Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Categorical Colormap Optimization with Visualization Case Studies

Mapping a set of categorical values to different colors is an elementary technique in data visualization. Users of visualization software routinely rely on the default colormaps provided by a system, or colormaps suggested by software such as ColorBrewer. In practice, users often have to select a set of colors in a semantically meaningful way (e.g., based on conventions, color metaphors, and logological associations), and consequently would like to ensure their perceptual differentiation is optimized. In this paper, we present an algorithmic approach for maximizing the perceptual distances among a set of given colors. We address two technical problems in optimization, i.e., (i) the phenomena of local maxima that halt the optimization too soon, and (ii) the arbitrary reassignment of colors that leads to the loss of the original semantic association. We paid particular attention to different types of constraints that users may wish to impose during the optimization process. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this work, we tested this technique in two case studies. To reach out to a wider range of users, we also developed a web application called Colourmap Hospital.
On the Electrical Conductivity of Particulate Composites

Two new equations are developed for effective electrical conductivity of concentrated particulate composites using a differential scheme along with the solution of an infinitely dilute dispersion of particles in a continuous matrix. The proposed equations are evaluated using 16 sets of experimental data on the electrical conductivity of two-phase particulate systems. The following model developed in the paper describes the experimental data very well: (σ/σm)1/3 (σd — σm)/ (σd — σ) = (1 — φ/φm )—αφm ) where σ, σm and σd are electrical conductivities of composite, matrix, and dispersed phase (filler) respectively, φ is volume fraction of filler, φm is the maximum packing volume fraction of filler, and α is a constant of the order of unity. In the special case of α = 1 and φm = 1, this model reduces to the well-known Bruggeman equation for the electrical conductivity of two-phase particulate systems. The predictions of the proposed model are significantly different from the predictions of the existing general effective media (GEM) model.
PVC Membrane Sensors for Potentiometric Determination of Metoclopramide in Pharmaceutical Preparations and in presence of its Degradate

Two novel polymeric membrane sensors were developed for determination of Metoclopramide (MCP), based on the use of metoclopramide-barbiturate (MCP-B) and metoclopramide-flavinate (MCP-F) ion pairs as electroactive materials in PVC matrix, in presence of o-nitrophenyloctylether ( o-NPOE) as a solvent mediator, in plasticized PVC membranes. The suggested two-sensors show a near-Nernstian response for MCP over a wide concentration range of 1×10 -5 -1×10 -2 M. The proposed sensors have a fast response time and can be used for more than 4 weeks without any considerable divergence in potentials. They exhibit comparatively good selectivity with respect to related substances, dosage forms additives, acidic-degradates, alkaline earth and some transition and heavy metal ions.
Visual attention mechanisms in happiness versus trustworthiness processing of facial expressions

A happy facial expression makes a person look (more) trustworthy. Do perceptions of happiness and trustworthiness rely on the same face regions and visual attention processes? In an eye-tracking study, eye movements and fixations were recorded while participants judged the un/happiness or the un/trustworthiness of dynamic facial expressions in which the eyes and/or the mouth unfolded from neutral to happy or vice versa. A smiling mouth and happy eyes enhanced perceived happiness and trustworthiness similarly, with a greater contribution of the smile relative to the eyes. This comparable judgement output for happiness and trustworthiness was reached through shared as well as distinct attentional mechanisms: (a) entry times and (b) initial fixation thresholds for each face region were equivalent for both judgements, thereby revealing the same attentional orienting in happiness and trustworthiness processing. However, (c) greater and (d) longer fixation density for the mouth region in the happiness task, and for the eye region in the trustworthiness task, demonstrated different selective attentional engagement. Relatedly, (e) mean fixation duration across face regions was longer in the trustworthiness task, thus showing increased attentional intensity or processing effort.
A new type of eye-on-hand robotic arm system based on a low-cost recognition system

In recent years, research in medical engineering has become quite popular. In the medical area, one important invention is minimally invasive surgery. It's a huge progress for medical engineering. But the procedure is expensive because it requires high accuracy. In order to develop a low cost robotic arm to help doctors do work such as sewing wounds, or cleaning blood off of patients. By using the robotic arm, doctors can perform their job more effectively; they can save time doing preliminary checks on patients. It not only depends on the control system but also reference for synchronous simulation. It gains feedback by placing the servo motor and sensor together. Thus the robot can avoid making mistakes on patients.
Determinants of microcredit loans repayment problem among microfinance borrowers in Malaysia

Microfinance has been widely accepted as a policy option for alleviating poverty. However, microfinance institution often facing loan repayment problem. Loan default or lower loan collection can be caused by borrowersâ€™ themselves or unfavourable loan productâ€™s characteristics designed by the microfinance institutions. This paper investigates the determinants of loan repayment problems among microfinance borrowers in TEKUN and YUM institutions in Malaysia. By using logistic regression model, the empirical results showed borrowerâ€™s characteristic (age, gender and type of business involved) and microcredit loanâ€™s characteristics (mode of repayment, repayment amount) are among the factors contribute to microcredit loan repayment problem among TEKUN and YUM borrowers in Malaysia.
Improved power transformer winding fault detection using FRA diagnostics – part 2: radial deformation simulation

Frequency response analysis (FRA) is proven to be a powerful tool to detect winding deformation within power transformers. Although the FRA test along with the equipment are well developed, interpretation of FRA signature is still a challenge and it needs skilled personnel to identify and quantify the fault type if exists as at this stage, there is no reliable standard code for FRA signature classification and quantification. As it is very hard to implement faults on physical transformer without damaging it, researchers investigated the impact of various mechanical winding deformations on the transformer FRA signature by randomly changing the value of particular electrical parameters of the transformer equivalent electrical circuit. None of them however, precisely investigated the correlation between physical fault level and the percentage change in each parameter. In this paper, the physical geometrical dimension of a single-phase transformer is simulated using 3D finite element analysis to emulate the real transformer operation. A physical radial deformation of different fault levels is simulated on both low voltage and high voltage windings. The impact of each fault level on the electrical parameters of the equivalent circuit is investigated and the correlation between the fault level and the percentage change in each parameter of the equivalent circuit is provided. This will facilitate precise fault simulation using transformer equivalent electrical circuit and ease the quantification analysis of FRA signature.
Lossy compression of lenslet images from plenoptic cameras combining sparse predictive coding and JPEG 2000

This paper proposes a lenslet image compression method scalable from low bitrates to fully lossless. The subaperture images are split into two sets: a set of reference views, encoded by a standard lossy or lossless compressor, and the set of dependent views, which are reconstructed by sparse prediction from the reference set using the geometrical information from the depth map. The set of reference views may contain all views and all views may also be dependent views, in which case the sparse predictive stage does not reconstruct from scratch the views, but it refines in a sequential order all views by combining in an optimal way the information about the same region existing in neighbor views. The encoder transmits to the decoder a segmented version of the scene depthmap, the encoded versions of the reference views, displacements for each region from the central view to each of the dependent views, and finally the sparse predictors for each region and each dependent view. The scheme can be configured to ensure random access to the dependent views, while the reference views are compressed in a backward compatible way, e.g., using JPEG 2000. The experimental results show performance better than that of the baseline standard compressor used, JPEG 2000.
Brief Report: A High Rate of β7+ Gut-Homing Lymphocytes in HIV-Infected Immunological Nonresponders is Associated With Poor CD4 T-Cell Recovery During Suppressive HAART

Objective:Correlation between GALT homing markers on lymphocytes and the low blood CD4 T-cell reconstitution in immunological nonresponders (INRs) has been studied. Design:Thirty-one INRs, 19 immunological responders (IRs), and 12 noninfected controls were enrolled in this study. INRs were defined by an undetectable plasma viral load RNA less than 40 copies per milliliter and CD4+ T-cell count <500 cells per cubic milliliter in at least 3 years. Methods:A complete peripheral and mucosal lymphocyte immunophenotyping was performed on these patients with a focus on the CCR9, CCR6, and &agr;4&bgr;7 gut-homing markers. Results:A highly significant upregulation of &agr;4&bgr;7 on INRs peripheral lymphocytes compared with that of IRs has been observed. This upregulation impacts different lymphocyte subsets namely CD4+, CD8+, and B lymphocytes. The frequency of &bgr;7+ Th17 and Treg cells are increased compared with IRs and healthy controls. The frequency of &bgr;7+ CD8+ T cells in the blood is negatively correlated with integrated proviral DNA in rectal lymphoid cells in contrast to &bgr;7+ CD4+ T cells associated with HIV integration. Conclusions:Alteration of lymphocyte homing abilities would have deleterious effects on GALT reconstitution and could participate to HIV reservoir constitution. These results emphasize the great interest to consider &agr;4&bgr;7-targeted therapy in INR patients to block homing of lymphocytes and/or to directly impair gp120-&agr;4&bgr;7 interactions.
A retrospective analysis of allele frequency changes of major genes during 20 years of selection in the Italian Large White pig breed.

In this study, we investigated whether a selection programme based on boar genetic evaluation obtained with a classical BLUP animal model can change allele frequencies in a pig population. All Italian Large White boars born from 1992 to 2012 with estimated breeding value reliability >0.85 (n = 200) were selected among all boars of this breed. Boars were genotyped with markers in major genes (IGF2 intron3-g.3072G>A, MC4R p.D298N, VRTN PRE1 insertion, PRKAG3 p.I199V and FTO g.276T>G). Genotyping data were analysed grouping boars in eight classes according to their year of birth. To evaluate the influence of time on allele frequencies of the genotyped markers, multinomial logistic regression models were computed. Four of five polymorphic sites (IGF2, MC4R, VRTN and FTO) showed significant (p < 0.01) changes in allele frequencies over time due to a progressive and continuous increase of one allele (associated with higher lean meat content, higher average daily gain and favourable feed: gain ratio) and, consequently, decrease of the other one, following the directional selection of the selection programme of this pig breed. The retrospective analysis that was carried out in Italian Large White boars suggests that selection based on methodologies assuming the infinitesimal model is able to modify in a quite short period of time allele frequencies in major genes, increasing the frequency of alleles explaining a relevant (non-infinitesimal) fraction of the overall genetic variability for production traits.
Use of Tethered Virtual Reality Headsets in Exposure Therapy for Agoraphobia and Social Phobia

People with social phobia are characterized by a fear of being scrutinized, while people with agoraphobia have a fear of situations where escape may be difficult such as being in a crowded area. One way to support them is with the use of virtual reality technologies. Virtual reality (VR) allows people to easily step into and immerse themselves in a completely different environment, simulated by a computer. The ability that VR has to transport a person into a different place and interact with the virtual environment gives it potential as a tool for phobia treatment. In this paper, we explore the use of VR as a platform for people with agoraphobia and social phobia to practice social interactions towards the goal of overcoming their fear.
Racial disparities in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors survival: a SEER study

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pancreatic NETs), is an important cause of cancer‐related death worldwide. No study has rigorously explored the impact of ethnicity on pancreatic NETs. We aimed to demonstrate the relationship between ethnicity and the survival of patients with pancreatic NETs. We used the SEER database to identify patients with pancreatic NETs from 2004 to 2013. Kaplan–Meier methods and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the impact of race on survival in pancreatic NETs patients. A total of 3850 patients were included: 3357 Non‐Blacks, 493 Blacks. We stratified races as “Black” and “White/Other. ” Blacks were more likely to be diagnosed with later stages of tumors (P = 0.021). As for the treatment, the access to surgery seemed to be more limited in Blacks than non‐Black patients (P = 0.012). Compared with non‐Black patients, Black patients have worse overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.00–1.37, P = 0.046) and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors specific survival (PNSS) (HR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.01–1.48, P = 0.044). Multivariate Cox analysis identified that disease extension at the time of diagnosis and surgical status contributed to the ethnical survival disparity. Black patients whose stages at diagnosis were localized had significantly worse OS (HR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.18–3.71, P = 0.011) and PNSS (HR = 3.79, 95% CI: 1.62–8.82, P = 0.002). As for the patients who did not receive surgery, Blacks also have a worse OS (HR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.00–1.41, P = 0.045). The Black patients had both worse OS and PNSS compared to non‐Black patients. The restricted utilization of surgery, and the advanced disease extension at the time of diagnosis are the possible contributors to poorer survival of Blacks with pancreatic NETs.
Detection of crack in L-shaped pipes filled with fluid based on transverse natural frequencies

The possibility of detecting a crack in L-shaped pipes filled with fluid based on measurement of transverse natural frequencies is examined. The problem is solved by representing the crack by a massless rotational spring, simulating the out-of-plane transverse vibration only without solving the coupled torsional vibration and using the transfer matrix method for solution of the governing equation. The theoretical solutions are verified by experiments. The cracks considered are external, circumferentially oriented and have straight front. Pipes made of aluminium and mild steel are tested with water as internal fluid. Crack size to pipe thickness ratio ranging from 0.20 to 0.57 and fluid (gauge) pressure in the range of 0 to 10 atmospheres are examined. The rotational spring stiffness is obtained by an inverse vibration analysis and deflection method. The details of the two methods are given. The results by the two methods are presented graphically and show good agreement. Crack locations are also determined by the inverse analysis. The maximum absolute error in the location is 13.80%. Experimentally determined variation of rotational spring stiffness with ratio of crack size to thickness is utilized to predict the crack sizes. The maximum absolute errors in prediction of crack size are 17.24% and 16.90% for aluminium and mild steel pipes respectively.
Super-efficient spatially adaptive contrast enhancement algorithm for superficial vein imaging

This paper presents a super-efficient spatially adaptive contrast enhancement algorithm for enhancing infrared (IR) radiation based superficial vein images in real-time. The super-efficiency permits the algorithm to run in consumer-grade handheld devices, which ultimately reduces the cost of vein imaging equipment. The proposed method utilizes the response from the low-frequency range of the IR image signal to adjust the boundaries of the reference dynamic range in a linear contrast stretching process with a tunable contrast enhancement parameter, as opposed to traditional approaches which use costly adaptive histogram equalization based methods. The algorithm has been implemented and deployed in a consumer grade Android-based mobile device to evaluate the performance. The results revealed that the proposed algorithm can process IR images of veins in real-time on low-performance computers. It was compared with several well-performed traditional methods and the results revealed that the new algorithm stands out with several beneficial features, namely, the fastest processing, the ability to enhance the desired details, the excellent illumination normalization capability and the ability to enhance details where the traditional methods failed.
Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics

The average runtime is about 16 s per scan on a standard workstation. The nodule detection accuracy is 91.4% and 94.6% with an average of 1 and 4 false positives (FPs) per scan. The average dice coefﬁcient of nodule segmentation compared to the groundtruth is 0.793. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
RINCIPLED A DVERSARIAL T RAINING

Neural networks are vulnerable to adversarial examples and researchers have proposed many heuristic attack and defense mechanisms. We address this problem through the principled lens of distributionally robust optimization, which guarantees performance under adversarial input perturbations. By considering a Lagrangian penalty formulation of perturbing the underlying data distribution in a Wasserstein ball, we provide a training procedure that augments model parameter updates with worst-case perturbations of training data. For smooth losses, our procedure provably achieves moderate levels of robustness with little computational or statistical cost relative to empirical risk minimization. Furthermore, our statistical guarantees allow us to efficiently certify robustness for the population loss. For imperceptible perturbations, our method matches or outperforms heuristic approaches.
How We Hear: The Perception and Neural Coding of Sound

&NA; Auditory perception is our main gateway to communication with others via speech and music, and it also plays an important role in alerting and orienting us to new events. This review provides an overview of selected topics pertaining to the perception and neural coding of sound, starting with the first stage of filtering in the cochlea and its profound impact on perception. The next topic, pitch, has been debated for millennia, but recent technical and theoretical developments continue to provide us with new insights. Cochlear filtering and pitch both play key roles in our ability to parse the auditory scene, enabling us to attend to one auditory object or stream while ignoring others. An improved understanding of the basic mechanisms of auditory perception will aid us in the quest to tackle the increasingly important problem of hearing loss in our aging population.
Growth Through Intersectoral Knowledge Linkages

The majority of innovations are developed by multi-technology (or multi-sector) firms. The knowledge needed to invent new products is more easily adapted from some sectors than from others. Here, we study this network of knowledge linkages between sectors and its impact on firm innovation and aggregate growth. We develop a general equilibrium model of multi-sector firm innovation in which intersectoral knowledge linkages determine a firm’s self-selection into different sets of sectors and its R&D investment across sectors. It captures how firms evolve in the ‘technology space’, accounts for cross-sector differences in R&D intensity, and describes an aggregate model of technological change. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the model can match new observations concerning firms’ multi-technology patenting behavior documented in this paper. The model also yields new insights into the effects of barriers to diversity on growth.
Explaining sex differences in lifespan in terms of optimal energy allocation in the baboon

We provide a quantitative test of the hypothesis that sex role specialization may account for sex differences in lifespan in baboons if such specialization causes the dependency of fitness upon longevity, and consequently the optimal resolution to an energetic trade‐off between somatic maintenance and other physiological functions, to differ between males and females. We present a model in which females provide all offspring care and males compete for access to reproductive females and in which the partitioning of available energy between the competing fitness‐enhancing functions of growth, maintenance, and reproduction is modeled as a dynamic behavioral game, with the optimal decision for each individual depending upon his/her state and the behavior of other members of the population. Our model replicates the sexual dimorphism in body size and sex differences in longevity and reproductive scheduling seen in natural populations of baboons. We show that this outcome is generally robust to perturbations in model parameters, an important finding given that the same behavior is seen across multiple populations and species in the wild. This supports the idea that sex differences in longevity result from differences in the value of somatic maintenance relative to other fitness‐enhancing functions in keeping with the disposable soma theory.