Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser beam characterization by means of diffractive optical correlation filters

Analyzing of amplitude-phase characteristics of laser beam is topical in experimental physics and in a great number of laser applications, such as, for example, laser material treatment. The task of analyzing the amplitude-phase beam structure may be treated as that of analyzing the modal composition, if this is thought of as both analyzing individual modal powers and intermode phase shifts. In this paper the problem is tackled using a special diffractive optical element (DOE), called MODAN, matched to a group of laser radiation modes and their special combinations. The experimental results reported indicate that such an approach shows promise.
Heat Extraction

For superior land based astronomy locations such as Mauna Kea, Cerro -Tololo and Mt. Graham, all precautions must be taken to preserve the high quality of the seeing. In addition to the floor cooling and well insulated domes, it is essential to extract heat generated within the telescope. The critical locations are hydrostatic pads, the cassegrain station, prime focus cage, and telescope's tube cross head.
Terahertz detection in 2D materials

The terahertz (THz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum, broadly defined as between 300 GHz and 30 THz, is of growing importance in fields as diverse as communications, medicine, astronomy, security, biology and materials science. Despite this, the technologies for detection of THz radiation are still comparatively immature. The most sensitive THz detectors are typically slow and require cryogenic cooling, and conversely the fastest detectors lack the sensitivity to measure weak signals. We describe here recent work to employ new two-dimensional (2D) materials for the detection of THz waves.
A study on improvement of lateral resolution in synthetic aperture super-resolution ultrasound imaging

Ultrasound imaging is applied to various fields because it is noninvasive and real-time imaging is possible. However, in the field of diagnosis imaging, ultrasound imaging is inferior in resolution to other modalities, so researches to improve resolution are actively conducted. We proposed a method called the SCM (Super resolution FM-Chirp correlation Method) that improves the range resolution based on frequency sweep. In order to improve the frame rate, the SCM was extended to the SA-SCM (Synthetic Aperture-SCM) by incorporating synthetic aperture beamforming using divergent waves in the SCM. However, these methods improve only the range resolution. Therefore, in this study, we aim at high lateral resolution by using F-DMAS (Filtered-Delay Multiply and Sum) of analytic signal representation as the beamforming method.
A weight calculation method for multiscale normalized cut image segmentation

In this paper, we propose a weight calculation method to solve a problem of Multiscale Normalized Cut (MNCut) image segmentation. Since Multiscale is incorporated with various information, robust segmentation results can be expected for various RGB images. However, MNCut has a problem that if the foreground or background is separated into two or more regions, they may be classified into different labels. To solve this problem, we use Matting Laplacian2 for edge weight calculation. In the experimental results, the proposed method obtained the results closer to the ground truth.
Optoelectronic parallel computing system with reconfigurable optical interconnection

System architectures for optoelectronic parallel computing system are reviewed and a massively parallel processing system with a reconfigurable optical interconnection among electronic general purpose processing elements (PE’s) is described as an example. If PE is so compact, more than 4,000 PE’s can be integrated into one chip for directly coupling with array type optical devices in parallel. The optical interconnection is constructed using a surface emitting laser diode array and a phase modulation type spatial light modulator on which optimized computer generated holograms are written. In this paper, the design concept of optoelectronic parallel computing systems and PE’s, configurations of experimental system, and algorithms for parallel optoelectronic computing system are shown.
Progress in the specification of optical instruments for the measurement of surface form and texture

Specifications for confocal microscopes, optical interferometers and other methods of measuring areal surface topography can be confusing and misleading. The emerging ISO 25178 standards, together with the established international vocabulary of metrology, provide a foundation for improved specifications for 3D surface metrology instrumentation. The approach in this paper links instrument specifications to metrological characteristics that can influence a measurement, using consistent definitions of terms, and reference to verification procedures.
Texture compilation for example-based synthesis

In this paper, a new exemplar-based framework is presented, which treats image completion, texture synthesis and texture Analysis in a unified manner. In order to be able to avoid the occurrence of visually inconsistent results, we pose all of the image-editing tasks in the form of a discrete global optimization problem. The objective function of this problem is always well-defined, and corresponds to the energy of a discrete Markov Random Field (MRF). For efficiently optimizing this MRF, a novel optimization scheme, called Priority-BP, is then proposed, which carries two very important extensions over the standard Belief Propagation (BP) algorithm: “priority-based message scheduling” and “dynamic label pruning”. These two extensions work in cooperation to deal with the intolerable computational cost of BP, which is caused by the huge number of labels associated with our MRF. In an Experimental results on a wide variety of input images are presented, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our image-completion framework for tasks such as object removal, texture synthesis, text removal and texture Analysis.
A low cost thermal infrared hyperspectral imager for small satellites

The growth of the small satellite market and launch opportunities for these satellites is creating a new niche for earth observations that contrasts with the long mission durations, high costs, and long development times associated with traditional space-based earth observations. Low-cost, short-lived missions made possible by this new approach provide an experimental platform for testing new sensor technologies that may transition to larger, more long-lived platforms. The low costs and short lifetimes also increase acceptable risk to sensors, enabling large decreases in cost using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts and allowing early-career scientists and engineers to gain experience with these projects. We are building a low-cost long-wave infrared spectral sensor, funded by the NASA Experimental Project to Stimulate Competitive Research program (EPSCoR), to demonstrate ways in which a university's scientific and instrument development programs can fit into this niche. The sensor is a low-mass, power-efficient thermal hyperspectral imager with electronics contained in a pressure vessel to enable use of COTS electronics and will be compatible with small satellite platforms. The sensor, called Thermal Hyperspectral Imager (THI), is based on a Sagnac interferometer and uses an uncooled 320x256 microbolometer array. The sensor will collect calibrated radiance data at long-wave infrared (LWIR, 8-14 microns) wavelengths in 230 meter pixels with 20 wavenumber spectral resolution from a 400 km orbit. We are currently in the laboratory and airborne testing stage in order to demonstrate the spectro-radiometric quality of data that the instrument provides.
Recurrent neural network based virtual detection line

The paper proposes an efficient method for detection of moving objects in the video. The objects are detected when they cross a virtual detection line. Only the pixels of the detection line are processed, which makes the method computationally efficient. A Recurrent Neural Network processes these pixels. The machine learning approach allows one to train a model that works in different and changing outdoor conditions. Also, the same network can be trained for various detection tasks, which is demonstrated by the tests on vehicle and people counting. In addition, the paper proposes a method for semi-automatic acquisition of labeled training data. The labeling method is used to create training and testing datasets, which in turn are used to train and evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the detection method. The method shows similar accuracy as the alternative efficient methods but provides greater adaptability and usability for different tasks.
Fast face localization for mobile robots: signature analysis and color processing

The purpose of our works is to provide fast and reliable face localization techniques in real time an in real-life scenes. Person localization is included in this problem. The end application sought is the ability of mobile robots to navigate in human populated environments, and to start visual interaction with them. Known methods are computationally intensive, far from real time implementation at near future processing power of off-the-shelf processors. Our technique is based in motion segmentation, signature analysis and color processing. Signature analysis provides fast hints of the person and face localization. Color processing is used to confirm the face hypothesis, and it is based on our works on adaptive color quantization of image sequences. The technique can be implemented in real time and combined with other approaches to enhance the recognition results.
Virtual expansion of the technical vision system for smart vehicles based on multi-agent cooperation model

Road safety and driving in dense traffic flows poses some challenges in receiving information about surrounding moving object, some of which can be in the vehicle’s blind spot. This work suggests an approach to virtual monitoring of the objects in a current road scene via a system with a multitude of cooperating smart vehicles exchanging information. It also describes the intellectual agent model, and provides methods and algorithms of identifying and evaluating various characteristics of moving objects in video flow. Authors also suggest ways for integrating the information from the technical vision system into the model with further expansion of virtual monitoring for the system’s objects. Implementation of this approach can help to expand the virtual field of view for a technical vision system.
Diagnostic value of recombinant Tp0821 protein in serodiagnosis for syphilis

Syphilis is a multistage sexually transmitted disease that remains a serious public health concern worldwide. The coexistence of Treponema pallidum with other closely related members of spirochaeta, such as Leptospira spp. and Borrelia burgdorferi, has complicated the serodiagnosis due to cross‐reactive antigens. In this study, recombinant Tp0821 protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by metal affinity chromatography. Then enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on Tp0821 for the detection of specific antibodies were established. The relative positive rates of the IgM ELISA and the IgG ELISA were found to be 91·0 and 98·3%, respectively, when screening 578 syphilis specimens. The specificities were 94·3 and 100%, respectively, when cross‐checking with serum samples obtained from 30 patients with Lyme disease, five patients with leptospirosis, and 52 uninfected controls. In addition, relative positive rates and specificities of Tp0821 for human sera were all 100% in Western blotting. When compared to the syphilis diagnostic tests commonly used in clinical settings, we found that the results of Tp0821‐based ELISAs correlated well with the results of the treponemal tests, specifically the T. pallidum particle agglutination (TP‐PA) test and the chemiluminescent immunoassay (CIA). Thus, these findings identify Tp0821 as a novel serodiagnostic candidate for syphilis.
Issues in performance modeling of data teletraffic

Data teletraffic is characterized by bursty arrival processes. Performance models are characterized by a desire to know under what circumstances is the probability that an arrival finds a full input buffer very small. In this paper I examine how four models proposed in the literature perform on two data sets of local-area-network traffic. Among my conclusions are (1) the protocol governing the data transmission may have a substantial effect on the statistical properties of the packet stream, (2) approximating the probability that a finite buffer of size b overflows may not be adequately approximated by the probability that an infinite buffer has at least b packets in it, and (3) a data-based estimate of large-deviation rate-function does the best job of estimating packet loss on these data sets. This method may overestimate the loss rate by several orders of magnitude, so there is room for further refinements.
Visualization and grading of regional ischemia in pigs in vivo using near-infrared and thermal imaging.

Reductions in regional coronary flow result in tissue deoxygenation and decrease in surface temperature, changes detectable by near-infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) and thermal imaging, respectively. In anesthetized open-chest pigs, an inflatable occluder and flow probe were placed around the left anterior descending artery. Gated NIRS and nongated thermal images were acquired at baseline, partial (17% and 50%), and complete occlusion and reflow. At each step, dobutamine was infused (10 microg.min(-1). kg(-1)) for 7-9 min to increase blood pressure and flow. Changes in the oxygen saturation parameter, rate of indocyanine green flow tracer passage, and the surface temperature were correlated with the measured left anterior descending artery flow. Location and sizes of the areas of reduced oxygenation, indocyanine green uptake, and temperature were similar. Decrease in the coronary flow to 50% and 17% of baseline resulted in progressive decrease in the above parameters, whereas increase in flow from 75% to approximately 250% achieved by dobutamine and reactive hyperemia did not significantly change them. Dobutamine increased total and epicardial flow in ischemic areas and increased subepicardial oxygenation. NIRS and thermal imaging provide epicardial maps of oxygen saturation and perfusion that reveal ischemic areas. Combination of these techniques may be useful in the coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery setting.
Airplane detection based on fusion framework by combining saliency model with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Aircraft detection from very high resolution remote sensing images, has gained more increasing interest in recent years due to the successful civil and military applications. However, several problems still exist: 1) how to extract the high-level features of aircraft; 2) locating objects within such a large image is difficult and time consuming; 3) A common problem of multiple resolutions of satellite images still exists. In this paper, inspirited by biological visual mechanism, the fusion detection framework is proposed, which fusing the top-down visual mechanism (deep CNN model) and bottom-up visual mechanism (GBVS) to detect aircraft. Besides, we use multi-scale training method for deep CNN model to solve the problem of multiple resolutions. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can achieve a better detection result than the other methods.
Ontology Mapping Specification Language

Ontology mediation is one of the key research topics for the acomplishment of the semantic web. Different tasks can be distinguished under this generic term: instance transformation, query rewriting, instance unification, ontology merging or mapping creation. All first four tasks require a mapping specification between the ontologies to be mediated. Mapping creation using tools and algorithms is outputting such a specification. We argue in this thesis proposal that a specific language to express mapping specifications is needed. This proposal presents arguments why such a language is needed, introducing particularly the concept of mapping patterns, based on a study of the frequent mismatches arising when trying to mediate between ontologies. Such a language is then proposed and its applicability is demonstrated for three scenarios: a graphical tool for ontology mapping, an output format for ontology matching algorithms and a merging algorithm. We also give first results on the language design, mainly represented by an alignment ontology. 1 Contributions of the proposed thesis With this thesis we expect to achieve the following goals: − Having a language able to model ontology mappings patterns. − Having demonstrated this language is of practical use by using it for concrete mediation tasks. − Providing usable tools around the language (API, patterns library) − Having the mapping language being used as a standard way for representing and exchanging ontology mappings The language referenced in this proposal is already used by two ontology mapping tools: a graphical mapping editor a text editor to edit mapping documents. The mapping language is compatible and extends the ontology alignment format used as part of the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative. The Alignment Format allows to express simple mappings while the mapping language is more expressive. A few algorithms are actually able to detect such complex mappings. We developped a merging algorithm[1] able to automatically merge a set of ontology in a network, given one to one mappings between ontologies. As today the language is reaching some maturity given the feedback of the graphical mapping tool implementation and the support of the ontology alignment format. Next steps are given in Section 3. 1 http://oaei.ontologymatching. org
Interleukins 6 and 11 protect mice from mortality in a staphylococcal enterotoxin-induced toxic shock model

BALB/By mice given doses of D-galactosamine plus Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B die within 48 h of administration. The cause of death is a syndrome much like toxic shock syndrome in humans. We used this model to investigate the role of two cytokines, interleukin 6 and interleukin 11, which share the signal transducing subunit, gp130, of their respective receptors. We observed that pretreatment of mice with antibody to interleukin 6 increased mortality from 55% to nearly 90% (P < 0.001), while pretreatment with either cytokine reduced death. The protection was dose dependent; however, interleukin 6 was about 10-fold more potent that interleukin 11. These data indicate that endogenous interleukin 6 plays a protective role in attenuating acute inflammatory responses; furthermore, interleukin 6 and interleukin 11 can abrogate T-cell activation due to triggering by superantigen. A possible clinical role for these cytokines in the treatment of toxic shock merits further investigation.
A Multi-Targeted Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Therapy Directed at Phosphodiesterases 4 and 7 for COPD

Recent drug development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has focused on strategies aimed at reducing the underlying inflammation by selective inhibition of phosphodiesterases (PDE), specifically the PDE4 isoforms. The anti-inflammatory and bronchodilator activities of PDE4 inhibitors have been well documented (Giembycz &Field 2010), however their clinical development has been hampered by their low therapeutic ratio and dose-dependent systemic side effects. PXS TPI1100 is an inhaled drug candidate consisting of two modified antisense oligonucleotides (AON) directed at PDE isoforms 4B, 4D and 7A. PXS TPI1100 has been designed to reduce the recruitment and persistence of inflammatory cells in COPD through an unique mechanism of action and has the potential to be a novel, highly effective approach for this respiratory disease.
Manifestations of Inflammatory Arthritis Are Critically Dependent on LFA-11

Leukocyte infiltration of synovial fluid and tissues is the hallmark of inflammatory arthritis. Selectins and β2 integrins have been implicated in the multistep process of leukocyte adhesion to vascular endothelium. However, previous work has revealed disparate requirements for leukocyte recruitments to specific anatomic locales. Moreover, the mechanisms regulating recruitment of leukocytes to the joint in inflammatory arthritis models are not fully understood. We hypothesized that β2 integrins, expressed on leukocytes, might play a pathogenic role in synovial inflammation. Using mice deficient in all β2 integrins (CD18 null mice), we demonstrate that expression of these heterodimeric adhesion molecules is critical for arthritis induction in the K/B × N serum transfer model. Using null-allele mice and blocking mAbs, we demonstrate specifically that CD11a/CD18 (LFA-1) is absolutely required for the development of arthritis in this model. Blocking mAbs further revealed an ongoing requirement for LFA-1 I-domain adhesive function in disease perpetuation. These findings suggest that the LFA-1 I-domain forms an attractive target for treatment of human inflammatory arthritis.
Real-time elimination of twin images in digital holographic microscope

A novel method is employed to eliminate the twin-images in the so called 'in-line' digital holographic microscope. We could achieve digital holographic microscope which solve the problems of overlapping of real and imaginary images and eliminating one of them by padding and removing DC term by averaging method. The entire process needs only one digital hologram.
Tissue-Specific Progenitor and Stem Cells AHumanCorneal Epithelial Cell LineModel for Limbal Stem Cell Biology and Limbal Immunobiology

Limbal stem cell (LSC) deficiency is a visually debilitating condition caused by abnormalmaintenance of LSCs. It is treated by transplantation of donor-derived limbal epithelial cells (LECs), the success of which dependsonthepresenceandqualityof LSCswithin the transplant.Understanding the immunobiological responses of these cells within the transplants could improve cell engraftment and survival. However, human corneal rings used as a source of LSCs are not always readily available for research purposes. As an alternative, we hypothesized that a human telomerase-immortalized corneal epithelial cell (HTCEC) line could be used as a model for studying LSC immunobiology. HTCEC constitutively expressed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I but not class II molecules. However, when stimulated by interferon-g, HTCECs then expressed HLA class II antigens. Some HTCECs were also migratory in response to CXCL12 and expressed stem cell markers, Nanog, Oct4, and Sox2. In addition because both HTCECs and LECs contain side population (SP) cells, which are an enriched LSC population, weused these SP cells to show that someHTCEC SP cells coexpressedABCG2 and ABCB5. HTCEC SP and non-side population (NSP) cells also expressed CXCR4, but the SP cells expressed higher levels. Bothwere capable of colony formation, but the NSP colonies were smaller and contained fewer cells. In addition, HTCECs expressed DNp63a. Theseresults suggesttheHTCECline isausefulmodel for furtherunderstandingLSCbiologybyusingan in vitro approach without reliance on a supply of human tissue. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE 2016;5:1–6