Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
S-cone signals invisible to the motion system can improve motion extraction via grouping by color

Abstract The purpose of this study was to test whether color–motion correlations carried by a pure color difference (S-cone component only) can be used to improve global motion extraction. We also examined the neural markers of color–motion correlation processing in event-related potentials. Color and motion information was dissociated using a two-colored random dot kinematogram, wherein coherent motion and motion noise differed from each other only in their S-cone component, with spatial and temporal parameters set so that global motion processing relied solely on a constant L-M component. Hence, when color and the local motion direction are correlated, more efficient segregation of coherent motion can only be brought about by the S-cone difference, and crucially, this S-cone component does not provide any effective input to a global motion mechanism but only changes the color appearance of the moving dots. The color contrasts (vector length in the S vs. L-M plane) of both the dots carrying coherent motion and the dots moving randomly were fixed at motion discrimination threshold to ensure equal effectiveness for motion extraction. In the behavioral experiment, participants were asked to discriminate between coherent and random motion, and d′ was determined for three different conditions: uncorrelated, uncued correlated, and cued correlated. In the electroencephalographic experiment, participants discriminated direction of motion for uncued correlated and cued correlated conditions. Color–motion correlations were found to improve performance. Cueing a specific color also modulated the N1 component of the event-related potential, with sources in visual area middle temporal. We conclude that S-cone signals “invisible” to the motion system can influence the analysis by direction-selective motion mechanisms through grouping of local motion signals by color. This grouping mechanism must precede motion processing and is likely to be under attentional control.
Endoscopic Color Doppler Ultrasonography for Esophagogastric Varices

Esophagogastric varices are considered to be the most common complication in patients with portal hypertension. Endoscopic ultrasonography not only visualizes the surface of the varices but also provides detailed information about their internal structure. The direction of blood flow can be determined and its velocity measured only via endoscopic color Doppler ultrasonography (ECDUS). This can show graphically esophageal varices, paraesophageal veins, and passageways in esophageal variceal patients and gastric varices, perigastric collateral veins in gastric variceal patients. It is important to evaluate the hemodynamics of the portal venous system when treating the esophago-gastric varices. ECDUS is a useful modality for the evaluation of the detailed hemodynamics and the therapeutic effects of esophago-gastric varices.
Modeling and nonlinear heading control for sailing yachts

This paper presents a study on the development and testing of a model-based heading controller for a sailing yacht. Using Fossen's compact notation for marine vehicles, we first describe a nonlinear 4-DOF dynamic model for a sailing yacht, including roll. Starting from this model, we then design a nonlinear heading controller using the integrator backstepping method, which asymptotically stabilizes the system to the heading/yaw dynamics. Additionally, we present a few simulation results to illustrate the behavior of our control designs.
Real-time cooperative behavior acquisition by a humanoid apprentice

An apprentice is an able-bodied individual that should interactively assist an expert, and through this interaction, they should acquire knowledge and skill in the given task domain. In this context the robot should have a useful repertoire of sensory-motor acts that the human can command with spoken language. In order to address the additional requirements for learning new behaviors, the robot should additionally have a real-time behavioral sequence acquisition capability. The learned sequences should function as executable procedures that can operate in a flexible manner that are not rigidly sensitive to initial conditions. The current research develops these capabilities in a real-time control system for the HRP-2 humanoid. The task domain involves a human and the HRP-2 working together to assemble a piece of furniture. We previously defined a system for Spoken Language Programming (SLP) that allowed the user to guide the robot through an arbitrary, task relevant, motor sequence via spoken commands, and to store this sequence as re-usable macro. The current research significantly extends the SPL system: It integrates vision and motion planning into the SLP framework, providing a new level of flexibility in the behviora that can be created. Most important it allows the user to create ldquogenericrdquo functions with arguments (e.g. Give me X), and it allows multiple functions to be created. We thus demonstrate - for the first time - a humanoid robot equipped with vision based grasping, and the ability to acquire multiple sensory motor behavioral procedures in real-time through SLP in the context of a cooperative task. The humanoid robot thus acquires new sensory motor skills that significantly facilitate the cooperative human-robot interaction.
Is the road towards “Zero-Energy” paved with NEMFET-based power management?

In this paper we explore the potential that the use of state-of-the-art Nano-Electro-Mechanical (NEM) devices, i.e., NEMFETs and NEM Relays, in the implementation of power management circuitry, in combination with efficient energy harvesters through 3D stacking integration, have in meeting the tight energy budgets of “Zero-Energy” autonomous sensor systems. We propose various 3D hybrid embodiments of an openMPS430 embedded processor augmented with NEMFET and/or NEM Relay based power management mechanisms and investigate their energy consumption when executing a heart beat detection application. Our investigations indicate that the hybrid NEMFET-oriented approach, which relies on sleep transistors and associated management logic implemented on a dedicated NEMFET die, is the most promising in terms of energy consumption and reliability. Moreover, when combined with a thermal energy harvester, potentially implementable on the same die, it can enable the road towards autonomous computing.
On Simulation of the Nash Equilibrium in the Stock Exchange Contest

A simple Stock Exchange Game Model (SEGM) was introduced in Mockus (2003), to simulate the behavior of several stockholders using fixed buying-selling margins at fixed bank yield.In this paper, an extended model USEGM is proposed. The advantage of USEGM is application of the Nash Equilibrium (NE) to strategies that define buying-selling margins and bank haircuts dynamically. This enables us to simulate market illiquidity that is an important feature of the present financial crisis (Allen, 2008). In addition, USEGM includes the transaction costs to reflect the reality better. To represent users that prefer linear utility functions, USEGM adds the AR-ABS(p) autoregressive model, minimizing the absolute values, to the traditional AR(p) model minimizing least square deviations.A formal application of NE to simulate the behavior of market participants is a new feature of these models. In the well-known works Allen (2008), Brunnermeier (2009), Brunnermeier and Yogo (2009) equilibrium ideas were applied to supply-demand balance concepts, as usual.The objective of USEGM is not forecasting, but simulation of financial time series that are affected by predictions of the participants. The “ virtual” stock exchange can help in testing the assumption of rational investor behavior vs the recent theories that explain financial markets by irrational responses of major market participants (Krugman, 2000, 2008, 2009). The model helps comparing expected profits of different prediction models using the virtual and historical data.The model has been compared with eighteen actual financial time series and found the results to be close in many cases.
Altered sympathetic nervous reactivity and norepinephrine transporter expression in patients with the postural tachycardia syndrome

Background—Clinical observations in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) suggest abnormal sympathetic nervous system activity and a dysfunction of the norepinephrine (NE) transporter (NET). Methods and Results—We examined sympathetic nervous system responses to head-up tilt by combining NE plasma kinetics measurements and muscle sympathetic nerve activity recordings and by quantifying NET protein content in peripheral sympathetic nerves in patients with POTS compared with that in controls. POTS patients had an elevated heart rate during supine rest (81±2 bpm versus 66±2 bpm in healthy subjects [HS], P<0.01). Head-up tilt to 40° induced a greater rise in heart rate in patients with POTS (+24±4 bpm versus +13±2 bpm in HS, P<0.001). During rest in the supine position, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, arterial NE concentration, and whole-body NE spillover to plasma were similar in both groups. Muscle sympathetic nerve activity response to head-up tilt was greater in the POTS group (+29±3 bursts/min in patients with POTS and +13±2 bursts/min in HS, P<0.001), but the NE spillover rise was similar in both groups (51% in the POTS subjects and 50% in the HS). Western blot analysis of NET protein extracted from forearm vein biopsies in patients with POTS and HS demonstrated a decrease in the expression of NET protein in patients with POTS. Conclusion—Patients with POTS exhibit a decrease in NET protein in their peripheral sympathetic nerves. Paradoxically, whole-body NE spillover to plasma during rest in the supine position and in response to head-up tilt is not altered despite excessive nerve firing rate in response to the head-up tilt.
Automated Categorization Scheme for Digital Libraries in Distance Learning: A Pattern Recognition Approach

Digital libraries play a crucial role in distance learning. Nowadays, they are one of the fundamental information sources for the students enrolled in this learning system. These libraries contain huge amount of instructional data (text, audio and video) offered by the distance learning program. Organization of the digital libraries is therefore very important for easy and fast access to the desired information. Improper categorization of data may mislead the students searching the library. Since manual categorization of huge amount of data might be challenging, an automatic and reliable method is needed. In this sense, this paper proposes an automated categorization scheme for digital libraries in distance learning. The categorization scheme is designed and developed by a pattern recognition approach. Effectiveness of the proposed scheme is evaluated on widely used Reuters database. The results of the experimental study verify that the proposed scheme is a good candidate for categorization of digital libraries in distance learning programs.
Bedraggled, a Putative Transporter, Influences the Tissue Polarity Complex During the R3/R4 Fate Decision in the Drosophila Eye

The tissue polarity pathway is required for the establishment of epithelial polarity in a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate organs. Core tissue polarity proteins act in a dynamically regulated complex to direct the polarization of the Drosophila eye. We report the identification and characterization of bedraggled (bdg), a novel gene that regulates one output of the tissue polarity pathway—the establishment of the R3/R4 photoreceptor fates. bdg encodes a novel, putative transporter protein and interacts genetically with all of the core polarity genes to influence the specification of the R3 and R4 cell fates. Finally, bdg is required for both viability and the initial stages of imaginal disc development.
A New Evolutionary Method to Reduce Free Ride Behavior in Enterprise Decision-Making

In this article, we introduce a new and simple evolution method into a spatial voluntary public goods game by which individual can choose successful strategies according to the game's earlier history. In particular, this method can provide an explanation how microscopic agent-agent interactions may generate a spontaneous cooperation for a more efficient outcome in real-life situations. Moreover, we found that the interest rate of common pool and the length of memory have crucial effects on the welfare of the whole population. And also substantially influences the equilibrium strategies distribution in the long run.
The Adolescent Experience and Delinquency: School versus Subcultural Effects

The history of sociological research on delinquency indicates that if any variable has been significantly related to delinquency it is social class. The anomie theorists (Merton, 1938; Cohen, 1 9 5 9 , cultural transmission theorists (Shaw and hlcKay, 1942) and even the differential association proponents (Sutherland and Cressey, 1960) have all emphasized that social class is a very important variable. Yet, in recent years, some research has pointed to evidence that delinquency is present in all strata of our society and that these early works made an erroneous assumption that crime statistics are necessarily indicative of crimiml behavior patterns. The works of Empey and Erickson ( 1 966), Gold (1966), and Clark and Wenninger (1962), for example, indicate that whether or not crime statistics are accurate depictions of criminal behavior patterns is, at the very least, an empirical question. Further, it is more likely that official crime statistics are better indicators of police behavior and law enforcement agency policies than of the behavior of delinquents.
Endothelium-specific in vivo gene transfer.

Targeted expression of genetic material within the vascular endothelium is potentially a powerful tool for the investigation of endothelial cell (EC) biology. We developed, optimized, and characterized an efficient somatic transgenic model of EC-specific gene transfer. Rat carotid arteries were infused with adenovirus expressing a beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) gene. The level and cell-type specificity of recombinant gene expression were measured by assaying beta-gal activity in vessel extracts and by counting transduced cells in histological sections. Toxicity was evaluated by counting total ECs (3 days) and by measuring neointimal formation (14 days). Effects of transduction on the proliferation of vascular cells were measured with bromodeoxyuridine and [3H]thymidine. Maximum recombinant gene expression resulted from infusion of 1 x 10(10) to 1 x 10(11) plaque-forming units (pfu) per milliliter; approximately 35% of luminal ECs were transduced. A high degree of EC specificity (90% to 98% of total transduced cells) was maintained over this range of virus concentrations. More highly concentrated virus resulted in loss of beta-gal expression and a large decrease in luminal EC number (97% decrease, P < .001). Gene transfer at 4 x 10(10) pfu/mL was efficient, preserved EC integrity, and caused minimal neointimal formation. After gene transfer, there were early (3-day) increases in both EC and smooth muscle cell proliferation. At 14 days, only EC proliferation remained elevated (18% versus 1.4% in vehicle-infused arteries, P = .005). This animal model permits efficient highly EC-specific gene transfer. Vascular toxicity is minimal, although the EC proliferative index is elevated. This model will be useful in experiments that elucidate the biological role of EC gene products and define pathways of EC gene regulation and signal transduction in vivo.
Separate Populations of Neurons in Ventral Striatum Encode Value and Motivation

Neurons in the ventral striatum (VS) fire to cues that predict differently valued rewards. It is unclear whether this activity represents the value associated with the expected reward or the level of motivation induced by reward anticipation. To distinguish between the two, we trained rats on a task in which we varied value independently from motivation by manipulating the size of the reward expected on correct trials and the threat of punishment expected upon errors. We found that separate populations of neurons in VS encode expected value and motivation.
A prognostic DNA methylation signature for stage I non-small-cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a tumor in which only small improvements in clinical outcome have been achieved. The issue is critical for stage I patients for whom there are no available biomarkers that indicate which high-risk patients should receive adjuvant chemotherapy. We aimed to find DNA methylation markers that could be helpful in this regard. PATIENTS AND METHODS A DNA methylation microarray that analyzes 450,000 CpG sites was used to study tumoral DNA obtained from 444 patients with NSCLC that included 237 stage I tumors. The prognostic DNA methylation markers were validated by a single-methylation pyrosequencing assay in an independent cohort of 143 patients with stage I NSCLC. RESULTS Unsupervised clustering of the 10,000 most variable DNA methylation sites in the discovery cohort identified patients with high-risk stage I NSCLC who had shorter relapse-free survival (RFS; hazard ratio [HR], 2.35; 95% CI, 1.29 to 4.28; P = .004). The study in the validation cohort of the significant methylated sites from the discovery cohort found that hypermethylation of five genes was significantly associated with shorter RFS in stage I NSCLC: HIST1H4F, PCDHGB6, NPBWR1, ALX1, and HOXA9. A signature based on the number of hypermethylated events distinguished patients with high- and low-risk stage I NSCLC (HR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.61 to 6.54; P = .001). CONCLUSION The DNA methylation signature of NSCLC affects the outcome of stage I patients, and it can be practically determined by user-friendly polymerase chain reaction assays. The analysis of the best DNA methylation biomarkers improved prognostic accuracy beyond standard staging.
I/O Performance Modeling for Big Data Applications over Cloud Infrastructures

Big Data applications receive an ever-increasing amount of attention, thus becoming a dominant class of applications that are deployed over virtualized environments. Cloud environments entail a large amount of complexity relative to I/O performance. The use of Big Data increases the complexity of I/O management as well as its characterization and prediction: As I/O operations become growingly dominant in such applications, the intricacies of virtualization, different storage back ends and deployment setups significantly hinder our ability to analyze and correctly predict I/O performance. To that end, this work proposes an end-to-end modeling technique to predict performance of I/O--intensive Big Data applications running over cloud infrastructures. We develop a model tuned over application and infrastructure dimensions: Primitive I/O operations, data access patterns, storage back ends and deployment parameters. The trained model can be used to predict both I/O but also general task performance. Our evaluation results show that for jobs which are dominated by I/O operations, such as I/O-bound MapReduce jobs, our model is capable of predicting execution time with an accuracy close to 90% that decreases as application processing becomes more complex.
Abnormal Renal Hemodynamics in Black Salt-Sensitive Patients With Hypertension

African-Americans with essential hypertension are more prone to the development of renal failure and are frequently salt-sensitive as well. Because alterations of intrarenal hemodynamics are important in the progression of renal disease and because salt-sensitive animal models with hypertension manifest a greater propensity to develop glomerulosclerosis in association with a rise in glomerular capillary pressure, we tested whether the renal hemodynamic adaptation to high dietary Na+ intake differs in salt-sensitive and salt-resistant hypertensive patients. We studied 17 black and nine white patients with essential hypertension who were placed on a low Na+ diet (20 meq/day) for 9 days, followed by a high Na+ diet (200 meq/day) for 14 days. During the last 4 days of each diet regimen, they received 30 mg/day of slow-release nifedipine. Eleven blacks were salt-sensitive, and all whites were salt-resistant. During the low Na+ diet period, salt-sensitive and salt-resistant patients had similar mean arterial pressure, glomerular filtration rate, effective renal plasma flow, and filtration fraction. During the high Na+ intake period, glomerular filtration rate did not change in either group; effective renal blood flow increased in salt-resistant patients (from 455±25 to 524±27.7 ml/min, p<0.01), but it decreased in salt-sensitive patients (from 538±20 to 426±15.8 ml/min, p<0.01); filtration fraction decreased (from 21±1.8 to 19±1.5%) in salt-resistant patients, but it increased (from 19±0.9 to 23±1.5%, p<0.01) in salt-sensitive patients; glomerular pressure decreased (from 58±2.0 to 52±1.5 mm Hg, p<0.01) in salt-resistant patients, but it increased (from 48±1.6 to 58±1.5 mm Hg, p<0.01) in salt-sensitive patients. During the period of high Na+ intake, nifedipine decreased arterial pressure, renal vascular resistance, and filtration fraction and increased renal blood flow in salt-sensitive but not in salt-resistant patients. These studies show that an abnormal renal hemodynamic adaptation occurs in salt-sensitive patients during high Na+ intake. The rise in filtration fraction and in intraglomerular pressure during high Na+ suggests that these renal hemodynamic derangements might be partially responsible for the greater propensity to renal failure in hypertensive African-Americans.
Filtering Relevant Facebook Status Updates for Users of Mobile Devices

In recent years, social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ have become popular. Many people are already used to accessing their individual news feeds ubiquitously also on mobile devices. However the number of status updates in these feeds is usually high thus making the identification of relevant updates a tedious task. In this paper we present an approach to identify the relevant status updates in a user’s Facebook news feed. The algorithm combines simple features based on the interactions with status updates together with more sophisticated metrics from the field of Social Network Analysis as input for a Support Vector Machine. Optionally the feature space can be extended by a topic model in order to improve the classification accuracy. A first evaluation conducted as live user experiment suggests that the approach can lead to satisfying results for a large number of users.
Overwintering of Culex mosquitoes in Sweden and their potential as reservoirs of human pathogens

Abstract. 1. Culexpipiens L. and Cx torrentium Martini are suspected enzootic vectors in Sweden of Sindbis virus causing Ockelbo disease in man. To estimate their potential as virus reservoirs over the winter, mosquitoes were collected from August to May from a cellar in a rural area, central Sweden. The mosquitoes were dissected and examined for blood content, gonotrophic stage, parity and insemination, and tested for fructose.