Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Distributed Methods of Resource Discover in Ultra Large Scale Systems

Recently Software Engineering Institute has presented the Order of America Department of Defense as associated with the development of IT. The office of the Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Army funded the Software Engineering Institute to lead a report on the current challenges of ultra-large-scale (ULS) systems software. There are many heterogeneous resources in the ULS which are distributed geographically. resources discovery that satisfy users‟ requests, is an important task. In This paper strengths and weaknesses of techniques for resource discovery is evaluated. We compare our algorithm with previous algorithms using simulations and results and show that the number of nodes visited in our resource discovery algorithm is less than that for other algorithms.
Singing Pitch Extraction by Voice Vibrato / Tremolo Estimation and Instrument Partial Deletion

This paper proposes a novel and effective approach to extract the pitches of the singing voice from monaural polyphonic songs. The sinusoidal partials of the musical audio signals are first extracted. The Fourier transform is then applied to extract the vibrato/tremolo information of each partial. Some criteria based on this vibrato/tremolo information are employed to discriminate the vocal partials from the music accompaniment partials. Besides, a singing pitch trend estimation algorithm which is able to find the global singing progressing tunnel is also proposed. The singing pitches can then be extracted more robustly via these two processes. Quantitative evaluation shows that the proposed algorithms significantly improve the raw pitch accuracy of our previous approach and are comparable with other state of the art approaches submitted to MIREX.
Association Between Health Symptoms and Particulate Matter from Traffic and Residential Heating − Results from RHINE III in Tartu

Background: Traffic and residential heating are the main sources of particulate matter (PM) in Northern Europe. Wood is widely used for residential heating and vehicle numbers are increasing. Besides traffic exhaust, studded tires produce road dust that is the main source of traffic-related PM10. Several studies have associated total PM mass with health symptoms; however there has been little research on the effects of PM from specific sources. Objective: To study the health effects resulting from traffic and local heating PM. Methods: Data on respiratory and cardiac diseases were collected within the framework of RHINE III (2011/2012) in Tartu, Estonia. Respondents’ geocoded home addresses were mapped in ArcGIS and linked with local heating-related PM2.5, traffic-related PM10 and total PM2.5 concentrations. Association between self-reported health and PM was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: The annual mean modelled exposure for local heating PM2.5 was 2.3 μg/m3, for traffic PM10 3.3 μg/m3 and for all sources PM2.5 5.6 μg/m3. We found relationship between traffic induced PM10 as well as all sources induced PM2.5 with cardiac disease, OR=1.45 (95% CI 1.06−1.93) and 1.42 (95% CI 1.02−1.95), respectively. However, we did not find any significant association between residential heating induced particles and self-reported health symptoms. People with longer and better confirmed exposure period were also significantly associated with traffic induced PM10, all sources induced PM2.5 and cardiac diseases. Conclusion: Traffic-related PM10 and all sources induced PM2.5 associated with cardiac disease; whereas residential heating induced particles did not.
Multi-modal image registration using fuzzy kernel regression

This paper presents a study aimed to the realization of a novel multiresolution registration framework. The transformation function is computed iteratively as a composition of local deformations determined by the maximization of mutual information. At each iteration, local transformations are joint together using fuzzy kernel regression. This technique represents the core of the mothod and it's formally described from a probabilistic perspective. It avoids blocking artifacts and allows to keep the final deformation spatially congruent and smooth. Both qualitative and quantitative experimental results show that this approach is equally effective for registering datasets acquired from both single and multiple diagnostic modalities.
Srv Mediated Dispersal of Streptococcal Biofilms Through SpeB Is Observed in CovRS+ Strains

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human specific pathogen capable of causing both mild infections and severe invasive disease. We and others have shown that GAS is able to form biofilms during infection. That is to say, they form a three-dimensional, surface attached structure consisting of bacteria and a multi-component extracellular matrix. The mechanisms involved in regulation and dispersal of these GAS structures are still unclear. Recently we have reported that in the absence of the transcriptional regulator Srv in the MGAS5005 background, the cysteine protease SpeB is constitutively produced, leading to increased tissue damage and decreased biofilm formation during a subcutaneous infection in a mouse model. This was interesting because MGAS5005 has a naturally occurring mutation that inactivates the sensor kinase domain of the two component regulatory system CovRS. Others have previously shown that strains lacking covS are associated with decreased SpeB production due to CovR repression of speB expression. Thus, our results suggest the inactivation of srv can bypass CovR repression and lead to constitutive SpeB production. We hypothesized that Srv control of SpeB production may be a mechanism to regulate biofilm dispersal and provide a mechanism by which mild infection can transition to severe disease through biofilm dispersal. The question remained however, is this mechanism conserved among GAS strains or restricted to the unique genetic makeup of MGAS5005. Here we show that Srv mediated control of SpeB and biofilm dispersal is conserved in the invasive clinical isolates RGAS053 (serotype M1) and MGAS315 (serotype M3), both of which have covS intact. This work provides additional evidence that Srv regulated control of SpeB may mediate biofilm formation and dispersal in diverse strain backgrounds.
Prolegomena to a theory of ) Completions , Continuations , and Coordination in Dialogue

1 Introduction Utterances such as 1.2, 1.3, and 2.2 in the following fragment of a transcript from the Bielefeld Toy Plan Corpus of task-oriented dia logues (Skuplik, 1999) are examples of COMPLETIONS (1.2, 2.2) and CONTINUATIONS (1.3). (1) 1.1 Inst So, jetzt nimmst Du [pause] Well, now you take 1.2 Cnst eine Schraube a screw 1.3 Inst eine <-> orangene mit einem Schlitz. an <-> orange one with a slit 1.4 Cnst Ja Yes 2.1 Inst Und steckst sie dadurch, also And you put it through there, let's see 2.2 Cnst von oben from the top 2.3 Inst von oben, daß also die drei festgeschraubt werden dann from the top, so that the three bars get fixed then 2.4 Cnst Ja Yes These two forms of SENTENCE CONTINUATIONS (Clark, 1996) are among the evidence th at led Clark (1996) and other theoreticians such as Garrod and Anderson (1987) or, more recently, Pickering and Garrod (2004) to argue tha t dia logue requires coordination even at the utterance level. More in genera l, we feel th a t the study of sentence continuations can shed light on a number of centra l issues for models of the semantics and pragmatics of dia logues, both at thèmacro' level of dia logue management and at thèmicro' level of the semantic interpreta tion of utterances. At the macro level, th is type of data may be relevant to compare competing cla ims about coordination—i.e., whether it is best expla ined with an intentional model, or with a model like Pickering and Garrod's, based on simpler alignment mechanisms. At the micro level, sentence continuations are clear evidence th a t intention recognition in dia logue proceeds incrementa lly, and may provide insights about semantic composition.
An adaptive fuzzy logic-based routing algorithm for networks-on-chip

In this paper, we propose an adaptive routing algorithm based on fuzzy logic in which each link cost is dynamically determined based on the current network condition. Using this algorithm, the traffic is distributed through the nodes that are less congested or have a spare capacity. The technique using a fuzzy controller takes advantage of two factors that are the number of empty spaces in the buffer of each neighbor and the waiting time for the previous packet. The output of the fuzzy controller is the link cost so that in each router, the link with the lowest cost is chosen as the optimal route. To evaluate the proposed routing method, we have used two multimedia applications and a random traffic profile. The experimental results show that the proposed routing scheme improves the performance up to 30% with a negligible hardware overhead.
Informatics Data Processing white paper

The Allen Mouse Brain Atlas provides genome-wide in situ hybridization (ISH) data for approximately 20,000 genes in 56 day old male “black” mice. The informatics data processing pipeline developed by the Allen Institute (Ng et al, 2007, Dang et al, 2007) enables the navigation, analysis and visualization of this large and complex dataset to identify gene expression of interest and relationships between genes and between spatial regions.
Coping Strategies and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Korean Childhood Cancer Survivors

The aim of this study is to explore the correlations between coping strategies and health-related quality of life among Korean adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Two hundred eighteen Korean childhood cancer survivors completed structured questionnaires on coping strategies and health-related quality of life. The most frequently reported coping strategy was self-distraction (97.2%), followed by positive reframing (95.9%) and active coping (95.9%). An exploratory factor analysis yielded three coping factors: approach (active coping, positive reframing, religion, acceptance, and planning), social (emotional support, instrumental support, self-distraction, and venting), and avoidant (behavioral disengagement, self-blame, and humor). The results of bivariate correlation analyses showed that approach coping was associated with better physical and mental health, whereas both social and avoidant coping were associated with poorer mental health. Identifying coping strategies that childhood cancer survivors use and those strategies’ potential associations with health-related quality of life is of interest to clinicians treating childhood cancer survivors adjusting to stressful experiences.
A sub-optimal viterbi-like search for linear dynamic models classification

This paper describes a Viterbi-like decoding algorithm applied on segment-models based on linear dynamic systems (LDMs). LDMs are a promising acoustic modeling scheme which can alleviate several of the limitations of the popular Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). There are several implementations of LDMs that can be found in the literature. For our decoding experiments we consider general identifiable forms of LDMs which allow increased state space dimensionality and relax most of the constraints found in other approaches. Results on the AURORA2 database show that our decoding scheme significantly outperforms standard HMMs, particularly under significant noise levels.
Route or Carry: Motion-Driven Packet Forwarding in Micro Aerial Vehicle Networks

Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) provide data such as images and videos from an aerial perspective, with data typically transferred to the ground. To establish connectivity in larger areas, a fleet of MAVs may set up an ad-hoc wireless network. Packet forwarding in aerial networks is challenged by unstable link quality and intermittent connectivity caused by MAV movement. We show that signal obstruction by the MAV frame can be alleviated by adapting the MAV platform, even for low-priced MAVs, and the aerial link can be properly characterized by its geographical distance. Based on this link characterization and making use of GPS and inertial sensors on-board of MAVs, we design and implement a motion-driven packet forwarding algorithm. The algorithm unites location-aware end-to-end routing and delay-tolerant forwarding, extended by two predictive heuristics. Given the current location, speed, and orientation of the MAVs, future locations are estimated and used to refine packet forwarding decisions. We study the forwarding algorithm in a field measurement campaign with quadcopters connected over Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11n, complemented by simulation. Our analysis confirms that the proposed algorithm masters intermittent connectivity well, but also discloses inefficiencies of location-aware forwarding. By anticipating motion, such inefficiencies can be counteracted and the forwarding performance can be improved.
Face Recognition under Varying Illumination

Face Recognition by a robot or machine is one of the challenging research topics in the recent years. It has become an active research area which crosscuts several disciplines such as image processing, pattern recognition, computer vision, neural networks and robotics. For many applications, the performances of face recognition systems in controlled environments have achieved a satisfactory level. However, there are still some challenging issues to address in face recognition under uncontrolled conditions. The variation in illumination is one of the main challenging problems that a practical face recognition system needs to deal with. It has been proven that in face recognition, differences caused by illumination variations are more significant than differences between individuals (Adini et al., 1997). Various methods have been proposed to solve the problem. These methods can be classified into three categories, named face and illumination modeling, illumination invariant feature extraction and preprocessing and normalization. In this chapter, an extensive and state-of-the-art study of existing approaches to handle illumination variations is presented. Several latest and representative approaches of each category are presented in detail, as well as the comparisons between them. Moreover, to deal with complex environment where illumination variations are coupled with other problems such as pose and expression variations, a good feature representation of human face should not only be illumination invariant, but also robust enough against pose and expression variations. Local binary pattern (LBP) is such a local texture descriptor. In this chapter, a detailed study of the LBP and its several important extensions is carried out, as well as its various combinations with other techniques to handle illumination invariant face recognition under a complex environment. By generalizing different strategies in handling illumination variations and evaluating their performances, several promising directions for future research have been suggested. This chapter is organized as follows. Several famous methods of face and illumination modeling are introduced in Section 2. In Section 3, latest and representative approaches of illumination invariant feature extraction are presented in detail. More attentions are paid on quotient-image-based methods. In Section 4, the normalization methods on discarding low frequency coefficients in various transformed domains are introduced with details. In Section 5, a detailed introduction of the LBP and its several important extensions is presented, as well as its various combinations with other face recognition techniques. In Section 6, comparisons between different methods and discussion of their advantages and disadvantages are presented. Finally, several promising directions as the conclusions are drawn in Section 7.
Objective evaluation measures for speaker-adaptive HMM-TTS systems

This paper investigates using objective quality measures to evaluate speaker adaptation performance in HMM-based speech synthesis. We compare several objective measures to subjective evaluation results from our earlier work about 1) comparison of speaker adaptation methods for child voices and 2) effects of noise in speaker adaptation. The results analysed in this work indicate a reasonable correlation between several objective and subjective quality measures.
The effects of modulating contrast in verbal irony as a cue for giftedness

Abstract This study adds to the existing literature on the ability to understand irony of typically developing versus gifted students (aged 12–15). In addition to the canonical condition of polarized statements applied to oppositely polarized situations, we also considered the case of intermediate statements and situations. The results showed a significant difference between the two groups of participants. Both groups recognized an ironic interpretation in the more usual condition of a polarized statement applied to a clearly oppositely polarized situation and they also grasped the idea that the bigger the contrast, the more ironic the message. However, gifted students demonstrated greater mastery, with regard to both polarized and intermediate statements. They also demonstrated greater ability compared with their non-gifted peers in the task which required them to explain the “rule” underlying the conditions which applied to the comments they had judged as ironic and to then produce ironic stories demonstrating the specificity of irony (not to be confused with generic humor).
Enhanced medical image fusion of PET and CT using NonsubsampledContourlet transform

Fusion finds application in Bio medical imaging. In this paper, the nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) has been proposed based on a nonsubsampled pyramid structure and nonsubsampled directional filter banks. First, the source images are decomposed into sub images via NSCT and the salient measure is computed. Then the low frequency coefficients are fused based on average rule and the high frequency coefficients by region energy rule. Finally, the fused output image is reconstructed by applying inverse NSCT. For experimental purposes eight sets of PET and CT images are used and the results are compared with fuzzy based triangular membership function using min-sum-mom method. Objective performance is performed on entropy, RMSE, PSNR and correlation coefficient. Experimental results of NSCT medical images demonstrate the superiority of NSCT method compared with fuzzy logic method in terms of visual inspection and objective performance measures.
The differential degradation of two cytosolic proteins as a tool to monitor autophagy in hepatocytes by immunocytochemistry

The major pathway for cytosolic constituents to enter lysosomes is by autophagy. We used two cytosolic proteins, CuZn superoxide dismutase (SOD) and carbonic anhydrase III (CAIII), as autophagic markers in male rat hepatocytes. We took advantage of the differential presence of the two proteins in autophagic vacuoles because of the high resistance of SOD to lysosomal degradation as compared with CAIII. This allows us to determine the sequence of autophagic vacuole formation. We have double immunogold-labeled SOD and CAIII in cryosections of fasted rat liver and calculated the ratios of SOD over CAIII labeling densities (SOD/CAIII) in autophagic vacuoles (AV), as compared with the cytoplasm. Different classes of AV were defined according to their SOD/CAIII, their morphology, and their additional immunolabeling for the lysosomal markers lgp120 and cathepsin D. Of all AV, 15% exhibited a cytosol-like SOD/CAIII, indicating that degradation had not yet begun. Most of these initial AV (AVi) showed two enveloping membranes. The formation of AVi was prevented by 3-methyladenine, a potent inhibitor of autophagy. Of all AV, 85% showed a SOD/CAIII that exceeded the cytosolic ratio. These single membrane-bound vacuoles were called degradative AV (AVd). Labeling for lysosomal markers allowed the characterization of AV that shared features with both AVi and AVd. These AVi/d had a cytosol-like SOD/CAIII and a double membrane, but showed some labeling for lysosomal markers. Probably these AVi/d represent the recipient compartment for lysosomal components. AVd were positive for cathepsin D and lgp120. We discerned two AVd subclasses. Early AVd with cytosol-like SOD labeling density while CAIII labeling density was consistently lower than in the cytosol. Their size was similar to AVi and AVi/d. Late AVd contained higher SOD concentrations and were mostly larger. Our findings suggest that AV acquire lysosomal constituents by fusion with small nonautophagic structures and that after subsequent elimination of the inner membrane of AVi, degradation starts resulting in the formation of early AVd and late AVd.
Gist summaries for visually impaired surfers

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Web document summaries provide the sighted reader with a basis for making decisions regarding the route to take within non-linear text; and additional research shows that sighted people use 'Gist' summaries as decision points to bolster their browsing behaviour. Other studies have found that visually impaired users are hindered in their cognition of the content of Web-pages because users must wait for an entire Web-page to be read before deciding on it's usefulness to their current task. In these cases, we draw similarities between sighted and visually impaired users, in that sighted users cannot see the target of a Web Anchor and are therefore 'handicapped'1 by the technology. Previously, we have investigate four simple summarisation algorithms against each other and a manually created summary; producing empirical evidence as a formative evaluation. This evaluation concludes that users prefer simple automatically generated 'gist' summaries thereby reducing cognitive overload and increasing awareness of the focus of the Web-page under investigation. In this paper we focus on the development of 'FireFox' based tool which creates a summary of a Web page 'on-the-fly'. The algorithm used to create this summary is based on the results of our formative evaluation which automatically and dynamically annotates Web pages with the generated 'gist' summary. In this way visually impaired users are supported in their decisions as the relevancy of the page at hand.
Multiple quadrilateral detection for projector-camera system applications

In this paper, a novel method to detect multiple quadrangles in images for the applications in projected reality, such as a smart office environment, is proposed. The proposed approach is able to detect rectangular surfaces with perspective distortion, which appear as quadrangles in 2D images, in a cluttered background accurately. It can deal with partial occlusion. A new technique called the Q-corner is devised based on randomized Hough transform (RHT). This makes the algorithm become effective and robust in finding multiple rectangular objects like white card-boards in the scene. We present the experiment results with synthetic and real data, showing that our method is more robust to noise than a standard contour-based algorithm and an existing line-based method. The promise of the method for potential applications has been demonstrated in a real scenario.
Design and Evaluation of an Efficient Three-Phase Four-Leg Voltage Source Inverter with Reduced IGBTs

This paper presents a new three-phase four-leg voltage source inverter (VSI), which achieves a high cost effectiveness for mega-watt level system applications. The proposed four-leg inverter adopts the integrated topology with thyristors and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which aims to reduce the number of IGBTs. In order to handle the zero sequence current, a neutral leg via incorporating IGBTs is artfully integrated with the regular phase legs. Furthermore, the modelling principles are elaborated and analyzed, which emphasizes switching states and voltage vectors in six segments based on the states of thyristors. Finally, by using the carrier-based pulse width modulation (PWM) method, the closed-loop current control of the proposed inverter is verified by both simulation and experimentation.