Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual face tracking and its application to 3D model-based video coding

The MPEG4 standard supports the transmission and composition of facial animation with natural video by including a facial animation parameter (FAP) set that is defined based on the study of minimal facial actions and is closely related to muscle actions. The FAP set enables model-based representation of natural or synthetic talking head sequences and allows intelligible visual reproduction of facial expressions, emotions, and speech pronunciations at the receiver. This paper describes two key components we have developed for building a modelbased video coding system: (1) a method for estimating FAP parameters based on our previously proposed piecewise Bézier volume deformation model (PBVD), and (2) various methods for encoding FAP parameters. PBVD is a linear deformation model suitable for both the synthesis and the analysis of facial images. Each FAP parameter is a basis function in this model. Experimental results on PBVD-based animation, model-based tracking, and spatial-temporal compression of FAP parameters are shown in this paper.
ALFRÉD RÉNYI INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS, HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The fundamental goal of the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics is to pursue research of high international standing in pure mathematics. The institute is an important center of mathematics internationally. Fellows of the institute received several Hungarian and international awards. A research professor emerita obtained the Gold Medal of the Academy this year, a research professor emeritus got an honorary doctorate, a researcher received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary, a young researcher obtained the Young Researcher Award of the Academy, another one received the Géza Grünwald medal from the János Bolyai Mathematical Society. A research professor emeritus was elected to president of the European Set Theory Society, another one was awarded the Hamming medal of IEEE. Two researchers from the institute took part in the wide-ranging international project aimed at estimating the gaps between prime numbers. The Notices of the American Mathematical Society reported their spectacular result, putting pictures of the mathematicians participating in the project on the cover, including the two fellows from the MTA Rényi Institute. In 2015 another project receiving five-years of support from the European Research Council (ERC) was launched at the institute. This is the sixth research group with an ERC grant at the institute, thus the MTA Rényi Institute is one of the most successful institutions applying to the ERC from the new member states of the EU. The institute has an outstanding record at the Momentum program of the Academy as well. In 2015 the fifth Momentum group was started, this time in the field of financial mathematics.
Break‐induced replication links microsatellite expansion to complex genome rearrangements

The instability of microsatellite DNA repeats is responsible for at least 40 neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, Mirkin and co‐workers presented a novel mechanism for microsatellite expansions based on break‐induced replication (BIR) at sites of microsatellite‐induced replication stalling and fork collapse. The BIR model aims to explain single‐step, large expansions of CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeats in dividing cells. BIR has been characterized extensively in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a mechanism to repair broken DNA replication forks (single‐ended DSBs) and degraded telomeric DNA. However, the structural footprints of BIR‐like DSB repair have been recognized in human genomic instability and tied to the etiology of diverse developmental diseases; thus, the implications of the paper by Kim et al. (Kim JC, Harris ST, Dinter T, Shah KA, et al., Nat Struct Mol Biol 24: 55–60) extend beyond trinucleotide repeat expansion in yeast and microsatellite instability in human neurological disorders. Significantly, insight into BIR‐like repair can explain certain pathways of complex genome rearrangements (CGRs) initiated at non‐B form microsatellite DNA in human cancers.
How nature speaks : the dynamics of the human ecological condition

Preface vii ntroduction: What to Say about Nature's "Speech" / Yrjo Haila and Chuck Dyke 1 Speaking of Nature / Susan Oyama 49 Natural Speech: A Hoary Story / Chuck Dyke 66 Gardens, Climate Changes, and Cultures: An Exploration into the Historical Nature of Environmental Problems / Ville Lahde 78 Participative Thinking: "Seeing the Face" and "Hearing the Voice" of Nature / John Shotter 106 Rethinking Intentionality: A Bourdieuian Perspective/ Iordanis Marcoulatos 127 Fluids on the Move: An Analogical Account of Environmental Mobilization / Lasse Peltonen 150 Fight Over the Face of Tampere: A Sneaking Transformation of a Local Political Field / Markus Laine 177 Stand/ardization and Entrainment in Forest Management / Ari Jokinen 198 Calculating the Futures: Stability and Change in a Local Energy Production System / Taru Peltola 218 Exploring Themes about Social Agency through Interpretation of Diagrams of Nature and Society / Peter Taylor 235 Who Speaks for Nature? / John O'Neill 261 Appendix: Primer: On Thinking Dynamically about the Human Ecological Condition / Chuck Dyke 279 References 303 Notes on Contributors 323 Index 325
Refined learning of hidden Markov models with a modified Baum-Welch algorithm and informative components

Methods for refined learning of hidden Markov models (HMMs) have been studied for decades, taking either structural or parametric perspectives. This paper discusses using informative components of state parameters to refine the training of HMMs. While the purpose of HMM learning is to decompose a high-dimensional observation space into latent states, we may still end up with high dimensional state models. A problem with such high dimensional state models is that if they are learned with limited amounts of training data, this will bias the likelihood during training, particularly when there are outliers in the observation sequence. We propose a modified Baum-Welch algorithm to estimate the HMM parameters over informative components selected with nearly sufficient statistics, using relative entropy tolerance. Our method produces a modified likelihood estimation in reduced dimensions, which decreases the computation complexity and preserves near-optimality of the HMM that is constructed. Two variations on the algorithm are discussed, one that deals with general state model and another that considers a special Gaussian case. The approach is evaluated with a problem of using pen tip trajectory for handwriting character verification and recognition. Two data sets are studied, one with low dimensionality and the other with high dimensionality. A comparison is performed of the results of using HMMs trained without and with informative state components. For both data sets, we found that our approach yields improvements in performance. The error rate varies with relative entropy change is also evaluated.
How specific are executive functioning deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism?

BACKGROUND The objective of this study is to identify intact and deficient cognitive processes in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and children with high functioning autism (HFA). METHOD Three rigorously diagnosed groups of children aged between 6 and 12 years (54 ADHD, 41 HFA, and 41 normal controls) were tested on a wide range of tasks related to five major domains of executive functioning (EF): inhibition, visual working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency. In addition, the role of comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and comorbid conduct disorder (CD) in ADHD was investigated by directly comparing 20 children with ADHD and 34 children with comorbid ADHD + ODD/CD. RESULTS ADHD was associated with EF deficits in inhibiting a prepotent response and verbal fluency. Children with HFA demonstrated deficits in all EF domains, except interference control and working memory. The HFA group showed more difficulties than the ADHD group with planning and cognitive flexibility. The comorbid ADHD + ODD/CD group did not show a distinctive pattern of performance on the EF tests compared to the ADHD group. CONCLUSION The present study indicates that children with HFA exhibit more generalised and profound problems with EF tasks compared to children with ADHD.
The Centre for Market and Public Organisation Increasing Charitable Giving – What Can We Learn from Economics? Increasing Charitable Giving – What Can We Learn from Economics?

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation (CMPO) is a leading research centre, combining expertise in economics, geography and law. Our objective is to study the intersection between the public and private sectors of the economy, and in particular to understand the right way to organise and deliver public services. The Centre aims to develop research, contribute to the public debate and inform policy-making. CMPO, now an ESRC Research Centre was established in 1998 with two large grants from The Leverhulme Trust. In 2004 we were awarded ESRC Research Centre status, and CMPO now combines core funding from both the ESRC and the Trust. Abstract As part of its Big Society agenda, the current Government is keen to encourage a higher level of donations of money to charitable causes. It has highlighted new technologies, new social norms and tax incentives as potential mechanisms for raising giving. This article brings together recent evidence to assess the prospects for achieving the desired " step change in giving ". Acknowledgements Most of the material here was given as an inaugural lecture at the University of Bristol on 21
Analysis of Influenza B Virus NS1 Protein Trafficking Reveals a Novel Interaction with Nuclear Speckle Domains

ABSTRACT Many proteins that function in the transcription, maturation, and export of metazoan mRNAs are concentrated in nuclear speckle domains, indicating that the compartment is important for gene expression. Here, we show that the NS1 protein of influenza B virus (B/NS1) accumulates in nuclear speckles and causes rounding and morphological changes of the domains, indicating a disturbance in their normal functions. This property was located within the N-terminal 90 amino acids of the B/NS1 protein and was shown to be independent of any other viral gene product. Within this protein domain, we identified a monopartite importin α binding nuclear localization signal. Reverse-genetic analysis of this motif indicated that nuclear import and speckle association of the B/NS1 protein are required for the full replication capacity of the virus. In the late phase of virus infection, the B/NS1 protein relocated to the cytoplasm, which occurred in a CRM1-independent manner. The interaction of the B/NS1 protein with nuclear speckles may reflect a recruitment function to promote viral-gene expression. To our knowledge, this is the first functional description of a speckle-associated protein that is encoded by a negative-strand RNA virus.
A computational and neural model of momentary subjective well-being

Significance A common question in the social science of well-being asks, “How happy do you feel on a scale of 0 to 10? ” Responses are often related to life circumstances, including wealth. By asking people about their feelings as they go about their lives, ongoing happiness and life events have been linked, but the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship are unknown. To investigate it, we presented subjects with a decision-making task involving monetary gains and losses and repeatedly asked them to report their momentary happiness. We built a computational model in which happiness reports were construed as an emotional reactivity to recent rewards and expectations. Using functional MRI, we demonstrated that neural signals during task events account for changes in happiness. The subjective well-being or happiness of individuals is an important metric for societies. Although happiness is influenced by life circumstances and population demographics such as wealth, we know little about how the cumulative influence of daily life events are aggregated into subjective feelings. Using computational modeling, we show that emotional reactivity in the form of momentary happiness in response to outcomes of a probabilistic reward task is explained not by current task earnings, but by the combined influence of recent reward expectations and prediction errors arising from those expectations. The robustness of this account was evident in a large-scale replication involving 18,420 participants. Using functional MRI, we show that the very same influences account for task-dependent striatal activity in a manner akin to the influences underpinning changes in happiness.
Multiple Invariance ESPRIT for Nonuniform Linear Arrays: A Coupled Canonical Polyadic Decomposition Approach

The Canonical Polyadic Decomposition (CPD) of higher-order tensors has proven to be an important tool for array processing. CPD approaches have so far assumed regular array geometries such as uniform linear arrays. However, in the case of sparse arrays such as nonuniform linear arrays (NLAs), the CPD approach is not suitable anymore. Using the coupled CPD we propose in this paper a multiple invariance ESPRIT method for both one- and multi-dimensional NLA processing. We obtain a multiresolution ESPRIT method for sparse arrays with multiple baselines. The coupled CPD framework also yields a new uniqueness condition that is relaxed compared with the CPD approach. It also leads to an eigenvalue decomposition based algorithm that is guaranteed to reduce the multi-source NLA problem into decoupled single-source NLA problems in the noiseless case. Finally, we present a new polynomial rooting procedure for the latter problem, which again is guaranteed to find the solution in the noiseless case. In the presence of noise, the algebraic algorithm provides an inexpensive initialization for optimization-based methods.
Predicting recovery of bilateral upper extremity muscle strength after stroke.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the recovery pattern of bilateral upper extremity muscle strength and to predict the recovery of strength early after stroke using a logarithmic regression model. DESIGN Longitudinal study. SUBJECTS Twenty-one inpatients with post-stroke hemiparesis were enrolled. The mean time after stroke event was 7.1 days (standard deviation (SD) 3.5 days). METHODS Bilateral elbow flexion and extension strengths were assessed separately with a hand-held dynamometer.Grip strength was also assessed with a Jamar dynamometer.These measurements were carried out on 4 occasions: baseline assessment within 2 weeks following stroke onset, and at weeks 1, 2 and 3 following baseline evaluation. Recovery off lexion and extension strengths was predicted using a logarithmic model using scores at the initial 2 evaluations. RESULTS The time course of recovery for bilateral upper extremities resembled a logarithmic function. Moreover, on the basis of a logarithmic regression model, baseline measures of bilateral strengths sampled from 2 time-points during recovery could be applied to predict the pattern of recovery accurately during the subacute stroke phase (R(2) = 0.74–0.95,p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Upper extremity muscle strength improved significantly in a similar pattern on the sides contralateral and ipsilateral to the brain lesion. Moreover, a logarithmic regression model accurately predicted both measures.
Image clustering and retrieval combining fixed/adaptive-binned histograms and various distance functions

In the context of content-based image retrieval, we compare two types of histograms, fixed and adaptive, both frequently used for modeling the image features. We demonstrate that a choice of a histogram type, combined with the choice of a distance function, can have a huge impact onto the clustering structure of the dataset. Such a hierarchical clustering structure visualization of database objects helps often the user to find similar objects and discover unknown patterns. In our experiments we use real data sets with large number of semantic categories, and evaluate both the reachability plots and the clustering accuracy, to show the effects of appropriate choice of fixed and/or adaptive binning in combination with various distance functions. Results show that significant clusters, along with their representatives, can be automatically extracted, which is a basis for visual data mining but even more important for nonvisual data mining.
Lack of PPARγ in Myeloid Cells Confers Resistance to Listeria monocytogenes Infection

The peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a nuclear receptor that controls inflammation and immunity. Innate immune defense against bacterial infection appears to be compromised by PPARγ. The relevance of PPARγ in myeloid cells, that organize anti-bacterial immunity, for the outcome of immune responses against intracellular bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes in vivo is unknown. We found that Listeria monocytogenes infection of macrophages rapidly led to increased expression of PPARγ. This prompted us to investigate whether PPARγ in myeloid cells influences innate immunity against Listeria monocytogenes infection by using transgenic mice with myeloid-cell specific ablation of PPARγ (LysMCre×PPARγflox/flox). Loss of PPARγ in myeloid cells results in enhanced innate immune defense against Listeria monocytogenes infection both, in vitro and in vivo. This increased resistance against infection was characterized by augmented levels of bactericidal factors and inflammatory cytokines: ROS, NO, IFNγ TNF IL-6 and IL-12. Moreover, myeloid cell-specific loss of PPARγ enhanced chemokine and adhesion molecule expression leading to improved recruitment of inflammatory Ly6Chi monocytes to sites of infection. Importantly, increased resistance against Listeria infection in the absence of PPARγ was not accompanied by enhanced immunopathology. Our results elucidate a yet unknown regulatory network in myeloid cells that is governed by PPARγ and restrains both listeriocidal activity and recruitment of inflammatory monocytes during Listeria infection, which may contribute to bacterial immune escape. Pharmacological interference with PPARγ activity in myeloid cells might represent a novel strategy to overcome intracellular bacterial infection.
Pattern Design in the Context Space A Methodological Framework for Auditory Display Design

Common practice in the design of auditory display is hardly ever based on any structured design methodology. This leaves audio being widely underused or used inappropriately and inefficiently. We analyse the current status of research in this context and develop requirements for a methodological framework for auditory display design. Based on these requirements, we have created a framework of methods to capture, transfer and apply design knowledge based on design patterns paco ad. We present the context space as the organising principle to conceptualise the design space facilitating the matching of design knowledge with solutions and the workflow. Finally, we elaborate on how we intend to evaluate the framework and how it can be supported by tools. [
High burden and pervasive positive selection of somatic mutations in normal human skin

Normal skin's curiously abnormal genome Within every tumor, a battle is being waged. As individual tumor cells acquire new mutations that promote their survival and growth, they clonally expand at the expense of tumor cells that are “less fit. ” Martincorena et al. sequenced 234 biopsies of sun-exposed but physiologically normal skin from four individuals (see the Perspective by Brash). They found a surprisingly high burden of mutations, higher than that of many tumors. Many of the mutations known to drive the growth of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas were already under strong positive selection. More than a quarter of normal skin cells carried a driver mutation, and every square centimeter of skin contained hundreds of competing mutant clones. Science, this issue p. 880; see also p. 867 Sun-exposed but physiologically normal human skin harbors an unexpectedly high number of cancer-causing mutations. [Also see Perspective by Brash] How somatic mutations accumulate in normal cells is central to understanding cancer development but is poorly understood. We performed ultradeep sequencing of 74 cancer genes in small (0.8 to 4.7 square millimeters) biopsies of normal skin. Across 234 biopsies of sun-exposed eyelid epidermis from four individuals, the burden of somatic mutations averaged two to six mutations per megabase per cell, similar to that seen in many cancers, and exhibited characteristic signatures of exposure to ultraviolet light. Remarkably, multiple cancer genes are under strong positive selection even in physiologically normal skin, including most of the key drivers of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas. Positively selected mutations were found in 18 to 32% of normal skin cells at a density of ~140 driver mutations per square centimeter. We observed variability in the driver landscape among individuals and variability in the sizes of clonal expansions across genes. Thus, aged sun-exposed skin is a patchwork of thousands of evolving clones with over a quarter of cells carrying cancer-causing mutations while maintaining the physiological functions of epidermis.
Identification of autophagy as a longevity-assurance mechanism in the aging model Podospora anserina

The filamentous ascomycete Podospora anserina is a well-established aging model in which a variety of different pathways, including those involved in the control of respiration, ROS generation and scavenging, DNA maintenance, proteostasis, mitochondrial dynamics, and programmed cell death have previously been demonstrated to affect aging and life span. Here we address a potential role of autophagy. We provide data demonstrating high basal autophagy levels even in strains cultivated under noninduced conditions. By monitoring an N-terminal fusion of EGFP to the fungal LC3 homolog PaATG8 over the lifetime of the fungus on medium with and without nitrogen supplementation, respectively, we identified a significant increase of GFP puncta in older and in nitrogen-starved cultures suggesting an induction of autophagy during aging. This conclusion is supported by the demonstration of an age-related and autophagy-dependent degradation of a PaSOD1-GFP reporter protein. The deletion of Paatg1, which leads to the lack of the PaATG1 serine/threonine kinase active in early stages of autophagy induction, impairs ascospore germination and development and shortens life span. Under nitrogen-depleted conditions, life span of the wild type is increased almost 4-fold. In contrast, this effect is annihilated in the Paatg1 deletion strain, suggesting that the ability to induce autophagy is beneficial for this fungus. Collectively, our data identify autophagy as a longevity-assurance mechanism in P. anserina and as another surveillance pathway in the complex network of pathways affecting aging and development. These findings provide perspectives for the elucidation of the mechanisms involved in the regulation of individual pathways and their interactions.