Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A HMAX with LLC for visual recognition

Today's high performance deep artificial neural networks (ANNs) rely heavily on parameter optimization, which is sequential in nature and even with a powerful GPU, would have taken weeks to train them up for solving challenging tasks [22]. HMAX [17] has demonstrated that a simple high performing network could be obtained without heavy optimization. In this paper, we had improved on the existing best HMAX neural network [12] in terms of structural simplicity and performance. Our design replaces the L1 minimization sparse coding (SC) with a locality-constrained linear coding (LLC) [20] which has a lower computational demand. We also put the simple orientation filter bank back into the front layer of the network replacing PCA. Our system's performance has improved over the existing architecture and reached 79.0% on the challenging Caltech-101 [7] dataset, which is state-of-the-art for ANNs (without transfer learning). From our empirical data, the main contributors to our system's performance include an introduction of partial signal whitening, a spot detector, and a spatial pyramid matching (SPM) [14] layer.
BASED ON C ONVOLUTIONAL A UTO-ENCODERS FOR ANNOTATING CT-SCANS

High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is the most important imaging modality for interstitial lung diseases, where the radiologists are interested in identifying certain patterns, and their volumetric and regional distribution. The use of machine learning can assist the radiologists with both these tasks by performing semantic segmentation. In this paper, we propose an interactive annotation-tool for semantic segmentation that assists the radiologist in labeling CT scans. The annotation tool is evaluated by six radiologists and radiology residents classifying healthy lung and reticular pattern i HRCT images. The usability of the system is evaluated with a System Usability Score (SUS) and interaction information from the readers that used the tool for annotating the CT volumes. It was discovered that the experienced usability and how the users interactied with the system differed between the users. A higher SUS-score was given by users that prioritized learning speed over model accuracy and spent less time with manual labeling and instead utilized the suggestions provided by the GUI. An analysis of the annotation variations between the readers show substantial agreement (Cohen’s kappa=0.69) for classification of healthy and affected lung parenchyma in pulmonary fibrosis. The inter-reader variation is a challenge for the definition of ground truth.
Automatic screening of obstructive sleep apnea from the ECG based on empirical mode decomposition and wavelet analysis

This study analyses two different methods to detect obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) during sleep time based only on the ECG signal. OSA is a common sleep disorder caused by repetitive occlusions of the upper airways, which produces a characteristic pattern on the ECG. ECG features, such as the heart rate variability (HRV) and the QRS peak area, contain information suitable for making a fast, non-invasive and simple screening of sleep apnea. Fifty recordings freely available on Physionet have been included in this analysis, subdivided in a training and in a testing set. We investigated the possibility of using the recently proposed method of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for this application, comparing the results with the ones obtained through the well-established wavelet analysis (WA). By these decomposition techniques, several features have been extracted from the ECG signal and complemented with a series of standard HRV time domain measures. The best performing feature subset, selected through a sequential feature selection (SFS) method, was used as the input of linear and quadratic discriminant classifiers. In this way we were able to classify the signals on a minute-by-minute basis as apneic or nonapneic with different best-subset sizes, obtaining an accuracy up to 89% with WA and 85% with EMD. Furthermore, 100% correct discrimination of apneic patients from normal subjects was achieved independently of the feature extractor. Finally, the same procedure was repeated by pooling features from standard HRV time domain, EMD and WA together in order to investigate if the two decomposition techniques could provide complementary features. The obtained accuracy was 89%, similarly to the one achieved using only Wavelet analysis as the feature extractor; however, some complementary features in EMD and WA are evident.
Chapter 5 Reference Points for the Valuation of Risk Changes in Discrete Choice Experiments 1 5

Prospect theory and its variant, cumulative prospect theory, are the most established choice theories that accommodate empirical findings which contradict expected utility theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979; Tversky and Kahneman, 1991, 1992). The main elements of prospect theory are: (1) the distinction between an editing and a valuation phase in the choice process; (2) the s-shaped utility curve that determines the utility of an outcome; and (3) a weighting function that assigns weights to risky outcomes (Stommel, 2013; Tversky and Kahneman, 1992). The s-shaped utility curve is defined relative to a reference point that is characterized during the editing phase. It is concave for gains and convex for losses, implying diminishing sensitivity to both, and it is steeper for losses than for gains, reflecting loss aversion (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). Some argue that dependency on reference points, i.e. stimuli that other stimuli are seen in relation to (Rosch, 1975), is the most novel element of prospect theory compared with earlier theories of choice behavior (Wakker, 2010). The general acknowledgment of the importance of reference points, and the extensively investigated question of how people react to changes from an assumed reference point, stands in contrast to the lack of theory that explains the formation and determination of reference points (e.g. Koszegi and Rabin, 2006;
Sterile Neutrinos in Light of Recent Cosmological and Oscillation Data: A Multi-Flavor Scheme Approach

Light sterile neutrinos might mix with the active ones and be copiously produced in the early Universe. In the present paper, a detailed multi-flavor analysis of sterile neutrino production is performed. Making some justified approximations allows us to consider not only neutrino interactions with the primeval medium and neutrino coherence breaking effects, but also oscillation effects arising from the presence of three light (mostly-active) neutrino states mixed with two heavier (mostly-sterile) states. First, we emphasize the underlying physics via an analytical description of sterile neutrino abundances that is valid for cases with small mixing between active and sterile neutrinos. Then, we study in detail the phenomenology of (3+2) sterile neutrino models in light of short-baseline oscillation data, including the LSND and MiniBooNE results. Finally, by using the information provided by this analysis, we obtain the expected sterile neutrino cosmological abundances and then contrast them with the most recent available data from Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure observations. We conclude that (3+2) models are significantly more disfavored by the internal inconsistencies between sterile neutrino interpretations of appearance and disappearance short-baseline data themselves, rather than by the used cosmological data.
Zmêczeniowe z 3 amanie koœci udowej jako powik 3 anie alloplastyki kolana z u ¿ yciem nawigacji Fatigue Fracture of the Femur after Navigated Total Knee Replacement

STRESZCZENIE Przedstawiamy przypadek zmêczeniowego z3amania koœci udowej u 60 letniej pacjentki, u której uprzednio wykonano ca3kowit1 alloplastykê stawu kolanowego z u¿yciem systemu nawigacji Orthopilot. Pacjentka z osteoporoz1 (T-score – 3,1), cierpi1ca z powodu reumatoidalnego zapalenia stawów zg3asza3a narastaj1cy ból od 8 tygodnia po operacji. Rozpoznano z3amanie zmêczeniowe koœci udowej w miejscu otworu po uprzednim umocowaniu czujnika do nawigacji. Z3amanie zespolono gwoŸdziem œródszpikowym i uzyskano zrost oraz dobry wynik czynnoœciowy. Analiza piœmiennictwa wykaza3a, ¿e jest to pierwszy przypadek takiego z3amania po operacji z u¿yciem nawigacji Orthopilot i wkrêtów o œrednicy 4,5 mm. do stabilizacji czujnika. Uwa¿amy, ¿e takie z3amania wystêpuj1 czêœciej, ale nie s1 publikowane. Pacjenci z osteoporoz1 powinni byæ informowani o mo¿liwoœci wyst1pienia takiego powik3ania, je¿eli ma byæ u nich wykonana operacja z u¿yciem nawigacji.
A controlled trial of mindfulness training in schools: The importance of practice for an impact on well-being

We report the results of a short programme of mindfulness training administered to adolescent boys in a classroom setting. Intervention and control groups (N = 155) were compared on measures of mindfulness, resilience and psychological well-being. Although the overall differences between the two groups failed to reach significance, we found that within the mindfulness group, there was a significant positive association between the amount of individual practice outside the classroom and improvement in psychological well-being and mindfulness. We also found that the improvement in well-being was related to personality variables (agreeableness and emotional stability). Most students reported enjoying and benefiting from the mindfulness training, and 74% said they would like to continue with it in the future. The results of this preliminary study are encouraging. Further work is needed to refine the training programme and undertake a definitive randomised controlled trial, using both subjective and objective outcome measures, with long-term follow-up.
Symmetries of the boundary of AdS5 × S5 and harmonic superspace

We study the boundary limit of the bulk isometries of AdS × S. The superconformal symmetry is realized on the coordinates of the AdS boundary, the fermionic superspace coordinates, and the harmonics on the sphere. We show how these may be related to the coordinates of an off-shell harmonic superspace of SCFT living on the boundary. In the special case of d = 4, = 2 super Yang-Mills theory, a truncation of the = 4 SYM dual to type-IIB string theory compactified on AdS5 × S5, we identify the bosonic space SU(2)/U(1) of the = 2 harmonic superspace (known before as auxiliary) with the S2 submanifold of the S5.
T Peak-toT End / QT is an Independent Predictor of Early Ventricular Arrhythmias and Arrhythmic Death in Patients with ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background: The interval from the peak to the end of the T wave (Tp-Te) on 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is a measure of transmural dispersion of repolarization; prolonged Tp-Te interval and Tp-Te/QT ratio have been shown to be markers of arrhythmogenesis in various cardiac disorders. Aim of the work: To evaluate the usefulness of Tp-Te interval and Tp-Te/QT ratio at admission in patients with acute ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) undergoing a Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI) in predicting malignant ventricular arrhythmias and death. Material and methods: we prospectively studied 100 patients with acute STEMI were treated by pPCI. All patients were subjected to 12-leads resting ECG, echocardiography and laboratory investigations. During hospitalization, patients were monitored for sustained malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Results: The incidence of ventricular arrhythmia among studied population was 14% (5% had Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) and 9% had Ventricular Fibrillation (VF)), There is statistically significant difference between patients with arrhythmic events and patients with no arrhythmic events regarding Tp-Te tangent (117.9 ± 16.7 ms vs. 77.0 ± 10.9 ms, P value<0.001) and Tp-Te/QT (0.332 ± 0.045 vs. 0.217 ± 0.033, P value<0.001). On the multivariate analysis only Tp-Te/QT values remained significantly associated with in-hospital life-threatening arrhythmias (OR=2.012, 95%, CI=1.254-4.394, P value=0.002). The incidence of in-hospital death among studied population was 6%. There is statistically significant difference between deaths and survivors regarding Tp-Te tangent (126.7 ± 20.7 ms vs. 80.0 ± 14.5 ms, P value<0.001) and Tp-Te/QT (0.359 ± 0.052 vs. 0.225 ± 0.042, P value<0.001). On the multivariate analysis only Tp-Te/QT values remained significantly associated with in-hospital death (OR=3.053, 95% CI=1.838-8.467, P value=0.016). Conclusion: Tp-Te interval and Tp-Te/QT ratio are prolonged in patients with STEMI with malignant ventricular arrhythmias and arrhythmic death. Tp-Te/QT was an independent predictor of early ventricular arrhythmias and death in patients with STEMI. Especially, Tp-Te/QT>0.27 and Tp-Te/QT>0.30 respectively.
Innovative verification strategy reduces design cycle time for high-end SPARC processor

Superscalar processor developers are creatively leveraging best-in-class design verification tools to meet narrow market windows. Accelerated simulation is especially useful owing to its flexibility for verifying at many points during the design cycle. A unique "verification backplane" makes continuous verification at any level(s) of abstraction available to each design team member throughout the design cycle.
Air trench bends and splitters for dense optical integration in low index contrast

Low-loss air trench structures that permit reduced-size bends in low (/spl Delta/ = 0.7-7%) and medium (/spl Delta/ = 7-20%) index contrast waveguides are demonstrated. Local high index contrast at bends is achieved by introducing air trenches with "cladding tapers" that provide an adiabatic mode transition between low and high index contrast regions. We have fabricated and measured the performance of bends and T-splitters in silica low index contrast waveguides. Complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes are effective in processing, and measured losses are low and consistent with theoretical simulations.
Three-dimensional gait analysis for spatiotemporal parameters in obese children

Background: Obese children are challenged while moving excess mass and performing task requiring power and speediness as gait. Purposes: To investigate the differences in spatiotemporal gait parameters measured by 3D motion analysis between obese children non-obese children. Materials and methods: twenty children of both sexes participated in this study were assigned into two groups ten obese children as study group and ten age matched non obese children as control group. Spatio-temporal parameters were assessed for all subjects by Three-dimensional gait analysis including step (length, time and width), stride length, cadence, speed, stride time. Results: A significant decrease was noted in stride and step lengths, and walking speed mean values in the study group and a significant increase in stride time, step (time and width) mean values. On the other hand, non-significant difference was found in cadence between both groups. Conclusion: an objective evidence of changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters between obese and non-obese children using 3D gait analysis.
An Intrusion Detection System for Network Security Situational Awareness Using Conditional Random Fields

The huge proliferation of cyber economy, social media usage and online transactions has resulted in large volumes of data in the cyber space. This has led to an increase in concern over the security of confidential data in the cyber space. Network security situational awareness systems helps in effectively monitoring a network for suspicious activities and thwarting any attacks on the information stored in the network. In this paper, an intrusion detection system for network security situational awareness using conditional random field has been proposed. Conditional random fields being conditional models are capable of modeling inter relationships between the observed features. This results in greater accuracy in classification. Conditional random field’s complexity increases with the number of features in the observation. To reduce this complexity, a feature selection method using oneR algorithm has been proposed. The ability of oneR algorithm to find the best attribute that result in optimal classification has been used for ranking the features in the observation. The proposed system was trained and tested using the bench mark NSLKDD dataset. The proposed system on experimentation, exhibited higher accuracy (98%) in identifying an attack in general and also showed better performance (>93%) in identifying individual attack categories specifically.
An improved method of highly accurate supply detection using bandgap reference circuit and its implementation in a pseudo BiCMOS process

This paper presents an improved method of highly accurate supply detection by using a bandgap circuit and its implementation in a comparatively inexpensive BiCMOS process. The process is the vanilla N-well complementary metal oxide semiconductor process technology with added deep N-well and P-well layers. The circuit consisting of a simple bandgap core with a resistance divider produces a supply detection method with high accuracy. In this method the low supply threshold can be set at any voltage according to the system requirement and the process, supply and temperature variation of this threshold voltage is very tight which produce an accurate low supply sense as a result. This circuit is implemented in 0.5 mum technology. The layout of the circuit also presented in this paper and the performance improved in layout are discussed. Simulation results and test data are given to prove the functionality and performance of the presented method.
Sphingobium fuliginis HC3: A Novel and Robust Isolated Biphenyl- and Polychlorinated Biphenyls-Degrading Bacterium without Dead-End Intermediates Accumulation

Biphenyl and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are typical environmental pollutants. However, these pollutants are hard to be totally mineralized by environmental microorganisms. One reason for this is the accumulation of dead-end intermediates during biphenyl and PCBs biodegradation, especially benzoate and chlorobenzoates (CBAs). Until now, only a few microorganisms have been reported to have the ability to completely mineralize biphenyl and PCBs. In this research, a novel bacterium HC3, which could degrade biphenyl and PCBs without dead-end intermediates accumulation, was isolated from PCBs-contaminated soil and identified as Sphingobium fuliginis. Benzoate and 3-chlorobenzoate (3-CBA) transformed from biphenyl and 3-chlorobiphenyl (3-CB) could be rapidly degraded by HC3. This strain has strong degradation ability of biphenyl, lower chlorinated (mono-, di- and tri-) PCBs as well as mono-CBAs, and the biphenyl/PCBs catabolic genes of HC3 are cloned on its plasmid. It could degrade 80.7% of 100 mg L −1 biphenyl within 24 h and its biphenyl degradation ability could be enhanced by adding readily available carbon sources such as tryptone and yeast extract. As far as we know, HC3 is the first reported that can degrade biphenyl and 3-CB without accumulation of benzoate and 3-CBA in the genus Sphingobium, which indicates the bacterium has the potential to totally mineralize biphenyl/PCBs and might be a good candidate for restoring biphenyl/PCBs-polluted environments.
CXCL 5 / CXCR 2 axis promotes bladder cancer cell migration and invasion by activating PI 3 K / AKT-induced upregulation of MMP 2 / MMP 9

Bladder cancer (BCa) is the most common malignant disease of the urinary tract system, yet the etiology is still poorly understood. Clinically, the majority of BCa patients progress to invasive disease at the final stage, leading to death. Previous investigations have demonstrated that matrix metal-loproteinases (MMPs) play irreplaceable roles in tumor cell extravasation and implantation. In addition, increasing numbers of reports provide evidence that MMPs, especially MMP2 and MMP9 are monitored by various signal transduction pathways targeting tumor metastasis. Seed-and-soil theory has called to attention the importance of the tumor microenvironment in disease progression. To that end, we previously reported the key role of hypoxia in BCa progression. Herein, we report the role of chemokines, specifically CXCL5, is involved in BCa development. Though it has been reported that CXCL5 promotes BCa metastasis and progression, the exact mechanisms are still unknown, necessitating the need for further investigation into the role of CXCL5 in BCa. In this study, IHC staining of BCa tumor sections showed elevated expression of CXCL5 in BCa, which correlated with disease stage. Our mechanistic studies show that CXCL5 contributes to BCa migration and invasion by binding to its receptor, CXCR2, leading to the upregulation of MMP2/ MMP9 by activating PI3K/AKT signaling. This study offers vital evidence of how CXCL5 promotes BCa metastasis, and thus may potentially be used as a therapeutic target against BCa.
Non-fragile guaranteed-cost ℋ∞ control for a class of nonlinear sampled-data system

This paper considers the non-fragile cost-guaranteed control problem for uncertain nonlinear sampled-data system and controller gain perturbations. Firstly, the continuous control plant of sampled-data system is transformed into a discrete system model with nonlinearity. Then, the Lyapunov stability theory and the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach are applied to design a non-fragile cost-guaranteed controller, which results in the closed-loop system being asymptotically stable and the system's performance index being less than a given value. At the same time, the existence condition and the design approach of a non-fragile cost-guaranteed controller are presented. Finally, simulation examples are employed to verify the validity of the proposed control algorithm.
On-line Interferometric Observation of Thermomechanically Induced Re-fractive Index Changes during Glass Welding by Ultra-short Laser Pulses

1 blz – Bayerisches Laserzentrum, Konrad-Zuse Str. 2-6, 91052, Erlangen, Germany E-mail: k.cvecek@blz.org 2 Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Paul-Gordan-Str. 6, 91052 Erlangen, Germany 3 Institute of Photonic Technologies, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Konrad-Zuse-Str. 3/5, 91052 Erlangen, Germany 4 Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-Oka, Osaka 565-0871, Japan 5 Institute of Glass and Ceramics, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Martensstr. 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Identification of network topology via quadratic optimization

Identification of network topology is to estimate the topology of a controllable and observable network with given number of nodes such that the identified network will satisfy the response between specified input and observed output. This paper examines the network topology identification (NTI) problems to find the original graph Laplacian from input-output data. A `similar' set of state-space matrices satisfying the input-output response is firstly constructed through system identification procedure. Based on the similarity relationship, we reformulate the NTI problems as general Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming (QCQP) problems. The QCQP problem is then transformed into semidefinite programming (SDP) problem with a rank one constraint. An iterative rank minimization method is proposed to gradually approach the optimal solution. Examples are presented to verify the convergence of the proposed method.