspeaker, to indicate source location. Children were reinforced for correct responses. At each angle, the ability of the child to reach criterion of 80% or greater correct was assessed. Results All BiCI users reached criterion at all angles tested in the bilateral condition; however, performance was poorer when using a single CI. Of the 15 NH children, 13 were able to perform the task accurately and reached criterion at all angles. Conclusion Spatial hearing skills studied with the RFS method revealed novel findings regarding the emergence of sound localization in very young BiCI users.
PRO: Progress Aware GPU Warp Scheduling Algorithm

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) contain multiple SIMD cores and each core can run a large number of threads concurrently. Threads in a core are scheduled and executed infixed sized groups, called warps. Each core contains one or more warp schedulers that select and execute warps from a pool of ready warps. In spite of having a large number of concurrent warps - 48 on NVIDIA Fermi architecture GPU - on manyGPGPU applications, current warp scheduling algorithms can not effectively utilize the hardware resources, resulting in stall cycles and loss in performance. The main reason for this is current warp scheduling algorithms mostly focus on long latency operations, especially global memory accesses, and do not take into account factors such as the progress of each thread block and the number of ready warps. In this paper, we propose, PRO, a progress warp scheduling algorithm that not only focuses on finishing individual thread blocks faster but also on reducing the overall execution time. These goals are achieved by dynamically prioritizing thread blocks and warps, based on their progress. We implemented our proposed algorithm in the GPGPU-SIM simulator and evaluated on various applications from GPGPU-SIM, Rosina and CUDASDK benchmark suites. We achieved an average speedup of 1.12x and a maximum speedup of 1.94x over the commonly used LooseRound Robin warp scheduling algorithm. Over the Two Level warp scheduler, our algorithm showed an average speedup of1.13x and a maximum speedup of 1.6x. Our proposed solution requires only a very small increase in the GPU hardware.
Painting folds using expansion textures

We present a method relying on expansion textures to add details such as folds on a surface. The user paints the expansion attributes on the surface (amount and direction of expansion, wavelength and regularity of folds), using either interactive or procedural tools. The modeling system generates the folds by calculating the new surface equilibrium. Results show that this tool allows computer graphics artists to easily control the aspect of folds and drapes by adding the surface locally, which is close to the sculptor's way of thinking. Our original contribution does not lie in the equilibrium solver, but in the very principle of texturing expansions to specify shapes details.
Reducing the diagnostic uncertainty of a paper input module by active testing

Model-Based Diagnosis (MBD) algorithms often yield a large number of diagnoses, severely limiting their practical utility. A practical way to deal with such diagnostic uncertainty is to use the active testing approach implemented by Fractal (FRamework for ACtive Testing ALgorithms). Fractal computes a sequence of control settings for reducing the number of diagnoses given a system description and an initial observation. In this report we demonstrate the applicability of Fractal to real-world applications, such as the diagnosis of a Paper Input Module (PIM), part of a heavy-duty printer. In this report we show that (1) Fractal computes intuitive results given the PIM model and an initial observation, (2) Fractal scales to large systems and is computationally efficient, (3) and Fractal leads to a steep reduction in the number of diagnoses even with very coarse-grained models and in the lack of prior failure probabilities. As a result, this report validates the use of Fractal for a range of on-board and off-line diagnostic reasoning tasks.
Eigenvalue estimates for stable minimal hypersurfaces

In this article we provide estimates on the first eigenvalue of stable minimal hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold with sectional curvature bounded from below and above by negative constants. We also obtain a lower bound of the total scalar curvature of a stable minimal hypersurface if the scalar curvature of the ambient space is positive. Mathematics subject classification (2010): 53C21, 53A10.
Speech Processing with VRIO and Linux

Speech processing is often anticipated as the future human-computer interface. Previously, this tendency has been supported by science fiction authors, who describe the wonderful perspectives of speech processing for the user. Yet, the possibility to formulate and interact with the computer via natural language seems finally mature enough for novel applications. The VRIO appliance is an approach to use speech processing for arbitrary applications in everyday life. Whenever ubiquitous or pervasive computing systems are available, VRIO offers some means of controlling them. The whole project was only possible through the existence of the Linux operating system, and the public availability of IBMs ViaVoice SDK. Without any means of funding, VRIO has been developed and applied for different applications.
Priming of neutrophil oxidative burst in diabetes requires preassembly of the NADPH oxidase

Hyperglycemia associated with diabetes mellitus results in the priming of neutrophils leading to oxidative stress that is, in part, responsible for diabetic complications. p47phox, a NADPH oxidase cytosolic subunit, is a key protein in the assembly of the NADPH oxidase leading to superoxide generation. Little is known about the priming mechanism of oxidative pathways in neutrophils of people with diabetes. In this study, the kinetics of p47phox activation was investigated by comparing neutrophils from diabetic and healthy subjects, and the mechanism of hyperglycemia‐induced changes was studied by using neutrophil‐like HL‐60 cells as a model. In resting neutrophils from diabetic subjects, p47phox prematurely translocates to the cell membrane and preassembles with p22phox, a NADPH oxidase membrane subunit. This premature p47phox translocation and preassembly with p22phox were also observed in HL‐60 cells cultured with high glucose (HG; 25 mM) and with the specific ligand for the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), S100B. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2, but not p38 MAPK, was the primary signaling pathway, as evidenced by PD98059 suppressing the translocation of p47phox in HL‐60 cells incubated with HG and S100B. HL‐60 cells cultured in HG and S100B exhibited a 1.8‐fold increase in fMLP‐induced superoxide generation compared with those cultured in normal glucose (5.5 mM). These data suggest that HG and increased AGE prime neutrophils and increase oxidative stress inducing the translocation of p47phox to the cell membrane and preassembly with p22phox by stimulating a RAGE‐ERK1/2 pathway.
Defaultable Term Structure Models with Fractional Recovery of Par

This paper provides simple tractable models of the term structure of credit spreads on corporate or sovereign bonds based on exogenous fractional recovery of face value. One version of the model is based on \aÆne" state variables. Another version is in the spirit of the Heath-Jarrow-Morton model of forward rates. I am grateful to Jesper Andreason, Ken Hirsh, Jun Pan, Ken Singleton, and Wolfgang Schmidt for stimulating conversations. I am also grateful for insightful research assistance from Jun Pan. DuÆe is at GSB Stanford CA 94305-5015 (Phone: 650-723-1976; Fax: 650-725-7979; Email: duffie@baht.stanford.edu), and was supported in part by the Financial Research Initiative and the Gi ord Fong Associates Fund at The Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.
Gait synthesis for a three-legged robot using Learning Automata

This article presents a solution to the problem of gait synthesis for a three-legged robot with three actuators in each leg. In other words, it is shown how to coordinate the robot leg actuators in order to maximize the robot walking speed. The position in time of each leg actuator is described by a periodic function that is found by using a reinforcement learning technique called Learning Automata. MATLAB/Simulink and the SimMechanics Toolbox are used to simulate possible solutions for the problem and the simulated robot response is evaluated at the end of each trial. After the reinforcement learning algorithm converges to a solution, it is applied to the real robot that was built using the Bioloid Comprehensive Kit, an educational robot kit manufactured by Robotis. The response of the real robot is then evaluated and compared with the simulated robot response. It is shown that proposed solution generates a quite satisfactory gait for the real robot.
Does long-term methadone exposure affect cognitive functions in rats? : Effects on novelty exploration and phosphorylation of CaMKII and ERK.

Numerous studies have explored the effects of morphine on cognitive function, while knowledge concerning methadone is scarce. This study is the first in line, being part of a newly started project. The aim of this study was to examine whether long-term administration of methadone results in deficits in performance in the Novelty-test and changes in phosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in the hippocampus. Rats were administrated (sc) methadone, morphine or saline once per day for three weeks (2.5-10 mg/kg), and novelty-tested one hour and one week after the last injection. Western blotting was performed on homogenate from hippocampus, taken out directly after the novelty-testing, to detect levels of phosphorylated CaMKII (p-CaMKII) and ERK (p-ERK). p-CaMKII was significantly down-regulated one week after the last injection of methadone, while no significant difference in p-ERK was observed. There were no significant differences between the groups in the novelty-test one week after the last injection, while one hour after the last injection the animals were to affected by the methadone to perform the test. Our findings indicate that long-term methadone exposure may specifically affect protein phosphorylation, but don’t seem to have a persistent effect on novelty-exploration. This may also be due to the Novelty-test not being sensitive enough to pick up small differences between the exposed groups and the control group. 7
An ocean model's response to North Atlantic Oscillation‐like wind forcing

The response of the Atlantic Ocean to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)‐like wind forcing was investigated using an ocean‐only general circulation model coupled to an atmospheric boundary layer model. A series of idealized experiments was performed to investigate the interannual to multi‐decadal frequency response of the ocean to a winter wind anomaly pattern. Overall, the strength of the SST response increased slightly with longer forcing periods. In the subpolar gyre, however, the model showed a broad response maximum in the decadal band (12–16 years).
Getting working parents for surveys: using paradata to assess the ease of contact and rescheduling needs of busy work–family jugglers

Work–family balance is a frequently studied topic, often examined using survey data. Yet studies have shown that work–family imbalance can lead to survey non-response. Missing people experiencing (more) problems with juggling work and family demands in surveys on work and family life is problematic as it can lead to biased results. Therefore, it is important to know whether some respondents are ‘harder to get’ in work-related and family-related surveys. This study investigates whether combined workloads of work and family life affect the ease of contact, the necessary precondition for survey participation, in face-to-face surveys on work and family life. Moreover, it tests whether it leads to a greater need for rescheduling the actual interview – an additional, often overlooked cost in the contact process. Using indicators of combined workloads and contact history data of two Belgian surveys on work and family life, differences in ease of contact and rescheduling needs are found according to employment status and family composition.
The All‐Pair Shortest‐Path Problem in Shared‐Memory Heterogeneous Systems

This chapter faces the All-Pair Shortest-Path problem for sparse graphs combining parallel algorithms and parallel-productivity methods in heterogeneous systems. As this problem can be divided into independent Single-Source ShortestPath subproblems, we distribute this computation space into different processing units, CPUs and graphical processing units (GPUs), that are usually present in modern shared-memory systems. Although the powerful GPUs are significantly faster than the CPUs, its combined use leads to better execution times. Furthermore, two different policies have been used for the scheduling issue, an equitable scheduling, where the workspace is equitably divided between all computational units independently of its nature, and a work-stealing scheduling, where a computational unit steals a new task when it has finished its previous work.
Driver's cognitive distraction detection using physiological features by the adaboost

Effects of driver's states adaptive driving support systems is highly expected for the prevention of traffic accidents. In order to create this constituent technology, detecting driver's psychosomatic states which occurs just before a traffic accident is essential. Therefore driver's distraction is thought as one of important factors. This study focused on detecting driver's cognitive distraction, a state which can easily lead to a traffic accident. We reproduced the cognitive distraction by imposing conversation or arithmetic loads to the subjects on a driving simulator. A stereo camera system were used as the means to track a subject's eyes, and head movements, which were set as classification features for pattern recognition on the Support Vector Machine (hereafter, SVM) basis used in the previous study of the AIDE project, a part of EU 6th Framework Programme. Diameter of pupil as well as the interval between heart R-waves (hereafter, heart rate RRI) from an ECG (electrocardiogram) were added for classification features to further improve the accuracy of driver's cognitive distraction detection. Based on this study, we established the methodology for more precise and faster driver's cognitive detection by using the AdaBoost.