Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Similar Convolution Image Distribution Histograms as Invariant Identifiers

This paper investigates the practical application of a new method called selfsimilar convolution masks to binary trademark images to produce affine invariant one dimensional histogram descriptions. Because the convolution mask is a scaled version of the original image, the normalised distribution histogram of the resulting grey scale image is an affine invariant description based purely upon the image structure, which can be then be used for database search using a database of binary images. The effectiveness of this approach to trademark image identification is tested. Multiple methods of representing the distribution histograms within the database are also tested for robustness to noise, generalisation and reliability.
Single Image Rain Streak Decomposition Using Layer Priors

Rain streaks impair visibility of an image and introduce undesirable interference that can severely affect the performance of computer vision and image analysis systems. Rain streak removal algorithms try to recover a rain streak free background scene. In this paper, we address the problem of rain streak removal from a single image by formulating it as a layer decomposition problem, with a rain streak layer superimposed on a background layer containing the true scene content. Existing decomposition methods that address this problem employ either sparse dictionary learning methods or impose a low rank structure on the appearance of the rain streaks. While these methods can improve the overall visibility, their performance can often be unsatisfactory, for they tend to either over-smooth the background images or generate -images that still contain noticeable rain streaks. To address the problems, we propose a method that imposes priors for both the background and rain streak layers. These priors are based on Gaussian mixture models learned on small patches that can accommodate a variety of background appearances as well as the appearance of the rain streaks. Moreover, we introduce a structure residue recovery step to further separate the background residues and improve the decomposition quality. Quantitative evaluation shows our method outperforms existing methods by a large margin. We overview our method and demonstrate its effectiveness over prior work on a number of examples.
Indirect Genetic Effects and the Dynamics of Social Interactions

Background Indirect genetic effects (IGEs) occur when genes expressed in one individual alter the expression of traits in social partners. Previous studies focused on the evolutionary consequences and evolutionary dynamics of IGEs, using equilibrium solutions to predict phenotypes in subsequent generations. However, whether or not such steady states may be reached may depend on the dynamics of interactions themselves. Results In our study, we focus on the dynamics of social interactions and indirect genetic effects and investigate how they modify phenotypes over time. Unlike previous IGE studies, we do not analyse evolutionary dynamics; rather we consider within-individual phenotypic changes, also referred to as phenotypic plasticity. We analyse iterative interactions, when individuals interact in a series of discontinuous events, and investigate the stability of steady state solutions and the dependence on model parameters, such as population size, strength, and the nature of interactions. We show that for interactions where a feedback loop occurs, the possible parameter space of interaction strength is fairly limited, affecting the evolutionary consequences of IGEs. We discuss the implications of our results for current IGE model predictions and their limitations.
Evidence-Based Lifestyle and Pharmacological Management of Infertility in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most prevalent endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age and by far the most common cause of anovulatory infertility. Lifestyle change alone, and not in combination with pharmacological ovulation induction such as clomifene citrate or metformin, is generally considered the first-line treatment for the management of infertile anovulatory women with PCOS who are overweight or obese. Clomifene citrate should be considered as a first-line pharmacological therapy to improve fertility outcomes. Second-line medical treatments may include ovulation induction with gonadotropins (in clomifene citrate-resistant or clomifene citrate failure women) or laparoscopic ovarian drilling (in clomifene citrate-resistant women) or possibly with metformin combined with clomifene citrate (in clomifene citrate-resistant women). There is currently insufficient evidence to recommend aromatase inhibitors over that of clomifene citrate in infertile anovulatory women with PCOS in general or specifically in therapy-naive or clomifene citrate-resistant women with PCOS.
Strengths and weaknesses of quantum fingerprinting

We study the power of quantum fingerprints in the simultaneous message passing (SMP) setting of communication complexity. Yao recently showed how to simulate, with exponential overhead, classical shared-randomness SMP protocols by means of quantum SMP protocols without shared randomness (Qpar-protocols). Our first result is to extend Yao's simulation to the strongest possible model: every many-round quantum protocol with unlimited shared entanglement can be simulated, with exponential overhead, by Qpar-protocols. We apply our technique to obtain an efficient Qpar-protocol for a function which cannot be efficiently solved through more restricted simulations. Second, we tightly characterize the power of the quantum fingerprinting technique by making a connection to arrangements of homogeneous halfspaces with maximal margin. These arrangements have been well studied in computational learning theory, and we use some strong results obtained in this area to exhibit weaknesses of quantum fingerprinting. In particular, this implies that for almost all functions, quantum fingerprinting protocols are exponentially worse than classical deterministic SMP protocols
Satellite Image (Multispectral) Enhancement Techniques in Wavelet Domain: An Overview

images are used in many applications like military, forecasting, astronomy, and geographical information. Satellite images have to face spatial and spectral resolution problems due to scattering, atmospheric conditions, etc., also they have poor perception. This limitation of resolution needs to be overcome before further processing. The goal of image resolution enhancement is to improve specific features of an image for its correct representation. Better resolution is obtained by applying enhancement techniques on blurred and noisy images. In this paper various image enhancement techniques under wavelet domain like WZP, DWT, and DT- CWT are discussed. This paper also gives selection of suitable enhancement technique
Numerical Simulations of Optical Absorption and Spectral Selective of Ni Nanowire/AAO Composites

Spectral selectivity absorber is a key component in the solar collectors, which absorbs solar energy and converts it to thermal energy by heating liquid water. Metal nanowire arrays (NWAs) have potential to be used as solar collector because of good optical absorption in the visible region. In the paper, we use finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions to calculate the optical absorption and spectral selectivity of nickel (Ni) NWA/AAO composites. By changing the length (L), fill-factor (FF), and surface roughness, we simulate the optical absorption and the spectral selectivity in terms of structural parameters of Ni NWA/AAO composites. Results demonstrate that Ni NWA/AAO composites with the length of 2 μm and the fill-factor of 0.13 (the diameter is 0.04 μm) have good optical absorption and spectral selectivity,and rough surfaces is better for higher conversion efficiency of Ni NWA/AAO composites.
International Society for Wildlife Endocrinology: the future of endocrine measures for reproductive science, animal welfare and conservation biology

Hormone analysis is a precise and widely accepted tool for monitoring reproductive function and responses to stressors. Although hormones are present and can be measured in various biological matrices, non-invasive methods have gained popularity over the past 30 years as a more practical approach for assessing ovarian, testicular and, more recently, adrenocortical activity in intractable wildlife species. Non-invasive hormone monitoring also has been key to understanding biological mechanisms related to observed behaviours of captive and free-ranging animals. Despite the increasing popularity of this research field, wildlife endocrinologists have not had a specific forum for sharing and discussing their latest findings, technical developments and common challenges. To provide such a communication platform, the International Society for Wildlife Endocrinology (ISWE) was established in 2010, followed by an international meeting held on 3–4 November 2011 at the Toronto Zoo, Canada. Over several sessions, keynote speakers and participants discussed recent developments of new and innovative methods for hormone monitoring, as well as the latest advances in basic endocrinology as applied to adrenal function, reproductive physiology, animal health, ecology and evolution. Here, we introduce ISWE to the scientific community and discuss how this new society will serve as a resource for wildlife endocrinologists worldwide.
An evasion and counter-evasion study in malicious websites detection

Malicious websites are a major cyber attack vector, and effective detection of them is an important cyber defense task. The main defense paradigm in this regard is that the defender uses some kind of machine learning algorithms to train a detection model, which is then used to classify websites in question. Unlike other settings, the following issue is inherent to the problem of malicious websites detection: the attacker essentially has access to the same data that the defender uses to train his/her detection models. This `symmetry' can be exploited by the attacker, at least in principle, to evade the defender's detection models. In this paper, we present a framework for characterizing the evasion and counter-evasion interactions between the attacker and the defender, where the attacker attempts to evade the defender's detection models by taking advantage of this symmetry. Within this framework, we show that an adaptive attacker can make malicious websites evade powerful detection models, but proactive training can be an effective counter-evasion defense mechanism. The framework is geared toward the popular detection model of decision tree, but can be adapted to accommodate other classifiers.
High Speed Elliptic Curve Cryptography Processor for GF ( p )

This paper presents an elliptic curve cryptography processor for prime ﬁelds implemented on a FPGA-PCI board. It serves as a coprocessor to acclerate cryptographic operations, like signature generation and veriﬁcation. It is intented to be used on systems with a high load of such operations, like webservers for e-government applications. Performance estimates based on ﬁrst synthesis results suggest that more than 10000 point multiplications over a 192 bit prime ﬁeld per second can be performed on a high end FPGA, which can easily compete with the fastest reported ASIC implementations. Targeted on low-end to mid-range FPGAs it is still the fastest FPGA implementation reported for elliptic curve cryptography over prime ﬁelds.
Direct binding of the Kex2p cytosolic tail to the VHS domain of yeast Gga2p facilitates TGN to prevacuolar compartment transport and is regulated by phosphorylation

The VHS domains of yeast Gga1p and Gga2p bind sites (GBSs) in the Kex2p and Vps10p cytosolic tails. Phosphorylation of Ser-780 in the Kex2p GBS enhances Kex2p transport from the TGN to the PVC and is induced by cell wall damage. Kex2p GBS function is shown by direct binding, cell-free transport, and in vivo assays for Kex2 localization.
Do Web Services Foster Specialization? - An Analysis of Web Service Directories

Web service technologies are expected to foster the creation of networks of specialists which expose their digital services over the internet for the dynamic discovery of services by other organizations. Although the idea of a global Web service directory, which was considered a key enabler of e-commerce in the dot.com era, has failed with the shutdown of the Universal Business Registry in 2006, the vision of an open market for Web services has regained popularity lately in the context of the SOA and Web 2.0 concepts. Given these latest developments, the interesting question is whether there is empirical evidence of an emerging market for Web services. Based on a longitudinal study of Web services directories, this paper aims at analyzing the evolving offering and market structure of B2B Web services. The study suggests that commercial Web services which enable companies to out-task discrete, repetitive tasks to specialized service providers continue to be relatively scarce. However, Web services specialists emerge in specific domains, such as compliance, online validation and alerting. In addition, Web services directories are extending their scope beyond service discovery and evolve into either ‘real’ electronic marketplaces or infomediaries.
Orphan Macrodomain Protein (Human C6orf130) Is an O-Acyl-ADP-ribose Deacylase

Background: Protein deacylation by sirtuins yields O-acyl-ADP-ribose molecules, which are implicated in cell signaling and metabolism. Results: Structural and functional analysis of a human orphan macrodomain protein reveals a common core structure and ability to hydrolyze O-acyl-ADP-ribose. Conclusion: Diverse macrodomains are capable of hydrolyzing O-acyl-ADP-ribose but utilize a different set of catalytic amino acids. Significance: Macrodomain-containing proteins provide a biochemical and biological link to sirtuin-dependent deacylation. Post-translational modification of proteins/histones by lysine acylation has profound effects on the physiological function of modified proteins. Deacylation by NAD+-dependent sirtuin reactions yields as a product O-acyl-ADP-ribose, which has been implicated as a signaling molecule in modulating cellular processes. Macrodomain-containing proteins are reported to bind NAD+-derived metabolites. Here, we describe the structure and function of an orphan macrodomain protein, human C6orf130. This unique 17-kDa protein is a stand-alone macrodomain protein that occupies a distinct branch in the phylogenic tree. We demonstrate that C6orf130 catalyzes the efficient deacylation of O-acetyl-ADP-ribose, O-propionyl-ADP-ribose, and O-butyryl-ADP-ribose to produce ADP-ribose (ADPr) and acetate, propionate, and butyrate, respectively. Using NMR spectroscopy, we solved the structure of C6orf130 in the presence and absence of ADPr. The structures showed a canonical fold with a deep ligand (ADPr)-binding cleft. Structural comparisons of apo-C6orf130 and the ADPr-C6orf130 complex revealed fluctuations of the β5-α4 loop that covers the bound ADPr, suggesting that the β5-α4 loop functions as a gate to sequester substrate and offer flexibility to accommodate alternative substrates. The ADPr-C6orf130 complex identified amino acid residues involved in substrate binding and suggested residues that function in catalysis. Site-specific mutagenesis and steady-state kinetic analyses revealed two critical catalytic residues, Ser-35 and Asp-125. We propose a catalytic mechanism for deacylation of O-acyl-ADP-ribose by C6orf130 and discuss the biological implications in the context of reversible protein acylation at lysine residues.
The NLM Indexing Initiative

The objective of NLM's Indexing Initiative (IND) is to investigate methods whereby automated indexing methods partially or completely substitute for current indexing practices. The project will be considered a success if methods can be designed and implemented that result in retrieval performance that is equal to or better than the retrieval performance of systems based principally on humanly assigned index terms. We describe the current state of the project and discuss our plans for the future.
Agile Software Product Lines, Deconstructed

There was much interest at this year’s Software Product Line Conference in how to combine agile and product line techniques. Agile teams seek to address change one product at a time while product line organizations take an investment view by addressing change among a set of products. On the surface there are some seeming contradictions between the methods, but they may not be as different as they are sometimes portrayed. In this issue of Strategic Software Engineering I want to deconstruct product line and agile practices, compare the pieces, and make some suggestions about how to re-construct a hybrid method. I will do this in part by treating agility as a quality attribute of processes.
REGULAR DILATIONS OF REPRESENTATIONS OF PRODUCT SYSTEMS

We study completely contractive representations of product systems $X$ of correspondences over the semigroup $\mathbb{Z}_+^k$. We present a necessary and sufficient condition for such a representation to have a regular isometric dilation. We discuss representations that doubly commute and show that these representations induce completely contractive representations of the norm closed algebra generated by the image of the Fock representation of $X$.
d-Tubocurarine and Berbamine: Alkaloids That Are Permeant Blockers of the Hair Cell's Mechano-Electrical Transducer Channel and Protect from Aminoglycoside Toxicity

Aminoglycoside antibiotics are widely used for the treatment of life-threatening bacterial infections, but cause permanent hearing loss in a substantial proportion of treated patients. The sensory hair cells of the inner ear are damaged following entry of these antibiotics via the mechano-electrical transducer (MET) channels located at the tips of the hair cell's stereocilia. d-Tubocurarine (dTC) is a MET channel blocker that reduces the loading of gentamicin-Texas Red (GTTR) into rat cochlear hair cells and protects them from gentamicin treatment. Berbamine is a structurally related alkaloid that reduces GTTR labeling of zebrafish lateral-line hair cells and protects them from aminoglycoside-induced cell death. Both compounds are thought to reduce aminoglycoside entry into hair cells through the MET channels. Here we show that dTC (≥6.25 μM) or berbamine (≥1.55 μM) protect zebrafish hair cells in vivo from neomycin (6.25 μM, 1 h). Protection of zebrafish hair cells against gentamicin (10 μM, 6 h) was provided by ≥25 μM dTC or ≥12.5 μM berbamine. Hair cells in mouse cochlear cultures are protected from longer-term exposure to gentamicin (5 μM, 48 h) by 20 μM berbamine or 25 μM dTC. Berbamine is, however, highly toxic to mouse cochlear hair cells at higher concentrations (≥30 μM) whilst dTC is not. The absence of toxicity in the zebrafish assays prompts caution in extrapolating results from zebrafish neuromasts to mammalian cochlear hair cells. MET current recordings from mouse outer hair cells (OHCs) show that both compounds are permeant open-channel blockers, rapidly and reversibly blocking the MET channel with half-blocking concentrations of 2.2 μM (dTC) and 2.8 μM (berbamine) in the presence of 1.3 mM Ca2+ at −104 mV. Berbamine, but not dTC, also blocks the hair cell's basolateral K+ current, IK,neo, and modeling studies indicate that berbamine permeates the MET channel more readily than dTC. These studies reveal key properties of MET-channel blockers required for the future design of successful otoprotectants.
Women Overestimate Temporal Duration: Evidence from Chinese Emotional Words

Numerous studies have proven the effect of emotion on temporal perception, using various emotional stimuli. However, research investigating this issue from the lexico-semantic perspective and gender difference remains scarce. In this study, participants were presented with different types of emotional words designed in classic temporal bisection tasks. In Experiment 1 where the arousal level of emotional words was controlled, no pure effect of valence on temporal perception was found; however, we observed the overestimation of women relative to men. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, an orthogonal design of valence and arousal with neutral condition was employed to study the arousal-mechanism of temporal distortion effect and its difference between genders. The results showed that the gender difference observed in Experiment 1 was robust and was not influenced by valence and arousal. Taken together, our findings suggest a stable gender difference in the temporal perception of semantic stimuli, which might be related to some intrinsic properties of linguistic stimuli and sex differences in brain structure as well as physiological features. The automatic processing of time information was also discussed.
LIA @ MediaEval 2013 MusiClef Task: A Combined Thematic and Acoustic Approach

In this paper, we describe the LIA system proposed for the MediaEval 2013 Soundtrack task. The aim is to predict the most suitable soundtrack from a list of candidate songs, given a TV commercial. The organizers provide a development dataset including multimedia features. The initial assumption of the proposed system is that commercials which sell the same type of product, also share the same music rhythm. A two-fold system is proposed to provide a music for a commercial: nd commercials with close subjects in order to determine the mean rhythm of this subset, and then extract from the candidate songs the music which better correspond to this mean rhythm.
Processing Technology Investigation of Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) Leaf by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Combined with Chemometrics

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) and multivariate statistical analysis were used to investigate the processing technology of Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) leaf (pipaye, PPY). The differences in samples processed using different methods were revealed by unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA). In the scores plot of PCA, honey-processed PPY (PPPY), crude PPY (CPPY), and heated PPY (HPPY) were clearly discriminated. Furthermore, samples processed at different temperatures could also be distinguished; indeed, our PCA results demonstrated the importance of temperature during processing. Two unique marker ions were found to discriminate between PPPY and CPPY by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), which could be used as potential chemical markers. The method was further confirmed by a verification test with commercial PPY. The orthogonal array experiment revealed an optimized processing condition with 50% honey at 140°C for 20 min after 4 h of moistening time, a process that provides significant information for standardized production.