Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Efficient Branch-and-Bound Algorithm Based on MaxSAT for the Maximum Clique Problem

State-of-the-art branch-and-bound algorithms for the maximum clique problem (Maxclique) frequently use an upper bound based on a partition P of a graph into independent sets for a maximum clique of the graph, which cannot be very tight for imperfect graphs. In this paper we propose a new encoding from Maxclique into MaxSAT and use MaxSAT technology to improve the upper bound based on the partition P. In this way, the strength of specific algorithms for Maxclique in partitioning a graph and the strength of MaxSAT technology in propositional reasoning are naturally combined to solve Maxclique. Experimental results show that the approach is very effective on hard random graphs and on DIMACS Maxclique benchmarks, and allows to close an open DIMACS problem.
Marker-less vision based tracking for mobile augmented reality

In this paper an object recognition and tracking approach for the mobile, marker-less and PDA-based augmented reality system AR-PDA is described. For object recognition and localization 2D features are extracted from images and compared with a priori known 3D models. The system consists of a 2D graph matching, 3D hypothesis generation and validation and an additional texture based validation step.
Feedback in simulations of disc-galaxy major mergers

Using hydrodynamic simulations of disc-galaxy major mergers, we investigate the star formation history and remnant properties when various parametrizations of a simple stellar feedback model are implemented. The simulations include radiative cooling, a density-dependent star formation recipe and a model for feedback from massive stars. The feedback model stores supernova feedback energy within individual gas particles and dissipates this energy on a time-scale specified by two free parameters; τ fb , which sets the dissipative time-scale, and n, which sets the effective equation of state in star-forming regions. Via this model, feedback energy can provide pressure support to regions of gas that are thermally cold. Using a self-consistent disc galaxy, modelled after a local Sbc spiral, in both isolated and major-merger simulations, we investigate parametrizations of the feedback model that are selected with respect to the quiescent disc stability. These models produce a range of star formation histories for discs evolved in isolation, or during a major merger, yet all are consistent with the star formation relation found by Kennicutt. We suggest that this result is produced by the adopted recipe for star formation and is not a byproduct of the feedback model. All major mergers produce a population of new stars that is highly centrally concentrated, demonstrating a distinct break in the r 1/4 surface density profile, consistent with previous findings. The half-mass radius and one-dimensional velocity dispersion are affected by the feedback model used. In tests with up to an order of magnitude higher resolution, the star formation history is nearly identical, suggesting that we have achieved a numerically converged star formation history. Finally, we compare our results to those of previous simulations of star formation in disc-galaxy major mergers, addressing the effects of star formation normalization, the version of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) employed and assumptions about the interstellar medium. We conclude by suggesting several methods by which future studies may better constrain feedback models.
Altered neural response to rejection‐related words in children exposed to maltreatment

Background Children exposed to maltreatment show neural sensitivity to facial cues signalling threat. However, little is known about how maltreatment influences the processing of social threat cues more broadly, and whether atypical processing of social threat cues relates to psychiatric risk. Methods Forty‐one 10‐ to 14‐year‐old children underwent a social rejection‐themed emotional Stroop task during functional magnetic resonance imaging: 21 children with a documented history of maltreatment (11 F) and 19 comparison children with no maltreatment history (11 F). Groups were matched on age, pubertal status, gender, IQ, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and reading ability. Classic colour Stroop stimuli were also administered in the same paradigm to investigate potential differences in general cognitive control. Results Compared with their peers, children who had experienced maltreatment showed reduced activation in the Rejection versus Neutral condition, across circuitry previously implicated in abuse‐related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including the left anterior insula, extending into left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex; left amygdala; left inferior parietal cortex (STS); and bilateral visual association cortex, encompassing the cuneus and lingual gyrus. No group differences in neural or behavioural responses were found for the classic colour Stroop conditions. Significant negative associations between activity in bilateral cuneus and STS during the rejection‐themed Stroop and higher self‐reported PTSD symptomatology, including dissociation, were observed in children exposed to maltreatment. Conclusion Our findings indicate a pattern of altered neural response to social rejection cues in maltreated children. Compared to their peers, these children displayed relative hypoactivation to rejection cues in regions previously associated with PTSD, potentially reflecting an avoidant coping response. It is suggested that such atypical processing of social threat may index latent vulnerability to future psychopathology in general and PTSD in particular.
Non-rigid object reconstruction based on multiview images: A survey

In this paper we review the major approaches to nonrigid object reconstruction based on multi-view images. It tries to reflect the profile of this area by focusing more on those subjects that have been given more importance in the literature. In this context most of the paper is devoted to present all kinds of approaches for non-rigid object reconstruction based on multiview images. A number of references are provided that describe applications of non-rigid object reconstruction based on multiview images The paper ends by addressing some important issues and open questions that can be subject of future research.
Effect of cortisol on norepinephrine-mediated contractions in ovine uterine arteries.

Cortisol potentiated norepinephrine (NE)-mediated contractions in ovine uterine arteries (UA). We tested the hypothesis that cortisol regulated alpha(1)-adrenoceptor-mediated pharmacomechanical coupling differentially in nonpregnant UA (NUA) and pregnant UA (PUA). Cortisol (10 ng/ml for 24 h) significantly increased contractile coupling efficiency of alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in NUA, but increased alpha(1)-adrenoceptor density in PUA. Cortisol potentiated NE-induced inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P(3)] synthesis in both NUA and PUA, but increased coupling efficiency of alpha(1)-adrenoceptors to Ins(1,4,5)P(3) synthesis only in NUA. Carbenoxolone alone did not affect NE-mediated Ins(1,4,5)P(3) production, but significantly enhanced cortisol-mediated potentiation of NE-stimulated Ins(1,4,5)P(3) synthesis in PUA. In addition, cortisol potentiated the NE-induced increase in Ca(2+) concentration in PUA, but increased NE-mediated contraction for a given amount of Ca(2+) concentration in NUA. Collectively, the results indicate that cortisol potentiates NE-mediated contractions differentially in NUA and PUA, i.e., by upregulating alpha(1)-adrenoceptor density leading to increased Ca(2+) mobilization in PUA while increasing alpha(1)-adrenoceptor coupling efficiency and myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity in NUA. In addition, the results suggest that pregnancy increases type 2 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in the UA.
Efficient Noise-Level Estimation Based on Principal Image Texture

Blind noise-level estimation (NLE) is a fundamental issue in digital image processing. This paper provides a noise-level estimator for additive white Gaussian noise and multiplicative Gaussian noise using principal texture patches (PTPs). The proposed algorithm first identifies the principal texture of the noisy image by using the principal component analysis, and then, it chooses PTPs to calculate the noise level. The major contributions of this paper toward addressing the challenges in the NLE literature include: 1) analyzing the nonlinear relationship between the smallest eigenvalue, true noise level, number of chosen patches, and block size; 2) extracting PTPs; and 3) computing noise level using PTPs. The abundant experimental results show that the proposed method works well for various natural images over a large range of noise levels and it performs well for multiplicative noise. Compared with some state-of-the-art approaches, our method has the best performance and a faster running speed.
Hybrid Intelligent Detection for Underwater Acoustic Target Using EMD, Feature Distance Evaluation Technique and FSVDD

In order to solve the problem of accurately detecting the weak acoustic signal for remote underwater target, a novel hybrid intelligent target-detection method for underwater acoustic signals based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD), feature distance evaluation technique (FDET) and fuzzy support vector data description (FSVDD) is proposed. The method consists of three stages. Firstly, some signal processing methods, like filtration, Hilbert envelope-demodulation and EMD are carried out to extract the time- and frequency-domain statistical features from original underwater acoustic signals, and these features make up an integrated feature set. Secondly, with the FDET, the salient feature set is obtained from the integrated feature set. Finally, the salient features are input into the detector based on FSVDD to detect the underwater targets intelligently. This method is applied to target detection of underwater vehicle. Testing results show that the proposed method has better detection performance than the traditional detector based on SVDD, with a high detection success rate.
Walk-Sums, Continued Fractions and Unique Factorisation on Digraphs

We show that the series of all walks between any two vertices of any (possibly weighted) directed graph $\mathcal{G}$ is given by a universal continued fraction of finite depth and breadth involving the simple paths and simple cycles of $\mathcal{G}$. A simple path is a walk forbidden to visit any vertex more than once. We obtain an explicit formula giving this continued fraction. Our results are based on an equivalent to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: we demonstrate that arbitrary walks on $\mathcal{G}$ factorize uniquely into nesting products of simple paths and simple cycles, where nesting is a product operation between walks that we define. We show that the simple paths and simple cycles are the prime elements of the set of all walks on $\mathcal{G}$ equipped with the nesting product. We give an algorithm producing the prime factorization of individual walks, and obtain a recursive formula producing the prime factorization of sets of walks. Our results have already found applications in machine learning, matrix computations and quantum mechanics.
Proactive multi-tenant cache management for virtualized ISP networks

The content delivery market has mainly been dominated by large Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) such as Akamai and Limelight. However, CDN traffic exerts a lot of pressure on Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks. Recently, ISPs have begun deploying so-called Telco CDNs, which have many advantages, such as reduced ISP network bandwidth utilization and improved Quality of Service (QoS) by bringing content closer to the end-user. Virtualization of storage and networking resources can enable the ISP to simultaneously lease its Telco CDN infrastructure to multiple third parties, opening up new business models and revenue streams. In this paper, we propose a proactive cache management system for ISP-operated multitenant Telco CDNs. The associated algorithm optimizes content placement and server selection across tenants and users, based on predicted content popularity and the geographical distribution of requests. Based on a Video-on-Demand (VoD) request trace of a leading European telecom operator, the presented algorithm is shown to reduce bandwidth usage by 17% compared to the traditional Least Recently Used (LRU) caching strategy, both inside the network and on the ingress links, while at the same time offering enhanced load balancing capabilities. Increasing the prediction accuracy is shown to have the potential to further improve bandwidth efficiency by up to 79%.
Developmental Simulations with Cellerator

We describe how to perform developmental simulations with Cellerator. Biochemical reactions, specified in Cellerator with a compact, arrow-based notation, are automatically translated into the appropriate ordinary differential equations. These reactions can be combined into modules, leading to a natural graph-based hierarchical implementation. We demonstrate how the paradigm of organisms-as-graphs can represent the basic features of developing tissue, and propose a variable-structure graph-based algorithm to describe simple developmental processes. In particular, we show how such a variable-structure system (VSS) can be implemented using a pre-packaged fixedstructure differential equation solver.
Two simplified coding schemes for wireless sensor networks with star topologies

The challenge for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is to minimize the energy consumption while maintaining user constraints. In this paper, turbo-like (TL) codes with two simplified serial message passing algorithms are proposed for star-WSN. The two algorithms are implemented based on variable node updating. One is the modified sum-product algorithm (MSPA) and the other is the simplified feedback belief propagation algorithm (S-FBPA). The MSPA maintains the performance of the conventional serial sum-product algorithm (SPA), and S-FBPA has the same performance as conventional feed back belief propagation algorithm (FBPA), while both of proposed algorithms have significant complexity reduction.
Fair medium access in 802.11 based wireless ad-hoc networks

The medium access control (MAC) protocol through which mobile stations can share a common broadcast channel is essential in an ad-hoc network. Due to the existence of the hidden terminal problem, partially-connected network topology and lack of central administration, existing popular MAC protocols like IEEE 802.11 Distributed Foundation Wireless Medium Access Control (DFWMAC) may lead to "capture" effects which means that some stations grab the shared channel and other stations suffer from starvation. This is also known as the "fairness problem". This paper reviews some related work in the literature and proposes a general approach to address the problem. This paper borrows the idea of fair queueing from wireline networks and defines the "fairness index" for ad-hoc network to quantify the fairness, so that the goal of achieving fairness becomes equivalent to minimizing the fairness index. Then this paper proposes a different backoff scheme for IEEE 802.11 DFWMAC, instead of the original binary exponential backoff scheme. Simulation results show that the new backoff scheme can achieve far better fairness without loss of simplicity.
A Phase I Study of the Combination of Temsirolimus with Irinotecan for Metastatic Sarcoma

mTOR inhibitors are emerging as important anti-neoplastic agents with a wide range of clinical applications. The topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan is a potent DNA damaging drug, with a broad spectrum of anticancer activities. mTOR appears to enhance cancer cell survival following DNA damage, thus the inhibition of mTOR after irinotecan could theoretically show synergistic activities in patients. Both mTOR inhibitors and irinotecan have been used as single agents in soft tissue sarcomas with limited efficacy. We completed a phase I trial of the combination of the mTOR inhibitor, temsirolimus, and irinotecan in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Seventeen patients were recruited. The Phase II recommended dose is 20 mg of temsirolimus and 80 mg/m2 of irinotecan administered on weekly basis for three out of four weeks. Most frequently encountered toxicities include cytopenias, fatigue, and gastrointestinal toxicities. Two patients (one with leiomyosarcoma and one with high grade undifferentiated sarcoma) had stable disease for more than 12 months.
Using Primitives in Learning From Observation

This paper describes the use of motor primitives in robot learning from observation. Data is collected while a human performs a task. This data is parsed into small parts of the task called primitives. Modules are created for each primitive that encode the movements required during the performance of the primitive. Another module encodes when and where the low-level primitives are performed. A learning agent then uses these modules to perform the task. The feasibility of this method is currently being tested with an agent that is being taught to play a virtual and a hardware marble maze game and a virtual air hockey game. It is also being tested in teaching a humanoid robot to play air hockey against a human player.
Morpho-Functional 1H-MRI of the Lung in COPD: Short-Term Test-Retest Reliability

Purpose Non-invasive end-points for interventional trials and tailored treatment regimes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for monitoring regionally different manifestations of lung disease instead of global assessment of lung function with spirometry would be valuable. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (1H-MRI) allows for a radiation-free assessment of regional structure and function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term reproducibility of a comprehensive morpho-functional lung MRI protocol in COPD. Materials and Methods 20 prospectively enrolled COPD patients (GOLD I-IV) underwent 1H-MRI of the lung at 1.5T on two consecutive days, including sequences for morphology, 4D contrast-enhanced perfusion, and respiratory mechanics. Image quality and COPD-related morphological and functional changes were evaluated in consensus by three chest radiologists using a dedicated MRI-based visual scoring system. Test-retest reliability was calculated per each individual lung lobe for the extent of large airway (bronchiectasis, wall thickening, mucus plugging) and small airway abnormalities (tree in bud, peripheral bronchiectasis, mucus plugging), consolidations, nodules, parenchymal defects and perfusion defects. The presence of tracheal narrowing, dystelectasis, pleural effusion, pulmonary trunk ectasia, right ventricular enlargement and, finally, motion patterns of diaphragma and chest wall were addressed. Results Median global scores [10(Q1:8.00;Q3:16.00) vs.11(Q1:6.00;Q3:15.00)] as well as category subscores were similar between both timepoints, and kappa statistics indicated “almost perfect” global agreement (ĸ = 0.86, 95%CI = 0.81–0.91). Most subscores showed at least “substantial” agreement of MRI1 and MRI2 (ĸ = 0.64–1.00), whereas the agreement for the diagnosis of dystelectasis/effusion (ĸ = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.00–0.93) was “moderate” and of tracheal abnormalities (ĸ = 0.21, 95%CI = 0.00–0.75) “fair”. Most MRI acquisitions showed at least diagnostic quality at MRI1 (276 of 278) and MRI2 (259 of 264). Conclusion Morpho-functional 1H-MRI can be obtained with reproducible image quality and high short-term test-retest reliability for COPD-related morphological and functional changes of the lung. This underlines its potential value for the monitoring of regional lung characteristics in COPD trials.
Next-Generation Intersection Control Algorithm for Autonomous Vehicles

This paper presents a reservation-based autonomous intersection control algorithm, named Autonomous Control of Urban TrAffic (ACUTA). The ACUTA allows centralized management of autonomous vehicles within a certain distance from the intersection to manage vehicles to pass the intersection with no conflict and few stops. To address some operational issues identified in previous studies on reservation-based autonomous intersection management, three operational improvement strategies are introduced and incorporated in the ACUTA. These strategies have been evaluated and proved to be effective under certain conditions. Along with the operational improvements of the ACUTA, its implementation in VISSIM is significant to achieve standardized evaluation of operational and safety performance using a widely applied simulation platform. This has never been accomplished in previous studies. Additionally, VISSIM simulations are established to compare the operational performances between a multi-tile ACUTA intersection and a signalized intersection and between a single-tile ACUTA intersection and a four-way stop intersection. Results obtained from both comparisons suggest that the ACUTA is more effective in maintaining a much lower intersection delay as well as a shorter or even empty queue. Sensitivity analyses are conducted on four configurable parameters of the ACUTA for a better understanding of how optimization can be done in the future. Granularity (number of tiles) is found critical in maintaining low intersection delays. Three other parameters are also found to have considerable impacts on the operational performance.
COMPARISON OF TECHNIQUES FOR CONTENT-BASED IMAGE RETRIEVAL

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is a new but widelyadopted method for finding images from vast and unannotated image databases. In CBIR images are indexed on the basis of low-level features, such as color, texture, and shape, that can automatically be derived from the visual content of the images. The operation of a CBIR system can be seen as a series of more or less independent processing stages. As there exists multiple choices for each of these stages, a multitude of CBIR systems can be implemented by combining a set of common building blocks. In this paper, we present a comparison of different techniques for three consecutive stages of a CBIR system. These include: (1) the initial per feature selection of considered images, (2) the combination of the lists of selected images, and (3) the final selection of images based on all available features simultaneously. The results of the performed experiments show that CBIR systems can be implemented using consecutive stages where, at each stage, a number of parallel techniques can be provided.
A Novel Interface for Interactive Exploration of DTI Fibers

Visual exploration is essential to the visualization and analysis of densely sampled 3D DTI fibers in biological speciments, due to the high geometric, spatial, and anatomical complexity of fiber tracts. Previous methods for DTI fiber visualization use zooming, color-mapping, selection, and abstraction to deliver the characteristics of the fibers. However, these schemes mainly focus on the optimization of visualization in the 3D space where cluttering and occlusion make grasping even a few thousand fibers difficult. This paper introduces a novel interaction method that augments the 3D visualization with a 2D representation containing a low-dimensional embedding of the DTI fibers. This embedding preserves the relationship between the fibers and removes the visual clutter that is inherent in 3D renderings of the fibers. This new interface allows the user to manipulate the DTI fibers as both 3D curves and 2D embedded points and easily compare or validate his or her results in both domains. The implementation of the framework is GPU based to achieve real-time interaction. The framework was applied to several tasks, and the results show that our method reduces the user's workload in recognizing 3D DTI fibers and permits quick and accurate DTI fiber selection.