Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
General Geometric Good Continuation: A Biologically Plausible Network Model

Good continuation is the Gestalt observation that parts often group to form coherent wholes. Perceptual integration of edges, for example, involves orientation good continuation, and has been widely exploited computationally. But more general local-global relationships, such as for shading, have been elusive. While Taylor's Theorem suggests certain modeling and smoothness criteria, the consideration of levelset geometry indicates a different approach. Using such first principles we derive, for the first time, a generalization of good continuation to all those visual structures that can be abstracted as scalar functions over the image plane. Our model yields a coupled system of partial differential equations, which leads to a unique class of harmonic models and a network-based cooperative algorithm for structure inference which we apply to shading and intensity distributions. We demonstrate how this approach eliminates spurious measurements while preserving both singularities and regular structure, a property that facilitates higher level processes which depend so critically on both aspects of visual structures
A Fuzzy-Evolutionary Algorithm for Variable Identi cation in Data Mining

Many similarities can be found between the Data Mining process and the Fuzzy Modeling one, specially when we have to deal with noisy, imprecise and very large data sets. One of them correspond to the preprocessing of the data in order to select the most adequate variables to be used in knowledge discovery process by means of the data mining or fuzzy modeling techniques. In this paper an hybrid learning systems, that combines fuzzy-evolutionary techniques in order to nd useful features or variables to represent the data as a preprocessing step, is being investigated.
Extreme Kerr throat geometry: A vacuum analog of AdS 2 × S 2

We study the near-horizon limit of a four-dimensional extreme rotating black hole. The limiting metric is a completely nonsingular vacuum solution, with an enhanced symmetry group $\mathrm{SL}(2,R)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{U}(1). $ We show that many of the properties of this solution are similar to the ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{2}{\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{S}}^{2}$ geometry arising in the near-horizon limit of extreme charged black holes. In particular, the boundary at infinity is a timelike surface. This suggests the possibility of a dual quantum mechanical description. A five-dimensional generalization is also discussed.
Trophic effects on the contractile and histochemical properties of rat soleus muscle

Contractile and histochemical properties of rat soleus muscle were studied bilaterally after 2 or 4 weeks of denervation (DEN), which eliminates activity and non-activity-related influences, and chronic application of tetrodotoxin (TTX) to the motor nerve, which produces a completely inactive innervated muscle. After 2 or 4 weeks of disuse, the percentages of slow twitch oxidative fibers in both DEN- and TTX- treated soleus were reduced significantly and to similar extents. The dynamic contractile properties of TTX-treated and denervated muscles were similar to those of control muscle after 2 weeks, but by 4 weeks, parallel increases were seen in normalized rate of tension development and maximal shortening speed of these muscles. After either period of disuse, the atrophy of TTX-treated soleus was significantly less than that of denervated muscle. Atrophy was associated with correspondingly diminished capacity of denervated or TTX-disused muscles to generate tension after 2 weeks. By 4 weeks of treatment, the reduction in tension of denervated soleus was greater than its diminished size. These results imply the existence of a non-activity-related stimulus in TTX-inactivated muscles which slows the reductions in muscle mass and specific tension observed in denervated soleus muscle. In contrast, the similarities in dynamic speed-related properties and fiber type profiles between DEN- and TTX-treated rat soleus may be explained simply by the absence of neuromuscular activity.
3D graphic engine for medical images transformation and manipulation

In modern medicine data combination on various aspects of organ's morphology and function is required in diagnostic process and therapeutic decisions making. These data are usually obtained using different (two- and three-dimensional) medical imaging techniques. In this paper we present a system which provides support for creating three dimensional medical models combining results from different medical examinations and thus giving a better insight into situation which is being examined. As a prove of concept we submit a solution of combining CT (Computed Tomography) and ECHO (Echocardiography) bull's-eye display. System is intended for use in clinical environments as a sophisticated and easy to use tool for visualization of complex medical data.
Online Self-Organised Map Classifiers as Text Filters for Spam Email Detection

Email communication today is a way of working and communicating for most businesses and public in general. Being able to efficiently receive and send emails therefore becomes a must. Spam email detection and removal then becomes a vital process for the successful email communications, security and convenience. This paper describes a novel way of analysing and filtering incoming emails based on the text (keyword) salient features identified within. The method presented has promising results and at the same time significantly better performance than other statistical and probabilistic methods and at the same time offers a mechanism that can automatically adapt to new (unseen) email trends. The salient features of emails are selected automatically based on functions combining word frequency and other discriminating matrices, and then encoded into appropriate numerical vector models. The method is compared against the state-of-the-art Multinomial Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machines and Boosted Decision Tress classifiers for identifying spam. The proposed automatic adaptable feature extractor method and online Self-Organising Map seems to give significantly better results, with the minimal cost.
Recognizing sentiment polarity in Chinese reviews based on topic sentiment sentences

We present an approach to recognizing sentiment polarity in Chinese reviews based on topic sentiment sentences. Considering the features of Chinese reviews, we firstly identify the topic of a review using an n-gram matching approach. To extract candidate topic sentiment sentences, we compute the semantic similarity between a given sentence and the ascertained topic and meanwhile determine whether the sentence is subjective. A certain number of these sentences are then selected as representatives according to their semantic similarity value with relation to the topic. The average value of the representative topic sentiment sentences is calculated and taken as the sentiment polarity of a review. Experiment results show that the proposed method is feasible and can achieve relatively high precision.
The Inorganic Side of NGF: Copper(II) and Zinc(II) Affect the NGF Mimicking Signaling of the N-Terminus Peptides Encompassing the Recognition Domain of TrkA Receptor

The nerve growth factor (NGF) N-terminus peptide, NGF(1–14), and its acetylated form, Ac-NGF(1–14), were investigated to scrutinize the ability of this neurotrophin domain to mimic the whole protein. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that non-covalent forces assist the molecular recognition of TrkA receptor by both peptides. Combined parallel tempering/docking simulations discriminated the effect of the N-terminal acetylation on the recognition of NGF(1–14) by the domain 5 of TrkA (TrkA-D5). Experimental findings demonstrated that both NGF(1–14) and Ac-NGF(1–14) activate TrkA signaling pathways essential for neuronal survival. The NGF-induced TrkA internalization was slightly inhibited in the presence of Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions, whereas the metal ions elicited the NGF(1–14)-induced internalization of TrkA and no significant differences were found in the weak Ac-NGF(1–14)-induced receptor internalization. The crucial role of the metals was confirmed by experiments with the metal-chelator bathocuproine disulfonic acid, which showed different inhibitory effects in the signaling cascade, due to different metal affinity of NGF, NGF(1–14) and Ac-NGF(1–14). The NGF signaling cascade, activated by the two peptides, induced CREB phosphorylation, but the copper addition further stimulated the Akt, ERK and CREB phosphorylation in the presence of NGF and NGF(1–14) only. A dynamic and quick influx of both peptides into PC12 cells was tracked by live cell imaging with confocal microscopy. A significant role of copper ions was found in the modulation of peptide sub-cellular localization, especially at the nuclear level. Furthermore, a strong copper ionophoric ability of NGF(1–14) was measured. The Ac-NGF(1–14) peptide, which binds copper ions with a lower stability constant than NGF(1–14), exhibited a lower nuclear localization with respect to the total cellular uptake. These findings were correlated to the metal-induced increase of CREB and BDNF expression caused by NGF(1–14) stimulation. In summary, we here validated NGF(1–14) and Ac-NGF(1–14) as first examples of monomer and linear peptides able to activate the NGF-TrkA signaling cascade. Metal ions modulated the activity of both NGF protein and the NGF-mimicking peptides. Such findings demonstrated that NGF(1–14) sequence can reproduce the signal transduction of whole protein, therefore representing a very promising drug candidate for further pre-clinical studies.
Unsupervised horizontal collaboration based in SOM

In this paper we present a new approach of collaborative classification allowing protecting the confidentiality of the data by using the self organizing map of Kohonen. Having a collection of databases distributed on several different sites, so, the problem consists in clustering each of these bases by considering the data and the classifications of the others base coworkers, without omitting however to respect the constraint of confidentiality which forbids the sharing of data between the various centers. To do it, our approach is subdivided into two phases: a local phase and a collaborative phase. The local phase would mean applying the classic algorithm of Kohonen, locally and independently on each of the databases, what will end in the obtaining of a map (SELF-ORGANIZING MAP) for each of these bases. The phase of collaboration would mean making each of the databases collaborate with all the map SOM partners in the other bases obtained during the local phase. So, as result we obtain on each of the sites a map close to the SOM which we would have obtained if we had disregarded the constraint of confidentiality, namely make databases collaborate they same. In the stemming from both phases, all the maps will be enriched. The article presents the formalism of the approach as well as its validation. The proposed approach was validated on several databases and the experimental results showed very promising performances.
DCR: Replay Debugging for the Datacenter

Debugging is hard, but debugging production datacenter applications such as Cassandra, Hadoop, and Hypertable is downright daunting. The key obstacle is non-deterministic failures–hard-to-reproduce program misbehaviors that are immune to traditional cyclicdebugging techniques. Datacenter applications are rife with such failures because they operate in highly nondeterministic environments: a typical setup employs thousands of nodes, spread across multiple datacenters, to process terabytes of data per day. In these environments, existing methods for debugging non-deterministic failures are of limited use. They either incur excessive production overheads or don’t scale to multi-node, terabyte-scale processing. To help remedy the situation, we have built a new replay debugging tool. Our tool, called DCR, enables the reproduction and debugging of non-deterministic failures in production datacenter runs. The key observation behind DCR is that debugging does not always require a precise replica of the original datacenter run. Instead, it often suffices to produce some run that exhibits the original behaviors of the control-plane–the most errorprone component of datacenter applications. DCR leverages this observation to relax the determinism guarantees offered by the system, and consequently, to address all key requirements of production datacenter applications: lightweight recording of long-running programs, causally consistent replay of large scale systems, and out of the box operation on real-world applications.
Robust cross-media transfer for visual event detection

In this paper, we present a novel approach, named Robust Cross-Media Transfer (RCMT), for visual event detection in social multimedia environments. Different from most existing methods, the proposed method can directly take different types of noisy social multimedia data as input and conduct robust event detection. More specifically, we build a robust model by employing an l2,1-norm regression model featuring noise tolerance, and also manage to integrate different types of social multimedia data by minimizing the distribution difference among them. Experimental results on real-life Flickr image dataset and YouTube video dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal, compared to state-of-the-art algorithms.
Dynamic Uplink/Downlink Resource Allocation for TDD OFDMA Access Network

The next generation communications system intend to develop broadband wireless access networks, which support heteronymous uplink and downlink services with different quality of service (QoS) requirement. In this paper, we address when and how to allocate the resource for uplink and downlink in Time Division Duplex (TDD) OFDMA wireless network. For typical cellular network and mesh-like network, due to variable ratio of uplink/downlink heteronymous services, we proposed resource allocation (RA) scheme with dynamic asymmetry uplink downlink ratio (DAUDR) based on Basic-Capacity-Based admission control (BCBAC). The numerical result show that performance of our scheme outweigh the fix ratio RA in the overall resource utilization.
A Proposal for a Parallel Watershed Transform Algorithm for Real-Time Segmentation

The watershed transform is widely used for image segmentation on computer vision applications. However, sequential watershed algorithms are not suitable for real-time applications, once they are one demanding part of several tasks. This paper proposes a new parallel algorithm for the watershed transform focused on real-time image segmentation using off-the-shelf GPUs. In this sense, this algorithm aims for a speedup by mixing several techniques of the fastest procedures on both sequential and parallel fields. The algorithm has four major steps, processed on SIMD, with implementation details tuned for many-core architectures, without the use of explicit message passing schemes.
Why do people with complex regional pain syndrome take longer to recognize their affected hand?

Background: People with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) take longer to recognize the laterality of a pictured hand when it coincides with their affected hand. The author explored two aspects of this phenomenon: whether the duration of symptoms relates to the extent of the delay and whether guarding-type mechanisms are involved. Methods: Eighteen patients with CRPS type 1 of the wrist and 18 matched control subjects performed a hand laterality recognition task. McGill pain questionnaire, Neuropathic Pain Scale, and response time (RT) to recognize hand laterality were analyzed. Regressions related 1) mean RT for patients to the duration of symptoms and to pain intensity; and 2) mean RT for each picture to the predicted pain on executing that movement as judged by the patient, and to the awkwardness of the movement that would be required. Results: For patients, the duration of symptoms correlated with mean RT (Spearman rho = 0.44; p = 0.02). Predicted pain rating explained 45% of the variance in RT for each picture for each patient (p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results suggest that in patients with complex regional pain syndrome type 1, delayed recognition of hand laterality is related to the duration of symptoms and to the pain that would be evoked by executing the movement. The former is consistent with chronic pain and disuse and may involve reorganization of the cortical correlate of body schema. The latter is consistent with a guarding-type response that probably occurs upstream of the motor cortex at a motor planning level.
A multi-output technique for high fault coverage in test-per-scan BIST

This paper presents a new technique that increases fault coverage and decreases test application time in test-per-scan built-in self-test (BIST) circuits. The new design, called multi-output linear feedback shift register (MO-LFSR), uses the output of several D-FF cells in the LFSR, selecting one output to be used throughout each scan cycle to feed the scan chain input of a full- scan circuit under test (CUT). Some bits of the LFSR are used at the beginning of a new scan cycle to select which output to be used for this cycle in such a way that the patterns generated by this output can detect some of the random pattern resistant faults (hard to detect faults), hence, increasing the fault coverage and decreasing the test length at the same time. Experimental results on ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits demonstrate that the proposed technique can achieve an average of 3.9% better fault coverage with an average of 60% shorter test length than some of other techniques.
MEMOIR: Geoffrey Harris and my brush with his unit

Geoffrey Harris is chiefly known for his demonstration of the control of the pituitary gland by the portal vessels coming from the hypothalamus. This does not do justice to his extraordinary contribution to biology. Harris’ life’s work was central in demonstrating the brain/body interactions by which animals and humans adapt to their environment, and above all the control of that most crucial and proximate of all evolutionary events – reproduction. In this brief review, I have tried to put Geoffrey Harris’ work in the context of the scientific thinking at the time when he began his work, and above all, the contribution of his mentor, FHA Marshall, on whose towering shoulders Harris rose. But this is mainly my personal story, in which I have tried to show the debt that my work owed to Harris and especially to my dear friend, the late Keith Brown-Grant in Harris’ team. I myself was never an endocrinologist, but over a short period in the early 1970s, under the influence of such inspirational mentors, and using purely anatomical methods, I was able to demonstrate sexual dimorphism and hormone-dependent sexual differentiation in the connections of the preoptic area, regeneration of the median eminence, the ultrastructure of apoptosis, the requirement for the suprachiasmatic nuclei in reproductive rhythms, the existence of non-rod or cone photoreceptors in the albino rat retina and, later, the expression of vasopressin by solitary (one in 600) magnocellular neurons in the polydipsic di/di Brattleboro mutant rat; this phenomenon was subsequently shown to be due to aC1 reading frameshift. I end this brief overview by mentioning some of the abiding and fascinating mysteries of the endocrine memory of the brain that arise from Harris’ work on the control of the endocrines, and by pointing out how the current interest in chronobiology emphasises what a Cinderella the endocrine mechanisms have become in current brain imaging studies. Key Words
Assessing genetic variation for heat tolerance in synthetic wheat lines using phenotypic data and molecular markers

High temperature is a major environmental stress factor limiting wheat productivity in India. Therefore, improvement for heat tolerance in wheat is an important breeding objective. A number of synthetic wheat hexaploids have shown resistance to major wheat diseases and tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, waterlogging and salinity. This study was conduct to assess heat tolerance and genetic variation among twenty-four heat tolerant synthetic wheat lines in order to identify new sources of diversity that could accelerate the development of improved wheat genotypes better suited to meet the challenges posed by changing climate in India. Phenotypic data of nine traits of synthetic wheat lines were evaluated for heat tolerance under non-stress (timely sown) and stress (late sown) field conditions. The heat tolerance and stress susceptibility indices were calculated for Thousand-grain weight (TGW) and genotypes differed significantly for stress indices. A hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted based on phenotypic traits and among 24 synthetics lines, three accessions were classified as highly tolerant, 9 as medium tolerant and 12 as susceptible. Fifteen polymorphic ISSR markers were used to evaluate the diversity profile of synthetic hexaploid wheats (2n=6x=42, AABBDD). In total, 75 alleles were detected (five bands/primer), out of which 36 were polymorphic across the lines and the percentage of polymorphism was 80%. The polymorphic information content value for ISSR markers was calculated in the range of 0.39 to 0.88 with an average of 0.65. Genotypes (SNY 11, SNY 36 SNY 44) characterized as highly heat tolerance were distributed among the ISSR cluster groups. It implies that genetic basis of heat tolerance in synthetic wheat lines was different, therefore enabling wheat breeders to combine these diverse sources of genetic variability to improve heat tolerance in their breeding program.
A Minimal Set of Glycolytic Genes Reveals Strong Redundancies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Central Metabolism

ABSTRACT As a result of ancestral whole-genome and small-scale duplication events, the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and many eukaryotes still contain a substantial fraction of duplicated genes. In all investigated organisms, metabolic pathways, and more particularly glycolysis, are specifically enriched for functionally redundant paralogs. In ancestors of the Saccharomyces lineage, the duplication of glycolytic genes is purported to have played an important role leading to S. cerevisiae's current lifestyle favoring fermentative metabolism even in the presence of oxygen and characterized by a high glycolytic capacity. In modern S. cerevisiae strains, the 12 glycolytic reactions leading to the biochemical conversion from glucose to ethanol are encoded by 27 paralogs. In order to experimentally explore the physiological role of this genetic redundancy, a yeast strain with a minimal set of 14 paralogs was constructed (the “minimal glycolysis” [MG] strain). Remarkably, a combination of a quantitative systems approach and semiquantitative analysis in a wide array of growth environments revealed the absence of a phenotypic response to the cumulative deletion of 13 glycolytic paralogs. This observation indicates that duplication of glycolytic genes is not a prerequisite for achieving the high glycolytic fluxes and fermentative capacities that are characteristic of S. cerevisiae and essential for many of its industrial applications and argues against gene dosage effects as a means of fixing minor glycolytic paralogs in the yeast genome. The MG strain was carefully designed and constructed to provide a robust prototrophic platform for quantitative studies and has been made available to the scientific community.