Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GPR Image Enhancement Based on Frequency Shifting and Histogram Dissimilarity

In the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) B-scan images, various noise sources are superimposed due to the ruggedness of the surface, sensor vibration, and multiple reflections. Additionally, the intensity of the received signals from small-size or low-metal-content landmines is low. Thus, it is difficult to accurately detect buried mines. In this letter, we propose an effective method to improve the B-scan image so that accurate landmine detection is possible even in such conditions. The proposed B-scan image enhancement method is comprised of two main techniques: an A-scan transformation based on frequency shifting and a background-landmine dissimilarity measurement using cumulative intensity distribution (CID). Based on frequency shifting, an A-scan transformation is devised to attenuate the strong ac component contained by the received A-scan signal. The CID-based dissimilarity is introduced to measure how an A-scan differs from a background model in the presence of a landmine. The proposed dissimilarity measure provides a robust response to a rugged ground surface and sensor vibration. For performance analysis, we compared our method with some conventional methods using the GPR data set acquired by an ultra wide band GPR sensor manufactured by Hanwha Systems Co., Ltd. We carried out various experiments and verified that the proposed method has a better performance than the conventional methods.
The endogenous eyeblink.

The endogenous eyeblink is identified as a cortically controlled response event, distinguishable from both reflexive and voluntary lid movements. It has a characteristic rate, form, and temporal distribution. These aspects of endogenous blinks are related to cognitive state variables. Allocation of attentional resources, transition points in information processing flow, and possibly processing mode, are indexed by blink parameters.
Eye movements during REM sleep and imagination of visual scenes

It has been hypothesized that rapid eye movements (REMs) during sleep reflect the process of looking around in dreams. We questioned whether REMs differ from eye movements in wakefulness while imagining previously seen visual stimuli (dots, static images, videos). After looking at these stimuli individuals were asked to remember and imagine them. Subsequently, their REMs were recorded at the sleep laboratory. Kinematic parameters of REMs were similar to saccadic eye movements to remembered stimuli with closed eyes, irrespective of the stimulus type. In contrast, peak velocity of eye movements with open eyes was similar to REMs when semantic, but not nonsemantic, contents were imagined. Thus, REMs may be related to exploratory saccadic behaviour in the awake to remember visual stimuli.
Hydroxytyrosol Inhibits Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Gene Expression in 3T3‐L1 Preadipocyte Cell Line

The 3T3‐L1 preadipocyte cell line is a well characterized cell model for studying the adipocyte status and the molecular mechanisms involved in differentiation of these cells. 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes have the ability to synthesize and degrade endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) and their differentiation into adipocytes increases the expression of cannabinoid (CB1) and PPAR‐γ receptors. Clinically, the blocking stimulation of the endocannabinoid pathway has been one of the first approaches proposed to counteract the obesity and obesity‐associated diseases (such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cancer). In this connection, here we studied in cultured 3T3‐L1 pre‐adipocytes the effects of n‐3‐PUFA, α‐Linolenic acid (OM‐3), n‐6‐PUFA, Linoleic acid (OM‐6), and hydroxytyrosol (HT) on the expression of CB1 receptor gene and the adipogenesis‐related genes PPAR‐γ, Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS) and Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL). HT was able to inhibit 3T3‐L1 cell differentiation by down‐regulating cell proliferation and CB1 receptor gene expression. HT exhibited anti‐adipogenic effects, whereas OM‐3 and OM‐6 exerted an inhibitory action on cell proliferation associated with an induction of the preadipocytes differentiation and CB1 receptor gene expression. Moreover, the expression of FAS and LPL genes resulted increased after treatment with both HT and OM‐3 and OM‐6. The present study points out that the intake of molecules such as HT, contained in extra virgin olive oil, may be considered also in view of antiobesity and antineoplastic properties by acting directly on the adipose tissue and modulating CB1 receptor gene transcription. J. Cell. Physiol. 231: 483–489, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
End-to-end latency analysis of cause-effect chains in an engine management system

An engine management system consists of periodic or sporadic real-time tasks. A task is a set of runnables that may be fully preemptive or partially at runnable boundaries. A cause-effect chain is defined as a chain of runnables that are connected by the read/write dependency. We propose a novel analytical technique to estimate the end-to-end latency of a cause-effect chain by considering conservatively estimated schedule time bounds of associated runnables. The proposed approach is verified with an industrial-strength automotive benchmark.
Comparison of two handheld applanation tonometers and the association of central corneal thickness, age, and intraocular pressure in normal and diseased canine eyes.

OBJECTIVE To compare the intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements from two applanation tonometers (Tono-Pen XL(®) and AccuPen(®) in normal and diseased canine eyes (including corneal disease, cataract, glaucoma, uveitis, and noninflammatory intraocular disease) and evaluate the associations among the central corneal thickness (CCT), IOP measurements, and age. ANIMALS STUDIED Sixty-eight normal and 191 diseased eyes. PROCEDURE A topical anesthetic agent was applied to each eye. One minute later, IOP was measured with the Tono-Pen XL(®) and then the AccuPen(®), and then CCT was measured with an ultrasonic pachymeter. Measurements for the right eye were always taken first. RESULTS The Tono-Pen XL(®) successfully measured IOP in all eyes, whereas the AccuPen(®) registered measurements in only 98.4% of diseased eyes. The AccuPen(®) measurements were significantly lower than the Tono-Pen XL(®) measurements in both normal and diseased eyes. The CCT did not affect the Tono-Pen XL(®) or AccuPen(®) measurements in normal or diseased eyes. Spearman's correlation coefficient by rank analysis of CCT and IOP yielded correlation coefficients (r) of 0.144 and 0.101 for the Tono-Pen XL(®), and 0.108 and 0.175 for the AccuPen(®) in normal and diseased eyes, respectively. In normal canine eyes, age correlated inversely with the CCT (r = -0.128) and IOP as measured using the Tono-Pen XL(®) (r = -0.446) and AccuPen(®) (r = -0.427). CONCLUSIONS The AccuPen(®) measurements were slightly but significantly lower than the Tono-Pen XL(®) measurements in both normal and diseased canine eyes. The CCT affected the results of neither tonometer regardless of disease, while both IOP and CCT tended to decrease with age in normal eyes.
Symmetric beamforming for multi-antenna two-way relay networks

This paper addresses the problem of total power minimization of a two-way relay network, where two single-antenna nodes exchange information through multiple multi-antenna relays with symmetric beamforming matrices. More specifically, each relay multiplies the vector of its received signals with a symmetric beamforming matrix to obtain the vector of its transmit signals and broadcasts the elements of the so-obtained transmit signal vector on its different antennas. Considering the two-time-slot multiple access broadcast (MABC) scheme, we aim to minimize the total transmit power subject to signal-to-noise- ratio (SNR) requirements by optimally determining the transceivers' transmit powers and the relay beamforming matrices. We prove that this power minimization problem has a semi-closed-form solution. That is, the symmetric beamforming matrices can be obtained in closed-forms given a certain intermediate parameter. This parameter can also be obtained using Newton-Raphson method or a bisection technique. Our simulation results show that the average total power consumed in the network is twice the average total relay power, which is in average twice the average power of each of the transceivers. Our numerical examples also show that concentrating all the antennas in a few relays reduces the total power consumption as apposed to having a large number of relays with very few antennas.
Constructive Feedforward ART Clustering Networks — Part II

Part I of this paper defines the class of constructive unsupervised on-line learning simplified adaptive resonance theory (SART) clustering networks. Proposed instances of class SART are the symmetric Fuzzy ART (S-Fuzzy ART) and the Gaussian ART (GART) network. In Part II of our work, a third network belonging to class SART, termed fully self-organizing SART (FOSART), is presented and discussed. FOSART is a constructive, soft-to-hard competitive, topology-preserving, minimum-distance-to-means clustering algorithm capable of: 1) generating processing units and lateral connections on an example-driven basis and 2) removing processing units and lateral connections on a minibatch basis. FOSART is compared with Fuzzy ART, S-Fuzzy ART, GART and other well-known clustering techniques (e.g., neural gas and self-organizing map) in several unsupervised learning tasks, such as vector quantization, perceptual grouping and 3-D surface reconstruction. These experiments prove that when compared with other unsupervised learning networks, FOSART provides an interesting balance between easy user interaction, performance accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and flexibility.
3rd Symposium on Computing and Mental Health: Understanding, Engaging, and Delighting Users

The World Health Organization predicts that by the year 2030, mental illnesses will be the leading disease burden globally. Advances in technology create opportunities for close collaboration between computation and mental health researchers. The intersection between ubiquitous computing and sensing, social media, data analytics and emerging technologies offers promising avenues for developing technologies to help those in mental distress. Yet for these to be useful and usable, human-centered design and evaluation will be essential. The third in our series of Symposia on Computing and Mental Health will provide an opportunity for researchers to come together under the auspices of CHI to discuss the design and evaluation of new mental health technologies. Our emphasis is on understanding users and how to increase engagement with these technologies in daily life.
Dex: high-performance exploration on large graphs for information retrieval

Link and graph analysis tools are important devices to boost the richness of information retrieval systems. Internet and the existing social networking portals are just a couple of situations where the use of these tools would be beneficial and enriching for the users and the analysts. However, the need for integrating different data sources and, even more important, the need for high performance generic tools, is at odds with the continuously growing size and number of data repositories. In this paper we propose and evaluate DEX, a high performance graph database querying system that allows for the integration of multiple data sources. DEX makes graph querying possible in different flavors, including link analysis, social network analysis, pattern recognition and keyword search. The richness of DEX shows up in the experiments that we carried out on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Through a variety of these complex analytical queries, DEX shows to be a generic and efficient tool on large graph databases.
Basic consensus problems in multi-agent systems with switching interconnection graphs

We consider several basic consensus problems in multi-agents systems with switching interconnection graphs, where the connections between any two agents are assumed bidirectional for notation simplicity. When the switching interconnection graphs are always connected, it has been shown in the literature that the Laplacian based algorithm always achieves the average consensus. We first extend the discussion to the case where disconnected interconnection graphs are involved, by showing that the average consensus is still achieved if the dwell time ratio between connected graphs and disconnected ones satisfies a specified condition. Next, we consider the case where there is no connected graph but the combination of a set of graphs is connected, and propose two switching strategies for achieving the average consensus. Several numerical examples are provided to show the algorithms.
Aerosol optical depth thresholds as a tool to assess diffuse radiation fertilization of the land carbon uptake in China

Abstract. China suffers from frequent haze pollution episodes that alter the surface solar radiation and influence regional carbon uptake by the land biosphere. Here, we apply combined vegetation and radiation modeling and multiple observational datasets to assess the radiative effects of aerosol pollution in China on the regional land carbon uptake for the 2009–2011 period. First, we assess the inherent sensitivity of China's land biosphere to aerosol pollution by defining and calculating two thresholds of aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm, (i) AODt1, resulting in the maximum net primary productivity (NPP), and (ii) AODt2, such that if local AOD
Viability states of bacteria—Specific mechanisms of selected probes

Single cell techniques like flow cytometry combined with viability staining can help to obtain information on viability states of bacteria. Many fluorescent dyes are available for this purpose and can be chosen according to the available excitation source, the species used, and the background of scientific questions and relevant specifications. Within this short overview, we focus on two diverse groups of bacteria: the gram− Escherichia coli and representatives of the gram+ Mycobacterium to demonstrate differences and similarities in dye uptake principles, processing and binding. We call for attention to possible diverse responses of different species to various viability assays. The cell surface structure of bacteria and the chemical properties of fluorescent probes considerably determine the success of a certain staining practice. Particular focus was drawn on analysis of membrane integrity, uptake of substrates and transformation of fluorogenic substrates. © 2010 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Dense Stereo Matching With Edge-Constrained Penalty Tuning

Dense stereo matching has been an indispensable technique for 3-D exploitation of imagery, in which semiglobal matching (SGM) is one of the outstanding approaches and has numerous variations in the literature. However, generating accurate disparity in depth discontinuity areas remains challenging, since the cost-aggregation step of SGM providing consistency constraints is sensitive to nonoptimal parametrizations of relevant penalty functions. In this letter, we present a gradual SGM cost aggregation that comprises a penalty tuning process and involves edge feature knowledge. To be more specific, we propose an additional penalty parameter and a weighting formula to handle edge pixels with depth variations, acquiring satisfactory depth estimation by preserving sharp geometric edges and maintaining smoothness without raising extra noise. Evaluations on well-known benchmark and real large-scale images are promising, and the latter case yields point clouds with sharp edges and smooth surfaces showing the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.
Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Peritoneal EMT and Fibrosis

Peritoneal dialysis is a form of renal replacement alternative to the hemodialysis. During this treatment, the peritoneal membrane acts as a permeable barrier for exchange of solutes and water. Continual exposure to dialysis solutions, as well as episodes of peritonitis and hemoperitoneum, can cause acute/chronic inflammation and injury to the peritoneal membrane, which undergoes progressive fibrosis, angiogenesis, and vasculopathy, eventually leading to discontinuation of the peritoneal dialysis. Among the different events controlling this pathological process, epithelial to mesenchymal transition of mesothelial cells plays a main role in the induction of fibrosis and in subsequent functional deterioration of the peritoneal membrane. Here, the main extracellular inducers and cellular players are described. Moreover, signaling pathways acting during this process are elucidated, with emphasis on signals delivered by TGF-β family members and by Toll-like/IL-1β receptors. The understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying fibrosis of the peritoneal membrane has both a basic and a translational relevance, since it may be useful for setup of therapies aimed at counteracting the deterioration as well as restoring the homeostasis of the peritoneal membrane.
Organizational impacts of enhancing a BI-supported Performance Measurement System on the Israeli police

Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) have long captured the attention of organizational behavior and information systems (IS) research. The PMS in the study was implemented by public police forces, using advanced Business Intelligence (BI) technologies. The study examines the impact of enhancing that PMS, through analysis of the metric results over an 8-year time period that covered a transition between two major system versions. The analysis results indeed show a significant impact of transitioning to the new PMS in most (75%) performance metrics. A noticeable impact of the transition is the temporary performance decline, followed by some improvement that can be attributed in part to the redefinition of some metrics. Further, the results confirmed the preliminary assumptions that the improvement in the measured performance is positively and significantly associated with human-resource allocation; however, with some mediation effects of the crime category and the organization unit.
Aerial Image Super Resolution via Wavelet Multiscale Convolutional Neural Networks

We develop an aerial image super-resolution method by training convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with respect to wavelet analysis. To this end, we commence by performing wavelet decomposition to aerial images for multiscale representations. We then train multiple CNNs for approximating the wavelet multiscale representations, separately. The multiple CNNs thus trained characterize aerial images in multiple directions and multiscale frequency bands, and thus enable image restoration subject to sophisticated culture variability. For inference, the trained CNNs regress wavelet multiscale representations from a low-resolution aerial image, followed by wavelet synthesis that forms a restored high-resolution aerial image. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our method for restoring complicated aerial images.
Patients selection for awake neurosurgery

Background Based upon the surgical location and indication, including redundant regions, eloquent areas, deep brain stimulation, and epilepsy foci, some patients will benefit from an awake craniotomy, which allows completion of neurocognitive testing during the intra-operative period. This paper suggests patient selection criteria through a new decision algorithm. Methods We completed a retrospective chart review at Tampa General Hospital after IRB approval; data were obtained concerning total number of craniotomies, indications, and problems experienced for selection of awake vs. general anesthetic techniques. Results A total of 397 craniotomies were performed during the two years 2005 and 2006: among those 79 patients received an awake craniotomy (20%). We have utilized a sedation sequence which includes dexmedetomidine, propofol and LMA placement. A skull block is then performed to anesthetize pin placement, and desflurane and remifentanil are used for maintenance until the dural incision. At this time the inhalation agent is stopped and the LMA is removed while breathing spontaneously: the patient remains sedated on dexmedetomidine and remifentanil for the duration of the operation and can communicate effectively if closely coached. Analysis of all patient data led us to a decision tree to guide the surgeon and anesthesiologist in selecting the awake patients. Discussion We describe the sequence of steps and anesthetic agents which has proved successful for our group. Finally, the use of the proposed decision algorithm simplifies preoperative anesthetic selection and prevents erroneous assignment of inappropriate patients to an awake technique.
Combining interface core and whole interface descriptors in postscan processing of protein‐protein docking models

Computational protein‐protein docking scans commonly produce correct and nearly correct interaction models, but sometimes these models are ranked low. We present here postscan processing procedures that dramatically enhance the distinction between nearly correct and false predictions. The procedures employ propensity descriptors calculated for the interface core, an interface‐core clusters count, solvation energy, and a geometric‐electrostatic‐hydrophobic complementarity score. The various descriptors rank high different selections of false models (shuffling effect), and therefore, are used as Boolean yes/no classifiers in “soft intersection” filters, which eliminate large proportions of false models. Furthermore, the standardized descriptors are used in new scoring functions that highlight nearly correct models (NCMs). All the tests are performed on unbound docking models produced with MolFit without use of external data. We find that the discrimination between nearly correct and false models by the various descriptors is class dependent; hence, our postscan processing is class specific. The filters reduce the number of putative models from 10,726, 12,517, and 11,054 to 758, 157, and 1218 for enzyme‐inhibitor, antibody‐antigen, and nonclassified systems. When combined with the new scoring functions, they improve the average rank of the highest ranking NCMs from 673 to 122. Application to 23 CAPRI targets demonstrates the effectiveness of the postscan procedures in cases where external information is used in the production of the putative models. Our new per‐molecule residue propensity descriptors show that interacting interfaces are enriched with high propensity residues except for antigenic sites, which resemble more the noninteracting regions of protein surfaces. Proteins 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.