Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual-Topological Mapping : An approach for indoor robot navigation Master Thesis Project

Using visual features for robotic navigation in natural and changing environments remains to be an unsolved problem. This paper describes the use of nearest neighbor algorithm on salient visual features for indoor mapping. The mapping procedure consists on defining an arbitrary number of vector fields -or pathsin a domestic environment, pointing towards a set of target locations. From these specified paths, the robot constantly estimates its most probable location, adjusts its orientation and moves forward a predefined distance, in order to converge to a target location. A SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features) implementation was used for object detection and scene recognition. For every location in a path, the perceived scene was represented with the set of detected objects, and their particular geometric properties relative to the robot’s body. A first experiment confirmed that the deviation from the trained paths -due to odometric errordecreased as the n umber of trained intermediate-locations increased. A second experiment showed promising results when testing the effectiveness of nearest neighbor search for estimating the robot location. Finally in a third experiment, a satisfactory convergence rate of the robot towards predefined target locations, was observed under real world circumstances.
Identifiability in Blind Deconvolution With Subspace or Sparsity Constraints

Blind deconvolution (BD), the resolution of a signal and a filter given their convolution, arises in many applications. Without further constraints, BD is ill-posed. In practice, subspace or sparsity constraints have been imposed to reduce the search space, and have shown some empirical success. However, the existing theoretical analysis on uniqueness in BD is rather limited. In an effort to address the still open question, we derive sufficient conditions under which two vectors can be uniquely identified from their circular convolution, subject to subspace or sparsity constraints. These sufficient conditions provide the first algebraic sample complexities for BD. We first derive a sufficient condition that applies to almost all bases or frames. For BD of vectors in ℂn, with two subspace constraints of dimensions m1 and m2, the required sample complexity is n ≥ m1m2. Then, we impose a sub-band structure on one basis, and derive a sufficient condition that involves a relaxed sample complexity n≥ m1+m2-1, which we show to be optimal. We present the extensions of these results to BD with sparsity constraints or mixed constraints, with the sparsity level replacing the subspace dimension. The cost for the unknown support in this case is an extra factor of 2 in the sample complexity.
Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW): A Semiotic Theoretical and Empirical Exploration of the Hierarchy and its Quality Dimension

What exactly is the difference between data and information? What is the difference between data quality and information quality; is there any difference between the two? And, what are knowledge and wisdom? Are there such things as knowledge quality and wisdom quality? As these primitives are the most basic axioms of information systems research, it is somewhat surprising that consensus on exact definitions seems to be lacking. This paper presents a theoretical and empirical exploration of the sometimes directly quoted, and often implied Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy and its quality dimension. We first review relevant literature from a range of perspectives and develop and contextualise a theoretical DIKW framework through semiotics. The literature review identifies definitional commonalities and divergences from a scholarly perspective; the theoretical discussion contextualises the terms and their relationships within a semiotic framework and proposes relevant definitions grounded in that framework. Next, rooted in Wittgenstein’s ordinary language philosophy, we analyse 20 online news articles for their uses of the terms and present the results of an online focus group discussion comprising 16 information systems experts. The empirical exploration identifies a range of definitional ambiguities from a practical perspective.
A first view of exedra: a domain-specific language for large graph analytics workflows

In recent years, many programming models, software libraries, and middleware have appeared for processing large graphs of various forms. However, there exists a significant usability gap between the graph analysis scientists, and High Performance Computing (HPC) application programmers due to the complexity of HPC graph analysis software. In this paper we provide a basic view of Exedra, a domain-specific language (DSL) for large graph analysis in which we aim to eliminate the aforementioned complexities. Exedra consists of high level language constructs for specifying different graph analysis tasks on distributed environments. We implemented Exedra DSL on a scalable graph analysis platform called Dipper. Dipper uses Igraph/R interface for creating graph analysis workflows which in turn gets translated to Exedra statements. Exedra statements are interpreted by Dipper interpreter, and gets mapped to user specified libraries/middleware. Exedra DSL allows for synthesize of graph algorithms that are more efficient compared to bare use of graph libraries while maintaining a standard interface that could use even future graph analysis software. We evaluated Exedra's feasibility for expressing graph analysis tasks by running Dipper on a cluster of four nodes. We observed that Dipper has the ability of reducing the time taken for graph analysis when the workflow was distributed on all four nodes despite the communication, and data format conversion overhead of the Dipper framework.
Use of specific dental treatment procedures by dentate adults during a 24-month period.

OBJECTIVES To (a) describe the incidence of use of specific dental services; (b) test the hypothesis that certain predisposing, enabling, and need (PEN) factors are differentially predictive of service use; and (c) test the hypothesis that even with other PEN factors taken into account, race and household income are differentially predictive of certain dental services. Previously, this study identified PEN factors that predicted use of any care; herein we identify whether these same factors were differentially predictive of specific service use among users of at least one service. METHODS The Florida Dental Care Study was a longitudinal study of persons aged 45 years or older who had at least one tooth. Subjects participated for interviews and clinical examinations at baseline and 24 months later, with 6-monthly telephone interviews between those times. RESULTS Seventy-seven percent of subjects reported one or more visits. Results from a single multivariate multiple logistic regression suggested that even once analysis was limited to persons who used at least one dental service, at least one measure from each of the PEN domains was predictive of specific dental service use. CONCLUSIONS Each PEN domain was predictive of service use, even once limited to persons with at least one visit. Even with differences in other PEN variables taken into account, African-Americans were much less likely to receive dental cleanings, restorative dentistry and fixed prosthodontic services, and were much more likely to have a tooth extracted. Household income was predictive of receipt of fixed prosthodontic services, but not other service categories.
ER-LSP setup for multi-service in lambda labeling network

Generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) is being applied to optical networks as a means of moving control functionality from the management plane to the control plane, and automating lightpath provisioning and maintenance. GMPLS enables IP networks with quality of service (QoS) to be traffic engineered efficiently. However, computation of explicitly-defined paths optimizing network performance is a difficult task. Previous versions of these optimization routines have not taken path delay, including queueing delay at layer 3, into account. In this paper we present a technique for traffic engineering in optical networks that support QoS considering the traffic flows with delay QoS constraint across lambda labeling networks. The proposed mechanism would facilitate lambda label path setup with specific delay QoS requirements.
TipMe: Personalized advertising and aspect-based opinion mining for users and businesses

Online advertisements are a major source of profit and customer attraction for web-based businesses. In a successful advertisement campaign, both users and businesses can benefit, as users are expected to respond positively to special offers and recommendations of their liking and businesses are able to reach the most promising potential customers. The extraction of user preferences from content provided in social media and especially in review sites can be a valuable tool both for users and businesses. In this paper, we propose a model for the analysis of content from product review sites, which considers in tandem the aspects discussed by users and the opinions associated with each aspect. The model provides two different visualizations: one for businesses that uncovers their weak and strong points against their competitors and one for end-users who receive suggestions about products of potential interest. The former is an aggregation of aspect-based opinions provided by all users and the latter is a collaborative filtering approach, which calculates user similarity over a projection of the original bipartite graph (user-item rating graph) over a content-based clustering of users and items. The model takes advantage of the feedback users give to businesses in review sites, and employ opinion mining techniques to identify the opinions of users for specific aspects of a business. Such aspects and their polarity can be used to create user and business profiles, which can subsequently be fed in a clustering and recommendation process. We envision this model as a powerful tool for planning and executing a successful marketing campaign via online media. Finally, we demonstrate how our prototype can be used in different scenarios to assist users or business owners, using the Yelp challenge dataset.
Targeting of Shiga toxin B-subunit to retrograde transport route in association with detergent-resistant membranes.

In HeLa cells, Shiga toxin B-subunit is transported from the plasma membrane to the endoplasmic reticulum, via early endosomes and the Golgi apparatus, circumventing the late endocytic pathway. We describe here that in cells derived from human monocytes, i.e., macrophages and dendritic cells, the B-subunit was internalized in a receptor-dependent manner, but retrograde transport to the biosynthetic/secretory pathway did not occur and part of the internalized protein was degraded in lysosomes. These differences correlated with the observation that the B-subunit associated with Triton X-100-resistant membranes in HeLa cells, but not in monocyte-derived cells, suggesting that retrograde targeting to the biosynthetic/secretory pathway required association with specialized microdomains of biological membranes. In agreement with this hypothesis we found that in HeLa cells, the B-subunit resisted extraction by Triton X-100 until its arrival in the target compartments of the retrograde pathway, i.e., the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. Furthermore, destabilization of Triton X-100-resistant membranes by cholesterol extraction potently inhibited B-subunit transport from early endosomes to the trans-Golgi network, whereas under the same conditions, recycling of transferrin was not affected. Our data thus provide first evidence for a role of lipid asymmetry in membrane sorting at the interface between early endosomes and the trans-Golgi network.
Absence of Linkage of Familial Intracranial Aneurysms to 7q11 in Highly Aggregated Japanese Families

Background and Purpose— We sought to test the linkage of familial intracranial aneurysms (FIAs) to the ELN (elastin) locus in chromosome 7q11 reported previously. Methods— Intracranial aneurysm (IA) probands were searched from patient records or neurosurgeons’ recalls in collaborating hospitals. Members of the participating probands’ families who had unknown affection status were screened by MR angiography and diagnosed by digital subtraction angiography. Inclusion criteria of families for genetic analyses were as follows: at least 3 alive affected members or 2 alive affected members with at least 1 unaffected member (≥60 years). Linkage to the ELN locus was tested with the use of GENEHUNTER by parametric and nonparametric methods. To exclude false-negatives in the linkage analysis, the lowest 5% limits of logarithms of the odds (LOD) and nonparametric LOD (NPL) scores for individual families and for the total set of families were simulated on assumption that the ELN locus is linked to FIAs. Results— Questionnaires were sent to 885 patients, and 563 responded. Seventy-nine probands were positive for family history. One hundred thirty-four family members of unknown affection status were screened. A total of 14 families with 64 members met the criteria. Linkage to the ELN locus was discarded in 11 families and was inconclusive for 3 families. The total LOD and total NPL scores for 14 families were −8.04 and −0.643, respectively. Our conclusion did not change even when the values of penetrance were changed or only affected members were analyzed. Conclusions— The majority of aggregated IA Japanese families may not have a genetic linkage to chromosome 7q11.
Multivariate prognostic modeling of persistent pain following lumbar discectomy.

BACKGROUND Persistent postsurgical pain (PPSP) affects between 10% and 50% of surgical patients, the development of which is a complex and poorly understood process. To date, most studies on PPSP have focused on specific surgical procedures where individuals do not suffer from chronic pain before the surgical intervention. Individuals who have a chronic nerve injury are likely to have established peripheral and central sensitization which may increase the risk of developing PPSP. Concurrent analyses of the possible factors contributing to the development of PPSP following lumbar discectomy have not been examined. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to identify risk and protective factors that predict the course of recovery following lumbar discectomy and to develop an easily applicable preoperative multivariate prognostic model for the occurrence of PPSP in this patient cohort. STUDY DESIGN A prospective study of elective lumbar discectomy with a 3 month follow-up. SETTING University setting in Ireland. METHODS All ASA I-II patients, (n = 53, 18-65 years old), undergoing elective lumbar discectomy at a single institute were included and followed for a 3 month period postsurgery. Preoperative potential predictors were collected: age, gender, pain intensity (McGill score, visual analog scale [VAS], Present Pain Intensity), degree of dysfunction (Roland-Morris Function score), psychological status (pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression scores), health-related quality of life (SF-36), quantitative sensory testing (QST), inflammatory biomarkers, and a genetic pain profile. The proposed primary outcome was significant pain reduction (VAS > 70%) 3 months following surgery compared to the preoperative pain intensity. RESULTS A final prediction model was obtained using a multivariate logistic regression in combination with bootstrapping techniques for internal validation. Twenty (37.7%) patients developed PPSP. Independent predictor factors included age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.0 per year), present pain intensity (OR = 0.6), and degree of dysfunction (OR = 1.2). The concordance index C (.658) supports a good monotonic association (where perfect prediction is 1) and the Akaike's information criteria indicated a good fit of the model. Inclusion of additional measured parameters (QST, biomarker, or genotyping) did not improve the model. LIMITATIONS Before this internally validated model can be integrated into clinical practice, and used for patient counselling and quality assurance purposes, external validation studies are necessary. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that the occurrence of PPSP can be predicted using a small set of variables easily obtained at the preoperative visit. This a prediction rule that could further optimize perioperative pain treatment and reduce attendant complications by allowing the preoperative classification of surgical patients according to their risk of developing PPSP.
Modeling the incidence angle dependence of photovoltaic modules in PVsyst

For reliable energy yield simulation, it is important to know how irradiance is transmitted through the glass front cover of a photovoltaic module. In this work, Fresnel reflection and Snell's law are used to create a physical model to determine transmission as a function of incidence angle. The physical model is used to describe glass with and without an anti-reflective coating. An approach for optimizing the ASHRAE incidence angle modifier parameter in PVsyst to match the physical model output is presented and applied to both cases and the impact on energy yield estimates is demonstrated for various geographical locations.
Endodontic bacteria from primary and persistent endodontic lesions in Chinese patients as identified by cloning and 16S ribosomal DNA gene sequencing.

BACKGROUND Few literatures pertain to the 16S ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA) analysis of bacteria contributing to primary and persistent endodontic lesions, with no information available for the Chinese population. As such, we investigated endodontic bacteria associated with primary and persistent endodontic lesions in adult Chinese patients living in Beijing, China using 16S rDNA gene sequencing techniques. METHODS Endodontic microbial samples were obtained from fourteen adult Chinese patients and subjected to DNA extraction. Pllymerase chain reaction (PCR) products were cloned and 100 clones from each generated library were randomly selected. Purified plasmid DNA with 16S rDNA gene inserts was sequenced, and the sequences were searched against GenBank databases using the BLASTN algorithm. Only significant identification with the highest-scored BLAST result and 99% minimum similarity was considered for phylotyping. RESULTS More than 150 taxa were obtained. Primary endodontic infection was mainly associated with Burkholderia cepacia, Actinomyces, Aranicola spp. and Streptococcus sanguinis, whilst Burkholderia cepacia was predominant in the persistent endodontic infections. CONCLUSION There is a difference in the species profile associated with endodontic infections of Chinese patients living in Beijing in comparison to other geographical or ethnic reports.
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is a genetic cardiomyopathy characterized clinically by ventricular arrhythmias and progressive right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. The histopathologic hallmark is fibro-fatty replacement of RV myocardium. It is inherited in an autosomal pattern with variable penetrance. ARVD is unique in that it most commonly presents in young, otherwise healthy and highly athletic individuals. The cause of ARVD is not well-known but recent evidence suggests strongly that it is a disease of desmosomal dysfunction. The disease involvement is not limited only to the RV as left ventricle (LV) has also been reportedly affected. Diagnosis of ARVD is challenging and is currently based upon a multidisciplinary work-up of the patient as defined by the Task Force. Currently, implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) are routinely used to prevent sudden death in patients with ARVD. Cardiovascular MR is an important non-invasive diagnostic modality that allows both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of RV. This article reviews the genetics of ARVD, current status and role of CMR in the diagnosis of ARVD and LV involvement in ARVD.
Canada lynx use of burned areas: Conservation implications of changing fire regimes

Abstract A fundamental problem in ecology is forecasting how species will react to major disturbances. As the climate warms, large, frequent, and severe fires are restructuring forested landscapes at large spatial scales, with unknown impacts on imperilled predators. We use the United States federally Threatened Canada lynx as a case study to examine how predators navigate recent large burns, with particular focus on habitat features and the spatial configuration (e.g., distance to edge) that enabled lynx use of these transformed landscapes. We coupled GPS location data of lynx in Washington in an area with several recent large fires and a number of GIS layers of habitat data to develop models of lynx habitat selection in recent burns. Random Forest habitat models showed lynx‐selected islands of forest skipped by large fires, residual vegetation, and areas where some trees survived to use newly burned areas. Lynx used burned areas as early as 1 year postfire, which is much earlier than the 2–4 decades postfire previously thought for this predator. These findings are encouraging for predator persistence in the face of fires, but increasingly severe fires or management that reduces postfire residual trees or slow regeneration will likely jeopardize lynx and other predators. Fire management should change to ensure heterogeneity is retained within the footprint of large fires to enable viable predator populations as fire regimes worsen with climate change.
Polyfunctional Type-1, -2, and -17 CD8+ T Cell Responses to Apoptotic Self-Antigens Correlate with the Chronic Evolution of Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Caspase-dependent cleavage of antigens associated with apoptotic cells plays a prominent role in the generation of CD8+ T cell responses in various infectious diseases. We found that the emergence of a large population of autoreactive CD8+ T effector cells specific for apoptotic T cell-associated self-epitopes exceeds the antiviral responses in patients with acute hepatitis C virus infection. Importantly, they endow mixed polyfunctional type-1, type-2 and type-17 responses and correlate with the chronic progression of infection. This evolution is related to the selection of autoreactive CD8+ T cells with higher T cell receptor avidity, whereas those with lower avidity undergo prompt contraction in patients who clear infection. These findings demonstrate a previously undescribed strict link between the emergence of high frequencies of mixed autoreactive CD8+ T cells producing a broad array of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-4, IL-2…) and the progression toward chronic disease in a human model of acute infection.
Scanning Electron Microscopic Observations of Three‐Dimensional Structure of the Rat Pancreatic Duct

To understand the fine, three-dimensional structure of the pancreatic duct, we made corrosion casts of rat pancreatic ducts and obtained biological specimens of rat pancreatic tissues for scanning electron microscopic observation. We observed the corrosion casts and the inner surfaces of the pancreatic duct specimens, using scanning electron microscopy. A comparative study between casts and specimens demonstrated the exactitude of our corrosion casts. These findings revealed the following facts: 1) The pancreatic ductal system had an almost tree-like shape, but parts of the intercalated ducts anastomosed with each other; 2) Intralobular ducts branched almost at a right angle from the interlobular ducts. Intercalated ducts, which branched off from the intralobular ducts, wound and forked into two branches, without any decrease in thickness. The intercellular secretory canaliculi extended from the central lumina, running straight through the center of the acini, close to the cell bases; 3) In pancreatic ducts, every lumen was covered with microvilli. The diameters of these microvilli were uniform (about 0.1 μm), but the heights were variable, even within a given pancreatic duct.