Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The multiselectivity scheme: A pyramidal organization of wavelets with variable angular selectivity

During the last ten years, many techniques have been devised to add directionality in image processing. We may cite, for instance, directional wavelets [1], steerable filters [8], curvelets [2], contourlets [5], . This has opened the door to new ways for efficiently representing objects by oriented atoms. Real images, however, contain more than just smooth curves and straight lines defining contours of objects. They can present also details that are less oriented and more isotropic (like corners, spots, texture elements, .). We present in this paper a tool which can be tuned relatively to these image features by decomposing them into a (linear) frame of directional wavelets with variable angular selectivity. To obtain such a decomposition, these new functions exploit some particularities of the (biorthogonal) circular multiresolution framework in the frequency domain. This link suggests the name of our method, `multiselectivity analysis'.
Modified Leucotomy in Severe Agoraphobia: A Controlled Serial Inquiry

There is still little agreement on the value of frontal leucotomy in the treatment of chronic psychiatric illness (Pippard, 1962). A familiar feature of this uncertainty is the contrast between the enthusiasm of the authors of uncontrolled studies (Pippard, 1955; Scoville, 1960; Sargent and Slater, 1963; Birley, 1964; Sykes and Tredgold, 1964) and the scepticism of those who have included a matched untreated group (Robin, 1958; McKenzie and Kaczanowski, 1964; Brit. Med. J., 1965). These controlled series were only concerned with “standard” leucotomies, which are now generally abandoned. All studies, including those of modified leucotomy, examined heterogeneous psychiatric disorders and concentrated on their final state rather than their progress towards it. This approach may obscure important differences both in type of disorder and stage of follow-up.
Corrigendum ( January 2013 ) C / EBP g deregulation results in differentiation arrest in acute myeloid leukemia

C/EBPs are a family of transcription factors that regulate growth control and differentiation of various tissues. We found that C/EBPg is highly upregulated in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) samples characterized by C/EBPa hypermethylation/silencing. Similarly, C/EBPg was upregulated in murine hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells lacking C/EBPa, as C/EBPa mediates C/EBPg suppression. Studies in myeloid cells demonstrated that CEBPG overexpression blocked neutrophilic differentiation. Further, downregulation of Cebpg in murine Cebpa-deficient stem/progenitor cells or in human CEBPA-silenced AML samples restored granulocytic differentiation. In addition, treatment of these leukemias with demethylating agents restored the C/EBPa-C/EBPg balance and upregulated the expression of myeloid differentiation markers. Our results indicate that C/EBPg mediates the myeloid differentiation arrest induced by C/EBPa deficiency and that targeting the C/EBPaC/EBPg axis rescues neutrophilic differentiation in this unique subset of AMLs. Research Article Oncology
Brainstem correlates of behavioral and compositional preferences of musical harmony

Certain chords are preferred by listeners behaviorally and also occur with higher regularity in musical composition. Event-related potentials index the perceived consonance (i.e., pleasantness) of musical pitch relationships providing a cortical neural correlate for such behavioral preferences. Here, we show correlates of these harmonic preferences exist at subcortical stages of audition. Brainstem frequency-following responses were measured in response to four prototypical musical triads. Pitch salience computed from frequency-following responses correctly predicted the ordering of triadic harmony stipulated by music theory (i.e., major >minor >>diminished >augmented). Moreover, neural response magnitudes showed high correspondence with listeners' perceptual ratings of the same chords. Results suggest that preattentive stages of pitch processing may contribute to perceptual judgments of musical harmony.
Tongue movement classification in chewing and swallowing using electromyography

Nurses who engaged in elderly care would like to assess their ability of chewing and swallowing because deterioration of the ability of chewing and swallowing will cause pulmonary aspiration. Currently, nurses can not assess the chewing and swallowing ability quantitatively. In this paper, to quantitatively assess the ability of chewing and swallowing, electromyography (EMG) signals around the lower jaw and the neck are obtained by some electrodes when the subject persons vocalize some Japanese pronunciations. Then, the obtained EMG signals are classified by some machine learning methods. fc-nearest neighbor methods show better classification results for the obtained EMG signals.
Addendum Melatonin in Plants More Studies are Necessary

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is a biogenic indoleamine structurally related with other important substances such as tryptophan, serotonin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). In mammals, birds, reptiles and fish melatonin is a biological modulator of several timing (circadian) processes such as mood, sleep, sexual behavior, immunological status, etc. Since its discovery in plants in 1995 several physiological roles, including a possible role in flowering, circadian rhythms and photoperiodicity and as growth-regulator have been postulated. Recently, a possible role in rhizogenesis in lupin has also been proposed. Here, these actions of melatonin in plant development are commented on and some other interesting recent data concerning melatonin in plants are also discussed. The need for more investigation into melatonin and plants is presented as an obvious conclusion.
On Correspondence, Motion, Scale and Structure of Two Views of a Scene

Given two images of an n-points object which undergoes 3D rocation. rranslation and scaling. Our problems are (i) How can we march the corresponding elements in the twO images due to the movement of the object? em all the possible mapping be found? (li) What underlying motions and associated depth components of these points could account for the two images? (iii) Can the object be recovered uniquely? This formulation of the problems referred lO n -poims problem is in me most general setting and does not assume attributes or fe:Hures. A narura.l question to ask is whether an n-pomrs problem is equivalent [0 a set of fewerpointS problem. This paper presents a method which reduces an n -points problem to a set of 4-poims problem. The effon of reduction talces 0 (n) steps and it als? takes 0 (n) steps to construct all possible mappings of an n-poims set from the solution to a 4-poims problem. Other results include (1) Coplanariry condition of four poin[S in two views. (2) Recovering the tilt direction of the rot:ltional axis using four points in two views. (3) Recovering the scaling factor.
Use of regularized discriminant analysis improves myoelectric hand movement classification

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is the most commonly used classification method for movement intention decoding from myoelectric signals. In this work, we review the performance of various discriminant analysis variants on the task of hand motion classification. We demonstrate that optimal classification performance is achieved with regularized discriminant analysis (RDA), a method which generalizes various class-conditional Gaussian classifiers, including LDA, quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), and Gaussian naive Bayes (GNB). The RDA method offers a continuum between these models via tuning two hyper-parameters which control the amount of regularization applied to the estimated covariance matrices. In this study, we performed a systematic classification performance comparison on four datasets. Hand motion was decoded from myoelectric and inertial data recorded from 60 able-bodied and 12 amputee subjects whilst they performed a range of 40 movements. We found that when the regularization parameters of the RDA classifier were carefully tuned via cross-validation, classification accuracy was statistically higher by a large margin as compared to any other discriminant analysis method (average improvement of 13.7% over LDA). Importantly, our findings were consistent across the able-bodied and amputee populations. This observation provides supporting evidence that our proposed methodology could improve the performance of pattern recognition-based myoelectric prostheses.
Interspecific Hybridization Yields Strategy for South Pacific Filariasis Vector Elimination

Background Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a leading cause of disability in South Pacific regions, where >96% of the 1.7 million population are at risk of LF infection. As part of current global campaign, mass drug administration (MDA) has effectively reduced lymphatic filiariasis prevalence, but mosquito vector biology can complicate the MDA strategy. In some regions, there is evidence that the goal of LF elimination cannot be attained via MDA alone. Obligate vector mosquitoes provide additional targets for breaking the LF transmission cycle, but existing methods are ineffective for controlling the primary vector throughout much of the South Pacific, Aedes polynesiensis. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we demonstrate that interspecific hybridization and introgression results in an A. polynesiensis strain (‘CP’ strain) that is stably infected with the endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria from Aedes riversi. The CP strain is bi-directionally incompatible with naturally infected mosquitoes, resulting in female sterility. Laboratory assays demonstrate that CP males are equally competitive, resulting in population elimination when CP males are introduced into wild type A. polynesiensis populations. Conclusions/Significance The findings demonstrate strategy feasibility and encourage field tests of the vector elimination strategy as a supplement to ongoing MDA efforts.
Approaches to Enhancing Cyber Resilience: Report of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Workshop IST-153

This report summarizes the discussions and findings of the 2017 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Workshop, IST-153, on Cyber Resilience, held in Munich, Germany, on 23-25 October 2017, at the University of Bundeswehr. Despite continual progress in managing risks in the cyber domain, anticipation and prevention of all possible attacks and malfunctions are not feasible for the current or future systems comprising the cyber infrastructure. Therefore, interest in cyber resilience (as opposed to merely risk-based approaches) is increasing rapidly, in literature and in practice. Unlike concepts of risk or robustness - which are often and incorrectly conflated with resilience - resiliency refers to the system's ability to recover or regenerate its performance to a sufficient level after an unexpected impact produces a degradation of its performance. The exact relation among resilience, risk, and robustness has not been well articulated technically. The presentations and discussions at the workshop yielded this report. It focuses on the following topics that the participants of the workshop saw as particularly important: fundamental properties of cyber resilience; approaches to measuring and modeling cyber resilience; mission modeling for cyber resilience; systems engineering for cyber resilience, and dynamic defense as a path toward cyber resilience.
The interaction of highly nonlinear solitary waves and viscoelastic half-space

The method of nondestructive testing (NDT) using the coupling of highly nonlinear solitary waves in one-dimensional particle chains and structures is a new research hotspot which is gradually improved. Based on properties of solitary wave, we investigate the coupling mechanism between highly nonlinear solitary waves and viscoelastic half-space and obtain the complete coupling differential equation system. By solving the equations with Runge-Kutta method and analyzing the reflected wave, we find that reflected solitary waves are sensitive especially to the Young's module and viscosity of the viscoelastic half-space. These findings can be applied to the NDT to the material properties of viscoelastic structures and it also enrich the theory of solitary wave flaw detection.
A comprehensive study of whole-brain functional connectivity in children and young adults.

Over the past decade, examination of functional connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging has become an important tool to investigate functional changes in patient populations, healthy aging, and recently also child development. Most prior developmental studies focused on functional connectivity between brain regions important for cognitive or emotional control and the so-called "default-mode network. " In the present study, we investigated whole-brain functional connectivity in children (11-13 years; N = 19) and young adults (19-25 years; N = 29), without a priori restrictions to specific regions. We found similar patterns of functionally connected regions in children and young adults, but there were differences in the size of functionally connected regions (i.e., the number of voxels), as well as in the strength of functional connectivity (i.e., the correlation value) between brain regions. This indicates that functional connectivity continues to change during adolescence. Developmental differences were found across the whole brain, but the effects differed for functional connectivity patterns associated with higher cognitive or emotional functions and functional connectivity patterns associated with basic visual and sensorimotor functions. Finally, we showed that the majority of functional connectivity differences could not be explained on the basis of gray matter density alone.
Designing of a relay precoding matrix using singular value decomposition

In this paper, a relay precoder matrix is designed for an underlay multi-input multi-output cognitive relay network (MIMO-CRN), where a secondary system communicates through a non-regenerative relay. An optimization problem is formulated such that the energy efficiency of the secondary system is maximized subject to a transmit power and an interference threshold constraint at the relay. The formulated problem is a non-convex fractional programming problem, which is solved by using the singular value decomposition method combined with the fractional programming theory. Numerical results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Sir David Cuthbertson Medal Lecture Immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects of 12-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

All mammals can synthesize fatty acids de novo from acetyl coenzyme A. The endproduct of the fatty acid synthetase (EC 2.3. I .85) enzyme is palmitic acid (16:0), which in turn can be elongated to stearic acid (18:O). There is little need for the synthesis of saturated fatty acids in Western man, since the diet normally supplies adequate amounts. However, cell membranes require unsaturated fatty acids to maintain their structure, fluidity and function; therefore, a mechanism for the introduction of double bonds (i.e. desaturation) exists. The introduction of a single double bond between C-9 and C-10 is catalysed by the enzyme A9desaturase, which is universally present in both plants and animals. This enzyme results in the conversion of stearic acid to oleic acid (18:ln-9). Plants, unlike animals, can insert additional double bonds into oleic acid between the existing double bond at C-9 and the methyl terminus of the C chain; a AI2-desaturase converts oleic acid into linoleic acid (18:2n-6), while a A15-desaturase converts linoleic acid into a-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3 n-3). Many marine plants, especially the unicellular algae in phytoplankton, also carry out chain elongation and further desaturation of a-linolenic acid to yield Cz0 and C22 n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with five or six double bonds (Fig. 1). It is the formation of these long-chain n-3 PUFA by marine algae and their transfer through the food chain to fish, that accounts for the abundance of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids (20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 respectively) in some marine fish oils (FO). Animal cells can also convert ALA to EPA and DHA; by a similar series of reactions linoleic acid is converted via y-linolenic (18:3n-6) and dihomo-y-linolenic (20:3n-6) acids to arachidonic acid (20:4n-6; Fig. 1). The n-9, n-6 and n-3 families of PUFA are not metabolically interconvertible in mammals.
Near-end distortion in over-sampled subband adaptive implementation of affine projection algorithm

The affine projection algorithm has been employed for echo cancellation using subband adaptive filters implemented with over-sampled filterbanks. We show that the near-end signal may be distorted or partially cancelled if proper regularization is not applied. We attribute these distortions to the nonlinear effects that appear mostly when narrow-band signals are involved in adaptive filtering. Supporting this assumption, it is shown that as the over-sampling rate increases and subband signals become more bandlimited, near-end cancellation also increases. The effect of adaptive filter length and the regularization parameter on near-end distortion is analyzed, leading to the result that near-end distortion can be avoided by proper regularization. As a result, a practical low-cost on-line regularization method is proposed for the affine projection algorithm, effectively eliminating near-end distortion.
Brain-Computer Interface - state of the art and future prospects

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a communication system in which messages or commands that a user wishes to convey pass not through the brain's normal output pathways to the muscles but are instead extracted directly from brain signals. The basis for this is that mental activity (thought) can modify the bioelectrical brain activity and is therefore encoded in the recorded signals.
Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Extracts Obtained by Supercritical Extraction and Ethanolic Extraction of Brown, Green and Red Propolis Derived from Different Geographic Regions in Brazil

The variations in the chemical composition, and consequently, on the biological activity of the propolis, are associated with its type and geographic origin. Considering this fact, this study evaluated propolis extracts obtained by supercritical extraction (SCO2) and ethanolic extraction (EtOH), in eight samples of different types of propolis (red, green and brown), collected from different regions in Brazil. The content of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, in vitro antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS), Artepillin C, p-coumaric acid and antimicrobial activity against two bacteria were determined for all extracts. For the EtOH extracts, the anti-proliferative activity regarding the cell lines of B16F10, were also evaluated. Amongst the samples evaluated, the red propolis from the Brazilian Northeast (states of Sergipe and Alagoas) showed the higher biological potential, as well as the larger content of antioxidant compounds. The best results were shown for the extracts obtained through the conventional extraction method (EtOH). However, the highest concentrations of Artepillin C and p-coumaric acid were identified in the extracts from SCO2, indicating a higher selectivity for the extraction of these compounds. It was verified that the composition and biological activity of the Brazilian propolis vary significantly, depending on the type of sample and geographical area of collection.
Sleep and its importance in adolescence and in common adolescent somatic and psychiatric conditions

Restoring sleep is strongly associated with a better physical, cognitive, and psychological well-being. By contrast, poor or disordered sleep is related to impairment of cognitive and psychological functioning and worsened physical health. These associations are well documented not only in adults but also in children and adolescents. Importantly, adolescence is hallmarked by dramatic maturational changes in sleep and its neurobiological regulation, hormonal status, and many psychosocial and physical processes. Thus, the role of sleep in mental and physical health during adolescence and in adolescent patients is complex. However, it has so far received little attention. This review first presents contemporary views about the complex neurobiology of sleep and its functions with important implications for adolescence. Second, existing complex relationships between common adolescent somatic/organic, sleep-related, and psychiatric disorders and certain sleep alterations are discussed. It is concluded that poor or altered sleep in adolescent patients may trigger and maintain many psychiatric and physical disorders or combinations of these conditions, which presumably hinder recovery and may cross into later stages of life. Therefore, timely diagnosis and management of sleep problems appear critical for growth and development in adolescent patients.
Stabilty Conditions for Some Multiqueue Distributed Systems: Buffered Random Access Systems

Assessing stability of multidimensional systems is notoriously difficult. We consider the standard discrete-time slotted ALOHA system with a finite number of buffered users. Stability study of such a system was initiated in 1979 by Tsybakov and Mikhailov. Several bounds on the stability region have been established up-to-date, however, the exact stability region is known only for the symmetric system and two users ALOHA. This paper proves necessary and sufficient condltions for stability of the ALOHA system, hence solves the problem posed by Tsybakov and Mikhailov. We accomplish this by means of a novel technique based on three simple observations. Namely, isolating single queue from the system, applying Loynes' stability criteria for such an isolated queue, and using stochastic dominance and mathematical induction to verify the required stationarity assumptions in the Loynes' criterion. We also point out that our technique can be used to assess stability regions for other multidimensional systems. We illustrate it by providing also the stability region for a buffered system with conflict resolution algorithms. In another paper (Georgiadis and Szpankowski (1992)) we have used a similar technique to establish stability criteria for the token passing ring system. ·This research \Vas supported in part by the NSF grants CCR-8900305 and NCR-87021l5, by AFOSR grant 90-0107, and by grant ROl LM05118 from the National Library of Medicine.