Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent development in image completion techniques

Image completion is a hot research topic in the multi-disciplinary area of computer graphics, image and video processing, and computer vision. It provides a strong tool for the reuse of captured images and photos, and shows its extensive applications in cultural heritage protection, special visual effects, image and video editing, and virtual reality. As the existing survey papers are out of date, this work summarizes its recent development in three parts. First, we describe the technical background in detail for readers who are not familiar with it. Then, we make a comprehensive survey and comparisons of the state-of-the-art methods to guide readers that are interested. Finally, we sketch a vision for future work that can help motivate its further progress.
Dispersion of Nano CaCO3 on PVC and its Influence on Mechanical and Thermal Properties

PVC/nano CaCO3 composites were prepared on Brabender Plasticorder. For comparison purposes, commercial CaCO3 composites were also prepared. Characterization of the nano CaCO3 and nanocomposites were done using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Their mechanical and thermal properties were also studied. Exfoliation was observed with the addition of different sizes of nano CaCO 3 filled in PVC composites. Best properties were observed with 9 nm CaCO3 PVC composites. Tensile strength and modulus improved significantly even though the amount of addition of nano filler is low. Thermal properties of PVC/nanocomposites were found to be better compared to that of commercial filled CaCO3 in PVC composites.
Introducing a New Generation of More Detailed and Informative Combustion Models

The problem of modeling combustion within internal combustion engines is considered. A method is explained to evaluate the comprehensiveness, detail and predicting capability of a model. It consists of considering the equations for the most comprehensive and detailed model and in making successively more restrictive assumptions, thus getting progressively less detailed models. Particular attention is paid to the reasons for the assumptions, how they influence the accuracy of a model, and what basic information is missing. In so doing, the most detailed of the available models, and their predictive capabilities and limitations, are introduced. They include models for reciprocating and rotary engines, with uniform and stratified charges from dual carburetion and direct fuel injection. Examples of their results are given. One of them has been available since 1971, and another one is currently and fruitfully employed to aid the development of a production engine. Also introduced are more advance models presently under development and their applications. The equations of the most common and least detailed models are derived from the most general equations, thus evidencing their inherent limitations.
Concealing the complexity of node programming in wireless sensor networks

There is a significant potential for Wireless sensor networks to be used as a general distributed measurement and monitoring system. The integration of computation, communication and sensing enables smart sensors to be built that can be adapted to a plethora of application requirements and allow for automated data collection throughout the network. However, the potential end users of this systems are domain experts, who usually do not possess the technical expertise to program, and thus operate, wireless sensor nodes, which prohibits the technology from becoming off-the-shelf equipment. In this paper, we present a method which enables the complexity of programming sensor nodes to be concealed in order to allow domain experts to use wireless sensor networks in basic applications without the requirement of technical assistance. We propose to use a computer-based specification entry, which generates a configuration parameter set to adjust the sensor node's application behavior. The method has been implemented in a proof-of-concept system and evaluated with test subjects who possess limited programming skills. The results show that users without any prior programming knowledge, or experience with embedded systems, are capable of configuring a sensor node according to a given application scenario within minutes.
Wood–Thermoplastic Composites Based on Industrial Waste and Virgin High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

This article investigated the water resistance, mechanical and thermal properties, and the microstructure of wood–plastic composites, which were made by hot pressing using either virgin or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as industrial waste with wood filler. The waste polyethylene was collected from residues of polymer production from Petrochemical plant, and wood particles were obtained from a local sawmill. The mechanical and thermal properties of the composites based on waste polyethylene were lower to those based on virgin HDPE, and the water resistance was shown to be higher. Adding ethylene maleated anhydride copolymer (MP) by 0.5–1.5 wt% in the composite formulation significantly improved both the stability and mechanical properties. Microstructure analysis of the fractured surfaces of MP modified composites confirmed improved interfacial bonding.
Detection of missing data in image sequences

Bright and dark flashes are typical artifacts in degraded motion picture material. The distortion is referred to as "dirt and sparkle" in the motion picture industry. This is caused either by dirt becoming attached to the frames of the film, or by the film material being abraded. The visual result is random patches of the frames having grey level values totally unrelated to the initial information at those sites. To restore the film without causing distortion to areas of the frames that are not affected, the locations of the blotches must be identified. Heuristic and model-based methods for the detection of these missing data regions are presented in this paper, and their action on simulated and real sequences is compared.
Does Access to Storage Protectant Increase Smallholder Adoption of Improved Maize Seed? Insights from Malawi

To date there is limited knowledge on the role that post-harvest storage protectants, chemical or otherwise, play in a smallholder farmer’s decision to adopt of high-yielding improved maize varieties. This is a key issue because higher yielding varieties are often more susceptible to storage pests than lower yielding traditional varieties. We present novel evidence from Malawi which shows that access to storage chemicals has a positive and significant effect on both farmer adoption of improved seed and the area that households plant to improved maize. Results have important implications for input support programs because failing to account for small holder storage challenges may reduce a farmer’s incentive to adopt modern seed varieties that can enhance staple crop production and food security.
Structural Covariance of the Prefrontal-Amygdala Pathways Associated with Heart Rate Variability

The neurovisceral integration model has shown a key role of the amygdala in neural circuits underlying heart rate variability (HRV) modulation, and suggested that reciprocal connections from amygdala to brain regions centered on the central autonomic network (CAN) are associated with HRV. To provide neuroanatomical evidence for these theoretical perspectives, the current study used covariance analysis of MRI-based gray matter volume (GMV) to map structural covariance network of the amygdala, and then determined whether the interregional structural correlations related to individual differences in HRV. The results showed that covariance patterns of the amygdala encompassed large portions of cortical (e.g., prefrontal, cingulate, and insula) and subcortical (e.g., striatum, hippocampus, and midbrain) regions, lending evidence from structural covariance analysis to the notion that the amygdala was a pivotal node in neural pathways for HRV modulation. Importantly, participants with higher resting HRV showed increased covariance of amygdala to dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (dmPFC/dACC) extending into adjacent medial motor regions [i.e., pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA)/SMA], demonstrating structural covariance of the prefrontal-amygdala pathways implicated in HRV, and also implying that resting HRV may reflect the function of neural circuits underlying cognitive regulation of emotion as well as facilitation of adaptive behaviors to emotion. Our results, thus, provide anatomical substrates for the neurovisceral integration model that resting HRV may index an integrative neural network which effectively organizes emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral responses in the service of goal-directed behavior and adaptability.
Baseline BCR-ABL1 transcript type of e13a2 and large spleen size are predictors of poor long-term outcomes in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients who failed to achieve an early molecular response after 3 months of imatinib therapy

Abstract We conducted this study to identify the factors for predicting poor outcomes in chronic myeloid leukemia patients who failed to achieve a 3-month early molecular response (EMR). Of the 413 newly diagnosed, chronic phase, chronic myeloid leukemia patients receiving imatinib (IM), 120 (29.1%) failed to achieve a 3-month EMR. With a median follow-up of 67.0 months, 39 patients continued IM treatment with at least complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), and 81 patients permanently discontinued IM treatment. The cumulative incidence rates of CCyR and major molecular response (MMR) by 3 years were 90.1 ± 3.9% and 53.7 ± 7.3%, respectively. After adjusting for potential factors, multivariate analyses showed that a transcript type of e13a2, compared with e14a2, and a larger spleen size were independent factors for failure of overall MMR. The predictive factors outlined in this study may provide valuable information for high-risk patients who would benefit from early decision-making regarding therapy change.
Human Faces Are Slower than Chimpanzee Faces

Background While humans (like other primates) communicate with facial expressions, the evolution of speech added a new function to the facial muscles (facial expression muscles). The evolution of speech required the development of a coordinated action between visual (movement of the lips) and auditory signals in a rhythmic fashion to produce “visemes” (visual movements of the lips that correspond to specific sounds). Visemes depend upon facial muscles to regulate shape of the lips, which themselves act as speech articulators. This movement necessitates a more controlled, sustained muscle contraction than that produced during spontaneous facial expressions which occur rapidly and last only a short period of time. Recently, it was found that human tongue musculature contains a higher proportion of slow-twitch myosin fibers than in rhesus macaques, which is related to the slower, more controlled movements of the human tongue in the production of speech. Are there similar unique, evolutionary physiologic biases found in human facial musculature related to the evolution of speech? Methodology/Prinicipal Findings Using myosin immunohistochemistry, we tested the hypothesis that human facial musculature has a higher percentage of slow-twitch myosin fibers relative to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). We sampled the orbicularis oris and zygomaticus major muscles from three cadavers of each species and compared proportions of fiber-types. Results confirmed our hypothesis: humans had the highest proportion of slow-twitch myosin fibers while chimpanzees had the highest proportion of fast-twitch fibers. Conclusions/significance These findings demonstrate that the human face is slower than that of rhesus macaques and our closest living relative, the chimpanzee. They also support the assertion that human facial musculature and speech co-evolved. Further, these results suggest a unique set of evolutionary selective pressures on human facial musculature to slow down while the function of this muscle group diverged from that of other primates.
A PUNCH AND DIE TEST CELL FOR DETERMINING THE TEXTURAL QUALITIES OF MEAT

A test ceil is described that measures the response of materials to a punch-shear deformation. The cell, designed as a punch and die unit, was used with the Instron Universal Testing Instrument to determine the textural characteristics of several food products. Data are presented for beef muscles from US Choice and US Commercial grade animals. Sensory evaluation using magnitude estimation techniques showed high correlation with instrumental measurements. When all combinations of three sensory attributes and three instrumental properties were considered, correlation coefficients ranged from 0.92 to 0.98. Sensory judgments showed that the differences between muscles were 2 to 3 times greater than those found using the test cell, but the large scatter in panel results reduced sensitivity below that of the instrument. The panel judged the psoas major and the semiten-dinosus from the US Commercial grade animal to be twice as tough as the same muscles from the US Choice grade animal. The biceps femoris was judged to be 4 times tougher in the Commercial than in the Choice grade animal.
Genomic Signatures Predict Migration and Spawning Failure in Wild Canadian Salmon

High mortality of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River is associated with signals of metabolic and immune stress. Long-term population viability of Fraser River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) is threatened by unusually high levels of mortality as they swim to their spawning areas before they spawn. Functional genomic studies on biopsied gill tissue from tagged wild adults that were tracked through ocean and river environments revealed physiological profiles predictive of successful migration and spawning. We identified a common genomic profile that was correlated with survival in each study. In ocean-tagged fish, a mortality-related genomic signature was associated with a 13.5-fold greater chance of dying en route. In river-tagged fish, the same genomic signature was associated with a 50% increase in mortality before reaching the spawning grounds in one of three stocks tested. At the spawning grounds, the same signature was associated with 3.7-fold greater odds of dying without spawning. Functional analysis raises the possibility that the mortality-related signature reflects a viral infection.
Better simulation metamodeling: The why, what, and how of stochastic kriging

Stochastic kriging is a methodology recently developed for metamodeling stochastic simulation. Stochastic kriging can partake of the behavior of kriging and of generalized least squares regression. This advanced tutorial explains regression, kriging, and stochastic kriging as metamodeling methodologies, emphasizing the consequences of misspecified models for global metamodeling. It provides an exposition of how to choose parameters in stochastic kriging and how to build a metamodel with it given simulation output, and discusses future research directions to enhance stochastic kriging.
Pacific Salmon in Hot Water: Applying Aerobic Scope Models and Biotelemetry to Predict the Success of Spawning Migrations

Concern over global climate change is widespread, but quantifying relationships between temperature change and animal fitness has been a challenge for scientists. Our approach to this challenge was to study migratory Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), fish whose lifetime fitness hinges on a once‐in‐a‐lifetime river migration to natal spawning grounds. Here, we suggest that their thermal optimum for aerobic scope is adaptive for river migration at the population level. We base this suggestion on several lines of evidence. The theoretical line of evidence comes from a direct association between the temperature optimum for aerobic metabolic scope and the temperatures historically experienced by three Fraser River salmon populations during their river migration. This close association was then used to predict that the occurrence of a period of anomalously high river temperatures in 2004 led to a complete collapse of aerobic scope during river migration for a portion of one of the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) populations. This prediction was corroborated with empirical data from our biotelemetry studies, which tracked the migration of individual sockeye salmon in the Fraser River and revealed that the success of river migration for the same sockeye population was temperature dependent. Therefore, we suggest that collapse of aerobic scope was an important mechanism to explain the high salmon mortality observed during their migration. Consequently, models based on thermal optima for aerobic scope for ectothermic animals should improve predictions of population fitness under future climate scenarios.
Elliptic Fibrations and Symplectic Automorphisms on K3 Surfaces

Nikulin has classified all finite abelian groups acting symplectically on a K3 surface and he has shown that the induced action on the K3 lattice U 3 ⊕ E 8(−1)2 depends only on the group but not on the K3 surface. For all the groups in the list of Nikulin we compute the invariant sublattice and its orthogonal complement by using some special elliptic K3 surfaces.
Network optimization for DHT-based applications

P2P platforms have been criticized because of the heavy strain that some P2P services can inflict on costly inter-domain links of network operators. It is therefore necessary to develop network optimization schemes for controlling the load generated by P2P platforms on an operator network. Previous focus on network optimization has been mostly on centralized tracker-based systems. However, in recent years multiple DHT-based P2P networks are widely deployed due to their scalability and fault tolerance, and these networks have even been considered as platforms for commercial services. Thereby, finding network optimization for DHT-based P2P applications has potentially large practical impacts. In this paper, we present THash, a simple scheme to implement an effective distributed network optimization for DHT systems. THash is based on standard DHT put/get semantics and utilizes a triple hash method to guide the DHT clients sharing resources with peers in proper domains. We have implemented THash in a major P2P application (PPLive) by using the standard ALTO/P4P protocol as the network information source. We conducted realistic experiments over the network and observed that compared with Native DHT, THash only generated 45.5% and 35.7% of inter-PID and inter-AS traffic, and at the same time shortened the average downloading time by 13.8% to 22.1%.
Speaker normalization based on test to reference speaker mapping

The paper presents the speaker normalization technique we implemented in a teaching and training system for hearing handicapped children with the goal to reduce inter-speaker variability in time-frequency speech representation. In an effort to reduce variance caused by variation in vocal tract shape among speakers, a formant based nonlinear frequency warping approach to vocal tract normalization is investigated. The proposed method can be efficiently realized in an Analysis by Synthesis framework. After the speech decomposition into the vocal tract envelope and excitation model, the vocal tract envelope is warped by the estimated frequency warping function, while the excitation characteristics are mapped to the reference speaker excitation. The results have shown significant spectral distance decrease for correctly pronounced words between test and the reference speaker after the normalization has been applied, while for poor pronunciation by the test speaker the spectral distance remains relatively high.
Symmetric convex sets with minimal Gaussian surface area

abstract:Let $\Omega\subset\Bbb{R}^{n+1}$ have minimal Gaussian surface area among all sets satisfying $\Omega=-\Omega$ with fixed Gaussian volume. Let $A=A_x$ be the second fundamental form of $\partial\Omega$ at $x$, i.e., $A$ is the matrix of first order partial derivatives of the unit normal vector at $x\in\partial\Omega$. For any $x=(x_1,\ldots,x_{n+1})\in\Bbb{R}^{n+1}$, let $\gamma_n(x)=(2\pi)^{-n/2}e^{-(x_1^2+\cdots+x_{n+1}^2)/2}$. Let $\|A\|^{2}$ be the sum of the squares of the entries of $A$, and let $\|A\|_{2\to 2}$ denote the $\ell_{2}$ operator norm of $A$. It is shown that if $\Omega$ or $\Omega^c$ is convex, and if either $$ \int_{\partial\Omega}\Big(\big\|A_x\big\|^2-1\Big)\gamma_n(x)\,dx>0\quad\textrm{or}\quad\int_{\partial\Omega} \Big(\big\|A_x\big\|^2-1+2\sup_{y\in\partial\Omega}\big\|A_y\big\|_{2\to 2}^2\Big)\gamma_{n}(x)\,dx<0, $$ then $\partial\Omega$ must be a round cylinder. That is, except for the case that the average value of $\|A\|^{2}$ is slightly less than $1$, we resolve the convex case of a question of Barthe from 2001.The main tool is the Colding-Minicozzi theory for Gaussian minimal surfaces, which studies eigenfunctions of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type operator $L=\Delta-\langle x,\nabla \rangle+\|A\|^{2}+1$ associated to the surface $\partial\Omega$. A key new ingredient is the use of a randomly chosen degree 2 polynomial in the second variation formula for the Gaussian surface area. Our actual results are a bit more general than the above statement. Also, some of our results hold without the assumption of convexity.
THE PROBABILITY OF PARALLEL EVOLUTION

Abstract How often will natural selection drive parallel evolution at the DNA sequence level? More precisely, what is the probability that selection will cause two populations that live in identical environments to substitute the same beneficial mutation? Here I show that, under fairly general conditions, the answer is simple: if a wild-type sequence can mutate to n different beneficial mutations, replicate populations will on average fix the same mutation with probability P = 2/(n + 1). This probability, which is derived using extreme value theory, is independent of most biological details, including the length of the gene in question and the precise distribution of fitness effects among alleles. I conclude that the probability of parallel evolution under natural selection is nearly twice as large as that under neutrality.
Understanding plant reproductive diversity

Flowering plants display spectacular floral diversity and a bewildering array of reproductive adaptations that promote mating, particularly outbreeding. A striking feature of this diversity is that related species often differ in pollination and mating systems, and intraspecific variation in sexual traits is not unusual, especially among herbaceous plants. This variation provides opportunities for evolutionary biologists to link micro-evolutionary processes to the macro-evolutionary patterns that are evident within lineages. Here, I provide some personal reflections on recent progress in our understanding of the ecology and evolution of plant reproductive diversity. I begin with a brief historical sketch of the major developments in this field and then focus on three of the most significant evolutionary transitions in the reproductive biology of flowering plants: the pathway from outcrossing to predominant self-fertilization, the origin of separate sexes (females and males) from hermaphroditism and the shift from animal pollination to wind pollination. For each evolutionary transition, I consider what we have discovered and some of the problems that still remain unsolved. I conclude by discussing how new approaches might influence future research in plant reproductive biology.