Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expertise-Aware Truth Analysis and Task Allocation in Mobile Crowdsourcing

In mobile crowdsourcing, the accuracy of the collected data is usually hard to ensure. Researchers have proposed techniques to identify truth from noisy data by inferring and utilizing the reliability of mobile users, and allocate tasks to users with higher reliability. However, they neglect the fact that a user may only have expertise on some problems (in some domains), but not others, and hence causing two problems: low estimation accuracy in truth analysis and ineffective task allocation. To address these problems, we propose <italic>Expertise-aware Truth Analysis and Task Allocation (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mbox{ETA}^2$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mtext>ETA</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zhang-ieq1-2955688.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>)</italic>, which can effectively infer user expertise, and then estimate truth and allocate tasks based on the inferred expertise. <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mbox{ETA}^2$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mtext>ETA</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zhang-ieq2-2955688.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> relies on a novel semantic analysis method to identify the expertise, and an expertise-aware truth analysis method to find the truth. For expertise-aware task allocation in <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mbox{ETA}^2$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mtext>ETA</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zhang-ieq3-2955688.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, we formalize and solve two problems based on the optimization objectives: <italic>max-quality</italic> task allocation which maximizes the probability for tasks to be allocated to users with high expertise and <italic>min-cost</italic> task allocation which minimizes the cost of task allocation while ensuring high-quality data are collected. Experimental results based on two real-world datasets and one synthetic dataset demonstrate that <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mbox{ETA}^2$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mtext>ETA</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zhang-ieq4-2955688.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> significantly outperforms existing solutions.
Strategic learning approach to region-based dynamic route guidance

In this paper we aim to implement an urban network-level traffic management scheme to mitigate congestion in urban areas by considering the effect of route choice at an aggregated level. We first present an implementation of a region-based dynamic traffic model. Then we present a strategic learning approach and a test case where we compare our approach to other routing strategies we have integrated within the region-based dynamic traffic model.
Effects of visual cues on the complicated search task

To locate relevant information within an vast array of potentially irrelevant information, a graphical user interface supported by visual navigation search cues may be useful. Because few studies have reported effects of visual cues in complicated workplace conditions, this study examined effects of valid/invalid cues on performance in a search task that simulated central monitoring task. Reaction times (RTs) to targets were measured for valid/invalid cues relative to no-cue conditions. Results indicated that cost (increment of RT by the invalid cue) is less than benefit (decrement of RT by the valid cue). Subsequently, to examine effects of cues in a perception/cognition phase, rates of correct answers were measured by eliminating an action phase of the search task. Results reveal the benefit (higher rate of correct answers in the valid cue condition than in the no-cue condition) was greater than the cost (lower rate of correct answers in the invalid cue condition than in the no-cue condition). Additionally, eye movement data indicated that onset times of eye fixation to a cued button were concentrated within 200-300ms regardless of cue condition. Together, results suggest that in a complicated search situation, such as a central control system, the costs for relying on invalid cues can be expressed as 1/d, with d as the number of candidates of search. This implies that as d increases the usefulness of a predictive (valid) cue increases.
Chronic Ethanol Feeding Modulates Inflammatory Mediators, Activation of Nuclear Factor-κB, and Responsiveness to Endotoxin in Murine Kupffer Cells and Circulating Leukocytes

Chronic ethanol abuse is known to increase susceptibility to infections after injury, in part, by modification of macrophage function. Several intracellular signalling mechanisms are involved in the initiation of inflammatory responses, including the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway. In this study, we investigated the systemic and hepatic effect of chronic ethanol feeding on in vivo activation of NF-κB in NF-κBEGFP reporter gene mice. Specifically, the study focused on Kupffer cell proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α and activation of NF-κB after chronic ethanol feeding followed by in vitro stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We found that chronic ethanol upregulated NF-κB activation and increased hepatic and systemic proinflammatory cytokine levels. Similarly, LPS-stimulated IL-1β release from whole blood was significantly enhanced in ethanol-fed mice. However, LPS significantly increased IL-6 and TNF-α levels. These results demonstrate that chronic ethanol feeding can improve the responsiveness of macrophage LPS-stimulated IL-6 and TNF-α production and indicate that this effect may result from ethanol-induced alterations in intracellular signalling through NF-κB. Furthermore, LPS and TNF-α stimulated the gene expression of different inflammatory mediators, in part, in a NF-κB-dependent manner.
Real-Time Pose Estimation Piggybacked on Object Detection

We present an object detector coupled with pose estimation directly in a single compact and simple model, where the detector shares extracted image features with the pose estimator. The output of the classification of each candidate window consists of both object score and likelihood map of poses. This extension introduces negligible overhead during detection so that the detector is still capable of real time operation. We evaluated the proposed approach on the problem of vehicle detection. We used existing datasets with viewpoint/pose annotation (WCVP, 3D objects, KITTI). Besides that, we collected a new traffic surveillance dataset COD20k which fills certain gaps of the existing datasets and we make it public. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is comparable with state-of-the-art approaches in terms of accuracy, but it is considerably faster - easily operating in real time (Matlab with C++ code). The source codes and the collected COD20k dataset are made public along with the paper.
OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY–GUIDED RANIBIZUMAB INJECTION FOR CYSTOID MACULAR EDEMA IN WELL-CONTROLLED UVEITIS: Twelve-Month Outcomes

Purpose: To determine whether serial ranibizumab injections are effective in the treatment of cystoid macular edema in patients with chronic controlled noninfectious uveitis. Methods: Five eyes of 5 patients were included in a prospective noncomparative therapeutic trial. They received intravitreal injections of ranibizumab at Day 0 and were followed monthly for 1 year. Injections were repeated monthly if persistent or new cystic edema manifested on optical coherence tomography. The primary outcome measure was the mean change in best-corrected visual acuity from baseline at 12 months. Secondary outcome measures included mean percentage change in central subfield retinal thickness (CST) and incidence of adverse events through Month 24. Results: Thirty-two injections were performed over the study period. At 1 year, the mean increase in acuity was 12.2 Early Treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters (P = 0.015). There was a statistically significant increase in visual acuity over time (P = 0.002). The CST decreased by 31.4%, 46.0%, 37.6%, and 45.4% relative to baseline at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively (P = 0.003). One patient experienced recurrence of uveitis with subsequent cataract and glaucoma progression. Conclusion: Optical coherence tomography–guided monthly intravitreal ranibizumab injections delivered over the course of 1 year resulted in improved vision and reduced central retinal thickness.
Sensory deprivation and chronic pain: a review of the literature.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to explore the literature into the use of 'Snoezelen' (Sensory Stimulation) for the management of chronic pain. Within the literature there are a number of research studies which have investigated the concept of sensory deprivation and these are considered. The studies indicate the potential of sensory input as a field of research in particular relation to the care of patients within hospital settings where they are removed from their 'normal' level of sensory input and could subsequently experience sensory deprivation. The relationship between sensory restriction and chronic pain is emphasized. This links with investigations of sensory stimulation (Snoezelen) as a potential strategy for the management of chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, it is suggested that sensory deprivation cannot exist and the term 'sensory restriction' would be more appropriate. It is proposed that there is a need to develop a tool to assist carers in identifying the existence of sensory restriction in their specific client groups to provide a basis for intervention.
System dynamics approach for error and change management in concurrent design and construction

Errors and changes, particularly in concurrent design and construction, require a careful approach to their management, since they can generate unanticipated impacts on construction performance, which is often related to softer aspects of management (e.g., fatigue). Focusing on this issue, this paper explores the use of system dynamics in identifying multiple feedback processes and softer aspects of managing errors and changes. Applying the developed model into the design-build highway project in Massachusetts, this paper concludes that the system dynamics approach can be an effective tool in the understanding of complex and dynamic construction processes and in supporting the decision making process of making appropriate policies to improve construction performance.
Extracellular matrix functions during neuronal migration and lamination in the mammalian central nervous system

Extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins are expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) in complex and developmentally regulated patterns. The ECM provides a number of critical functions in the CNS, contributing both to the overall structural organization of the CNS and to control of individual cells. At the cellular level, the ECM affects its functions by a wide range of mechanisms, including providing structural support to cells, regulating the activity of second messenger systems, and controlling the distribution and local concentration of growth and differentiation factors. Perhaps the most well known role of the ECM is as a substrate on which motile cells can migrate. Genetic, cell biological, and biochemical studies provide strong evidence that ECM glycoproteins such as laminins, tenascins, and proteoglycans control neuronal migration and positioning in several regions of the developing and adult brain. Recent findings have also shed important new insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which reelin regulates migration. Here we will summarize these findings, emphasizing the emerging concept that ECM glycoproteins promote different modes of neuronal migration such as radial, tangential, and chain migration. We also discuss several studies demonstrating that mutations in ECM glycoproteins can alter neuronal positioning by cell nonautonomous mechanisms that secondarily affect migrating neurons. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 71: 889‐900, 2011
Computerized assessment of production of multiple human cytokines at the single‐cell level using image analysis

A technique using a computerized image analysis system was developed for evaluating and quantifying human cytokine production. This system registered single cells as positive or negative cytokine producers based on a specific juxtanuclear staining pattern generated by accumulation of the proteins in the Golgi‐endoplasmatic reticulum compartment. The characteristic morphology of the immunocytochemical staining offered the opportunity to register individual producer cells within multicomponent cell populations. A color camera was then adapted to transfer on‐line images directly into the computer‐controlled operating system. In this study cultured human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were polyclonally stimulated and then analyzed for interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), IL‐1β, IL‐1ra, IL‐2, IL‐4, IL‐6, IL‐8, IL‐10, tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), TNF‐β, interferon‐γ, granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor and granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor production. The image‐analyzing system detected cytokine‐producing cells in a sensitive and reproducible manner, which was in total congruence with enumeration by conventional microscopy. Furthermore, accurate assessments of cell distributions by signal intensity and cell area were applied at the single‐cell level. The image‐analyzing system allowed the detection of at least 1 in 1,000 events by using unique cytokine‐associated morphometric criteria. The results of kinetic studies measuring cytokine production following activation and cell transformation provided data supporting increases in intensity of intracellular localized specific immunostaining and in cell size within the cytokine‐producing cells.
rad-Dependent Response of the chk1-Encoded Protein Kinase at the DNA Damage Checkpoint

Exposure of eukaryotic cells to agents that generate DNA damage results in transient arrest of progression through the cell cycle. In fission yeast, the DNA damage checkpoint associated with cell cycle arrest before mitosis requires the protein kinase p56chk1. DNA damage induced by ultraviolet light, gamma radiation, or a DNA-alkylating agent has now been shown to result in phosphorylation of p56chk1. This phosphorylation decreased the mobility of p56chk1 on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and was abolished by a mutation in the p56chk1 catalytic domain, suggesting that it might represent autophosphorylation. Phosphorylation of p56chk1 did not occur when other checkpoint genes were inactive. Thus, p56chk1 appears to function downstream of several of the known Schizosaccharomyces pombe checkpoint gene products, including that encoded by rad3+, a gene with sequence similarity to the ATM gene mutated in patients with ataxia telangiectasia. The phosphorylation of p56chk1 provides an assayable biochemical response to activation of the DNA damage checkpoint in the G2 phase of the cell cycle.
A Probabilistic Information Retrieval Approach to Medical Annotation in SWISS-PROT

The goal of medical annotation of human proteins in Swiss-Prot is to add features specifically intended for researchers working on genetic diseases and polymorphisms. For this purpose, it is necessary to search through a vast number of publications containing relevant information. Promising results have been obtained by applying natural language processing and machine learning techniques to solve this problem. By using the Probabilistic Latent Categorizer on representative query sets, 69% recall and 59% precision was achieved for relevant documents. This classifier also rejected irrelevant abstracts with more than 96% precision. Better linguistic pre-processing of source documents can further improve such computer approach.
Techniques for view transition in multi-camera outdoor environments

Environment monitoring using multiple observation cameras is increasingly popular. Different techniques exist to visualize the incoming video streams, but only few evaluations are available to find the best suitable one for a given task and context. This article compares three techniques for browsing video feeds from cameras that are located around the user in an unstructured manner. The techniques allow mobile users to gain extra information about the surroundings, the objects and the actors in the environment by observing a site from different perspectives. The techniques relate local and remote cameras topologically, via a tunnel, or via bird's eye viewpoint. Their common goal is to enhance spatial awareness of the viewer, without relying on a model or previous knowledge of the environment. We introduce several factors of spatial awareness inherent to multi-camera systems, and present a comparative evaluation of the proposed techniques with respect to spatial understanding and workload.
Amyloid accomplices and enforcers

Amyloid‐related diseases are often ascribed to protein “misfolding. ” Yet in the absence of high‐resolution structures for mature fibrils or intermediates, the connection between the mechanism of amyloid formation and protein folding remains tenuous. The simplistic view of amyloid fibrillogenesis as a homogeneous self‐assembly process is being increasingly challenged by observations that amyloids interact with a variety of cofactors including metals, glycosaminoglycans, glycoproteins such as serum amyloid P and apolipo‐protein E, and constituents of basement membranes such as perlecan, laminin, and agrin. These “pathological chaperones” have effects that range from mediating the rate of amyloid fibril formation to increasing the stability of amyloid deposits, and may contribute to amyloid toxicity. An increasing appreciation of the role of accessory molecules in amyloid etiology has paved the way to novel diagnostics and therapeutic strategies.
Dynamic Simulation of Human Movement Using Large-Scale Models of the Body

Abstract A three-dimensional model of the body was used to simulate two different motor tasks: vertical jumping and normal walking on level ground. The pattern of muscle excitations, body motions, and ground-reaction forces for each task were calculated using dynamic optimization theory. For jumping, the performance criterion was to maximize the height reached by the center of mass of the body; for walking, the measure of performance was metabolic energy consumed per meter walked. Quantitative comparisons of the simulation results with experimental data obtained from people indicate that the model reproduces the salient features of maximum-height jumping and normal walking on the level. Analyses of the model solutions will allow detailed explanations to be given about the actions of specific muscles during each of these tasks.
A 2.1-Channel Class-D Amplifier Exploited Coupling Virtual-Audio-Image to Enhance Stereo

This brief presents a novel 2.1-channel stereoenhanced class-D audio amplifier to improve the quality of stereophonic sound in portable devices. By a way of cross coupling, the input audio signal from one channel can be amplified at the same time, with different gains in the two channels. The ratio of gains in the two channels can be adjusted by changing the resistance and then making the position of the virtual-audio-image change, which improves the stereo effect. The bass signals from different channels, which frequency range between 30 and 300 Hz, are superimposed and then amplified in the independent bass channel by using the Sallen-Key bandpass filter. A practical implementation in the SMIC 0.18-μm CMOS process has been done to validate the theoretical results. When a 200-mVPP sinusoidal signal at 1 kHz is applied in one channel and a dc signal applied in the other channel, the amplifier demonstrates a gain difference of -9.4 dB. The simulation and experiment results show that the amplifier can deliver 2.5 W × 2 into 4-Ω loads at 3.6-V supply in the left or right channel, with the total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD+N) of less than 0.1%. The gain in the bass channel is up to 30 dB at 3.6-V power supply, with the THD+N of about 0.05%.
Identification of subpopulations of cells with differing telomere lengths in mouse and human cell lines by flow FISH

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures at chromosome ends that undergo dynamic changes after each cell cycle. Understanding the mechanisms of telomere dynamics is critically dependent on the ability to accurately measure telomere length in a cell population of interest. Techniques such as Southern blot, which measures average telomere length, and quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q‐FISH), which can estimate telomere length in individual chromosomes, are limited in their capacity to determine the distribution of cells with differing telomere lengths in a given cell population.
Effects of eccentric treadmill running on mouse soleus: degeneration/regeneration studied with Myf-5 and MyoD probes.

AIM The aim of this report is to show that eccentric exercise under well-controlled conditions is an alternative model, to chemical and mechanical analyses, and analyse the process of degeneration/regeneration in mouse soleus. METHODS For this, mice were submitted to a single bout of eccentric exercise on a treadmill down a 14 degrees decline for 150 min and the soleus muscle was analysed at different times following exercise by histology and in situ hybridization in comparison with cardiotoxin-injured muscles. RESULTS We analyse the regenerative process by detection of the accumulation of transcripts coding for the two myogenic regulatory factors, Myf-5 and MyoD, which are good markers of the activated satellite cells. From 24 h post-exercise (P-E), clusters of mononucleated Myf-5/MyoD-positive cells were detected. Their number increased up to 96 h P-E when young MyoD-positive myotubes with central nuclei began to appear. From 96 to 168 h P-E the number of myotubes increased, about 10-fold, the new myotubes representing 58% of the muscle cells (168 h P-E). CONCLUSION These results show that this protocol of eccentric exercise is able to induce a drastic degeneration/regeneration process in the soleus muscle. This offers the opportunity to perform biochemical and molecular analyses of a process of regeneration without muscle environment defects. The advantages of this model are discussed in the context of fundamental and therapeutical perspectives.
A leg brace

A leg brace, comprising: a frame having a thigh cuff (12) and a calf cuff (14), a tibial restricting portion (15) formed by at least a portion of the calf cuff, said tibial restricting portion being situated so as to run along and substantially parallel to the medial shaft of a user's tibia and to be maintained in contact with the user's tibia when a user's leg is placed within the brace, thereby preventing any unwanted movement or rotation of the user's tibia; and first and second hinge member (20,21) connecting said thigh cuff and calf cuff of said frame, and for allowing said calf cuff to pivot about the hinge relative to the thigh cuff. The brace may also include thigh and calf harnesses (30,40) which are attached by rivets to the inside of the frame. The frame preferably has a tri-angular cross-section and is formed from a thermoplastic composite material which can be thermoformed to provide a custom fit.