Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carbon fragmentation measurements and validation of the Geant4 nuclear reaction models for hadrontherapy

Nuclear fragmentation measurements are necessary when using heavy-ion beams in hadrontherapy to predict the effects of the ion nuclear interactions within the human body. Moreover, they are also fundamental to validate and improve the Monte Carlo codes for their use in planning tumor treatments. Nowadays, a very limited set of carbon fragmentation cross sections are being measured, and in particular, to our knowledge, no double-differential fragmentation cross sections at intermediate energies are available in the literature. In this work, we have measured the double-differential cross sections and the angular distributions of the secondary fragments produced in the 12C fragmentation at 62 A MeV on a thin carbon target. The experimental data have been used to benchmark the prediction capability of the Geant4 Monte Carlo code at intermediate energies, where it was never tested before. In particular, we have compared the experimental data with the predictions of two Geant4 nuclear reaction models: the Binary Light Ions Cascade and the Quantum Molecular Dynamic. From the comparison, it has been observed that the Binary Light Ions Cascade approximates the angular distributions of the fragment production cross sections better than the Quantum Molecular Dynamic model. However, the discrepancies observed between the experimental data and the Monte Carlo simulations lead to the conclusion that the prediction capability of both models needs to be improved at intermediate energies.
Depth estimation from multi-scale SLIC superpixels using non-parametric learning

This study introduces a novel depth estimation method that can automatically generate plausible depth map from a single image with unstructured environment. Our goal is to extrapolate depth map with more correct, rich, and distinct depth order, which is both quantitatively accurate as well as visually pleasing. Based on the preexisting DepthTransfer algorithm, our approach primarily transfers depth information at the level of superpixels from the most photometrically similar retrieval images under the framework of non-parametric learning. Posteriorly, we propose to concurrently warp the corresponding superpixels in multi-scale levels, where we employ an improved SLIC technique to segment the RGBD images from coarse to fine. Then, modified Cross Bilateral Filter is leveraged to refine the final depth field. With respect to training and evaluation, we perform our experiment on the popular Make3D dataset and demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art in both efficacy and computational efficiency. Especially, the final results show that in qualitatively evaluation, our results are visually superior in realism and simultaneously more immersive.
Influence of Blood Flow Restriction During Low-Intensity Resistance Exercise on the Postexercise Hypotensive Response

Abstract Maior, AS, Simão, R, Martins, MSR, Salles, BFd, and Willardson, JM. Influence of blood flow restriction during low-intensity resistance exercise on the postexercise hypotensive response. J Strength Cond Res 29(10): 2894–2899, 2015—Low-intensity resistance exercise (RE) combined with blood flow restriction (BFR) has been shown to promote similar increases in strength and hypertrophy as traditional high-intensity RE without BFR. However, the effect of BFR on the acute postexercise hypotensive response has received limited examination. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare high-intensity exercise (HIE) vs. low-intensity RE with BFR on the postexercise hypotensive response in normotensive young subjects. Fifteen men (age: 23.4 ± 3.4 years) performed the following 2 experimental protocols in randomized order: (a) 3 sets of biceps curls (BCs) at 80% of 1 repetition maximum (RM) and 120-second rest between sets (HIE protocol) and (b) 3 sets of BCs at 40% of 1RM with BFR and 60-second rest between sets. Analysis of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was conducted for 60 minutes after both protocols. The values for SBP, DBP, and mean blood pressure (MBP) at baseline and postexercise were not significantly different between the HIE vs. the BFR protocol. However, within the BFR protocol, significant decreases (p ⩽ 0.05) in SBP occurred at 30 minutes (125.86 ± 9.33 mm Hg) and 40 minutes (125.53 ± 10.19 mm Hg) after exercise when compared with baseline (132.86 ± 9.12 mm Hg) and significant decreases in DBP and MBP occurred at 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes after exercise vs. baseline (p ⩽ 0.05). Therefore, we conclude that exercises engaging a relatively small amount of muscle mass, such as the BC (or other similar single joint exercises), might be performed at a lower intensity with BFR to promote a postexercise hypotensive response.
Depth from defocus by cross–reblurring with pixel disalignment compensation

The authors have proposed a novel depth from defocus (DFD) technique based on a cross reblurring approach. While the technique gives a precise depth estimation, it is unfortunately affected by a disalignment of pixels in a set of multi-focus images. This paper thus proposes a compensation technique for the disalignment to reduce the estimation error. The experimental results given in this paper provide the validity of our approach.
Quantifying the concentration of glucose, urea, and lactic acid in mixture by confocal Raman microscopy

Raman spectroscopy has numerous applications in the field of biology. One such application is the simultaneously measurement of the concentration of multiple biochemical components in low volume aqueous mixtures, for example, a single drop of blood serum. Over twenty years ago, it was shown for the first time that it was possible to estimate the concentration of glucose, urea, and lactic acid in mixture by combining Raman Spectroscopy with Partial Least Squares Regression analysis. This was followed by numerous contributions in the literature designed to increase the number of components and reduce the limits of concentration that could be simultaneously measured using Raman spectroscopy, by developing various optical architectures to maximise the signal to noise ratio. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of a confocal Raman microscopy system for multicomponent analysis for the case of physiologically relevant mixtures of glucose, urea, and lactic acid.
Single image depth edges classification using a red, green, and blue light

Common image edge detectors identify a mixture of image discontinuities caused by a local change of illumination, texture or geometry. This document describes a method to separate depth-edges as a special instance of geometry edges from all other edges in a single image, without a complicated sensor. A single color camera and a red, green and blue light is used for scene illumination. Color shadows produced by the active illumination provide discriminative features to detect depth-edges. Experimental results are used to demonstrate the discriminative power of the proposed method and the performance of the depth-edge detection has been studied analytically for different illumination conditions.
3D localizer for ultrasound endoscope by outside-body markers

In order to reduce the X-ray dose in the endoscopic examination and therapy, we are developing an insidebody navigation system which can give and visualize the direct 3D position of the tip and trace of the endoscope instead of the conventional 2D X-ray fluoroscopy. In this paper, we describe a method of identifying 3D position and direction of ultrasound scanning probe inserted into inside of the body, which gives endoscopic images. We use marker transducers placed on surface of the body, which transmit pulses synchronized to the ultrasound scanner. The method of measuring position (direction and distance between scanning probe inside of body and transducer outside of body) of marker on the scanned image itself obtained with ultrasound endoscope by using adaptive threshold and robust algorithm is described. Further, we give some results of confirmation experiments, and discuss them. Keyword : Ultrasound Image, Position Marker, 3D Localization, Endoscope, Inside-body Navigation
Exascale Computing - A Fact or a Fiction?

Summary form only given. Compute performance increased by orders of magnitude in the last few decades, made possible by continued technology scaling, increasing frequency, providing integration capacity to realize novel architectures, and reducing energy to keep power dissipation within limit. The technology treadmill will continue, and one would expect to reach Exascale level performance this decade; however, it's the same Physics that helped you in the past will now pose some barriers-Business as usual will not be an option. The energy and power will pose as a major challenge-an Exascale machine would consume in excess of a Giga-watt! Memory & communication bandwidth with conventional technology would be prohibitive. Orders of magnitude increased parallelism, let alone explosion of parallelism created by energy saving techniques, would increase unreliability. And programming system will be posed with even severe challenge of harnessing the performance with concurrency. This talk will discuss potential solutions in all disciplines, such as circuit design, test, architecture, system design, programming system, and resiliency to pave the road towards Exascale performance.
Magnetically geared pseudo direct drive for safety critical applications

This paper presents an investigation into the electromagnetic design and performance of a fault-tolerant magnetically geared Pseudo Direct Drive (PDD®) electrical machine for primary flight control surface electromechanical actuation. It is shown that a large number of combinations of high-speed rotor (HSR) pole pairs, pole-piece numbers, and stator slot numbers exist for which a duplex 3-phase fault tolerant configuration can be realized. Furthermore, in addition to facilitating a lower mass solution, it is also shown that a PDD presents a significantly lower inertia referred to the screw, when compared to direct-drive or mechanically geared motor solutions. The findings are validated on a prototype PDD, which has been designed and built to meet the requirements of primary control surface electromechanical actuator.
Optimization of the hierarchical interpolator for image compression

Hierarchical interpolation of images is investigated in the problem of image compression. A new approach is proposed for optimizing the adaptive interpolator for hierarchical compression. This approach is based on optimizing the entropy of the compressed signal. This approach is more adequate to the compression problem than the known approach based on optimization of the interpolation error. The optimization algorithm for the adaptive interpolator is proposed on the basis of the proposed approach. The theoretical estimation of the computational complexity of the proposed interpolator is calculated. A comparison of this complexity with the complexity of other interpolators is performed. The advantage of the proposed interpolator over known interpolators is investigated experimentally. The win is calculated according to the size of the archive file. Recommendations for the use of the proposed interpolator are formulated.
Pegylated Interferon-α Monotherapy Leads to Low Response Rates in HIV-Infected Patients with Acute Hepatitis C

Background Despite a rising incidence of acute HCV in patients infected with HIV, the optimal therapeutic strategy (pegylated interferon-α [PEG-IFN-α] monotherapy or in combination with ribavirin) is still under debate. Methods A total of 23 HIV-infected patients were prospectively diagnosed with acute HCV and treated with PEG-IFN-α2a monotherapy (180 μg/week) for 24 or 48 weeks. Add-on ribavirin was allowed from week 4 of therapy onwards. There were three patients who were not included for different reasons. Blood samples were routinely drawn for viral load measurement and IL28B polymorphism analysis. Results Spontaneous viral clearance occurred in 1 (4%) patient. Nineteen patients (13 genotype 1 and 6 genotype 4) received treatment with PEG-IFN-α monotherapy (3 with add-on ribavirin) resulting in a rapid virological response (HCV RNA<50 IU/ml at week 4) in 7 (37%) patients. A sustained virological response (SVR) was reached in 7 (37%) patients, whereas 9 (47%) patients were null-responders to treatment (that is, <2 log10 drop in HCV RNA at week 12 of therapy). The unfavourable G allele of the IL28B polymorphism rs8099917 was detected in 66% of the non-responders. In case of re-emergence of HCV viraemia after treatment discontinuation, sequence analysis of quasispecies confirmed an HCV relapse in 3 patients while 2 patients were re-infected by their previously non-responding partner. Conclusions PEG-IFN-α monotherapy resulted in a low SVR rate and a high percentage of null-response, whereas non-SVR was associated with a polymorphism in the IL28B gene (rs8099917).
TREATMENT OF ADDISON'S DISEASE WITH DESOXY-CORTICOSTERONE ACETATE, A SYNTHETIC ADRENAL CORTICAL HORMONE (PRELIMINARY REPORT).

The successful preparation of extracts of the adrenal cortex which possessed the property of maintaining adrenalectomized animals (1, 2, 3) stimulated attempts to isolate the substance or substances responsible for this activity. Reichstein has pointed out in his review article (4) that, thus, far, several steroid compounds have been isolated from adrenal cortical extracts by Kendall, Reichstein, Wintersteiner, Pfiffner, and Grollman. At least 3 of these compounds have been shown to be capable, on injection, of maintaining adrenalectomized animals in good condition (4). The small quantity of active material present in the adrenal cortex and the necessarily limited supply of adrenal glands restrict greatly the quantity of crystalline material which may be obtained from this natural source. The use of crystalline compounds would be of distinct advantage in the treatment of patients with Addison's disease because of the practical difficulties encountered in attempting to prepare extracts of uniform potency. It appears that a synthetic preparation offers the most likely possibility of obtaining an adequate quantity of crystalline material possessing " cortinlike " properties. In 1937 Steiger and Reichstein (5) announced the preparation of desoxy-corticosterone acetate (A'4-pregnene-21-ol-3, 20-dione, acetate) from stigmasterol. Recently, Reichstein and von Euw (6) have succeeded in obtaining desoxy-corticosterone from an extract of beef adrenals, thus establishing the natural occurrence of this compound. The effectiveness of desoxy-corticosterone acetate (synthetic) in maintaining bilaterally adrenalectomized dogs (7, 8) prompted us to investigate the possibility of using this compound
Measuring the arterial-induced skin vibration by geometrical moiré fringe

The demand for self-measured blood pressure self-monitoring device has much increased due to cardiovascular diseases have become leading causes of death for aging population. Currently, the primary non-invasive blood pressure monitoring method is cuff-based. It is well developed and accurate. However, the measuring process is not comfortable, and it cannot provide a continuous measurement. To overcome this problem, methods such as tonometry, volume clamp method, photoplethysmography, pulse wave velocity, and pulse transit time are reported. However, the limited accuracy hindered its application for diagnostics. To perform sequential blood pressure measurement with a high accuracy and long-term examination, we apply moiré interferometry to measure wrist skin vibration induced by radial artery. To achieve this goal, we developed a miniaturized device that can perform moiré interferometry around the wrist region. The 0.4-mm-pitched binary grating and tattoo sticker with 0.46 mm-pitched stripe pattern are used to perform geometric moiré. We demonstrated that the sensitivity and accuracy of this integrated system were sufficient to monitor arterialinduced skin vibration non-invasively. Our developed system was validated with ECG signals collected by a commercial system. According to our studies from measurement, the repeatability of wrist pulsation measurement was achieved with an accuracy of 99.1% in heart rate. A good repeatability of wrist pulse measurement was achieved. Simulations and experiments are both conducted in this paper and prove of geometrical moiré method a suitable technique for arterial-induced skin vibration monitoring.
Syntaxin and VAMP association with lipid rafts depends on cholesterol depletion in capacitating sperm cells

Sperm cells represent a special exocytotic system since mature sperm cells contain only one large secretory vesicle, the acrosome, which fuses with the overlying plasma membrane during the fertilization process. Acrosomal exocytosis is believed to be regulated by activation of SNARE proteins. In this paper, we identified specific members of the SNARE protein family, i.e., the t-SNAREs syntaxin1 and 2, and the v-SNARE VAMP, present in boar sperm cells. Both syntaxins were predominantly found in the plasma membrane whereas v-SNAREs are mainly located in the outer acrosomal membrane of these cells. Under non-capacitating conditions both syntaxins and VAMP are scattered in well-defined punctate structures over the entire sperm head. Bicarbonate-induced in vitro activation in the presence of BSA causes a relocalization of these SNAREs to a more homogeneous distribution restricted to the apical ridge area of the sperm head, exactly matching the site of sperm zona binding and subsequent induced acrosomal exocytosis. This redistribution of syntaxin and VAMP depends on cholesterol depletion and closely resembles the previously reported redistribution of lipid raft marker proteins. Detergent-resistant membrane isolation and subsequent analysis shows that a significant proportion of syntaxin emerges in the detergent-resistant membrane (raft) fraction under such conditions, which is not the case under those conditions where cholesterol depletion is blocked. The v-SNARE VAMP displays a similar cholesterol depletion-dependent lateral and raft redistribution. Taken together, our results indicate that redistribution of syntaxin and VAMP during capacitation depends on association of these SNAREs with lipid rafts and that such a SNARE-raft association may be essential for spatial control of exocytosis and/or regulation of SNARE functioning.
Distance-based classification of keystroke dynamics

This paper uses the keystroke dynamics in user authentication. The relationship between the distance metrics and the data template, for the first time, was analyzed and new distance based algorithm for keystroke dynamics classification was proposed. The results of the experiments on the CMU keystroke dynamics benchmark dataset were evaluated with an equal error rate of 0.0614. The classifiers using the proposed distance metric outperform existing top performing keystroke dynamics classifiers which use traditional distance metrics.
Secular Trends in Pubertal Development

Objective: To describe the secular trend in pubertal development in relation to the secular trend in height. Methods: Literature review of cross-sectional, longitudinal and twin studies. Results: Globally, there is a secular trend in adolescent growth for an increased mean final height at adulthood. To a lesser extent, there is also a secular trend towards earlier puberty. However, it seems that the two trends are not strongly connected. The increase in average height over the generations can, to a large extent, be explained by an earlier onset of the growth hormone-dependent phase of growth in early life. The age when this growth ‘spurt’ occurs in childhood strongly correlates with final height, but is not related to the age at peak height velocity during puberty. There is a large variation in the timing of the onset of puberty; it is largely influenced genetically, as implied by studies in twins. The single environmental factor that stands out as most significant – possibly explaining as much as 25% of the variation in the timing of puberty – is simply nutritional status in childhood; overnutrition and obesity seem to trigger pubertal onset. However, recent studies have identified that both shortness and thinness at birth are also associated with earlier pubertal maturation – a reverse of their impact during childhood years. Conclusions: More longitudinal studies are needed to understand the short- and long-term consequences of secular changes in both final height and pubertal development before we know how important the trends are.
Effective SAW excitation on non-piezoelectric substrate using AlScN piezoelectric thin film BAW/SAW hybrid transducer

Acoustic delay lines based on Al0.85Sc0. 15N thin film hybrid transducers were investigated by finite element modeling. It was found that an acoustic impedance matching between transducer and non-piezoelectric substrate material plays a crucial role to efficiently excite a traveling surface acoustic wave (SAW) through the BAW piston motion. Test devices based on the 2.5 um thick Al0.85Sc0. 15N piezoelectric film on the silicon substrate were fabricated and characterized.
Polarimeter based on video matrix

In this paper we present a new measurement tool - polarimeter, based on video matrix. Polarimetric measure- ments are usefull, for example, when monitoring water areas pollutions and atmosphere constituents. New device is small enough to mount on unmanned aircraft vehicles (quadrocopters) and stationary platforms. Device and corresponding software turns it into real-time monitoring system, that helps to solve some research problems.
Fast , robust andefficient 2 Dpattern recognition for reassembling fragmented images

We discuss the realization of a fast, robust and accurate pattern matching algorithm for comparison of digital images implemented by discrete Circular Harmonic expansions based on sampling theory. The algorithm and its performance for reassembling fragmented digital images are described in detail and illustrated by examples and data from the experimentation on an art fresco real problem. Because of the huge database of patterns and the large-scale dimension, the results of the experimentation are relevant to describe the power of discrimination and the efficiency of such method. 2005 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DEREVERBERATION AND DENOISING USING COMPLEX RATIO MASKS

Traditional speech separation systems enhance the magnitude response of noisy speech. Recent studies, however, have shown that perceptual speech quality is significantly improved when magnitude and phase are both enhanced. These studies, however, have not determined if phase enhancement is beneficial in environments that contain reverberation as well as noise. In this paper, we present an approach that jointly enhances the magnitude and phase of reverberant and noisy speech. We use a deep neural network to estimate the real and imaginary components of the complex ideal ratio mask (cIRM), which results in clean and anechoic speech when applied to a reverberant-noisy mixture. Our results show that phase is important for dereverberation, and that complex ratio masking outperforms related methods.
News video story segmentation method using fusion of audio-visual features

News story segmentation is an important aspect for news video analysis. This paper presents a method for news video story segmentation. Different form prior works, which base on visual features transform, the proposed technique uses audio features as baseline and fuses visual features with it to refine the results. At first, it selects silence clips as audio features candidate points, and selects shot boundaries and anchor shots as two kinds of visual features candidate points. Then this paper selects audio feature candidates as cues and develops different fusion method, which effectively using diverse type visual candidates to refine audio candidates, to get story boundaries. Experiment results show that this method has high efficiency and adaptability to different kinds of news video.