Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Image Annotation Fusing Content-Based and Tag-Based Technique Using Support Vector Machine and Vector Space Model

In this paper, we propose a new image annotation method by combining content-based image annotation and tag-based image annotation techniques. Content-based image annotation technique is adopted to extract "loosely defined concepts" by analyzing pre-given images' features such as color moment (CM), edge orientation histogram (EOH), and local binary pattern (LBP), followed by constructing a set of SVMs for 100 loosely defined concepts. A base-vector for each concept, similar to tag-based image annotation technique, is then constructed by using SVMs' predicted probabilistic results for sample-images whose main concepts are known. Finally cosine similarity between a query-image vector and the base vector is calculated for each concept. Experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms content-based image annotation technique by about 23% in accuracy.
From PSL to NBA: a Modular Symbolic Encoding

The IEEE standard property specification language (PSL) allows to express all omega-regular properties mixing linear temporal logic (LTL) with sequential extended regular expressions (SEREs), and is increasingly used in many phases of the hardware design cycle, from specification to verification. Many verification engines are able to manipulate nondeterministic Buchi automata (NBA), that can represent omega-regular properties. Thus, the ability to convert PSL into NBA is an important enabling factor for the reuse of a large wealth of verification tools. Recent works propose a two-step conversion from PSL to NBA: first, the PSL property is encoded into an alternating Buchi automaton (ABA); then, the ABA is converted into an NBA with variants of Miyano-Hayashi's construction. These approaches are problematic in practice: in fact, they are often unable to carry out the conversion in acceptable time, even for PSL specifications of moderate size. In this paper, we propose a modular encoding of PSL into symbolically represented NBA. We convert a PSL property into a normal form that separates the LTL and the SERE components. Each of these components can be processed separately, so that the NBA corresponding to the original PSL property is presented in the form of an implicit product, delaying composition until search time. Our approach has two other advantages: first, we can leverage mature techniques for the LTL components; second, we leverage the particular form of the PSL components that appear in the normal form to improve over the general translation. The transformation is proved correct. A thorough experimental analysis over large sets of paradigmatic properties (from patterns of properties commonly used in practice) shows that our approach drastically reduces the construction time of the symbolic NBA, and positively affects the overall verification time
Incomplete Restoration of Angiotensin II - Induced Renal Extracellular Matrix Deposition and Inflammation Despite Complete Functional Recovery in Rats

Some diseases associated with a temporary deterioration in kidney function and/or development of proteinuria show an apparently complete functional remission once the initiating trigger is removed. While it was earlier thought that a transient impairment of kidney function is harmless, accumulating evidence now suggests that these patients are more prone to developing renal failure later in life. We therefore sought to investigate to what extent renal functional changes, inflammation and collagen deposition are reversible after cessation of disease induction, potentially explaining residual sensitivity to damage. Using a rat model of Angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced hypertensive renal disease we show the development of severe hypertension (212 ± 10.43 vs. 146 ± 1.4 mmHg, p<0.001) and proteinuria (51.4 ± 6.3 vs. 14.7 ± 2.0 mg/24h, p<0.01) with declined creatinine clearance (2.0 ± 0.5 vs. 4.9 ± 0.6 mL/min, p<0.001) to occur after 3 weeks of Ang II infusion. At the structural level, Ang II infusion resulted in interstitial inflammation (18.8 ± 4.8 vs. 3.6 ± 0.5 number of macrophages, p<0.001), renal interstitial collagen deposition and lymphangiogenesis (4.1 ± 0.4 vs. 2.2 ± 0.4 number of lymph vessels, p<0.01). Eight weeks after cessation of Ang II, all clinical parameters, pre-fibrotic changes such as myofibroblast transformation and increase in lymph vessel number (lymphangiogenesis) returned to control values. However, glomerular desmin expression, glomerular and periglomerular macrophages and interstitial collagens remained elevated. These dormant abnormalities indicate that after transient renal function decline, inflammation and collagen deposition may persist despite normalization of the initiating pathophysiological stimulus perhaps rendering the kidney more vulnerable to further damage.
Political Campaign Communication Principles & Practices

M Trent, Judith S. and Robert V. Friedberg (2008). Political Campaign Communication Principles & Practices (6th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 436. Behind every successful politician is a team of visible and sometimes not so visible supporters who help shape a candidate's policies, write speeches, and strategize news media coverage that the public views. In the most recent edition of Political Campaign Communication Principles & Practices, Judith S. Trent and Robert V. Friedberg deftly capture the nuances of U.S. elections and the hard decisions that campaign managers and their candidates face at each juncture of the election process. While some Americans and media observers still grapple with the impact of President Barack Obama's 2008 election and his first year in office, Political Campaign Communication dissects the influence past elections have had on the political landscape, the public, and the news media. The book is an excellent primer for students and educators who are interested in learning more about the decision making that takes place to sell a candidate and his or her ideas to the public. The book also provides historical references that help bolster critical issues some candidates dealt with that involve political advertising, political debate strategies, and speechwriting. About fifteen to eighteen months before an election, Trent and Friedberg tell readers, campaign managers are hard at work mapping out advertising strategies for their candidate. This information coincides with news accounts of the 2008 presidential election that had then-Sen. Hilary Clinton establish her presence as a leading Democratic candidate very early in the campaign. The book breaks down the different methods of political advertising that range from bumper stickers, direct mail, lawn posters, print, radio, and television, to, of course, the Internet and the associated financial costs. It points out the obvious: that the Internet is a "high-return, low-cost means of dispensing information" (p. 377) first used in 1993 when the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy had his own Web site, and a year later when California Sen. Dianne Feinstein created the first candidate Web site. Books are still being written on the Obama campaign and its Internet use that reached young and old tech savvy voters. However, Political Campaign Communication surprisingly points out that radio is the most "often underestimated vehicle for political advertisements" (p. 368). One would think radio advertisements would be a given solution for any serious campaign - but radio is better used for the "rural campaign and those who are running for local offices" (p. …
Prostate Cancer Therapy Resistance Constitutively Active Androgen Receptor that Mediates Exon Generates a Androgen Receptor Splicing of a Novel Updated

The standard systemic treatment for prostate cancer (PCa) is androgen ablation, which causes tumor regression by inhibiting activity of the androgen receptor (AR). Invariably, PCa recurs with a fatal androgen-refractory phenotype. Importantly, the growth of androgen-refractory PCa remains dependent on the AR through various mechanisms of aberrant AR activation. Here, we studied the 22Rv1 PCa cell line, which was derived from a CWR22 xenograft that relapsed during androgen ablation. Three AR isoforms are expressed in 22Rv1 cells: a full-length version with duplicated exon 3 and two truncated versions lacking the COOH terminal domain (CTD). We found that CTD-truncated AR isoforms are encoded by mRNAs that have a novel exon 2b at their 3¶ end. Functionally, these AR isoforms are constitutively active and promote the expression of endogenous AR-dependent genes, as well as the proliferation of 22Rv1 cells in a ligand-independent manner. AR mRNAs containing exon 2b and their protein products are expressed in commonly studied PCa cell lines. Moreover, exon 2b–derived species are enriched in xenograft-based models of therapy-resistant PCa. Together, our data describe a simple and effective mechanism by which PCa cells can synthesize a constitutively active AR and thus circumvent androgen ablation. [Cancer Res 2008;68(13):5469–77]
ReEnact: Sketch based Choreographic Design from Archival Dance Footage

We describe a novel system for synthesising video choreography using sketched visual storyboards comprising human poses (stick men) and action labels. First, we describe an algorithm for searching archival dance footage using sketched pose. We match using an implicit representation of pose parsed from a mix of challenging low and high fidelity footage. In a training pre-process we learn a mapping between a set of exemplar sketches and corresponding pose representations parsed from the video, which are generalized at query-time to enable retrieval over previously unseen frames, and over additional unseen videos. Second, we describe how a storyboard of sketched poses, interspersed with labels indicating connecting actions, may be used to drive the synthesis of novel video choreography from the archival footage. We demonstrate both our retrieval and synthesis algorithms over both low fidelity PAL footage from the UK Digital Dance Archives (DDA) repository of contemporary dance, circa 1970, and over higher-definition studio captured footage.
Multiscale characterization of protein conformational ensembles

We propose a multiscale exploration method to characterize the conformational space populated by a protein at equilibrium. The method efficiently obtains a large set of equilibrium conformations in two stages: first exploring the entire space at a coarse‐grained level of detail, then narrowing a refined exploration to selected low‐energy regions. The coarse‐grained exploration periodically adds all‐atom detail to selected conformations to ensure that the search leads to regions which maintain low energies in all‐atom detail. The second stage reconstructs selected low‐energy coarse‐grained conformations in all‐atom detail. A low‐dimensional energy landscape associated with all‐atom conformations allows focusing the exploration to energy minima and their conformational ensembles. The lowest energy ensembles are enriched with additional all‐atom conformations through further multiscale exploration. The lowest energy ensembles obtained from the application of the method to three different proteins correctly capture the known functional states of the considered systems. Proteins 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Image Retrieval Using Color-Texture Features Extracted From Gabor-Walsh Wavelet Pyramid

Image retrieval is one of the most applicable image processing techniques which have been extensively used. Feature extraction is one of the most important procedures used for interpretation and indexing images in Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems. Effective storage, indexing and managing a large number of image collections are critical challenges in computer systems. There are many proposed methods to overcome these problems. However, the rate of image retrieval and speed of retrieval are still interesting fields of researches. In this paper, we propose a new method based on combination of Gabor filter and Walsh transform and Wavelet Pyramid (GWWP). The Crossover Point (CP) of precision and recall are considered as metrics to evaluate and compare different methods. The Obtained results show using GWWP provides better performance in compared to with other methods.
Health and Quality of Life

Background: The SF-8 is a health-related quality of life instrument that could provide a useful means of assessing general physical and mental health amongst populations affected by conflict. The purpose of this study was to test the validity and reliability of the SF-8 with a conflict-affected population in northern Uganda. Methods: A cross-sectional multi-staged, random cluster survey was conducted with 1206 adults in camps for internally displaced persons in Gulu and Amuru districts of northern Uganda. Data quality was assessed by analysing the number of incomplete responses to SF-8 items. Response distribution was analysed using aggregate endorsement frequency. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a separate smaller survey using the intraclass correlation test. Construct validity was measured using principal component analysis, and the Pearson Correlation test for item-summary score correlation and inter-instrument correlations. Known groups validity was assessed using a two sample t-test to evaluates the ability of the SF-8 to discriminate between groups known to have, and not have, physical and mental health problems. Results: The SF-8 showed excellent data quality. It showed acceptable item response distribution based upon analysis of aggregate endorsement frequencies. Test-retest showed a good intraclass correlation of 0.61 for PCS and 0.68 for MCS. The principal component analysis indicated strong construct validity and concurred with the results of the validity tests by the SF-8 developers. The SF-8 also showed strong construct validity between the 8 items and PCS and MCS summary score, moderate inter-instrument validity, and strong known groups validity. Conclusion: This study provides evidence on the reliability and validity of the SF-8 amongst IDPs in northern Uganda. Published: 2 December 2008 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2008, 6:108 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-6-108 Received: 21 March 2008 Accepted: 2 December 2008 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo. com/content/6/1/108 © 2008 Roberts et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Utility Functions for Ceteris Paribus Preferences

Ceteris paribus (all‐else equal) preference statements concisely represent preferences over outcomes or goals in a way natural to human thinking. Although deduction in a logic of such statements can compare the desirability of specific conditions or goals, many decision‐making methods require numerical measures of degrees of desirability. To permit ceteris paribus specifications of preferences while providing quantitative comparisons, we present an algorithm that compiles a set of qualitative ceteris paribus preferences into an ordinal utility function. Our algorithm is complete for a finite universe of binary features. Constructing the utility function can, in the worst case, take time exponential in the number of features, but common independence conditions reduce the computational burden. We present heuristics using utility independence and constraint‐based search to obtain efficient utility functions.
Antioxidant Capacity in Rat Brain After ICV Treatment with Streptozotocin and Alloxan-a preliminary study

betacytotoxic drug streptozotocin (STZ) produces long-term and progressive cognitive deficits in rats, as well as deficits in cerebral glucose and energy metabolism. These changes resemble those found in the brain of patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (sAD), and therefore, STZ-icv treated rats have been proposed as an experimental model of sAD. In this study the antioxidant capacity (AC), using manual oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, was measured in the rat brain frontoparietal cortex (FC) and brainstem-cerebellum region (BS-CB) after administration of STZ and another betacytotoxic drug alloxan (AL). Region-specific differences of AC were found, which were more expressed when hydroxyl radical (ORAC-OHo) generator was used in the assay. AC against ORAC-OHo was significantly lower in BS-CB than in FC of the control rats. Furthermore, ORAC-OHo significantly decreased in BS-CB 3-months following the icv administration of AL, but significantly increased following the TG+AL combined treatment in comparison with the controls. However, 3-months following the icv treatment of AL combination with a different glucose transport inhbitor, 3-O-methyl-Dglucose, ORAC-OHo values in BS-CB and ORAC-ROOo values in FC were significantly decreased in comparison to the controls. Our results suggest that betacytotoxic-icv treatment alters antioxidant defense systems in the brain, which particularly regarding the STZ-icv treatment, could be a useful tool in search for possible new antioxidant treatments of the neurodegenerative disorders such as sAD.
Organizational leadership and its relationship to outcomes in residential treatment

Increasing patterns of abuse, neglect and violence towards children and adolescents in the United States has incurred billions of dollars in treatment expenditures. The current movement in evidence-based practice in mental health emphasizes the development of standards of practice, treatment protocols, and formalized treatment manuals that have established effectiveness. The intent of the correlative study was to add empirical evidence that may lead to increased outcome evaluation in residential treatment, and the capacity to increase the knowledge base in residential treatment, leading to evidence-based protocols and training of staff. Investigation of organizational servant leadership and positive treatment outcomes for emotionally troubled young people in residential organizations was the hypothesis of the study. Identification of particular leadership in each residential organization, and the correlative value related to positive outcomes for emotionally troubled young people in these residential organizations was obtained and evaluated. The Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) instrument was used to measure the organizations’ leadership, which included Servant, Paternalistic and Autocratic mindsets. The outcomes for measuring the impact on emotionally troubled young people included movement to less restrictive environment and planned discharge. Sixteen residential treatment organizations (total sample size) voluntarily participated in this study. The quantitative study included 1,165 OLA surveys
STAT1 Activation Causes Translocation of Bax to the Endoplasmic Reticulum during the Resolution of Airway Mucous Cell Hyperplasia by IFN-γ1

Disruption of the normal resolution process of inflammation-induced mucous cell hyperplasia may lead to sustained mucous hypersecretion in chronic diseases. During prolonged exposure of mice to allergen, IFN-γ reduces mucous cell hyperplasia, but the signaling responsible for the cell death is largely unknown. A brief phosphorylation of STAT1 by IFN-γ was required for cell death in airway epithelial cells (AEC), and during prolonged exposure to allergen, mucous cell hyperplasia remained elevated in STAT1−/− but was resolved in STAT1+/+ mice. Although IFN-γ treatment of primary human AECs and other airway cell lines left Bax protein levels unchanged, it caused translocation of Bax from the cytosol to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) but not to the mitochondria. Localization of Bax to the ER was observed in IFN-γ-treated primary AECs isolated from STAT1+/+ mice but not in cells from STAT1−/− mice. In addition, ER Bax was detected in mucous cells of STAT1+/+ but not STAT1−/− airways of mice exposed to allergen for prolonged periods. IFN-γ did not release cytochrome c from mitochondria but reduced ER calcium stores and dilated the ER, confirming that the IFN-γ-induced cell death is mediated through changes localized in the ER. Collectively, these observations suggest that STAT1-dependent translocation of Bax to the ER is crucial for IFN-γ-induced cell death of AECs and the resolution of allergen-induced mucous cell hyperplasia.
Stability criteria for switched linear systems based on the quadratic forms

The problem of stability analysis for switched linear systems is studied based on the properties of the quadratic form. With the introduction of energy velocity matrix and negative definite space, sufficient conditions for asymptotical stability, instability under arbitrary switching sequence and asymptotical stability under special switching sequence are reached which can be applied to study some types of switched linear systems. These conditions can be applied not only to study the problem of stability analysis for switched linear systems, but also to design the stable switching sequence for a switched linear system. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methods.
Structural features of mammalian histidine decarboxylase reveal the basis for specific inhibition

For a long time the structural and molecular features of mammalian histidine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.22), the enzyme that produces histamine, have evaded characterization. We overcome the experimental problems for the study of this enzyme by using a computer‐based modelling and simulation approach, and have now the conditions to use histidine decarboxylase as a target in histamine pharmacology. In this review, we present the recent (last 5 years) advances in the structure–function relationship of histidine decarboxylase and the strategy for the discovery of new drugs.
AWA* - A Window Constrained Anytime Heuristic Search Algorithm

This work presents an iterative anytime heuristic search algorithm called Anytime Window A* (AWA*) where node expansion is localized within a sliding window comprising of levels of the search tree/graph. The search starts in depth-first mode and gradually proceeds towards A* by incrementing the window size. An analysis on a uniform tree model provides some very useful properties of this algorithm. A modification of AWA* is presented to guarantee bounded optimal solutions at each iteration. Experimental results on the 0/1 Knapsack problem and TSP demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed techniques over some existing anytime search methods.
Comparison of Three List Detectors in Iterative Decoding and Channel Estimation in MIMO OFDM

In this paper, the complexity and the performance of the list parallel interference cancellation (PIC) detection algorithm is compared to the ones of the K-best list sphere detector (LSD) and the increasing radius (IR)-LSD in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. The detectors are used as a soft MIMO detector to approximate the a posteriori probability (APP) algorithm in an iterative receiver to jointly decode the transmitted bits and to estimate the channel state. According to the results, the list PIC algorithm with a proper initialization gives some performance gain over the K-best LSD and loses only slightly to the IR-LSD. The IR-LSD is found to be the least complex of the algorithms when the number of visited nodes is measured.