Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating the Number of Components of a Spatial–Em Algorithm: an R Package

The Expectation Maximization algorithm also known as the EM algorithm is an algorithm used to solve the maximum likelihood parameter estimation problem. This problem arises when some of the data involved are missing or incomplete, hence it becomes diﬃcult to know the parameters of the underlying distribution. The EM algorithm mainly comprises of two steps; the E–Step, and the M–Step. In the E–Step, estimated parameter values are used as true values to calculate the maximum likelihood estimate, and in the M–Step, the maximum likelihood calculated is used to estimate the parameters. The E–Step and M–Step iterate through until a speciﬁed convergence is met. Applications of the EM algorithm include density estimation in unsupervised clustering, estimating class–conditional densities in supervised learning settings, and for outlier detection purposes. The Spatial – EM algorithm is a novel approach that utilizes median – based location and rank – based scatter estimators to replace the sample mean and sample covariance matrix in the M – Step of an EM algorithm. This helps to enhance the stability and robustness of the Spatial – EM algorithm for ﬁnite mixture models. The algorithm is especially robust to outliers. In this research, we use the trimmed Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) to determine the optimal value of the number of components in the distribution. The algorithm is implemented as an R package, and tested on diﬀerent datasets.
LiDAR-based 4D Panoptic Segmentation via Dynamic Shifting Network

With the rapid advances of autonomous driving, it becomes critical to equip its sensing system with more holistic 3D perception. However, existing works focus on parsing either the objects (e.g. cars and pedestrians) or scenes (e.g. trees and buildings) from the LiDAR sensor. In this work, we address the task of LiDAR-based panoptic segmentation, which aims to parse both objects and scenes in a unified manner. As one of the first endeavors towards this new challenging task, we propose the Dynamic Shifting Network (DS-Net), which serves as an effective panoptic segmentation framework in the point cloud realm. In particular, DS-Net has three appealing properties: 1) Strong backbone design. DS-Net adopts the cylinder convolution that is specifically designed for LiDAR point clouds. 2) Dynamic Shifting for complex point distributions. We observe that commonly-used clustering algorithms are incapable of handling complex autonomous driving scenes with non-uniform point cloud distributions and varying instance sizes. Thus, we present an efficient learnable clustering module, dynamic shifting, which adapts kernel functions on the fly for different instances. 3) Extension to 4D prediction. Furthermore, we extend DS-Net to 4D panoptic LiDAR segmentation by the temporally unified instance clustering on aligned LiDAR frames. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of LiDAR-based panoptic segmentation, we construct and curate benchmarks from two large-scale autonomous driving LiDAR datasets, SemanticKITTI and nuScenes. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed DS-Net achieves superior accuracies over current state-of-the-art methods in both tasks. Notably, in the single frame version of the task, we outperform the SOTA method by 1.8% in terms of the PQ metric. In the 4D version of the task, we surpass 2nd place by 5.4% in terms of the LSTQ metric.
Navigating the GAN Parameter Space for Semantic Image Editing ” 1

Different generator layers were shown to capture different image properties [1]. Accordingly, navigating the parameter space of layers from different depths also discovers the effects of different types. For the LSUN-Horse dataset, Figure 7 visualizes the interpretable manipulations discovered at different depths, one manipulation per each StyleGAN2 layer. Notably, the earlier layers are generally responsible for global geometric transformations (size, leg length). Then, the intermediate layers typically result in more localized geometric manipulations (head size, thickness). They are followed by localized color manipulations (greens, white legs, background removal, shadows). The last layers correspond to global lighting effects (global lighting, horse reddening). Here we do not consider several final layers since they capture only trivial color-editing transformations. On other datasets, the distribution of typical effects over different layers is mostly the same.
Constraints on the sources of tropospheric ozone from 210 Pb-7 BeO 3 correlations

The 210 Pb-7 Be-O 3 relationships observed in three aircraft missions over the western Pacific (PEM-West A and B, TRACE-P) are simulated with a global 3-D chemical tracer model (GEOS-CHEM) driven by assimilated meteorological observations. Results are interpreted in terms of the constraints that they offer on sources of tropospheric ozone (O 3). Aircraft observa
Strong coupling between phonons and optical beating in backward Brillouin scattering

Brillouin scattering is a fundamental nonlinear interaction between two optical waves and an acoustic wave mediated by electrostriction and photoelasticity. In this paper, we revisit the usual theory of this inelastic scattering to get a joint system in which the acoustic wave is strongly coupled to the interference pattern between the optical waves. We show in particular that when the coupling rate exceeds the phonon damping rate, the system enters the strong-coupling regime, giving rise to anticrossing in the dispersion relation and Rabi-like splitting. We further find numerically that strong coupling can, in principle, be observed using backward Brillouin scattering in subwavelength-diameter optical waveguides.
Optimizing usage and maintenance decisions for k‐out‐of‐n systems of moving assets

We consider an integrated usage and maintenance optimization problem for a k‐out‐of‐n system pertaining to a moving asset. The k‐out‐of‐n systems are commonly utilized in practice to increase availability, where n denotes the total number of parallel and identical units and k the number of units required to be active for a functional system. Moving assets such as aircraft, ships, and submarines are subject to different operating modes. Operating modes can dictate not only the number of system units that are needed to be active, but also where the moving asset physically is, and under which environmental conditions it operates. We use the intrinsic age concept to model the degradation process. The intrinsic age is analogous to an intrinsic clock which ticks on a different pace in different operating modes. In our problem setting, the number of active units, degradation rates of active and standby units, maintenance costs, and type of economic dependencies are functions of operating modes. In each operating mode, the decision maker should decide on the set of units to activate (usage decision) and the set of units to maintain (maintenance decision). Since the degradation rate differs for active and standby units, the units to be maintained depend on the units that have been activated, and vice versa. In order to minimize maintenance costs, usage and maintenance decisions should be jointly optimized. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process and provide some structural properties of the optimal policy. Moreover, we assess the performance of usage policies that are commonly implemented for maritime systems. We show that the cost increase resulting from these policies is up to 27% for realistic settings. Our numerical experiments demonstrate the cases in which joint usage and maintenance optimization is more valuable. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 418–434, 2017
Distributed cooperative control for multi-agent systems

This dissertation focuses on distributed cooperative control of multi-agent systems. First, the leader-following consensus for multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics is investigated. Three consensus algorithms are proposed and some sufficient conditions are obtained for the states of followers converging to the state of virtual leader globally exponentially. Second, the consensus tracking for multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics is investigated. Some consensus tracking algorithms are developed, and some sufficient conditions are obtained. Based on these consensus tracking algorithms and sufficient conditions, it is shown that in first-order multi-agent systems all followers can track the virtual leader in finite time, and in second-order multi-agent systems the consensus tracking can be achieved at least globally exponentially. Third, the path planning and motion control of multi-agent formation is studied, where a practical framework is provided. In order to find a collision-free and deadlock-free feasible path for the whole formation, an optimizing algorithm is given to optimize the path generated by A* search algorithm. In order to realize the cohesive motion of a persistent formation in 3-dimensional space, a set of decentralized control laws is designed. Finally, the formation keeping problem is studied. We mainly focus on the closing ranks problem, which deals with the addition of links to a rigid multi-agent formation that is “damaged" by losing one of its agents, in order to recover rigidity. Some graph theoretical results are obtained, and some systematic ’self-repair’ operations are proposed to recover the rigidity in case of agent removals
CPF: Learning a Contact Potential Field to Model the Hand-Object Interaction — Supplementary Document —

In this section, we introduce the proposed twist-splaybend frame of A-MANO. Both the original MANO [11] and our A-MANO hand model are driven by the relative rotation at each articulation. To mitigate the pose abnormality, we apply constraints on the rotation axis-angle1. We intend to decompose the rotation axis into three components to the three axes of a Euclidean coordinate frame, in which each component depicts the proportion of rotation along that axis. Obviously, there have infinity choices of the three orthogonal axes. MANO adopts 16 identical coordinate frames whose 3 orthogonal axes are not coaxial to the direction of the hand kinematic tree (Fig. 1 left). Different from MANO, we follow the Universal Robot Description Format (URDF) [8] that describe each articulation along the hand kinematic tree as a revolute joint2. Nevertheless, a revolute joint only has one degree of freedom, which is not enough to drive the motion of a real hand. Thus, we assign each articulation with three revolute joints, named as twist, splay and bend (Fig. 1 right), Here, we elaborate the conversion from the MANO’s all identical coordinate system of to our twist-splay-bend frame in three steps. For each articulation, we first compute the twist axis as the vector from the child of the current joint to itself. Then we employ MANO’s y (up) axis and derive the bend axis that is calculated from cross product on the twist and y axes. Finally, we obtain the splay axis by applying cross product on the bend and twist axes. We illustrate the above procedures in Fig. 2.
Inflammation is More Persistent in Type 1 Diabetic Mice

Whether diabetes enhances or diminishes the host response to bacteria has been controversial. To determine how diabetes alters the inflammatory response, we inoculated P. gingivalis into the scalps of mice rendered diabetic with multiple low-dose streptozotocin treatment. On day 1, a moderate to severe inflammatory infiltrate was noted in both the diabetic and normoglycemic mice. After 3 days, the inflammatory infiltrate was significantly higher in the diabetic compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of chemokines macrophage inflammatory protein-2 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 was strongly and similarly induced 3 hrs and 1 day post-inoculation. By day 3, the levels were reduced in normoglycemic mice but remained significantly higher in the diabetic group (P < 0.05). To determine whether persistent inflammation was specific for the streptozotocin-induced diabetic model, we directly compared the expression of TNF-α in streptozotocin-induced and db/db diabetic mice, which developed type 2 diabetes. Both exhibited prolonged TNF-α expression compared with controls. These results suggest that diabetes alters bacteria-host interactions by prolonging the inflammatory response.
Information Bottleneck for an Oblivious Relay with Channel State Information: the Scalar Case

We consider an extension of the information bottleneck problem where underlying Markov Chain is $X-0-(Y,\ S)-0-Z$, and where $P_{X,S,Y}=P_{X}P_{S}P_{Y|X,S}$ is the joint distribution of a source X, a channel state S independent of the source, and the channel output Y of a state-dependent channel. For the case $Y=SX+N$ with $X, S$ and N Gaussian circularly symmetric, we provide an upper bound and two achievable lower bounds on the information bottleneck rate. We relate this problem to the case of an oblivious relay with channel state information. Our results show that simple symbol-by-symbol relay processing, possibly followed by “entropy coding” (data compression) yields a very effective method, virtually achieving the upper bound on a wide range of relevant system parameters.
Spatial Variability of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity and its Links with other Soil Properties at the Commune Scale

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC) is a key property for evaluating soil water movement and quality. Most studies on spatial variability of SHC have been performed soil at a field or smaller scale. Therefore, the aim of this work was to assess (quantify) the spatial distribution of SHC at the commune scale and its relationship with other soil properties, including intrinsic sand, silt, and clay contents, relatively stable organic carbon, cation exchange capacity (CEC), dynamic water content (WC), total porosity (FI), and dry bulk density (BD) in the surface layer (0–20 cm). The spatial relationships were assessed using a semivariogram and a cross-semivariogram. The studied commune (140 km2) with predominantly permeable sandy soils with low fertility and productivity is located in the south-eastern part of Poland (Podlasie region). The mean sand and organic carbon contents are 74 andobablyctknąć, czy o to chodzid mniej znacznie mniejszed? 0.86 and their ranges (in %) are 45-95 and 0.002-3.75, respectively. The number of individual samples varied from 216–228 (for SHC, WC, BD, FI) to 691 for the other soil properties. The best fitting models were adjusted to the empirical semivariogram (exponential) and the cross-semivariogram (exponential, Gaussian, or linear) used to draw maps with kriging. The results showed that, among the soil properties studied, SHC was most variable (coefficient of variation 77.3%) and significantly (p <0.05) positively correlated with total porosity (r = 0.300) and negatively correlated with soil bulk density (r = –0.283). The mean SHC was 2.597 m day–1 and ranged from 0.01 up to 11.54 m day–1. The spatial autocorrelation (range) of SHC in the single (direct) semivariograms was 0.081° (8.1 km), while it favourably increased up to 0.149–0.81° (14.9–81 km) in the cross-semivariograms using the OC contents, textural fractions, and CEC as auxiliary variables. The generated spatial maps allowed outlining two sub-areas with predominantly high SHC above 3.0 m day–1 in the northern sandier (sand content >74%) and less silty (silt content <22%) part and, with lower SHC in the southern part of the commune. Generally, the spatial distribution of the SHC values in the commune area depended on the share of individual intrinsic textural fractions. On the other hand, the ranges of the spatial relationship between SHC and the intrinsic and relatively stable soil properties were much larger (from ~15 to 81 km) than between SHC and the dynamic soil properties (0.3-0.9 km). This knowledge is supportive for making decisions related to land management aimed at reduction of hydraulic conductivity and chemical leaching and improvement of soil water resources and crop productivity.
Multiple sclerosis and COVID-19: Assessing risk perception, patient behaviors and access to disease-modifying therapies Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders

Background: Following the outbreak of COVID-19, global healthcare systems have had to rapidly adapt. People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) were required to make decisions about their individual risk and consequent work and social behaviors. This study aimed to evaluate risk perception and patterns of shielding behavior amongst pwMS at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent impact on patients ’ employment and access to disease modifying therapies (DMTs). Methods: Postal surveys were sent to 1690 people within a UK population-based MS cohort during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients were surveyed on: (i) perceived vulnerability to COVID-19; (ii) isolation behavior; (iii) interruption to DMT; (iv) employment status; (v) level of satisfaction with their current working arrangement. Results: Responses were received from 1000 pwMS. Two thirds of patients reported isolating at home during the first wave of the pandemic. This behavior was associated with increased age ( p < 0.0001), higher disability ( p < 0.0001) and use of high-efficacy DMTs ( p = 0.02). The majority of patients reported feeling vulnerable (82%) with perceived vulnerability associated with higher EDSS ( p < 0.0001) and receiving a high-efficacy DMT ( p = 0.04). Clinician-defined risk was associated with shielding behavior, with those at high-risk more likely to self-isolate/shield ( p < 0.0001). Patients on high-efficacy DMTs were more likely to have an interruption to their treatment (50%) during the first wave of the pandemic. Most pwMS experienced a change to their working environment, and most were satisfied with the adjustments. Conclusion: This study highlights the risk perception, social behavioral practices and changes to treatment experienced by pwMS during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in a large, well-described UK cohort. The results may help inform management of pwMS during future pandemic waves.
Anuário do Instituto de Geociências

Mining waste is rich in trace elements, which present a high toxic potential and may represent a risk for aquatic ecosystems. The Fundão dam failure, considered the largest environmental disaster in the world, affected 663.2 km of watercourses, including Carmo and Gualaxo do Norte Rivers. The ore tail also affected the riverside communities, destroying villages, killing people and affecting the subsistence farming. To evaluate the influence of the mine tailing wave on the water quality of the Carmo and Gualaxo do Norte Rivers water samples were collected at nine points located in Barra Longa during the rainy season. Physicochemical parameters (conductivity, resistivity, EH, total dissolved solids, pH and temperature) and major, minor and trace elements concentrations (Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Sc, Sr, V, Zn, As, Pb, Al, Fe, Mn, Ca, K, Mg and P) were evaluated and compared with previous studies and conformity limits established by a national resolution (CONAMA Resolution N°357/2005). Only conductivity, Fe and Mn presented non-conformity values according to CONAMA Resolution N°357/2005. These results may be related not only to the dam burst but also to the rainy season and non-detectable pollution sources. Furthermore, the decreased levels in the toxic elements in the rivers over time, may be related to its association with sediments in addition to their flux to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, after nearly six years, the environmental and social impacts are still alive and the minerals dragged to the riverbed could bring cumulative effects for the entire environment what means an uncertain future to the Rio Doce Basin and adjacent coastal zone.
Driver Drowsiness Detection System

or fatigue in drivers driving for long hours is the major cause of accidents on highways worldwide. The International statistics shows that a large number of road accidents are caused by driver fatigue. Therefore, a system that can detect oncoming driver fatigue and issue timely warning could help in preventing many accidents, and consequently save money and reduce personal suffering. The authors have made an attempt to design a system that uses video camera that points directly towards the driver"s face in order to detect fatigue. If the fatigue is detected a warning signal is issued to alert the driver. The authors have worked on the video files recorded by the camera. Video file is converted into frames.Once the eyes are located from each frame, by determining the energy value of each frame one can determine whether the eyes are open or close. A particular condition is set for the energy values of open and close eyes. If the average of the energy value for 5 consecutive frames falls in a given condition then the driver will be detected as drowsy and issues a warning signal. The algorithm is proposed, implemented, tested, and found working satisfactorily. Keywordsdrowsy detection, fatigue, eye detection, face detection, energy, sobel mask, sound alarm.
Task Scoping: Generating Task-Speciﬁc Abstractions for Planning

Real-world planning tasks are often intractable because of their extremely large state and action spaces. However, for many goals, most states and actions are irrelevant and can be ignored by the planner. We propose task scoping : a method that exploits knowledge of the initial state, goal conditions, and transition system to automatically and efﬁciently prune provably irrelevant ﬂuents and actions from a planning problem. We empirically evaluate task scoping on a variety of domains and demonstrate that its use as a pre-planning step can reduce the state-action space by orders of magnitude, accelerating planning for both state-of-the-art classical and numeric planners. When applied to a complex Minecraft domain, task scoping speeds up a state-of-the-art planner by more than 30 × (including scoping time).
Geometrical standards in shapes of avian eggs

The original technique of description of avian eggs on the basis of the geometry of asymmetrical oval (ovoid) is suggested. Specific properties of this figure allow to create a system of 80 basic ovoid standards, each given an appropriate name, digital and letter coding, and distinct quantitative characteristics. Combining infundibular zones (blunt poles) of basic ovoids in pairs gives 80 standards of symmetric pseudo-ovoids, 44 of which are found in birds. The same procedure applied to different ovoids produces 375 standards of asymmetrical pseudo-ovoids. This totality can be divided into six groups. Use of such system of standards enables us to identify real shapes of avian eggs, to analyze relation of morphometric parameters to incubatory properties of eggs, and also to carry out comparisons and generalizations of other authors’ data. Each standard is quantitatively characterized by means of indexes (namely, indices of infundibular, cloacal, and lateral zones; index of asymmetry, elongation index, complementarity index, interporal index, arc radiuses, length and diameter).