Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of regularization parameter and scan time on crossing fibers with constrained compressed sensing

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an MR imaging technique that uses a set of diffusion weighted measurements in order to determine the water diffusion tensor at each voxel. In DTI, a single dominant fiber orientation is calculated at each measured voxel, even if multiple populations of fibers are present within this voxel. A new approach called Crossing Fiber Angular Resolution of Intra-voxel structure (CFARI) for processing diffusion weighted magnetic resonance data has been recently introduced. Based on compressed sensing, CFARI is able to resolve intra-voxel structure from limited number of measurements, but its performance as a function of the scan and algorithm parameters is poorly understood at present. This paper describes simulation experiments to help understand CFARI performance tradeoffs as a function of the data signal-to-noise ratio and the algorithm regularization parameter. In the compressed sensing criterion, the choice of the regularization parameter β is critical. If β is too small, then the solution is the conventional least squares solution, while if β is too large then the solution is identically zero. The correct selection of β turns out to be data dependent, which means that it is also spatially varying. In this paper, simulations using two random tensors with different diffusivities having the same fractional anisotropy but with different principle eigenvalues are carried out. Results reveal that for a fixed scan time, acquisition of repeated measurements can improve CFARI performance and that a spatially variable, data adaptive regularization parameter is beneficial in stabilizing results.
MR Image segmentation based on a new hybrid level set evolution

In this paper, a new hybrid model for active contour image segmentation is proposed. The model is a combination of an edge and region based active contour. To make more efficient noisy images segmentation, the proposed method is separated into two stages. The first one is a pre-processing step consisting of a morphological contrast enhancement followed by a de-noising process using an anisotropic diffusion filter. In the second stage, segmentation is performed using a level set based on a hybrid energy minimization. Various experimental results on medical and synthetic images are presented. Segmentation tests show that the proposed method is efficient, accurate, fast and robust.
Persons with Disabilities at Work

This article supplements the current literature on employment of persons with disabilities. Our data are derived from a survey of employees with disabilities at the place of their employment. More than three-quarters of the employees of the 12 gaming casinos in Atlantic City responded to a survey that inquired about their demographic characteristics, their medical conditions, and whether they were limited in the amount or kind of work they could do at their jobs. More than 8% of the employees were classified as disabled, twice the number of those with disabilities in the labor force in the state. Findings from the survey indicate that casinos differ in their employment of persons with disabilities. Some of these differences can be attributed to observable differences among the casinos in the composition of their work force (including age, gender, and education), whereas other differences can be attributed to differences in the composition of casino jobs. After incorporating such observed differences, remaining differences in employment of persons with disabilities are attributed to formal and informal disability employment policies and practices. On the basis of estimates of the magnitude of these policy differences, we determine that if all casinos could be brought to the level of the best casino, 1,223 more persons with disabilities would be employed in the industry. Further research is discussed to determine reasons for the differences among casinos.
Non-rigid registration of magnetic resonance imaging of brain

This document presents a non-rigid registration framework for the use of brain magnetic resonance (MR) images comparison. More precisely, we want to compare pre-operative and post-operative MR images in order to assess the deformation due to a surgical removal. Consequently, we propose an application of the theory developed in [3], associated with a new matching criterion based on the representation of the gradient in the dual of a RKHS (Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space). Moreover, all objects are defined from a periodic point of view, allowing the construction of an efficient algorithm. Numerical results are presented.
Dynamic spectrum refarming of GSM spectrum for LTE small cells

In this paper we propose a novel solution called dynamic spectrum refarming (DSR) for deploying LTE small cells using the same spectrum as existing GSM networks. The basic idea of DSR is that LTE small cells are deployed in the GSM spectrum but suppress transmission of all signals including the reference signals in some specific physical resource blocks corresponding to a portion of the GSM carriers to ensure full GSM coverage. Our study shows that the proposed solution can provide LTE mobile terminals with high speed data services when they are in the coverage of the LTE small cells while minimally affecting the service provided to GSM terminals located within the LTE small cell coverage area. Thus, the proposal allows the normal operation of the existing GSM networks even with LTE small cells deployed in that spectrum. Though the focus of this paper is about GSM spectrum refarming, an analogous approach can be applied to reuse code division multiple access (CDMA) spectrum for LTE small cells.
Microparticle‐enhanced nephelometric immunoassay of human plasminogen

A microparticle‐enhanced nephelometric immunoassay was developed for plasminogen quantitation in human plasma. It is based on the nephelometric measurement of the light scattered by microparticle clusters formed during a sandwich reaction between plasminogen, microparticle—anti‐plasminogen conjugate, and the free antibodies of anti‐plasminogen rabbit antiserum. This immunoassay was sensitive (detection limit in reaction mixture, 34 μg/L) and could be performed in 500‐fold diluted human plasma, excluding any interference or sample pretreatment. It allowed the quantitation of plasminogen on a large range of concentrations (17–550 mg/L), with a security in antigen excess reaching 1,100 mg/L, with accuracy (linear recovery in dilution‐overloading assay and correlation with conventional immunonephelometry), and precision (within‐ and between‐run coefficients of variation lower than 8%). A normal reference range from 54 to 148 mg/L (mean ± 2 SD) was calculated from plasminogen concentration in plasma from 130 adults. Easy to perform (no washing or phase separation) and rapid (two steps of 30 minutes then 1 hour of incubation at room temperature), this microparticle‐enhanced nephelometric immunoassay could be an interesting alternative method for human plasminogen quantitation. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Information Rich Glyphs for Software Management Data

Three high-dimensional glyphs for viewing software project management data assist in perhaps the most challenging engineering task in modern times managing large software projects. In data exploration, glyphs refer to graphical objects or symbols that represent data through visual parameters that are either spatial (positions x or y), retinal (color and size), or temporal. Common examples of graphical objects include the bars in a bar chart or the points within a scatter plot. We focus on glyphs for visualizing software project management data. Any large-scale project will have many different classes of resources (lab equipment, staff time, machine cycles, disk resources, interim deliverables, and customer commitments) that must be scheduled and tracked. Inevitably, problems will arise and solutions must be found. To support the management process, information systems collect and maintain large status databases. We aim to support and improve the understanding of this information through visualization. Our glyphs are designed to expose patterns among sets of software artifacts and to help identify differences between items.
Characterization of a new copper cable for next generation dsl systems

The emergence of ADSL2+ and VDSL2 seems to have outlined the limits of xDSL access systems for bit rates greater than 10 Mbps over copper wires in the last mile. Meanwhile, very recent advances in the field of modulation techniques and line codes such as VDSL3 based on vectored transmission enable to surpass this limit [1]. In this paper, one investigates a different approach enabling to increase the capacity of ADSL2+ access systems by means of a new copper cable. In a first step, we describe the characteristics of the new generation Nexans copper cable. We then outline both theoretically and experimentally the performance provided by this innovation.
Recognizing Time-Efficiently Local Botnet Infections - A Case Study

The domain name system (DNS) is often abused by criminals as resilient infrastructure for their network architecture. Examples for malicious activities based on these networks comprise e.g. phishing, click fraud, spam, command and control structure of botnets. Most of the proposed detection methods rely on machine learning based on complex feature sets which require a considerable computational power. This paper investigates the approach of passively monitoring and analyzing DNS traffic in a time efficient manner based on machine learning on a reduced and robust feature set. For the evaluation the full DNS data stream of a regional ISP is used. To enhance the amount of traffic that can be labeled for the training process and reduce the number of false negatives in the case study, this is combined with a semi-manual labeling approach which addresses domains created by Domain-Generation-Algorithms (DGAs). That allows also medium sized, regional service providers to train classifiers with typical DNS traffic and to deploy systems based on the approach proposed here, in the network of organizations as an alternative to cloud services. The evaluation shows that this approach is feasible and prototypes are already deployed. Hence this approach can serve as an important aspect of the internal risk management of organizations.
Improvements in Unsupervised Co-Occurrence Based Parsing

This paper presents an algorithm for unsupervised co-occurrence based parsing that improves and extends existing approaches. The proposed algorithm induces a context-free grammar of the language in question in an iterative manner. The resulting structure of a sentence will be given as a hierarchical arrangement of constituents. Although this algorithm does not use any a priori knowledge about the language, it is able to detect heads, modifiers and a phrase type's different compound composition possibilities. For evaluation purposes, the algorithm is applied to manually annotated part-of-speech tags (POS tags) as well as to word classes induced by an unsupervised part-of-speech tagger.
Antibacterial Spectrum of a Novel Des-Fluoro(6) Quinolone, BMS-284756

ABSTRACT The in vitro spectrum of a novel des-fluoro(6) quinolone, BMS-284756, was compared with those of five fluoroquinolones (trovafloxacin, moxifloxacin, levofloxacin, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin). BMS-284756 was among the most active and often was the most active quinolone against staphylococci (including methicillin-resistant strains), streptococci, pneumococci (including ciprofloxacin-nonsusceptible and penicillin-resistant strains), andEnterococcus faecalis. BMS-284756 inhibited ≈60 to ≈70% of the Enterococcus faecium (including vancomycin-resistant) strains and 90 to 100% of theEnterobacteriaceae strains and gastroenteric bacillary pathogens at the anticipated MIC susceptible breakpoint (≤4 μg/ml). Against the nonfermenters, BMS-284756 inhibited 90 to 100% ofPseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas stutzeri,Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Flavobacteriumspp. , and Acinetobacter spp. and 72% ofPseudomonas aeruginosa strains at 4 μg/ml. Against anaerobic bacteria, BMS-284756 was among the most active, inhibiting essentially all strains tested. It had very low MICs against the fastidious and atypical microbial species, in particular against mycoplasmas or ureaplasmas, Borrelia burgdorferi, chlamydia, and gonococci. These results indicate that with its broad antibacterial spectrum, BMS-284756 should be evaluated clinically for the treatment of community and nosocomial infections.
Climate change and the optimal arrival of migratory birds

Recent climate change has sparked an interest in the timing of biological events, which is a general problem in life-history evolution. Reproduction in many organisms breeding in seasonal environments, e.g. migratory birds, is dependent on the exploitation of a short but rich food supply. If the seasonal timing of the food peak advances owing to climate change, then one would expect the bird to track those changes, hence, initiate migration and breeding earlier. However, when there is competition for territories and a risk of pre-breeding mortality, the optimal response to a shifting food distribution is no longer obvious. We develop a theoretical model to study how the optimal arrival time depends on the mean and variance of the food distribution, the degree of competition for territories and the risk of mortality. In general, the optimal shift in arrival date should never be as extreme as the shift in food peak date. Our results also show that we should expect the high variation of trends in arrival date observed among migratory birds, even if migration and information about climate change were unconstrained.
Downlink power control in co-channel macrocell femtocell overlay

In this paper, interference mitigation through downlink power control is considered for Macrocell Femtocell overlay. Specifically, the strong interference in the downlink from the home base station to a nearby macrocell user should be properly controlled such that the quality-of-service of both the macrocell user and the Femtocell users can be guaranteed. In this work, the fundamental capacity limitation of spatial spectrum sharing among a macrocell user and a Femtocell user is identified. A downlink power control problem is formulated to address the co-channel interference, as well as provide quality-of-service to both the macrocell user and the Femtocell users. The feasibility condition of the problem is derived and both centralized and distributed solutions are provided. Because the co-channel interference are from heterogeneous cells, a joint power control, channel management and admission control procedure is suggested such that the priority of the macrocell users is always ensured. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
Studying confined polymers using single-molecule DNA experiments

The development of fluorescence microscopy of single-molecule DNA in the last decade has fostered a bold jump in the understanding of polymer physics. With the recent advance of nanotechnology, devices with well-defined dimensions that are smaller than typical DNA molecules can be readily manufactured. The combination of these techniques has provided an unprecedented opportunity for researchers to examine confined polymer behavior, a topic far less understood than its counterpart. Here, we review the progress reported in recent studies that investigate confined polymer dynamics by means of single-molecule DNA experiments.
Splash detection in surveillance videos of offshore fish production plants

Automatic detection of fish welfare related parameters is a very important step in the process of aquaculture production control. Poor handling, and lack of control of the state of the biomass in production plants, may lead to various disease outbreaks, chronic stress and physical trauma, which can influence mortality, which is directly related to profit loss. Automated and objective splash detection provides reliable information about surface activity, which may provide valuable insight into the state of the fish in the cage. In this paper, we propose an algorithm based on Support Vector Machines (SVM), for automatic splash detection in plant surveillance videos, obtained using an unmanned aerial vehicle. We also evaluate the use of Bag-of-Words (BoW) and Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors (VLAD) descriptors, for use in splash detection algorithms.
Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection

This article aims to examine current best practice in the field reference to first‐line, second‐line, rescue and emerging treatment regimens for Helicobater pylori eradication. The recommended first‐line treatment in published guidelines in Europe and North American is proton pump inhibitor combined with amoxicillin and clarithromycin being the favoured regimen. Rates of eradication with this regimen however are falling alarmingly due to a combination of antibiotic resistance and poor compliance with therapy. Bismuth based quadruple therapies and levofloxacin based regimes have been shown to be effective second line regimens. Third‐line options include regimes based on rifabutin or furazolidone, but susceptibility testing is the most rational option here, but is currently not used widely enough. Sequential therapy is promising but needs further study and validation outside of Italy. Although the success of first line treatments is falling, if compliance is good and a clear treatment paradigm adhered to, almost universal eradication rates can still be achieved. If compliance is not achievable, the problem of antibiotic resistance will continue to beset any combination of drugs used for H. pylori eradication.
Design and control of autonomous wind-solar energy system with DFIG feeding 3-phase 4-wire network

This paper presents the design and control of a distributed generation system using wind and solar PV (Photovoltaic) energy sources feeding to a 3-phase 4-wire network. The wind energy conversion system consists of a wind turbine coupled to DFIG (Double Fed Induction Generator) equipped with MPPT (Maximum Power Tracking technology). The MPPT demands speed control which is realized using vector control of the rotor side converter. The voltage and frequency control is achieved through load side converter connected to the common DC bus. Solar PV power is fed to the same DC bus using DC-DC boost converter which is also equipped with MPPT algorithm to extract maximum energy from the incident solar energy. The system is modeled in Sim-Power System tool of MATLAB and its performance under all the practical conditions e.g. varying wind speed and radiation, unbalanced and nonlinear load has been presented. Under all these conditions, the stator currents flowing through DFIG are balanced and sinusoidal. The harmonics of the load voltage under all the conditions are also within requirement of IEEE 519 standard. The scheme doesn't envisage measurement of any mechanical quantities e.g. wind speed or rotor position.
Semantic Composition of Multimodal Actions in Constraint-based Grammars

The use of speech-accompanying hand gestures to depict objects, to structure the discourse or to give directions is ubiquitous in face-to-face interaction. In this paper, we analyse multimodal signals consisting of speech and gesture from the perspective of semantic composition in constraint-based grammars: we elevate standard methods from linguistics to description of multimodal input so as to connect the semantics of the gestural signal to the semantics of the speech signal and to produce an integrated logical form.
The role of working memory in problem solving

The combination of moment-to-moment awareness and instant retrieval of archived information constitutes what is called the working memory, perhaps the most significant achievement of human mental evolution. (Goldman-Rakic, 1992, p. 111) Working memory plays an essential role in complex cognition. Everyday cognitive tasks – such as reading a newspaper article, calculating the appropriate amount to tip in a restaurant, mentally rearranging furniture in one's living room to create space for a new sofa, and comparing and contrasting various attributes of different apartments to decide which to rent – often involve multiple steps with intermediate results that need to be kept in mind temporarily to accomplish the task at hand successfully. (Shah & Miyake, 1999, p. 1) More than 25 years ago, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) lamented, “Despite more than a decade of intensive research on the topic of short-term memory (STM), we still know virtually nothing about its role in normal information processing” (p. 47). The primary concern for Baddeley and Hitch was the presumed centrality of limited-capacity short-term memory in contemporary models of memory, including Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) “modal model. ” For example, Baddeley and Hitch described a patient with brain-damage (K.F.) who exhibited grossly deficient performance on tests of short-term memory but normal performance on long-term learning tasks. Logically, this could not occur if information passes from short-term memory to long-term memory.
An FPGA compatible asynchronous wake-up receiver for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper explores design methods applicable to Wireless Sensors Networks, where low power consumption and energy efficiency are a must. A key component that modulates the power consumption is the main radio. Controlling its use through suitable sleep modes and wake up mechanisms is a significant issue and can be done with a wake-up receiver. But many applications are associated with low fabrication volume where custom integrated circuits are not economical and where FPGAs are the best available solution. In this paper, we explore an asynchronous solution, which permits to decrease the internal activity, thus reducing the power consumption, including that required for clock distribution. We also propose an FPGA implementation of such a wake-up receiver using the NULL Convention Logic™. The overall power consumption of the reported implementation is as low as 5μW at 250 kbps.
The LuxR Homolog ExpR, in Combination with the Sin Quorum Sensing System, Plays a Central Role in Sinorhizobium meliloti Gene Expression

ABSTRACT Quorum sensing, a population density-dependent mechanism for bacterial communication and gene regulation, plays a crucial role in the symbiosis between alfalfa and its symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti. The Sin system, one of three quorum sensing systems present in S. meliloti, controls the production of the symbiotically active exopolysaccharide EPS II. Based on DNA microarray data, the Sin system also seems to regulate a multitude of S. meliloti genes, including genes that participate in low-molecular-weight succinoglycan production, motility, and chemotaxis, as well as other cellular processes. Most of the regulation by the Sin system is dependent on the presence of the ExpR regulator, a LuxR homolog. Gene expression profiling data indicate that ExpR participates in additional cellular processes that include nitrogen fixation, metabolism, and metal transport. Based on our microarray analysis we propose a model for the regulation of gene expression by the Sin/ExpR quorum sensing system and another possible quorum sensing system(s) in S. meliloti.
Object tracking: feature selection and confidence propagation

Choosing unique and invariant features is the first important step in object tracking. In this paper, we present a method to find proper-sized and irregularlyshaped trackable features, the use of which can outperform procedures using normal square features. The notion of confidence associated with each feature is introduced as the feature propagates. The use of confidence results in robust tracking even when occlusion is present. Based on the translational displacement of each feature, the affine motion of the object can be accurately estimated. This approach has been tested on a wide variety of video sequences and produces good tracking results.