Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatically learning cortical folding patterns

A data-driven technique is presented for automatically learning cortical folding patterns from MR brain images of different subjects. Cortical patterns are represented in terms of generic scale-invariant image features. Learning automatically identifies a set of features that occur with statistical regularity in appearance and geometry from a large set of MR volume renderings, based on a predescribed anatomical region of interest. A filtering technique is presented for distinguishing between valid cortical features and those likely to arise from incorrect correspondences, based on feature geometry. Expert validation of 100 feature instances shows that 77% correctly identify the same underlying cortical structure in different brains despite high inter-subject variability, and filtering improves the ability to identify the most meaningful patterns.
Modification Technique of 3D Facial Models for Improving Beauty

People usually try to show themselves attractively, since attractive looks are generally preferred. We propose a new method for modifying facial data in order to improve facial beauty while retaining the original features as much as possible. Based on investigations into related work of facial attractiveness,the targets for modification in our method are small and⁄or unbalanced eyes, and a projecting mouth. We apply these modifications to 3D facial data sets. The data sets have the characteristic points that are classified into facial parts. The coordinates of the characteristic points are moved, the modification affects the raw data points surrounding the characteristic points, and a modified face is represented. We evaluated the modified faces of eight people with a questionnaire survey. As a result, we confirmed our method was useful for increasing the beauty of facial data while retaining the original features as much as possible.
On the First Order Approximation of Counterfactual Price Eects in Oligopoly Models

We develop how rst order approximation can be used to make counterfactual price predictions in oligopoly models. We extend the theoretical results of Jae and Weyl (2013) on mergers to any counterfactual scenario involving perturbations to rms’ rst order conditions. We show that, for vertical shifts to rms’ cost functions, rst order approximation simplies naturally and is exact for a class of demand systems. We then use Monte Carlo experiments to evaluate accuracy. We nd that (i) rst order approximation is more accurate than simulation in 91.7% of the mergers considered; (ii) it is more accurate than simulation in 98% of the cost shocks considered; and (iii) simple versions of approximation, of interest to antitrust practitioners, exist and systematically outperform merger simulation.
Formant estimation of speech signals using subspace-based spectral analysis

The objective of this paper is to propose a signal processing scheme that employs subspace-based spectral analysis for the purpose of formant estimation of speech signals. Specifically, the scheme is based on decimative spectral estimation that uses Eigenanalysis and SVD (Singular Value Decomposition). The underlying model assumes a decomposition of the processed signal into complex damped sinusoids. In the case of formant tracking, the algorithm is applied on a small amount of the autocorrelation coefficients of a speech frame. The proposed scheme is evaluated on both artificial and real speech utterances from the TIMIT database. For the first case, comparative results to standard methods are provided which indicate that the proposed methodology successfully estimates formant trajectories.
A 500 kpc H I Extension of the Virgo Pair NGC 4532/DDO 137 Detected by the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) Survey

We report the discovery of a ~500 kpc H I extension southwest of the Virgo Cluster H I-rich pair NGC 4532/DDO 137, detected as part of the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) Survey. The feature is the longest and most massive H I tail structure so far found in the Virgo Cluster and, at 1.8 Mpc from M87, the most distant from the main concentration of the intracluster medium. The structure is spatially and spectrally separated into two ridges and is defined by diffuse emission and discrete clumps of mass (2.5–6.8) × 107 M☉. All emission is blueshifted with respect to the NGC 4532/DDO 137 pair emission. Including diffuse emission, the structure has a total mass of up to 7 × 108 M☉, equivalent to ~10% of the system’s H I mass. Optical R-band imaging finds no counterparts to a level of 26.5 mag arcsec−2. The characteristics of the structure appear most consistent with a tidal origin.
Prognostic Impact of Cytogenetic Abnormalities in Multiple Myeloma

AbstractThe identification of specific cytogenetic abnormalities by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (i-FISH) has become a routine procedure for prognostic stratification of multiple myeloma (MM) patients. In this study, the prognostic significance of cytogenetic abnormalities detected by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) in 229 newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients was retrospectively analyzed. Results showed that del (17p), t(4;14), and 1q21 gain were adverse predictors of progression-free survival (PFS). Patients who carried these cytogenetic abnormalities were more likely to have more adverse biological parameters and lower response rate. Multivariate analysis showed that del (17p), t(4;14), and 1q21 gain were statistically independent predictors of PFS, whereas del (17p) was also adverse predictor of overall survival. Multiple coexisting cytogenetic abnormalities also had a negative correlation with PFS. Bortezomib-based therapy could improve the rate and depth of response in patients with t(4;14) translocation and 1q21 gain. Autologous stem cell transplantation could improve, but not overcome the adverse prognostic effect of high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities. These results demonstrate that MM patients with iFISH abnormalities, especially del (17p), are more likely to have a poor prognosis.
3-DOF bionic parallel mechanism design and analysis for a snake-like robot

This paper proposes a new joint mechanism for a snake-like robot to travel in hazardous areas for rescue tasks. In a complex environment, it is necessary to preform an efficient three-dimensional motion. But, a serial snake-like robot could hardly do that because of the limitation of its 1-DOF joint structure. To meet the requirement of flexible locomotion, a parallel mechanism was proposed which was derived from the biological characteristic of snakes. The design applied a asymmetrical structure mimicking snake spines and muscles and it has the same level of dexterity compared with rotating joint. We obtain control equations for yawing and pitching angle by inverse kinematic solution. Then, the workspace is analyzed via screw theory and vector position equation. A non-model based control serpentine gait and a multiple beat rectilinear motion of snake-like robot with parallel mechanisms are introduced.
Exponential Smoothing for Network-Aware Meta-scheduler in Advance in Grids

Grid computing involves the coordinated use of disperse heterogeneous computing resources. This heterogeneity and dispersion makes Quality of Service (QoS) still an open issue requiring attention from the research community. One way of contributing to the provision of QoS in Grids is by performing meta-scheduling of jobs in advance, that is, the computing resource where a job will be executed is decided some time before jobs are actually executed. But this way of scheduling needs to do predictions about the future status of resources, including network. The main aim of this work is to provide QoS in Grid environments through network-aware job scheduling in advance. In our case, QoS means the fulfillment of a deadline for the completion of jobs. For this, predictions about future status of computing and network resources are made by using exponential smoothing functions. This paper presents a performance evaluation using a real testbed that illustrates the efficiency of this approach to meet the QoS requirements of users. This evaluation highlights the effects of using Exponential Smoothing (ES) to tune predictions in order to deliver the requested QoS.
Learning written word vocabulary in a second language: Theoretical and practical implications

Short-term memory (STM) is required for second language learning. However, it is not clear what components of STM are necessary for the acquisition and lexicalisation of new written words. Studies suggest that memory for serial order is a critical cognitive process in spoken word acquisition although correlated mechanisms such as executive control also play a role. In this study, bilingual Cantonese–English speakers who are learning written expert words in a non-native language were tested over a one year period in their first year of instruction. Written word lexicalisation was measured using lexical decision and spelling to dictation tasks. Results showed measures of executive control (Stroop performance) and serial order memory capacity predict recognition and recall of written expert words at different stages. Whereas serial order memory predicts improvements to lexical decision accuracy, executive control predicts spelling to dictation performance after one year. The conclusion is that STM processes do constrain written word lexicalisation in a second language. However, executive control and serial order memory capacity have differential effects during word lexicalisation.
Crowd-based recognition of web interaction patterns

Web automation often involves users describing complex tasks to a system, with directives generally limited to low-level constituent actions like "click the search button. " This level of description is unnatural and makes it difficult to generalize the task across websites. In this paper, we propose a system for automatically recognizing higher-level interaction patterns from user's completion of tasks, such as "searching for cat videos" or "replying to a post". We present PatFinder, a system that identifies these patterns using the input of crowd workers. We validate the system by generating data for 10 tasks, having 62 crowd workers label them, and automatically extracting 14 interaction patterns. Our results show that the number of patterns grows sublinearly with the number of tasks, suggesting that a small finite set of patterns may suffice to describe the vast majority of tasks on the web.
Abnormal Events Detection Based on Trajectory Clustering

Trajectories of moving objects provide crucial clues for video event analysis especially in surveillance applications. In this paper, we proposed a novel approach for detecting abnormal events in video surveillance. Our approach is based on trajectory analysis involving two phases. In the first phase, we extracted clusters of normal events through an agglomerative hierarchical clustering of saved trajectories that were of different lengths, of different local time shifts and containing noise. Then, for each cluster a model was established. In the second phase, we aimed to classify a new event as normal or abnormal one. To achieve this objective, a comparison was performed with the extracted clusters' models thereby reducing the complexity and accelerating the classification process. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate the efficacy and the performance of our approach.
Contextual Concept Language Model for Answering Biomedical Questions

In this paper, we utilize MeSH vocabulary to capture concepts of each word appearing in questions and documents and two new methods, contextual concept smoothing language model (CCSLM) and contextual concept language model (CCLM), are proposed to find the answer sentences from biomedical literature to questions proposed by biomedical experts. The concepts employed in the models, instead of keywords, guarantee the high recall. And the contexts of each underlying answer sentence boost the precision of answers to each question. We evaluate both methods on the data collection of TREC Genomics Track 2006. The results indicate our methods are much better than the straightforward method mentioned above. Comparing to the results of Genomics Track 2006, our methods achieve about 10% higher MAP than the mean level of Genomics Track 2006.
Implementing Customer Relationship Management in the Hotel Sector: Does 'IT' Always Matter?

Travellers are becoming more price sensitive, less brand loyal and more sophisticated. To enhance guest loyalty, hotels must focus on developing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies that aim to seek, gather, store and share guest information throughout the entire organisation for creating personalised, unique guests experiences. Although CRM in the hospitality industry has been defined by the myriad of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) suppliers that highlight and overstate the importance of ICT capabilities and tools, it is now being widely recognized that successful CRM strategies should effectively combine and align ICT functionality with business operations and strategy. As a widely accepted framework to achieve this has not so far been developed, this paper proposed a model for managing and integrating ICT capabilities into CRM strategies. The model argues that successful CRM implementation requires the management and alignment of three managerial areas: ICT, relationship (internal and external) and knowledge management. The model is applicable and useful for all industries, but by gathering data from a dataset of hotels in Greece, its validity is tested while interesting contextual findings regarding CRM implementation are revealed. Suggestions for future research are also provided.
TASI Lectures: Introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence

This is an introductory review of the AdS/CFT correspondence and of the ideas that led to its formulation. We show how comparison of stacks of D3-branes with corresponding supergravity solutions leads to dualities between conformal large $N$ gauge theories in 4 dimensions and string backgrounds of the form $AdS_5\times X_5$ where $X_5$ is an Einstein manifold. The gauge invariant chiral operators of the field theory are in one-to-one correspondence with the supergravity modes, and their correlation functions at strong `t Hooft coupling are determined by the dependence of the supergravity action on AdS boundary conditions. The simplest case is when $X_5$ is a 5-sphere and the dual gauge theory is the ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. We also discuss D3-branes on the conifold corresponding to $X_5$ being a coset space $T^{1,1}=(SU(2)\times SU(2))/U(1)$. This background is dual to a certain ${\cal N}=1$ superconformal field theory with gauge group $SU(N)\times SU(N)$.
The Principal Forces of Oocyte Polarity Are Evolutionary Conserved but May Not Affect the Contribution of the First Two Blastomeres to the Blastocyst Development in Mammals

Oocyte polarity and embryonic patterning are well-established features of development in lower species. Whether a similar form of pre-patterning exists in mammals is currently under hot debate in mice. This study investigated this issue for the first time in ovine as a large mammal model. Microsurgical trisection of unfertilized MII-oocytes revealed that cortical cytoplasm around spindle (S) contained significant amounts of total maternal mRNAs and proteins compared to matched cytoplast hemispheres that were located either near (NS) or far (FS) -to-spindle. RT-qPCR provided striking examples of maternal mRNA localized to subcellular substructures S (NPM2, GMNN, H19, PCAF, DNMT3A, DNMT1, and STELLA), NS (SOX2, NANOG, POU5F1, and TET1), and FS (GCN) of MII oocyte. Immunoblotting revealed that specific maternal proteins DNMT3A and NANOG were asymmetrically enriched in MII-spindle-half of the oocytes. Topological analysis of sperm entry point (SEP) revealed that sperm preferentially entered via the MII-spindle-half of the oocytes. Even though, the topological position of first cleavage plane with regard to SEP was quite stochastic. Spatial comparison of lipid content revealed symmetrical distribution of lipids between 2-cell blastomeres. Lineage tracing using Dil, a fluorescent dye, revealed that while the progeny of leading blastomere of 2-cell embryos contributed to more cells in the developed blastocysts compared to lagging counterpart, the contributions of leading and lagging blastomeres to the embryonic-abembryonic parts of the developed blastocysts were almost unbiased. And finally, separated sister blastomeres of 2-cell embryos had an overall similar probability to arrest at any stage before the blastocyst (2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, and morula) or to achieve the blastocyst stage. It was concluded that the localization of maternal mRNAs and proteins at the spindle are evolutionarily conserved between mammals unfertilized ovine oocyte could be considered polar with respect to the spatial regionalization of maternal transcripts and proteins. Even though, the principal forces of this definitive oocyte polarity may not persist during embryonic cleavages.
Cycling ‘subjects’ in ongoing-formation: The politics of interviews and interview analysis

This article offers a poststructuralist analytic strategy that highlights the political nature of interview analysis. Interviews pose a particular challenge for poststructuralist researchers given a widespread view that they are a method for accessing the ‘truth’. We develop a strategy that bypasses this difficulty by analysing precisely ‘what is said’ in interviews. In our analysis, discourse refers to knowledge, not language. With this understanding, we argue that focusing on exactly ‘what is said’ provides an entry point into the knowledges that make it possible for something to be said and into the eruption of new possibilities. This focus displaces assumptions about an ‘interior’ self who constructs versions of the world, with a concern for the strategic relations – the politics – within which objects and subject positions are produced. The paper draws on interviews conducted during a study into women cycling to demonstrate our poststructuralist analytic strategy.
Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study

Dreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodeling. Some studies suggest that dreams during pregnancy contain more MMR and are more dysphoric, but such studies contain important methodological flaws. We assessed whether dreamed MMR, like waking MMR, change from the 7th month of pregnancy to birth, and whether pregnancy–related themes and non-pregnancy characteristics are also transformed. Sixty non-pregnant and 59 pregnant women (37 early and 22 late 3rd trimester) completed demographic and psychological questionnaires and 14-day home dream logs. Dream reports were blindly rated according to four dream categories: (1) Dreamed MMR, (2) Quality of baby/child representations, (3) Pregnancy-related themes, (4) Non-pregnancy characteristics. Controlling for age, relationship and employment status, education level and state anxiety, women in both pregnant groups reported more dreams depicting themselves as a mother or with babies/children than did non-pregnant women (all p = 0.006). Baby/child representations were less specific in the late 3rd than in the early 3rd trimester (p = 0.005) and than in non-pregnant women (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups also had more pregnancy, childbirth and fetus themes (all p = 0.01). Childbirth content was higher in late than in early 3rd trimester (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups had more morbid elements than did the non-pregnant group (all p < 0.05). Dreaming during pregnancy appears to reflect daytime processes of remodeling MMR of the woman as a mother and of her unborn baby, and parallels a decline in the quality of baby/child representations in the last stage of pregnancy. More frequent morbid content in late pregnancy suggests that the psychological challenges of pregnancy are reflected in a generally more dysphoric emotional tone in dream content.
Motor Axonal Sprouting and Neuromuscular Junction Loss in an Animal Model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

Muscle weakness in Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 1A disease (CMT1A) caused by mutations in peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) has been attributed to an axonopathy that results in denervation and muscle atrophy. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms involved are not understood. We investigated motor performance, neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), physiological parameters, and muscle morphometry of PMP22 transgenic mice. Neuromuscular junctions were progressively lost in hindlimb muscles of PMP22 transgenic mice, but their motor performance did not completely deteriorate during the observation period. There was considerable variability, including in laterality, in deficits among the animals. Cross-sectional areas and mean fiber size measurements indicated variable myofiber atrophy in hindlimb muscles. There was substantial concomitant axonal sprouting, and loss of neuromuscular junctions was inversely correlated with the accumulated length of axonal branches. Synaptic transmission studied in isolated nerve/muscle preparations indicated variable partial muscle denervation. Acetylcholine sensitivity was higher in the mutant muscles, and maximum tetanic force evoked by direct or indirect stimulation, specific force, and wet weights were markedly reduced in some mutant muscles. In summary, there is partial muscle denervation, and axons may retain some regenerative capacity but fail to reinnervate muscles in PMP22 transgenic mice.
Bidirectional global spontaneous network activity precedes the canonical unidirectional circuit organization in the developing hippocampus

Spontaneous network activity is believed to sculpt developing neural circuits. Spontaneous giant depolarizing potentials (GDPs) were first identified with single‐cell recordings from rat CA3 pyramidal neurons, but here we identify and characterize a large‐scale spontaneous network activity we term global network activation (GNA) in the developing mouse hippocampal slices, which is measured macroscopically by fast voltage‐sensitive dye imaging. The initiation and propagation of GNA in the mouse is largely GABA‐independent and dominated by glutamatergic transmission via AMPA receptors. Despite the fact that signal propagation in the adult hippocampus is strongly unidirectional through the canonical trisynaptic circuit (dentate gyrus [DG] to CA3 to CA1), spontaneous GNA in the developing hippocampus originates in distal CA3 and propagates both forward to CA1 and backward to DG. Photostimulation‐evoked GNA also shows prominent backward propagation in the developing hippocampus from CA3 to DG. Mouse GNA is strongly correlated to electrophysiological recordings of highly localized single‐cell and local field potential events. Photostimulation mapping of neural circuitry demonstrates that the enhancement of local circuit connections to excitatory pyramidal neurons occurs over the same time course as GNA and reveals the underlying pathways accounting for GNA backward propagation from CA3 to DG. The disappearance of GNA coincides with a transition to the adult‐like unidirectional circuit organization at about 2 weeks of age. Taken together, our findings strongly suggest a critical link between GNA activity and maturation of functional circuit connections in the developing hippocampus. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:2191–2208, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.