Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Imaging of Vascular Calciﬁcation with 18 F-Sodium-Fluoride in Patients Infected with Human Immunodeﬁciency Virus

: 18 F-Sodium Fluoride (NaF) accumulates in areas of active hydroxyapatite deposition and potentially unstable atherosclerotic plaques. We assessed the presence of atherosclerotic plaques in 50 adult patients with HIV (HIV+) who had undergone two cardiac computed tomography scans to measure coronary artery calcium (CAC) progression. CAC and its progression are predictive of an unfavorable prognosis. Tracer uptake was quantiﬁed in six arterial territories: aortic arch, innominate carotid artery, right and left internal carotid arteries, left coronary (anterior descending and circumﬂex) and right coronary artery. Thirty-one patients showed CAC progression and 19 did not. At least one territory with high NaF uptake was observed in 150 (50%) of 300 arterial territories. High NaF uptake was detected more often in non-calciﬁed than calciﬁed areas (68% vs. 32%), and in patients without than in those with prior CAC progression (68% vs. 32%). There was no correlation between clinical and demographic variables and NaF uptake. In clinically stable HIV+ patients, half of the arterial territories showed a high NaF uptake, often in the absence of macroscopic calciﬁcation. NaF uptake at one time point did not correlate with prior progression of CAC. Prospective studies will demonstrate the prognostic signiﬁcance of high NaF uptake in HIV+ patients.
Improving the Conditional Fine-Grained Image Generation With Part Perception

Synthesizing the images in line with the given condition is a cardinal issue of image generation. The fine-grained conditional image generation, due to its emphasis on the fidelity of details, is of profound worth to the studies in this field. To learn the conditional distribution of data, the discriminating to class semantic of generated samples is necessitated. Though, most existing methods realize it solely based on the condensed global feature, which potentially impedes the model's focus on the detailed local features and in turn causes the inaccuracy or unstable local appearances in generated images. In this context, we propose PartGAN, which features a novel part perception mechanism to strengthen the model's concentration on the nuts-and-bolts of fine-grained objects. In proposed method, the image given to the discriminator will be deconstructed and encoded into a set of embeddings that represent the semantics of parts. This scheme not only assists the model to capture the discriminative local features more accurately, but also prevents the omission of other general local features. Under the effect of the newly designed condition loss term, every part of generated image is equally encouraged to be closer to the corresponding real part, which helps to ensure that the general parts have a stable appearance that conforms to class semantic. The experiments on the popular benchmarks show that the proposed method significantly improves the effect of the generation for fine-grained images.
SGN-YOLO: Detecting Wood Defects with Improved YOLOv5 Based on Semi-Global Network

Object detection based on wood defects involves using bounding boxes to label defects in the surface image of the wood. This step is crucial before the transformation of wood products. Due to the small size and diverse shape of wood defects, most previous object detection models are unable to filter out critical features effectively. Consequently, they have faced challenges in generating adequate contextual information to detect defects accurately. In this paper, we proposed a YOLOv5 model based on a Semi-Global Network (SGN) to detect wood defects. Unlike previous models, firstly, a lightweight SGN is introduced in the backbone to model the global context, which can improve the accuracy and reduce the complexity of the network at the same time; the backbone is embedded with the Extended Efficient Layer Aggregation Network (E-ELAN), which continuously enhances the learning ability of the network; and finally, the Efficient Intersection and Merger (EIOU) loss is used to solve the problems of slow convergence speed and inaccurate regression results. Experimental results on public wood defect datasets demonstrated that our approach outperformed existing target detection models. The mAP value was 86.4%, a 3.1% improvement over the baseline network model, a 7.1% improvement over SSD, and a 13.6% improvement over Faster R-CNN. These results show the effectiveness of our proposed methodology.
Integrated Action of Rhizobacteria with Aloe vera and Moringa Leaf Extracts Improves Defense Mechanisms in Hibiscus sabdariffa L. Cultivated in Saline Soil

Osmotic stress is a serious physiological disorder that affects water movement within the cell membranes. Osmotic stress adversely affects agricultural production and sustainability and is largely caused by soil salinity and water stress. An integrated nitrogen-fixing bacteria (NFB) soil amendment and an exogenous foliar application of Aloe vera leaf extract (ALE), and moringa leaf extract (MLE) were evaluated on roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) growth, calyx yield, secondary metabolites, and tolerance to osmotic stress in salt-affected soil. The osmotic stress markedly decreased above- and below-ground development of the roselle plant, but integrated NFB soil amendment with ALE or MLE foliar application significantly alleviated its negative impacts. Broadly, an improvement was observed in chlorophyll, carbohydrates, and protein levels following NFB and extracts foliar application, as well as a significant enhancement in antioxidant production (total phenols, ascorbic acid, and FRAP), which decreased peroxide production and increased stress tolerance in plants. Under osmotic stress, the roselle calyx revealed the highest anthocyanin levels, which declined following NFB soil amendment and foliar extract application. Additionally, an enhancement in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents and the K/Na ratio, along with a depression in sodium (Na) content, was noticed. The integrated application of Azospirillum lipoferum × ALE exhibited the best results in terms of enhancing above- and below-ground growth, calyx yield, secondary metabolites, and tolerance to osmotic stress of the roselle plants cultivated in the salt-affected soil.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Move Fast and Meet Deadlines: Fine-grained Real-time Stream Processing with Cameo

Resource provisioning in multi-tenant stream processing systems faces the dual challenges of keeping resource utilization high (without over-provisioning), and ensuring performance isolation. In our common production use cases, where streaming workloads have to meet latency targets and avoid breaching service-level agreements, existing solutions are incapable of handling the wide variability of user needs. Our framework called Cameo uses ﬁne-grained stream processing (inspired by actor computation models), and is able to provide high resource utilization while meeting latency targets. Cameo dynamically calculates and propagates priorities of events based on user latency targets and query semantics. Experiments on Microsoft Azure show that compared to state-of-the-art, the Cameo framework: i) reduces query latency by 2.7 × in single tenant settings, ii) reduces query latency by 4.6 × in multi-tenant scenarios, and iii) weathers transient spikes of workload.
Possible treatment strategies for diabetic cardiomyopathy: A phyto-and marine-based therapeutics perspective.

Diabetes (DM) is a leading health concern with high morbidity and mortality. Untreated DM may lead to several complications such as macro-and micro-angiopathy, and cause heart failure (HF). The present paper attempts to review the treatment strategies of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) with medicinal plants and marine-derived products. The data collected from published research articles and databases. Most diabetic patients die as a consequence of HF caused due to DM-induced coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy. Several factors are involved in the progression of cardiac dysfunction in DM-associated coronary artery disease. No single, precise prevention or therapeutic agents identified to treat DCM; therefore, a combination of strategies required for the effective management of patients with DCM. Hence, researchers are aiming on marine and nutraceutical based natural products to revolutionize DCM management. In this context, present review focuses on the treatment approaches to DCM using natural products such as medicinal plants and marine-derived products.
Information and Software Technology

Context: Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a variant of test-driven development where specifications are described in a structured domain-specific natural language. Although refactoring is a crucial activity of BDD, little research is available on the topic. Objective: To support practitioners in refactoring BDD specifications by (1) proposing semi-automated approaches to identify refactoring candidates; (2) defining refactoring techniques for BDD specifications; and (3) evaluating the proposed identification approaches in an industry context. Method: Using Action Research, we have developed an approach for identifying refactoring candidates in BDD specifications based on two measures of similarity and applied the approach in two projects of a large software organization. The accuracy of the measures for identifying refactoring candidates was then evaluated against an approach based on machine learning and a manual approach based on practitioner perception. Results: We proposed two measures of similarity to support the identification of refactoring candidates in a BDD specification base; (1) normalized compression similarity (NCS) and (2) similarity ratio (SR). A semi-automated approach based on NCS and SR was developed and applied to two industrial cases to identify refactoring candidates. Our results show that our approach can identify candidates for refactoring 6o times faster than a manual approach. Our results furthermore showed that our measures accurately identified refactoring candidates compared with a manual identification by software practitioners and outperformed an ML-based text classification approach. We also described four types of refactoring techniques applicable to BDD specifications; merging candidates, restructuring candidates, deleting duplicates, and renaming specification titles. Conclusion: Our results show that NCS and SR can help practitioners in accurately identifying BDD specifications that are suitable candidates for refactoring, which also decreases the time for identifying refactoring candidates.
of Calcium, Available Phosphorus and Microbial Phytase on Ovarian FSHR and LHR Expression in Laying Hens

: Folliculogenesis, steroidogenesis, ovulation, and vitellogenesis are regulated by the effect of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary axis and these hormones act via follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) and luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) in the ovary. Poultry ration and food additives are essential in the regulation of reproductive activity. Phytase is a supplement frequently added to laying hen diets to increase phosphorus (P) utilization. The aim of this study was to reveal the effects of a newly isolated microbial phytase together with different concentrations of calcium (Ca 2+ ) and available phosphorus (AP) on ovarian FSHR and LHR expressions. For this purpose, 90 Lohmann LSL-White layers were first divided into three main diet groups (standard Ca 2+ and AP, standard Ca 2+ and low AP, low Ca 2+ and AP) and then into three subgroups (no-phytase, commercial phytase, and microbial phytase). At the end of the experiment, all chickens were slaughtered and ovarian tissues were fixed in formalin. Routine avidin-biotin complex immunohistochemistry was performed using anti-FSHR and anti-LHR primary antibodies. Immunohistochemically, FSHR and LHR were ex - pressed in granulosa/theca cells, oocytes, interstitial cells, and vitellus. While the expression intensity of the receptors increased in the microbial phytase-treated groups, the strongest expression was obtained in the granulosa/theca cells and oocytes in the standard Ca and low AP group. In conclusion, we suggest that the addition of newly isolated mi - crobial phytase to diets of laying hens and feeding standard Ca and low AP may have positive effects on reproductive performance by increasing the FSHR and LHR expression in ovaries.
Central Regulation and Neuromuscular Fatigue during Exercise of Different Durations.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine if exercise time trials (TT) of different durations would cause different levels of peripheral and central fatigue during exercise. METHODS Twelve trained subjects (11 men, one woman) performed TT lasting 3, 10, and 40 min with repetitive self-paced concentric right knee extension at 60°·s on an isokinetic dynamometer. Neuromuscular function was assessed before, during, and immediately after the TT using voluntary and electrically evoked forces. RESULTS Maximal voluntary contraction force, evoked peak force for single stimulus, and rating of perceived exertion reached similar levels at termination of all TT. Evoked peak force for paired stimuli of 100 Hz decreased more for the 40-min TT compared with the 3-min TT (-42% ± 15% vs -37% ± 13%, P < 0.05), and central fatigue was significant for the 40-min TT and 10-min TT but not for the 3-min TT. Single stimulus and paired stimuli of 100 Hz decreased, whereas voluntary electromyography normalized to M-wave for self-paced contractions increased during the end-spurt in all TT. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that the extent of peripheral and central fatigue that contribute to reductions in force of single-limb dynamic contractions depend on the duration and intensity of self-paced exercise. There was no evidence for a critical threshold in peripheral fatigue that was common to all TT.
Sul ﬁ ted Tannin Capsules: Novel Stimuli-Responsive Delivery Systems

: Microcapsules of sul ﬁ ted Acacia mearnsii tannin ( Am ST-MCs) were generated for the ﬁ rst time via the sonochemical method. Their stability pro ﬁ le was assessed and set in the general context of tannin microcapsules (TMCs) generated under the same experimental conditions. The analytical data gathered in this work indicate an excellent stability of TMCs over time as well as under high temperature and pressure, which is a major milestone toward the meaningful applications of TMCs in industrial, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications in which sterilization of TMCs might be a prerequisite. Active release is shown to be e ﬃ ciently triggered by varying pH and/or salinity, with di ﬀ erent pro ﬁ les for TMCs from sul ﬁ ted and nonsul ﬁ ted species. Surfactants also a ﬀ ect the stability of TMCs signi ﬁ cantly, with e ﬀ ects eventually ampli ﬁ able by pH and the inherent kosmotropic and chaotropic characteristics of salt components in solutions.
7th International Conference on Sensitivity Analysis of Model Output, July 1–4 2013, Nice Time-dependent sensitivity and uncertainty analyses of an agro- climatic model for the water status management of vineyard

This work describes the global sensitivity analysis (SA) of an agro-climatic model embedded in a decision support system (DSS) for the water status management of vineyard in the LanguedocRoussillon region, France. The DSS is used in real time to recommend irrigation amounts in order to maintain optimal vine water stress dynamics, based on the quality objective targeted by the winegrower (table wine, aging or laying-down wine, etc.). A major characteristic of agro-climatic models is the difficulty of estimating the numerous input parameters because field measurements are both costly and tedious. This is particularly true when soil-related parameters are involved which is the case here because their estimation requires subsoil measurements. The operational use of the model thus requires finding the right balance between data-friendliness and precision: the less input parameters asked to the end-user, the better. In this context, in addition to the obvious interest for the modeller in gaining insight into the model behaviour, the practical use of the SA is twofold. It is first to identify the most influent parameters in order either to concentrate experimental efforts on their field measurement when possible, or to calibrate them otherwise. It is then to measure the ouputs uncertainty – computed along with the sensitivity indices – to parameters estimation in order to provide the end-user with confidence indices on the DSS irrigation recommendations. After a preliminary screening of the less influential parameters via Morris method [1], the SA is achieved with Sobol method [2]. The model includes a temporal output and correlated temporal inputs, so the study addresses some issues arising from these two aspects when met in a practical context.
Verb concepts from affordances

In this paper, we investigate how the interactions of a robot with its environment can be used to create concepts that are typically represented by verbs in language. Towards this end, we utilize the notion of affordances to argue that verbs typically refer to the generation of a specific type of effect rather than a specific type of action. Then, we show how a robot can form these concepts through interactions with the environment and how humans can use these concepts to ease their communication with the robots. We demonstrate that iCub, a humanoid robot, can use the concepts, which it has developed, to to understand what a human performs, perform multi-step planning for reaching a goal state as well as to specify a goal to the robot using symbolic descriptions.
Psycholinguistic studies of rendaku

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of previous experimental studies on rendaku. Some major questions that have been addressed in this body of work include: (1) is rendaku grammatical or lexicalized? (2) are speciﬁc aspects of rendaku, such as the Right-Branch Condition, psychologically real in the minds of contemporary speakers of Japanese? (3) how does Lyman’s Law interact with rendaku in experimental settings? and (4) are there any aspects of rendaku that emerge in experimental settings even though they are not observed as existing patterns in the lexicon? After the review of studies addressing these issues, the paper concludes with a number of remaining questions which should be addressed in future experimental studies of rendaku.
Social behaviours in dog-owner interactions can serve as a model for designing social robots

It is essential for social robots to fit in the human society. In order to facilitate this process we propose to use the family dog’s social behaviour shown towards humans as an inspiration. In this study we explored dogs’ low level social monitoring in dog-human interactions and extracted individually consistent and context dependent behaviours in simple everyday social scenarios. We found that proximity seeking and tail wagging were most individually distinctive in dogs, while activity, orientation towards the owner, and exploration were dependent on the context and/or the activity of the owner. The functional analogues of these dog behaviours can be implemented in social robots of different embodiments in order to make them acceptable and more believable for humans. Keywords: dog-owner interaction; social robotics; low-level social monitoring; greeting behaviour; individually distinctive behaviours
Edinburgh Research Explorer High level programming abstractions for leveraging hierarchical memories with micro-core architectures

Micro-core architectures combine many low memory, low power computing cores together in a single package. These are attractive for use as accelerators but due to limited on-chip memory and multiple levels of memory hierarchy, the way in which programmers oﬄoad kernels needs to be carefully considered. In this paper we use Python as a vehicle for exploring the semantics and abstractions of higher level programming languages to support the oﬄoading of computational kernels to these devices. By moving to a pass by reference model, along with leveraging memory kinds, we demonstrate the ability to easily and eﬃciently take advantage of multiple levels in the memory hierarchy, even ones that are not directly accessible to the micro-cores. Using a machine learning benchmark, we perform experiments on both Epiphany-III and MicroBlaze based micro-cores, demonstrating the ability to compute with data sets of arbitrarily large size. To provide context of our results, we explore the performance and power eﬃciency of these technologies, demonstrating that whilst these two micro-core technologies are competitive within their own embedded class of hardware, there is still a way to go to reach HPC class GPUs.
Whole Exome Sequencing Identifies TTC7A Mutations for Combined Immunodeficiency with Intestinal Atresias

Background— Combined Immunodeficiency with Multiple Intestinal Atresias (CID-MIA) is a rare hereditary disease characterized by intestinal obstructions and profound immune defects. Objective— We sought to determine the underlying genetic causes of CID-MIA by analyzing the exomic sequence of 5 patients and their healthy direct relatives from 5 unrelated families. Methods— We performed whole exome sequencing on 5 CID-MIA patients and 10 healthy direct family members belonging to 5 unrelated families with CID-MIA. We also performed targeted Sanger sequencing for the candidate gene TTC7A on 3 additional CID-MIA patients. Results— Through analysis and comparison of the exomic sequence of the individuals from these 5 families, we identified biallelic damaging mutations in the TTC7A gene, for a total of 7 distinct mutations. Targeted TTC7A gene sequencing in 3 additional unrelated patients with CID-MIA revealed biallelic deleterious mutations in two of them, as well as an aberrant splice product in the third patient. Staining of normal thymus showed that the TTC7A protein is expressed in thymic epithelial cells as well as in thymocytes. Moreover, severe lymphoid depletion was observed in the thymus and peripheral lymphoid tissues from two patients with CID-MIA. Conclusions— We identified deleterious mutations of the TTC7A gene in 8 unrelated patients with CID-MIA and demonstrated that the TTC7A protein is expressed in the thymus. Our results strongly suggest that TTC7A gene defects cause CID-MIA. Clinical Implications— Damaging mutations in the gene TTC7A should be scrutinized in patients with CID-MIA. Characterization of the role of this protein in the immune system and intestinal development, as well as in thymic epithelial cells may have important therapeutic implications.