Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Horizons in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease—Immunotherapeutics

The inability of pharmacologically based therapeutic molecules, such as the cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, to effectively prevent clinical deterioration in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) over the long term has stimulated the search for more effective therapeutic approaches that may have the ability to show significant disease-modifying activity. Immunotherapeutic approaches are perhaps the most exciting potential therapeutic options on the near horizon. The most closely watched therapeutic approaches falling into this class that may become available in the reasonably near term include: two experimental therapeutics designed to directly attack A-beta, AAC-001 and bapineuzumab; another immunotherapeutic whose mechanism of action is still being delineated, but which also contains anti-amyloid antibodies, namely intravenous immunoglobulin; and a fourth therapeutic, which, although it may address certain amyloid-mediated mechanisms, takes a completely novel therapeutic approach to treating AD, namely peri-spinal etanercept.
Attitude control of quadrotor with on-board visual feature projection system

Recently many researches have been studied to run autonomous flying vehicles. Especially, quadrotor VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) has been a challenging subject. To stabilize the quadrotor system, many control algorithms and sensor systems have been developed. Most of them are based on the sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, or IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) to measure the attitude of quadrotor. Instead of using these conventional sensors, we apply one vision sensor to stabilize the attitude of a quadrotor system. To achieve this, four laser diodes are evenly distributed in the bottom plane of quadrotor, and then they point downwards. The positions of projected laser markers depend on the attitude and height of the quadrotor. We develop a control algorithm to stabilize the attitude as well as to control the height of a quadrotor. We show that the visual tracking of the laser markers is sufficient to estimate the state of the quadrotor attitude and control the attitude into a desired state.
The Federal Attack on Labor Market Discrimination: The Mouse that Roared?

The purpose of this paper is to review available evidence on the impact of federal equal employment opportunity programs. While Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 11246 have been in effect for over 15 years, the lag in data collection and evaluation means that little can be said regarding the last few years' experience. In particular, evidence on the impact of recent administrative changes in the agencies responsible for enforcement is unavailable. In general, time series studies find significant improvements in the relative labor market position of blacks compared with whites since 1965. While several arguments have been advanced that these gains are illusory, the most plausible interpretation is that much of the apparent progress is real. Cross-sectional studies of the impacts of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (which enforces the nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements of the Executive Order) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (which enforces Title VII) have been much less conclusive. Half of the major studies of the OFCCP find that the program had the intended effects on the relative position of blacks -- or at least black males. Unfortunately, variations in conclusions among studies are not readily explained, even after a careful look at the competing data and methods. Equally disturbing is the inability of studies producing positive results to associate such impacts with the "levers" by which OFCCP might exert influence. Studies of EEOC impacts are more vulnerable to problems of identifying the appropriate control group, since Title VII covers contractor and noncontractor firms. Apart from evidence that relative black employment grew considerably faster in firms which must report to EEOC (firms with over 15 employees are subject to Title VII, but only those with 100 or more must report to EEOC), available studies have not produced consistent evidence of EEOC impact. Besides the lack of strong cross-sectional support for the time series conclusions, three puzzles emerge: (1) What caused the decline in black male labor force participation which began about the same time as the federal antidiscrimination effort? (2) Why did black females advance more rapidly than black males since the federal effort began? (3) Why did advantaged blacks advance more rapidly than less advantaged blacks?
A parallel point cloud clustering algorithm for subset segmentation and outlier detection

We present a fast point cloud clustering technique which is suitable for outlier detection, object segmentation and region labeling for large multi-dimensional data sets. The basis is a minimal data structure similar to a kd-tree which enables us to detect connected subsets very fast. The proposed algorithms utilizing this tree structure are parallelizable which further increases the computation speed for very large data sets. The procedures given are a vital part of the data preprocessing. They improve the input data properties for a more reliable computation of surface measures, polygonal meshes and other visualization techniques. In order to show the effectiveness of our techniques we evaluate sets of point clouds from different 3D scanning devices.
Preliminary Evidence of Pre-Attentive Distinctions of Frequency-Modulated Tones that Convey Affect

Recognizing emotion is an evolutionary imperative. An early stage of auditory scene analysis involves the perceptual grouping of acoustic features, which can be based on both temporal coincidence and spectral features such as perceived pitch. Perceived pitch, or fundamental frequency (F0), is an especially salient cue for differentiating affective intent through speech intonation (prosody). We hypothesized that: (1) simple frequency-modulated tone abstractions, based on the parameters of actual prosodic stimuli, would be reliably classified as representing differing emotional categories; and (2) that such differences would yield significant mismatch negativities (MMNs) – an index of pre-attentive deviance detection within the auditory environment. We constructed a set of FM tones that approximated the F0 mean and variation of reliably recognized happy and neutral prosodic stimuli. These stimuli were presented to 13 subjects using a passive listening oddball paradigm. We additionally included stimuli with no frequency modulation (FM) and FM tones with identical carrier frequencies but differing modulation depths as control conditions. Following electrophysiological recording, subjects were asked to identify the sounds they heard as happy, sad, angry, or neutral. We observed that FM tones abstracted from happy and no-expression speech stimuli elicited MMNs. Post hoc behavioral testing revealed that subjects reliably identified the FM tones in a consistent manner. Finally, we also observed that FM tones and no-FM tones elicited equivalent MMNs. MMNs to FM tones that differentiate affect suggests that these abstractions may be sufficient to characterize prosodic distinctions, and that these distinctions can be represented in pre-attentive auditory sensory memory.
Gravitational wave parameter estimation with compressed likelihood evaluations

One of the main bottlenecks in gravitational wave (GW) astronomy is the high cost of performing parameter estimation and GW searches on the fly. We propose a novel technique based on reduced order quadratures (ROQs), an application and data-specific quadrature rule, to perform fast and accurate likelihood evaluations. These are the dominant cost in Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms, which are widely employed in parameter estimation studies, and so ROQs offer a new way to accelerate GW parameter estimation. We illustrate our approach using a four-dimensional GW burst model embedded in noise. We build an ROQ for this model and perform four-dimensional Markov chain Monte Carlo searches with both the standard and ROQ rules, showing that, for this model, the ROQ approach is around 25 times faster than the standard approach with essentially no loss of accuracy. The speed-up from using ROQs is expected to increase for more complex GW signal models and therefore has significant potential to accelerate parameter estimation of GW sources such as compact binary coalescences.
The New Demography of America's Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act.

U.S. schools are experiencing rapid demographic change due to high levels of immigration, while they at the same time they are implementing the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB holds schools accountable for the performance of limited English proficient (LEP) children and other groups that include many children of immigrants. This report describes the demographics of children of immigrants, and the considerable overlap among NCLB's protected groups: LEPs, low-income students, blacks, Hispanics and Asians. The report describes variations in characteristics among children with parents born in different countries, and discusses implications for NCLB implementation in high-LEP schools and districts. [View the corresponding press release ]
Mammographic feature enhancement based on second generation curvelet transform

The early detection of breast cancer is clearly a key ingredient of any strategy designed to reduce breast cancer mortality. The paper shows that second generation curvelet transform coefficients, modified by non-linear operators, can reconstruct mammography and make more obvious barely seen features of mammography in order to detect breast cancer more early and accurately. The edge protection index and the contrast improvement index are used to evaluate the quality of proceeded image regions containing verified lesions. Results of the experiment show the efficiency of the method.
Automatic construction of Web directory using hyperlink and anchor text

This paper proposes a technique for automatically constructing Web directories from several sites. To construct the hierarchical structure of the directories, the technique finds Web pages with a super-sub relation, which are connected by hyperlinks, and replaces the relation with a super-sub hierarchical relation between directories. The technique constructs hierarchical directories by iterating the integration of directories. As a result of an experiment using five Web sites, it was possible to construct hierarchical directories containing Web pages from several sites.
High expression of cholesterol biosynthesis genes is associated with resistance to statin treatment and inferior survival in breast cancer

There is sufficient evidence that statins have a protective role against breast cancer proliferation and recurrence, but treatment predictive biomarkers are lacking. Breast cancer cell lines displaying diverse sensitivity to atorvastatin were subjected to global transcriptional profiling and genes significantly altered by statin treatment were identified. Atorvastatin treatment strongly inhibited proliferation in estrogen receptor (ER) negative cell lines and a commensurate response was also evident on the genome-wide transcriptional scale, with ER negative cells displaying a robust deregulation of genes involved in the regulation of cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Interestingly, atorvastatin upregulated genes involved in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway in all cell lines, irrespective of sensitivity to statin treatment. However, the level of pathway induction; measured as the fold change in transcript levels, was inversely correlated to the effect of statin treatment on cell growth. High expression of cholesterol biosynthesis genes before treatment was associated with resistance to statin therapy in cell lines and clinical biopsies. Furthermore, high expression of cholesterol biosynthesis genes was independently prognostic for a shorter recurrence-free and overall survival, especially among ER positive tumors. Dysregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis is therefore predictive for both sensitivity to anti-cancer statin therapy and prognosis following primary breast cancer diagnosis.
Computer animation of free form images

motion dynamics and motion tapers. However, interpolation in space is linear. Each in-between frame is determined uniquely by the source key, the destination key, and the time dynamics. Hidden Line Removal and Matting A simple technique for removing transparency in two dimensional images is through the use of hierarchy of parallel 2D planes. The actual image is composed of elements which are placed on different planes. In the computation of the composite image, the elements on higher planes block out elements on lower planes. The image components are drawn as silhouettes, enclosed by connected outlines which are subsequently filled in by a scan conversion program, so as to produce solid areas. This matting process was used in the sequence shown in Fig. 1, taken from "Daphnis et Chloe" by Peter Foldes. In this sequence there are fourteen levels of visibility, (each finger is at a different level). The figure shows the composite-line image with transparency removed. A companion sequence contains the corresponding colour areas, which are derived from the silhouette outlines. The matte technique was also used to remove transparency in overlapping areas. How the two sequences are combined to form the final sequence, depends whether the desired effect is colour areas with black lines or white lines (Fig. 2). Black-line image is closer to conventional animation in appearance. Treating the image material as a hierarchy of parallel planes makes the process of computing the hidden portions of the image suited to mini-computer based systems in that the data are implicitly sorted (by plane). Since only the current level need be kept in high speed memory at any one time, the desired composite image can be conveniently segmented as dictated by the available memory. The capability offered by key frame techniques has been sufficient to permit Peter Foldes to make the award-winning film "Hunger" (Prizes at film festivals at Cannes, Chicago, Barcelona as well as a nomination for an Academy Award). There are, however , limitations imposed by the fact that motion is linear in space and there usually is a discon-Our main interest, at the National Research Council of Canada, has been the development of a system for the professional animator in the traditional film industry. The primary form has been animation with free form drawn images. More recently we have been investigating the extension of our system towards the animation of graphs and charts where the dynamics in …
Urban Economies and Occupation Space: Can They Get “There” from “Here”?

Much of the socioeconomic life in the United States occurs in its urban areas. While an urban economy is defined to a large extent by its network of occupational specializations, an examination of this important network is absent from the considerable body of work on the determinants of urban economic performance. Here we develop a structure-based analysis addressing how the network of interdependencies among occupational specializations affects the ease with which urban economies can transform themselves. While most occupational specializations exhibit positive relationships between one another, many exhibit negative ones, and the balance between the two partially explains the productivity of an urban economy. The current set of occupational specializations of an urban economy and its location in the occupation space constrain its future development paths. Important tradeoffs exist between different alternatives for altering an occupational specialization pattern, both at a single occupation and an entire occupational portfolio levels.
Finding Tables for Home Service Tasks and Safe Mobile Robot Navigation

A persistent difficulty of indoor robot navigation is to reliably locate tables for navigation or service tasks. The predominately used laser range finders have difficulties to detect thin metallic table legs and protruding table surfaces. This papers presents a simple yet robust approach to locate table surfaces using stereo vision in home and office environments. Disparity image data is used to first locate the ground plane with an approach building on the results in [3]. Exploiting the expectation of the floor plane, parallel surfaces are detected. Robustness is achieved by using a combination of local grouping processes and probabilistic estimation to cope with the noisy disparity data and to cope with the typically large number of spurious data points. Tables are detected and located independently of clutter on the table or the type of legs. Experiments in a home environment show detection accuracy of less than two centimeters in estimating the table or chair surface height.
Mapping WS-CDL and BPEL into CSP for Behavioural Specification and Verification of Web Services

The Web service Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) and the Web service Choreography Description Language (WS-CDL) are two important standards for modelling and implementing workflows and business processes based on Web services. From the WS-CDL description of a Web services based business process, we may extract a behavioural specification against which the combined behaviour of the participating Web services should be verified. We show how to express this behavioural specification as well as the behaviour of individual WS-BPEL-based Web services in the formalism of communicating sequential processes (CSP), which supports a formal approach to verifying the behaviour of collaborating Web services
Increasing Data Cache Efficiency for MPEG-2 Video Decoding

Multimedia applications are becoming a key component of microcomputer workloads. Prominent among these is digital video decoding using the prevalent MPEG Video encoding standard. The unanimous response from microprocessor manufacturers has been the implementation of multimedia instruction set extensions. These new instructions significantly improve the computational capabilities of general-purpose microprocessors on digital video and other media applications. However, video decoding involves very large data sets, a significant amount of I/O transactions, extensive interaction with the operating system, and real-time constraints. It is thus unlike the CPU-centered scientific benchmarks which have traditionally motivated microprocessor design, which means that other aspects of system performance besides processor computing figure prominently. Multimedia instructions actually serve to further shift the performance shortfall from the CPU to other parts of the computer system, especially the memory subsystem. Data caches are particularly sensitive to the large data volume of MPEG decoding, generating as much as 100 times the minimum cache-memory traffic required and jeopardizing overall system performance. To alleviate this problem, we propose a set of evolutionary architectural modifications we call cache-sensitive architectural optimizations, which accommodate the needs of the heterogeneous data types in the MPEG-2 decoder’s working set. These enhancements can reduce cache-memory traffic requirements for video decoding by almost 70%, and can make an optimized 4 KB cache more efficient than unoptimized caches 1 MB or smaller. The effects are particularly pronounced for smaller caches, thus enabling simpler, cheaper digital video platforms.
Consensus Clustering: A Resampling-Based Method for Building Radiation Hybrid Maps

Building Radiation Hybrid (RH) maps is a challenging process. Traditional RH mapping techniques are very time consuming, and do not work well on noisy datasets. In this presented research, we propose a new approach that uses resampling technique with consensus clustering technique to filter out unreliable markers, and build robust RH maps in a short time. The main aims of using the proposed approach is: first to reduce the mapping computational complexity, thus speeding up the mapping process. And second, to filter out unreliable markers, and map the remaining reliable markers to build robust maps. The proposed approach maps RH datasets in four steps, as follows: 1) uses Jackknife resampling technique to resample the RH dataset, and groups all resampled datasets into clusters. 2) Builds consensus clusters and filters out unreliable markers. 3) Maps the consensus clusters. 4) Connects the consensus clusters' maps to form the final map. To demonstrate the performance of our proposed approach, we compare the accuracy of the constructed maps with the corresponding physical maps. Also, we compare the running time of our constructed maps with the Carthagene tool maps running time. The results show that the proposed approach can construct robust maps in a comparatively very short time.
Influence of CAG Repeat Polymorphism on the Targets of Testosterone Action

In the last decade, ample evidence has demonstrated the growing importance of androgen receptor (AR) CAG repeat polymorphism in andrology. This genetic parameter is able to condition the peripheral effects of testosterone and therefore to influence male sexual function and fertility, cardiovascular risk, body composition, bone metabolism, the risk of prostate and testicular cancer, the psychiatric status, and the onset of neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we extensively discuss the literature data and identify a role for AR CAG repeat polymorphism in conditioning the systemic testosterone effects. In particular, our main purpose was to provide an updated text able to shed light on the many and often contradictory findings reporting an influence of CAG repeat polymorphism on the targets of testosterone action.
Task-Based Assessment of Web Navigation Design

Even though the importance of Web applications is still increasing, design practice in this area is still mainly based on informal techniques and methods. Currently, few descriptive techniques are available to support web modeling and in practice, it is unusual to model web applications even though modeling is usually the corner stone of “classical” computer applications. Models not only formalize requirements but also they can help to assess the design in all the stages of the development process. In this paper we present notations dedicated to web navigation modeling and how they can affect the design process. In addition we discuss how task models could be used to assess navigation models according to user’s activity. Our aim with this kind of evaluation is to ensure (prior to implementation) that important users tasks can (or cannot) be performed with the system under construction.
Blind adaptive beamforming algorithm based on cyclostationary signals

The design of beamformer is an important aspect in array signal processing applied in several fields including radar, sonar, wireless communication and so on. The Capon beamformer, which has been used widely because of its many advantages, requires a priori knowledge of array manifold which sometimes it is difficult to obtain in some applications. Thus, the techniques of blind adaptive beamforming which don't need this information became of interest in recent years. For the cyclostationary signals encountered in numerous applications, a blind adaptive beamforming algorithm, which has a low computation complexity and fast convergence performance, is presented in this paper.