Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple-Cue Object Recognition for Interactionable Objects

Category-level object recognition is a fundamental capability for the potential use of robots in the assistance of humans in useful tasks. There have been numerous vision-based object recognition systems yielding fast and accurate results in constrained environments. However, by depending on visual cues, these techniques are susceptible to object variations in size, lighting, rotation, and pose, all of which cannot be avoided in real video data. Thus, the task of object recognition still remains very challenging. My thesis work builds upon the fact that robots can observe humans interacting with the objects in their environment. We refer to the set of objects, which can be involved in the interaction as `interactionable' objects. The interaction of humans with the `interactionable' objects provides numerous nonvisual cues to the identity of objects. In this thesis, I will introduce a flexible object recognition approach called Multiple-Cue Object Recognition (MCOR) that can use multiple cues of any predefined type, whether they are cues intrinsic to the object or provided by observation of a human. In pursuit of this goal, the thesis will provide several contributions: A representation for the multiple cues including an object definition that allows for the flexible addition of these cues; Weights that reflect the various strength of association between a particular cue and a particular object using a probabilistic relational model, as well as object displacement values for localizing the information in an image; Tools for defining visual features, segmentation, tracking, and the values for the non-visual cues; Lastly, an object recognition algorithm for the incremental discrimination of potential object categories. We evaluate these contributions through a number of methods including simulation to demonstrate the learning of weights and recognition based on an analytical model, an analytical model that demonstrates the robustness of the MCOR framework, and recognition results on real video data using a number of datasets including video taken from a humanoid robot (Sony QRIO), video captured from a meeting setting, scripted scenarios from outside universities, and unscripted TV cooking data. Using the datasets, we demonstrate the basic features of the MCOR algorithm including its ability to use multiple cues of different types. We demonstrate the applicability of MCOR to an outside dataset. We show that MCOR has better recognition results over vision-only recognition systems, and show that performance only improves with the addition of more cue types.
Risk factors for recurrence of tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for recurrence of tuberculosis. METHODS We studied a cohort of 610 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis who were enrolled for treatment between 1989 and 1994 and cured using a three-drug treatment regimen of rifampin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide (RHZ). The risk factors studied were age, gender, race, duration of symptoms, lesion cavitation, extent of disease, diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, HIV infection, delayed negative sputum conversion, treatment compliance, and medication doses. In order to detect recurrence, the patients were monitored through the Rio Grande do Sul State Healt Department Information System for 7.7 +/- 2.0 years after cure. Data were analyzed using the Student's t-test, the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, and Cox regression models. RESULTS There were 26 cases of recurrence (4.3%), which corresponds to 0.55/100 patients-year. The recurrence rate was 5.95 and 0.48/100 patients-year in HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients, respectively (p < 0.0001). In the multivariate analysis, HIV infection [RR = 8.04 (95% CI: 2.35-27.50); p = 0.001] and noncompliance [RR = 6.43 (95% CI: 2.02-20.44); p = 0.002] proved to be independently associated with recurrence of tuberculosis. CONCLUSIONS Recurrence of tuberculosis was more common in HIV-positive patients and in patients who did not comply with the self-administered treatment (RHZ regimen). Patients presenting at least one of these risk factors can benefit from the implementation of a post-treatment surveillance system for early detection of recurrence. An alternative to prevent noncompliance with tuberculosis treatment would be the use of supervised treatment.
Fine tuning and six-dimensional gauged N =(1, 0) supergravity vacua

We find a new family of supersymmetric vacuum solutions in the six-dimensional chiral gauged N = (1, 0) supergravity theory. They are generically of the form AdS3 × S3, where the 3-sphere is squashed homogeneously along its Hopf fibres. The squashing is freely adjustable, corresponding to changing the 3-form charge, and the solution is supersymmetric for all squashings. In a limit where the length of the Hopf fibres goes to zero, one recovers, after a compensating rescaling of the fibre coordinate, a solution that is locally the same as the well-known (Minkowski)4 × S2 vacuum of this theory. It can now be viewed as a fine tuning of the new more general family. The traditional 'cosmological constant problem' is replaced in this theory by the problem of why the four-dimensional (Minkowski)4 × S2 vacuum should be selected over other members of the equally supersymmetric AdS3 × S3 family. We also obtain a family of dyonic string solutions in the gauged N = (1, 0) theory, whose near-horizon limits approach the AdS3 times squashed S3 solutions.
Structure and Rheology of Monodisperse and Bimodal Emulsions

Emulsions are the basis for many commercial products such as foodstuffs and paint due in part to their highly tunable flow properties. It is qualitatively understood that factors such as the dispersed phase droplet size and size distribution should affect how an emulsion flows because they influence how droplets can deform or pack. Since standard emulsification techniques such as blending and homogenization cannot produce emulsions with well-defined size distributions, little work has been done to, in particular, quantitatively determine the influence of droplet size distribution on emulsion flow properties. Consequently, in this investigation we have probed how the droplet size distribution affects emulsion flow properties by using model monodisperse emulsion systems with narrow, controllable droplet size distributions. Using a microfluidic flow focusing device, dodecane-in-water emulsions with diameters between 50 to 100 m with polydispersities less than 5% were produced, as characterized by pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and optical microscopy. Due to the relatively large size of the droplets, it was only possible to examine the creamed phase of the emulsion. Samples of known polydispersity were made by mixing known quantities of two monodisperse emulsions. The monodisperse and bimodal emulsions were then subjected to rotational and oscillatory shear flow using a controlled stress rheometer to determine the effects of droplet size and size distribution on emulsion flow properties. Rotational and oscillatory rheological experiments showed that the monodisperse emulsions had two distinct behaviours: foam-like with appreciable thixotropy and yield stresses as well as emulsion-like with no evident thixotropy. The transition between these two behaviours appears to happen at a critical droplet radius between 33 and 37 micrometres. The rheological properties of the bimodal emulsions was split into three distinct behaviours. In samples that could be considered a matrix of large droplets perturbed by smaller droplets, the flow properties were similar to those of the constituent emulsion with the larger droplets. Increasing the number fraction of smaller droplets to a 1:1 ratio creates an entirely new phase with significantly reduced elastic properties. Surprisingly, when the emulsion primarily consists of small droplets, the flow properties are most similar to that of the large droplets. Additionally, despite the microstructural differences, all emulsions showed flow characteristics typical of soft glassy materials above the glass transition temperature. These results demonstrate the significant influence of microstructure on emulsion rheology, where altering the droplet size or polydispersity essentially creates a new phase with its own unique flow properties that is not simply a combination of the properties of the individual monodisperse components that make up the sample
Improving Web Search Relevance with Semantic Features

Most existing information retrieval (IR) systems do not take much advantage of natural language processing (NLP) techniques due to the complexity and limited observed effectiveness of applying NLP to IR. In this paper, we demonstrate that substantial gains can be obtained over a strong baseline using NLP techniques, if properly handled. We propose a framework for deriving semantic text matching features from named entities identified in Web queries; we then utilize these features in a supervised machine-learned ranking approach, applying a set of emerging machine learning techniques. Our approach is especially useful for queries that contain multiple types of concepts. Comparing to a major commercial Web search engine, we observe a substantial 4% DCG5 gain over the affected queries.
A combination of static and stroke gesture with speech for multimodal interaction in a virtual environment

The computers nowadays are powerful enough to make the virtual reality technology more practical. Virtual reality is expected to have a bright future due to the rise of several virtual reality head mounted device such as low cost Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Oculus, HTC Vive and many others. Since virtual reality had been growing fast in this few years thus it is necessary to explore new approaches for user to interact with the virtual reality more naturally. It is an important research in HCI to make the interactions with computers to be as natural as the interaction between humans. One of the approaches is to allow user to interact with the virtual reality through gesture and speech input. This paper presents a virtual reality environment with multimodal interaction technique. It allows user to interact with the virtual reality system with the static and stroke hand gesture along with speech. This multimodal interaction technique is able to perform few functions such as select, move, scale, rotate, copy, mirror, delete, check the shape, check and change the colour of an object.
Early changes in longitudinal deformation indices in young asymptomatic patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus: assessment by speckle-tracking echocardiography.

BACKGROUND We explored early changes in regional left ventricular systolic and diastolic function assessed by speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) in young asymptomatic patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM), compared with healthy controls. METHODS We enrolled 30 normotensive asymptomatic patients with type 1 DM, age ≤40 years, DM duration >5 years, and left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50%; and thirty matched controls. They underwent conventional echocardiography, and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). Myocardial deformation indices were measured by STE. We measured global longitudinal systolic strain, global longitudinal systolic strain rate, and global longitudinal early diastolic strain rate, as an average of 18 myocardial segments. RESULTS The mean age was 27.7±4.5 years, (41.7% males). The mean duration of diabetes was 14.3±5.8 years. The 2-D ejection fraction was lower in diabetic patients versus controls (P=0.03). The trans-mitral A peak was higher, and isovolumetric relaxation time longer in diabetics (P<0.05 for both). Both lateral and septal É values were lower, and E/É ratio higher in diabetics (P<0.05 for all). The global longitudinal systolic strain and strain rate were decreased in diabetics (-17.7±2.5% versus -21.2±1.7%, and -1.1±0.2 versus -1.3±0.2 s-1, P<0.001 and P=0.003, respectively). The global longitudinal early diastolic strain rate was comparable to controls (1.5±0.4 versus 1.6±0.3 s-1, respectively, P=0.33). CONCLUSIONS In asymptomatic patients with type 1 DM, global longitudinal systolic function measured by STE was impaired versus controls; diastolic function was impaired by conventional echocardiography and TDI.
A localized adaptive proportioning approach to QoS routing

In QoS routing, paths for flows are selected based on knowledge of resource availability at network nodes and the QoS requirements of flows. Several QoS routing schemes have been proposed that differ in the way they gather information about the network state and select paths based on this information. We broadly categorize these schemes into best path routing and proportional routing. The best path routing schemes gather global network state information and always select the best path for an incoming I-low,based on this global view. It has been shown that best path routing schemes require frequent exchange of network state, imposing both communication overhead on the network and processing overheads on the core routers. On the other hand, proportional routing schemes proportion incoming flows among a set of candidate paths. We have shown that it is possible to compute near-optimal proportions using only locally collected information. Furthermore, a few good candidate paths can be selected using infrequently exchanged global information and thus with minimal communication overhead. We describe these schemes in detail and demonstrate that proportional routing schemes can achieve higher throughput with lower overhead than best path routing schemes.
Evaluating molecular clock calibrations using Bayesian analyses with soft and hard bounds

A limiting factor in many molecular dating studies is shortage of reliable calibrations. Current methods for choosing calibrations (e.g. cross-validation) treat them as either correct or incorrect, whereas calibrations probably lie on a continuum from highly accurate to very poor. Bayesian relaxed clock analysis permits inclusion of numerous candidate calibrations as priors: provided most calibrations are reliable, the model appropriate and the data informative, the accuracy of each calibration prior can be evaluated. If a calibration is accurate, then the analysis will support the prior so that the posterior estimate reflects the prior; if a calibration is poor, the posterior will be forced away from the prior. We use this approach to test two fossil dates recently proposed as standard calibrations within vertebrates. The proposed bird–crocodile calibration (approx. 247 Myr ago) appears to be accurate, but the proposed bird–lizard calibration (approx. 255 Myr ago) is substantially too recent.
User-Driven Development of Text Mining Resources for Cancer Risk Assessment

One of the most neglected areas of biomedical Text Mining (TM) is the development of systems based on carefully assessed user needs. We investigate the needs of an important task yet to be tackled by TM --- Cancer Risk Assessment (CRA) --- and take the first step towards the development of TM for the task: identifying and organizing the scientific evidence required for CRA in a taxonomy. The taxonomy is based on expert annotation of 1297 MEDLINE abstracts. We report promising results with inter-annotator agreement tests and automatic classification experiments, and a user test which demonstrates that the resources we have built are well-defined, accurate, and applicable to a real-world CRA scenario. We discuss extending and refining the taxonomy further via manual and machine learning approaches, and the subsequent steps required to develop TM for the needs of CRA.
Entropic Stabilization of Proteins and Its Proteomic Consequences

Evolutionary traces of thermophilic adaptation are manifest, on the whole-genome level, in compositional biases toward certain types of amino acids. However, it is sometimes difficult to discern their causes without a clear understanding of underlying physical mechanisms of thermal stabilization of proteins. For example, it is well-known that hyperthermophiles feature a greater proportion of charged residues, but, surprisingly, the excess of positively charged residues is almost entirely due to lysines but not arginines in the majority of hyperthermophilic genomes. All-atom simulations show that lysines have a much greater number of accessible rotamers than arginines of similar degree of burial in folded states of proteins. This finding suggests that lysines would preferentially entropically stabilize the native state. Indeed, we show in computational experiments that arginine-to-lysine amino acid substitutions result in noticeable stabilization of proteins. We then hypothesize that if evolution uses this physical mechanism as a complement to electrostatic stabilization in its strategies of thermophilic adaptation, then hyperthermostable organisms would have much greater content of lysines in their proteomes than comparably sized and similarly charged arginines. Consistent with that, high-throughput comparative analysis of complete proteomes shows extremely strong bias toward arginine-to-lysine replacement in hyperthermophilic organisms and overall much greater content of lysines than arginines in hyperthermophiles. This finding cannot be explained by genomic GC compositional biases or by the universal trend of amino acid gain and loss in protein evolution. We discovered here a novel entropic mechanism of protein thermostability due to residual dynamics of rotamer isomerization in native state and demonstrated its immediate proteomic implications. Our study provides an example of how analysis of a fundamental physical mechanism of thermostability helps to resolve a puzzle in comparative genomics as to why amino acid compositions of hyperthermophilic proteomes are significantly biased toward lysines but not similarly charged arginines.
Simulation of Biological Neural Microcircuits on Multi-core Systems

Our research focuses on the identification and quantification of the impact that multi-core parallelization strategies have on the stability of the result of spiking neural networks simulations. We investigated Open MP-based implementations of the Spike Response Model and Spike Time-Dependent Plasticity for studying behaviors of biological neurons and synapses. The underlying neural microcircuits have small-world topologies. The simulation strategy is a synchronous one. The software development methodology we follow makes use of systematic unit testing and continuous integration, giving us a way to verify various perturbations of simulation results. We carried out investigations on systems having different multi-core processors. The processing speed (spikes/second) of our simulator scales well with the number of cores, but the parallel efficiency is moderate when all cores of the system are used in the simulation (0.57 for 12 cores e.g.). The primary outcomes of this work are twofold: One the one hand, the proposed parallel simulation strategies show a dynamic behavior unaltered by the use of multi-core specific technologies. On the other hand, we analyze issues met in our approach to multi-core simulations.
Rock Magnetism: Fundamentals and Frontiers

Preface 1. Magnetism in nature 2. Fundamentals of magnetism 3. Terrestrial magnetic materials 4. Magnetostatic fields and energies 5. Elementary domain structure and hysteresis 6. Domain observations 7. Micromagnetic calculations 8. Single-domain thermoremanent magnetization 9. Multidomain thermoremanent magnetization 10. Viscous and thermoviscous magnetization 11. Isothermal magnetization and demagnetization 12. Pseudo-single-domain remanence 13. Crystallization remanent magnetization 14. Magnetism of igneous rocks and baked materials 15. Magnetism of sediments and sedimentary rocks 16. Magnetism of metamorphic rocks 17. Magnetism of extraterrestrial rocks References.
Study of Ribbon Separation of a Flare Associated with a Quiescent Filament Eruption

In this paper, we present a detailed study of a two-ribbon flare in the plage region observed by Kanzelhohe Solar Observatory (KSO), which is one of the stations in our global Hα network. We select this event due to its very clear filament eruption, two-ribbon separation, and association with a fast coronal mass ejection (CME). We study the separation between the two ribbons seen in Hα as a function of time and find that the separation motion consisted of a fast stage of rapid motion at a speed of about 15 km s-1 in the first 20 minutes and a slow stage with a separation speed of about 1 km s-1 lasting for 2 hr. We then estimate the rate of the magnetic reconnection in the corona, as represented by the electric fields Ec in the reconnecting current sheet, by measuring the ribbon motion speed and the magnetic fields obtained from MDI. We find that there were two stages as well in evolution of the electric fields: Ec = 1 V cm-1 averaged over 20 minutes in the early stage, followed by Ec = 0.1 V cm-1 in the subsequent 2 hr. The two stages of the ribbon motion and electric fields coincide with the impulsive and decaying phases of the flare, respectively, yielding clear evidence that the impulsive flare energy release is governed by the fast magnetic reconnection in the corona. We also measure the projected heights of the erupting filament from KSO Hα and SOHO/EIT images. The filament started to rise 20 minutes before the flare. After the flare onset, it was accelerated quickly at a rate of 300 m s-2, and in 20 minutes, reached a speed of at least 540 km s-1, when it disappeared beyond the limb in the EIT observations. The acceleration rate of the CME is estimated to be 58 m s-2 during the decay phase of the flare. The comparison of the height and velocity profiles between the filament and CME suggests that fast acceleration of mass ejections occurred during the impulsive phase of the flare, when the magnetic reconnection rate was also large, with Ec = 1 V cm-1.
Tunable plasmonic properties of nanostructures fabricated by shadow nanosphere lithography

1\. Introduction 1.1 Scope of this work 2\. Theoretical background 2.1 Plasmonics as a discipline 2.2 Theoretical considerations on Plasmonics 2.2.1 Mie theory 2.2.2 Gans theory 2.2.3 Drude model 2.2. 4 Plasmon 2.2. 5 Surface plasmon 2.2. 6 Localized surface plasmons of spheres and rods 2.3 Coupling to surface plasmons - Surface plasmons on grids 2.3.1 One dimensional wire gratings 2.3.2 Square and hexagonal hole arrays 2.3.3 Wood’s anomalies 2.3.4 Extraordinary light transmission through hole arrays 3\. Sample preparation and structural characterization 3.1 Colloidal mask preparation 3.2 Mask modification - RIE 3.3 Material deposition 3.4 Mask lift off 3.5 Creation of triangular shaped metallic nanoislands 3.6 Creation of holes 3.7 Creation of wires 4\. Sample characterization – optical properties 4.1 Experimental setup 4.2 Plasmonic properties of an array of triangular shaped gold nanoislands 4.3 Plasmonic properties of array of holes: Gold and Aluminum 4.3.1 Far field results 4.3.2 Near field results 4.4 Plasmonic properties of an array of nanowires: Gold and Iron 4.4.1 Far field results 4.4.2 Near field results 5\. Conclusions and Outlook 6\. Summary 7\. Appendix 7.1 Abbreviations 7.2 Tables of applied materials 7.3 List of figure captions 8\. References List of publications Conference contributions Acknowledgement Abstract Kurzfassung Curriculum Vitae