Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An approach to Optical Coherence Tomography assisted improved fundus detection system

Images of fundus are widely used in retinal screening systems due to their fast 1 acquisition and cost-effective nature, compared to Optical Coherence Tomography 2 (OCT). However, OCT imaging has been found to be more reliable in disease 3 identification as compared to fundus images[1]. The tangential nature of both 4 the modalities, cross sectional imaging (OCT) and optical projection imaging 5 (fundus), enables us to access orthogonal sources of information. Harnessing 6 features from both these modalities helps in designing more reliable screening 7 systems for medical diagnosis. The high setup cost associated with OCT results in 8 a bottleneck toward data curation during evaluation, which in turn adversely affects 9 the performance of screening systems in the evaluation stage. The inception of a 10 system when trained on the multiple modalities with missing modalities during 11 evaluation time is an active area of research. This problem is often framed as 12 a “missing data problem” and several deep generative architectures have been 13 proposed as a possible solution. The scarcity of paired data limits the applica14 tion of such generative models. To resolve this we have proposed an approach 15 to OCT assisted Fundus detection systems. Our deep multimodal architecture 16 learns the common representations of both modalities. The main contribution in 17 this work is a novel loss function which combines the adversarial loss in learning 18 joint information between fundus and OCT samples and the distinctiveness of 19 the two modalities. The proposed network improves upon the performance of 20 traditional monomodal training methods for the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Defect 21 (RNFLD) detection rate. We evaluated our approach on 2 Glaucoma datasets with 22 RNFL wedge loss at both patch and image level. At the patch level, validation 23 of our method yields an (Acc,SN,SP)=(93.01%,93.99%,91.83%) for abnormal24 ity detection for 512 patches. Image level identification of Glaucoma achieved 25 (Acc,SN,SP)=(91.15%,90.96%,91.08%) for 25 images. Our approach has shown 26 its efficiency in usage for screening systems by classifying large set of image 27 patches with high accuracy. 28
Influence: A Quantitative Approach for Data Integrity (CMU-CyLab-08-005)

A number of systems employ dynamic taint analysis to detect overwrite attacks in commodity software. These systems are based on the premise that low-integrity inputs should not control values such as function pointers and return addresses. Unfortunately, there are several programming constructs that can cause false positives and false negatives in these systems, which are currently handled by manual annotation, ad-hoc rules, or not at all. In this work we propose to use channel capacity, a quantitative measure of information flow, as a quantitative measure of control. When measuring control, we refer to this measure as influence. We use influence as a theoretical tool to formally investigate programming constructs known to be problematic for dynamic taint analysis. While calculating influence in arbitrary programs is undecidable in the general case, we propose and implement practical techniques for automatically bounding and probabilistically estimating influence in x86 programs. We show that this tool is able to automatically find useful influence bounds in code constructs known to be problematic in dynamic taint analysis. We also use it to analyze a dynamic taint analysis alert in samba, showing that it is a false positive, and another alert in SQL Server, showing that it is a true positive.
Transpirational demand affects aquaporin expression in poplar roots

Isohydric plants tend to maintain a water potential homeostasis primarily by controlling water loss via stomatal conductance. However, there is accumulating evidence that plants can also modulate water uptake in a dynamic manner. The dynamics of water uptake are influenced by aquaporin-mediated changes in root hydraulics. Most studies in this area have been conducted on herbaceous plants, and less is known about responses of woody plants. Here a study was conducted to determine how roots of hybrid poplar plants (Populus trichocarpa×deltoides) respond to a step change in transpirational demand. The main objective was to measure the expression of selected aquaporin genes and to assess how transcriptional responses correspond to changes in root water flow (Q R) and other parameters of water relations. A subset of plants was grown in shade and was subsequently exposed to a 5-fold increase in light level. Another group of plants was grown at ~95% relative humidity (RH) and was then subjected to lower RH while the light level remained unchanged. Both plant groups experienced a transient drop in stem water potentials. At 28h after the increase in transpirational demand, water potentials recovered. This recovery was associated with changes in the expression of PIP1 and PIP2 subfamily genes and an increase in Q R. Stomata of plants growing at high RH were larger and showed incomplete closure after application of abscisic acid. Since stomatal conductance remained high and unchanged in these plants, it is suggested that the recovery in water potential in these plants was largely driven by the increase in Q R.
Metal-CH3NH3PbI3-Metal Tunnel FET

A novel-gated structure of aluminum (Al)—perovskite (CH<sub>3</sub>NH<sub>3</sub>PbI<sub>3</sub>)—indium tin oxide (ITO), with Al as source and ITO as drain terminals, has been reported. Ambipolar nature of CH<sub>3</sub>NH<sub>3</sub>PbI<sub>3</sub> has been explored for the device channel. Two Schottky junctions are present at source–channel and channel–drain junctions with barriers of 0.4 and 0.6 eV, respectively. Both, n- and p-type FET-like characteristics have been observed, when the device was biased, accordingly. The triangular tunneling has been observed in the output and transfer characteristics. The device shows a higher current on-off ratio (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}/_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 10<sup>6</sup> with a steeper and improved sub-threshold swing (SS) of 20 ± 2 mV/decade for P tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET). However, for N TFET, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}/_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 10<sup>4</sup> with SS of 30 ± 2 mV/decade has been obtained.
OCT methods for capillary velocimetry

To date, two main categories of OCT techniques have been described for imaging hemodynamics: Doppler OCT and OCT angiography. Doppler OCT can measure axial velocity profiles and flow in arteries and veins, while OCT angiography can determine vascular morphology, tone, and presence or absence of red blood cell (RBC) perfusion. However, neither method can quantify RBC velocity in capillaries, where RBC flow is typically transverse to the probe beam and single-file. Here, we describe new methods that potentially address these limitations. Firstly, we describe a complex-valued OCT signal in terms of a static scattering component, dynamic scattering component, and noise. Secondly, we propose that the time scale of random fluctuations in the dynamic scattering component are related to red blood cell velocity. Analysis was performed along the slow axis of repeated B-scans to parallelize measurements. We correlate our purported velocity measurements against two-photon microscopy measurements of RBC velocity, and investigate changes during hypercapnia. Finally, we image the ischemic stroke penumbra during distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAO), where OCT velocimetry methods provide additional insight that is not afforded by either Doppler OCT or OCT angiography.
Variability in Soil Erosion Data from Replicated Plots

ues of treatments and for comparison between experimental treatments. The quantification of variance in soil Understanding and quantifying the large, unexplained variability erosion data is critical to the advancement of erosion in soil erosion data are critical for advancing erosion science, evaluating soil erosion models, and designing erosion experiments. We hy- science. pothesized that it is possible to quantify variability between replicated Unfortunately, however, knowledge of variability in soil erosion field plots under natural rainfall, and thus determine the soil erosion data is quite limited. Only one erosion study principal factor or factors which correlate to the magnitude of the has been conducted with a sufficient number of replivariability. Data from replicated plot pairs for 2061 storms, 797 annual cated erosion plots to allow an in-depth analysis of varierosion measurements, and 53 multi-year erosion totals were used. ability. Wendt et al. (1986) measured soil erosion rates Thirteen different soil types and site locations were represented in on 40 cultivated, fallow, experimental plots located at the data. The relative differences between replicated plot pair data Kingdom City, MO, in 1981. All of the 40 plots were tended to be lesser for greater magnitudes of measured soil loss, thus cultivated and in other ways treated identically. The indicating that soil loss magnitude was a principal factor for explaining coefficients of variation for the 25 storms ranged from variance in the soil loss data. Using this assumption, we estimated the coefficient of variation of within-treatment, plot replicate values 18 to 91%, with 15 of the storms falling in the range of of measured soil loss. Variances between replicates decreased as a less than 30%. The more erosive storms tended to show power function (r 2 5 0.78) of measured soil loss, and were independent the lesser degree of variability. Of the 15 storms with of whether the measurements were event-, annual-, or multi-year mean erosion rates of greater than 0.1 kg/m 2 (1.0 Mg/ values. Coefficients of variation ranged on the order of 14% for a ha), 13 showed coefficients of variation of less than measured soil loss of 20 kg/m 2 to greater than 150% for a measured 30%. The results of the study indicated that “only minor soil loss of less than 0.01 kg/m 2 These results have important implica- amounts of observed variability could be attributed to tions for both experimental design and for using erosion data to any of several measured plot properties, and plot differevaluate prediction capability for erosion models.
pH-triggered, activated-state conformations of the influenza hemagglutinin fusion peptide revealed by NMR

The highly conserved first 23 residues of the influenza hemagglutinin HA2 subunit constitute the fusion domain, which plays a pivotal role in fusing viral and host-cell membranes. At neutral pH, this peptide adopts a tight helical hairpin wedge structure, stabilized by aliphatic hydrogen bonding and charge–dipole interactions. We demonstrate that at low pH, where the fusion process is triggered, the native peptide transiently visits activated states that are very similar to those sampled by a G8A mutant. This mutant retains a small fraction of helical hairpin conformation, in rapid equilibrium with at least two open structures. The exchange rate between the closed and open conformations of the wild-type fusion peptide is ∼40 kHz, with a total open-state population of ∼20%. Transitions to these activated states are likely to play a crucial role in formation of the fusion pore, an essential structure required in the final stage of membrane fusion.
Single-inductor multiple-output converter for high-power LED applictions with independent current control based on SiC SBD

In this paper, a single-inductor multiple-output step-down converter for high-power LED applications with independent current control based on SiC SBD is proposed. To reduce the EMI issue in high voltage high frequency switching application, SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) are used. For each branch of the output channels, a high-side MOSFET driver is proposed for high source voltage application. A prototype is constructed and verified using a 180 V input voltage and three LED strings as load. The output voltage and the output power are about 150 V and 70 W, respectively. The experiment results show that the system efficiency reaches 92.5% and the reverse recovery current amplitude was decreased by 50% comparing with circuits based on Si fast recovery diodes (FRD).
Photosynthetic responses of soybean (Glycine max L.) to heat-induced electrical signalling are predominantly governed by modifications of mesophyll conductance for CO(2).

In recent years, the effect of heat-induced electrical signalling on plant photosynthetic activity has been demonstrated for many plant species. However, the underlying triggers of the resulting transient inhibition of photosynthesis still remain unknown. To further investigate on this phenomenon, we focused in our present study on soybean (Glycine max L.) on the direct effect of signal transmission in the leaf mesophyll on conductance for CO(2) diffusion in the mesophyll (g(m) ) and detected a drastic decline in g(m) following the electrical signal, whereas the photosynthetic electron transport rate (ETR) was only marginally affected. In accordance with the drop in net photosynthesis (A(N) ), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) revealed a shift of K, Mg, O and P on leaf chloroplasts. Control experiments under elevated CO(2) conditions proved the transient reduction of A(N) , ETR, the chloroplast CO(2) concentration (C(c) ) and g(m) to be independent of the external CO(2) regime, whereas the effect of the electrical signal on stomatal conductance for CO(2) (g(s) ) turned out much less distinctive. We therefore conclude that the effect of electrical signalling on photosynthesis in soybean is triggered by its immediate effects on g(m) .
Neutral red as a probe for confocal laser scanning microscopy studies of plant roots.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Neutral red (NR), a lipophilic phenazine dye, has been widely used in various biological systems as a vital stain for bright-field microscopy. In its unprotonated form it penetrates the plasma membrane and tonoplast of viable plant cells, then due to protonation it becomes trapped in acidic compartments. The possible applications of NR for confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) studies were examined in various aspects of plant root biology. METHODS NR was used as a fluorochrome for living roots of Phaseolus vulgaris, Allium cepa, A. porrum and Arabidopsis thaliana (wild-type and transgenic GFP-carrying lines). The tissues were visualized using CLSM. The effect of NR on the integrity of the cytoskeleton and the growth rate of arabidopsis primary roots was analysed to judge potential toxic effects of the dye. KEY RESULTS The main advantages of the use of NR are related to the fact that NR rapidly penetrates root tissues, has affinity to suberin and lignin, and accumulates in the vacuoles. It is shown that NR is a suitable probe for visualization of proto- and metaxylem elements, Casparian bands in the endodermis, and vacuoles in cells of living roots. The actin cytoskeleton and the microtubule system of the cells, as well as the dynamics of root growth, remain unchanged after short-term application of NR, indicating a relatively low toxicity of this chemical. It was also found that NR is a useful probe for the observation of the internal structures of root nodules and of fungal hyphae in vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas. CONCLUSIONS Ease, low cost and absence of tissue processing make NR a useful probe for structural, developmental and vacuole-biogenetic studies of plant roots with CLSM.
Robust PCA Using Matrix Factorization for Background/Foreground Separation

Background/foreground separation has become an inevitable step in numerous image/video processing applications, such as image/video inpainting, anomaly detection, motion segmentation, augmented reality, and so on. Recent low-rank based approaches, such as robust principal component analysis separating a data matrix into a low-rank matrix with a sparse matrix, have achieved encouraging performance. However, these approaches usually need relatively high computation cost, mainly due to calculation of full or partial singular value decomposition of large matrices. On the other hand, the nuclear norm is widely exploited as a convex surrogate of the original rank function, while it is not a tighter envelope of the original rank function. To address these above-mentioned issues, this paper proposes a fast background/foreground separation algorithm in which the low-rank constraint is solved by a matrix factorization scheme, thus heavily reducing the computation cost. We further adopt two non-convex low-rank approximations to improve the robustness and flexibility of the traditional nuclear norm. In comparison with the state-of-the-art low-rank reconstruction methods, experimental results on challenging data sets, which contain different real data sets, show our superior performance in both image clarity and computation efficiency.
Comparison of Finite Difference Schemes for the Wave Equation Based on Dispersion

Finite difference techniques are widely used for the numerical simulation of time-dependent partial differential equations. In order to get better accuracy at low computational cost, researchers have attempted to develop higher order methods by improving other lower order methods. However, these types of methods usually suffer from a high degree of numerical dispersion. In this paper, we review three higher order finite difference methods, higher order compact (HOC), compact Pade based (CPD) and non-compact Pade based (NCPD) schemes for the acoustic wave equation. We present the stability analysis of the three schemes and derive dispersion characteristics for these schemes. The effects of Courant Friedrichs Lewy (CFL) number, propagation angle and number of cells per wavelength on dispersion are studied.
Testing the Rio Doce as a riverine barrier in shaping the Atlantic rainforest population divergence in the rodent Akodon cursor

Akodon cursor occurs in dense rainforest from northern (8° S) to southern (26° S) states along the Atlantic coast of Brazil. Previous karyological and molecular data revealed two major clades, one including northern (8-15° S) and the other southern (19-26° S) populations. The center of geographic distribution (15-20° S), which included the state of Espírito Santo, was identified as a potential vicariance region. Since river barriers are among the most discussed models in the study of Neotropical diversification, we examined whether the Rio Doce (19° S) plays an important role in shaping the population genetic divergence of A. cursor by including samples from Espírito Santo in the analysis. Our results showed that the northern-southern division region in Atlantic forest was no coincidence with the presence of the Rio Doce by refuting the hypothesis that this river is an effective barrier to gene flow between populations. Instead, we found evidence that isolation by geographical distance shaped the phylogeographical structure in the southern lineage. However, there is uncertainty about effectiveness of the processes involved and further studies based on wider sampling are needed.
Finite element modelling of macro fiber composite with interdigitated electrode for engineering applications

Smart structures with Macro fiber composite (MFC) piezoelectric actuators have been increasingly applied in engineering. A simple but elaborate finite element model of the smart structures not only can predict vibration dynamics, but also can reduce challenges and computational expense in engineering application. Therefore, a simplified FEM developed to model MFC with interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) is proposed in this paper. A new scheme of FEM for IDEs in MFC is presented. With assuming the poling direction is along the same direction and voltage-progressive electrodes configuration in FEM, the piezoelectric elements employ an equivalent periodic tensile/compressive strain and constant electric potential in the poling direction. Numerical tests of free strain and blocking force and experimental methods are both employed to verify the FEM in this paper. A cantilever aluminum beam with a single MFC actuator is presented. The natural frequencies, vertical deflection and Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC) based on the resonant frequencies show the fidelity of the EF model agree well with experimental measurement. This work presented provides a novel FEM to model MFC for engineering applications such as vibration actuation.
A Characterization of Digital Search Trees from the Average Complexity Viewpoint

This paper smdies the average complexity of digital search trees from the successful search point of view. The average value of the successful search is used to evaluate the search time for a given record, the number of comparisons to insert a record, etc. The average value, however, is rather a poor measure and the need for higher moments of the successful search is obvious. For example, the variance provides information on "how well is a digital tree balanced"; the third centralized moment is a measure of the skewness property of the distribution, etc. In this paper we concentrate on an open problem: how to evaluate aU moments of the successful search in an asymmetric multiway digital search tree. We prove that the m·th successful search S/I. where n is the number of stored records, satisfies lim E Sgal1nm n = Vhf, where . h I is the entropy of the alphabet. In particular, it is shown that the variance of SrI is varSrI =c Inn +0 (1) for asymmetric case, and varSn = 0 (1) for symmetric case (we also determine the constant). This gives a complete characterization of the digital search tree from the successful search view point
Synthesis of silver nano-particles using micro-emulsion technique

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by mixing two micro-emulsion systems – one with precursor (AgNO3) and one with reducing agent (NaBH4). Dioctyl sodium sulfonsuccinate – AOT was used as surfactant. We studied parameters as  – molar ratio of water to surfactant, hydrocarbon (oil) types. The molar ratio of water to surfactant was changed from 2.5 to 5; 7.5 and 10. The used oil types were cyclohexane, iso-octane, and dodecane. XRD, UV-Vis and TEM images were used to elucidate the structure and size of the products. The results showed that, synthesized silver nanoparticles sizes were between 5 – 7 nm, with homogeneously spherical shapes. The silver colloids were used in antibacterial applications. The antibacterial efficiency was very high, above 99% at ~ 4 g/ml concentration of silver nanoparticles.
Sleep and its Interaction with Endocrine Rhythms

Rhythmic variations with frequences from fractions of seconds to years characterise a wide variety of biological processes (Aschoff, 1979). Biological rhythms can be observed, not only in the individual of the species, but also in the cells which comprise the organism and the populations of which it is a member. These regular fluctuations can be endogenously generated by some form of internal oscillator, or alternatively may passively reflect exogenous environmental alterations. An important group of rhythms combines both endogenous and exogenous inputs with an internal oscillator or oscillators which are capable of being influenced by some external change. In this situation, the internal rhythm is kept in harmony with an environmental cycle by a change in the outside world acting as a synchroniser or zeitgeber. In this type if the animal is artificially isolated from its normal external synchroniser, the rhythm will continue, but free running, with a periodicity which is a close approximation to the duration of the environmental cycle to which it is normally tied. These rhythms normally synchronised to an environmental cycle but capable of being self-sustaining at approximately the same rate, are termed circa rhythms: thus circadian, circannual and circalunar rhythms, according to the geophysical cycle by which they are normally entrained.