Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robot@factory: Localization method based on map-matching and Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper presents a novel localization method for small mobile robots. The proposed technique is especially designed for the Robot@Factory which is a new robotic competition presented in Lisbon 2011. The real-time localization technique resorts to low-cost infra-red sensors, a map-matching method and an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to create a pose tracking system that is well-behaved. The sensor information is continuously updated in time and space through the expected motion of the robot. Then, the information is incorporated into the map-matching optimization in order to increase the amount of sensor information that is available at each moment. In addition, a particle filter based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) relocates the robot when the map-matching error is high. Meaning that the map-matching is unreliable and robot is lost. The experiments conducted in this paper prove the ability and accuracy of the presented technique to localize small mobile robots for this competition. Therefore, extensive results show that the proposed method have an interesting localization capability for robots equipped with a limited amount of sensors.
Multimodal and Federated Interaction

This chapter introduces the concepts of multimodal and federated interaction. Because multimodality means, simply, the combination of multiple modalities (or types of input and output), the authors first introduce some of the various modalities available for computer interaction. The chapter then discusses how multimodality can be used both in desktop and mobile computing environments. The goal of the chapter is to familiarize scholars and researchers with the range of topics covered under the heading “multimodality” and suggest new areas of research around the combination of modalities, as well as the combination of mobile and stationary computing devices to improve usability.
The Complete Local Spatial Central Derivative Binary Pattern for Ultrasound Kidney Images Retrieval

The Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) is an active research domain in medical applications. The feature extraction process is the vital procedure in CBIR. This work proposes a new feature extraction procedure named as Complete Local Spatial Central Derivative Binary Pattern (CLSCDBP) for ultrasound kidney images retrieval. In a local 3X3 square region of an image, the new pattern considers the relationships among the surrounding neighbors about their neighbors at different spatial distances whereas the standard Local Binary Pattern reflects the relationships between the center pixel and the surrounding neighbors. Though the surrounding neighbor pixels relationship has been considered in the Local Mesh Peak Valley Edge Patterns (LMePVEP), the proposed feature is different by deriving the local pattern based on the encoding of central derivative of the surrounding neighbors of the center pixel. The neighbors of each surrounding pixel in different spatial distances are considered during central derivative computation. The proposed local pattern becomes complete by accompanying the global mean statistics into it. The performance of this new feature is examined in ultrasound kidney images retrieval system. The experimental results confirm that CLSCDBP achieves considerable step up in the retrieval of ultrasound kidney images than LMePVEP in terms of Retrieval Efficiency.
PKC‐mediated secretion of death factors in LNCaP prostate cancer cells is regulated by androgens

Activation of PKCδ in androgen‐dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cells leads to apoptosis via the activation of p38 MAPK and JNK cascades. We have recently shown that treatment of LNCaP cells with phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA) leads to a PKCδ‐mediated autocrine release of death factors, including the cytokines TNFα and TRAIL, and that conditioned medium (CM) collected from PMA‐treated LNCaP cells promotes the activation of the extrinsic apoptotic cascade. Interfering with this autocrine loop either at the level of factor release or death receptor activation/signaling markedly impaired the PMA apoptotic response. In the present study we show that this PKCδ‐dependent autocrine mechanism is greatly influenced by androgens. Indeed, upon androgen depletion, which down‐regulates PKCδ expression, TNFα and TRAIL mRNA induction and release by PMA are significantly diminished, resulting in a reduced apoptogenic activity of the CM and an impaired ability of the CM to activate p38 MAPK and JNK. These effects can be rescued by addition of the synthetic androgen R1881. Furthermore, RNAi depletion of the androgen‐receptor (AR) from LNCaP cells equally impaired PMA responses, suggesting that PKC‐mediated induction of death factor secretion and apoptosis in LNCaP prostate cancer cells are highly sensitive to hormonal control. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Predicting cross‐reactive immunological material (CRIM) status in Pompe disease using GAA mutations: Lessons learned from 10 years of clinical laboratory testing experience

Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for Pompe disease using recombinant acid alpha‐glucosidase (rhGAA) has resulted in increased survival although the clinical response is variable. Cross‐reactive immunological material (CRIM)‐negative status has been recognized as a poor prognostic factor. CRIM‐negative patients make no GAA protein and develop sustained high antibody titers to ERT that render the treatment ineffective. Antibody titers are generally low for the majority of CRIM‐positive patients and there is typically a better clinical outcome. Because immunomodulation has been found to be most effective in CRIM‐negative patients prior to, or shortly after, initiation of ERT, knowledge of CRIM status is important before ERT is begun. We have analyzed 243 patients with infantile Pompe disease using a Western blot method for determining CRIM status and using cultured skin fibroblasts. Sixty‐one out of 243 (25.1%) patients tested from various ethnic backgrounds were found to be CRIM‐negative. We then correlated the CRIM results with GAA gene mutations where available (52 CRIM‐negative and 88 CRIM‐positive patients). We found that, in most cases, CRIM status can be predicted from GAA mutations, potentially circumventing the need for invasive skin biopsy and time wasted in culturing cells in the future. Continued studies in this area will help to increase the power of GAA gene mutations in predicting CRIM status as well as possibly identifying CRIM‐positive patients who are at risk for developing high antibody titers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
[The relationship between the length of ciliary processes as measured by ultrasound biomicroscopy and the duration, localization and severity of uveitis].

PURPOSE To determine the relationship between the length of ciliary processes as measured by ultrasound biomicroscopy and the duration, localization and severity of uveitis. METHODS We analyzed in this prospective study, 58 individuals including patients with different stages of uveitis and normal patients (112 eyes including 18 normal), between August 2001 and August 2002, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, USA. All patients were referred to ultrasound biomicroscopy by the Uveitis Department, after a complete ophthalmological examination. A 50 MHz-transducer UBM model 840 (Zeiss-Humphrey) was used under topical anesthesia and immersion technique. RESULTS The most frequent etiology was idiophatic uveitis (27.8%). Recurrent, aggressive and diffuse uveitis lead to significant damage of the ciliary processes. The most significant loss of the ciliary processes was found in the inferior quadrant and the highest in normal patients and in the temporal quadrant. Hypotonic eyes have their ciliary processes reduced. CONCLUSIONS Ultrasound biomicroscopy has proved to be useful in evaluating anatomical changes of ciliary processes in uveitis and in ocular hypotony, and provides a basis to, make recommendations regarding baseline screening of uveitis patients. Patients who are found to have atrophy of the ciliary processes may need a more aggressive treatment for any signs of inflammation to prevent further damage and eventual hypotony.
Use of statistical parametric mapping of 18F-FDG-PET in frontal lobe epilepsy

Summary: Aim: Evaluation of the use of statistical parametrical mapping (SPM) of FDG-PET for seizure lateralization in frontal lobe epilepsy. Patients: 38 patients with suspected frontal lobe epilepsy supported by clinical findings and video-EEG monitoring. Method: Statistical parametrical maps were generated by subtraction of individual scans from a control group, formed by 16 patients with negative neurological/psychiatric history and no abnormalities in the MR scan. The scans were also analyzed visually as well as semiquantitatively by manually drawn ROIs. Results: SPM showed a better accordance to the results of surface EEG monitoring compared with visual scan analysis and ROI quantification. In comparison with intracranial EEG recordings, the best performance was achieved by combining the ROI based quantification with SPM analysis. Conclusion: These findings suggest that SPM analysis of FDG-PET data could be a useful as complementary tool in the evaluation of seizure focus lateralization in patients with supposed frontal lobe epilepsy.
EVELOPING AN A RABIC P LAGIARISM D ETECTION C ORPUS

A corpus is a collection of documents. It is a valuable resource in linguistics research to perform statistical analysis and testing hypothesis for different linguistic rules. An annotated corpus consists of documents or entities annotated with some task related labels such as part of speech tags, sentiment etc One such task is plagiarism detection that seeks to identify if a given document is plagiarized or not. This paper describes our efforts to build a plagiarism detection corpus for Arabic. The corpus consists of about 350 plagiarized – source document pairs and more than 250 documents where no plagiarism was found. The plagiarized documents consists of students submitted assignments. For each of the plagiarized documents, the source document was located from the Web and downloaded for further investigation. We report corpus statistics including number of documents, number of sentences and number of tokens for each of the plagiarized and source categories.
The prevalence of victimization and its effect on mental well-being among lesbian and gay people.

Research on victimization among oppressed groups such as lesbian and gay people has provided limited insight into its impact on the lives of those who are frequently targeted. This is due in part to small sample sizes and the absence of significant variables known to influence mental well-being. This analysis examines the prevalence and effects of victimization on a large sample (N = 1067) of lesbians and gay men living in a southern state. Multiple regression is used to determine the psychological consequences of victimization as measured by depression. Additional factors thought to contribute, either positively or negatively, to the effect of victimization on mental well-being, i.e., social support, self-esteem, external stress, and internalized homophobia, are also included in the analysis. Results indicate that victimization has a significant positive effect on depression for both lesbians and gay men when controlling for other variables. Self-esteem was found to be the strongest predictor of depression for the entire sample. Social support was found to have a similar effect for lesbians and gay men with partner support and having no support being significant. Gender differences were found for measures of external stress, internalized homophobia, and age.
Articular cartilage and osteoarthrosis. The role of molecular markers to monitor breakdown, repair and disease.

Osteoarthrosis (osteoarthritis, arthrosis, OA) represents a considerable burden both to the individual patient and society: in 1988 in the USA the total cost of arthritis was estimated at $54.6 billion, most of which was due to OA (Kramer et al. 1983). More than 500000 arthroplasty procedures are performed in the USA annually. Arthritis is the leading chronic condition reported by the elderly; it is reported by almost 50 % of persons aged 65 y and older (Praemer et al. 1992) and more than one third are limited in 5 or more physical activities (Yelin, 1992). Since reports on OA epidemiology consistently show an almost exponential increase of prevalence with increasing age (Danielsson et al. 1984; Felson et al. 1987, 1988; Lawrence et al. 1989; Badley & Tennant, 1992; Steven, 1992; Yelin, 1992), the rapidly changing demographic structure in many countries will in the future only emphasise the magnitude of this problem. OA is not a single disease entity but a common endstage of cartilage and joint failure (Fig. 1). Inherent in this definition is a multifactorial pathogenesis with many recognised risk factors. Of the endogenous risk factors, age, sex, race and inherited susceptibility have all been shown to play a role, but with different weights at different joint sites. The rare single base mutation of 519 arg -* cys in the human type II procollagen gene, which has been shown to cause mild chondrodysplasia and early-onset OA, represents one example of a defined inherited susceptibility (AlaKokko et al. 1990; Katzenstein et al. 1990). Exogenous factors such as obesity, use and abuse of joints and abnormal joint shape are also proven risks, again with different weighting factors for different sites, sex and age (Felson 1988, 1993; Felson et al. 1988, 1992). Risk factors are probably additive; for example, patients with a presumed systemic risk factor shown by the development of distal interphalangeal OA had an increased risk of developing OA in the knee after meniscectomy (Doherty & Dieppe, 1983). There is good evidence for the association of occupational risk factors with OA. For example, farmers and soccer players have an increased relative risk of hip OA, and excessive knee loading is
Angles Estimation of Rotating Camera

A hatchway door for an elevator system which includes a smoke seal. The smoke seal includes a compression seal along the trailing edge of each door panel which engages as the panel reaches the fully closed position, an astragal seal along the leading edge which engages another panel or a return, and sealing arrangements associated with the top and bottom portions of each door panel which seal the associated gaps with a spring loaded cam action which translates horizontal movement of the door panel to vertical movement of each sealing arrangement.
Transposing Simulated Self-organizing Robots into Reality using the PLUG&LEARN Architecture

Simulations for robots like the robot simulator LPZROBOTS allow a fast proof of theoretical concepts using self-organizing neural networks. This publication presents a hardware platform as a solution to transpose these theoretical results to real robots without the time consuming reimplementation of algorithms and without the loss of computational power a standard desktop PC offers. This is shown by the example of the THREECHAINED TWOWHEELED robot which gains embodiment and shows the same emergent behaviour in comparison to the simulated counterpart.
PHOTODYNAMIC GENERATION OF HYDROXYL RADICALS BY HEMATOPORPHYRIN DERIVATIVE AND LIGHT

In a reaction mixture containing hematoporphyrin derivative, deoxyribose, Fe3+‐EDTA and either methionine or tryptophan, hydroxyl radicals were formed during illumination with visible light. When either hematoporphyrin derivative, Fe3+‐EDTA or the amino acid was omitted from the reaction mixture, the generation of hydroxyl radicals ceased. These observations suggest an iron‐catalyzed Haber‐Weiss reaction, involving superoxide and hydrogen peroxide in the generation of hydroxyl radicals. It could be shown that with methionine H2O2 was indeed an essential intermediate in the reaction sequence. With tryptophan, however, H2O2, was not generated. Apparently a photooxidation product of tryptophan could replace H2O2 in the OH‐generating reaction with Fe2+‐EDTA. Although superoxide was generated in the reaction mixture, it was not an indispensable intermediate. Apparently a porphyrin radical, formed via photoexcitation of hematoporphyrin derivative, could replace superoxide in the Haber‐Weiss reaction.
Low-pH-Induced Membrane Fusion Mediated by Human Metapneumovirus F Protein Is a Rare, Strain-Dependent Phenomenon

ABSTRACT Membrane fusion promoted by human metapneumovirus (HMPV) fusion (F) protein was suggested to require low pH (R. M. Schowalter, S. E. Smith, and R. E. Dutch, J. Virol. 80:10931-10941, 2006). Using prototype F proteins representing the four HMPV genetic lineages, we detected low-pH-dependent fusion only with some lineage A proteins and not with lineage B proteins. A glycine at position 294 was found responsible for the low-pH requirement in lineage A proteins. Only 6% of all HMPV lineage A F sequences have 294G, and none of the lineage B sequences have 294G. Thus, acidic pH is not a general trigger of HMPV F proteins for activity.
Ein 3D-Ultraschallnavigationssystem für die computer-assistierte Chirurgie im Kopf-Halsbereich - Visionen und Konzepte

Zielsicher zwischen den Strukturen der Halsanatomie hindurch zu operieren ware die Ubertragung des Konzepts der minimal-traumatischen Chirurgie auf die betreffende Region. Methoden der medizinischen Navigation ermoglichen zielgerichtetere Operationsverfahren, wobei momentan die Weichgewebeverschieblichkeit unberucksichtigt bleibt. Durch die Entwicklung eines navigierten Ultraschallsystems, welches Modellwissen fur Deformationen verwendet, soll die praoperative Datenlage bei diesen Operationen verbessert werden. Ziel ist ein Ultraschallsystem, das intraoperativ Strukturen mit Hilfe von Modellwissen automatisch erkennt und dreidimensional visualisiert. Diese Arbeit beschreibt einen Systementwurf, der diesen Anforderungen gerecht wird und aus einer Ultraschallforschungsplattform, einer Opensource Software fur die navigierte Chirurgie, einem Lokalisationssystem sowie einem Modell fur die Berechnung der Weichgewebeverschieblichkeit besteht. Schlusselworte: Freihand-3D-Ultraschall, computer-assistierte Halschirurgie, Navigation
Aerial exposure tolerance of zebra and quagga mussels (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae): implications for overland dispersal

We examined the effects of ambient temperature (10, 28, and 30°C) and relative humidity (20, 50, and 95% RH) on the aerial exposure tolerance of adult zebra mussel (Dreissena: polymorpha) and quagga mussel (D. bugensis) collected from the St. Lawrence River. Survivorship of mussels in air significantly increased with increasing RH, decreasing temperature, and increasing mussel size. At 20°C and 50% RH (early temperate summer conditions), large (22-28 mm) D. pokymesrpha survived more than 5 days exposure, whereas small (10-18 mm) B. pskymorpha survived 1-3 days. Seventy-three percent of large 8. polymorpha and 20% of small D. pokyrnorpha survived 10 days exposure at conditions considered optimal for survivorship (10°C and 95% RH). Survivorship of D. bugensis was tested at 20°C and was 1%-100% lower than that sf D. polymsrpha at all RH levels combined with exposures less than 5 days. Dreissena bugensis also suffered significantly higher percent weight losses because of desiccation than D. polymorpk. The differences in the desiccation tolerance sf zebra and quagga mussels reflect their relative depth distribution in lakes. Our results suggest that, given temperate summer conditions, adult Dreissena may survive overland transport (e.g., on small trailered boats) to any laeation within 3-5 days9 drive of infested waterbodies.
Jointly optimized heterogeneous MIMO broadcast systems

A heterogeneous multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast (BC) system is considered, with some of the users having target-rate requirements while other users are working with best-effort data rates. We assume the use of dirty paper coding, and we exploit the duality between the capacity regions of the multiple access and broadcast channels in order to optimally and jointly optimize the rates, powers and decoding order. We use the concept of stream achievable rate region (rather than user achievable rate region) and show that the best-effort users can achieve higher rates when the data streams of any user are not restricted to be decoded consecutively and when timesharing between different decoding orders is allowed. It is shown that the problem can be formulated as a convex optimization problem. We also propose an algorithm to obtain the time-sharing factors and decoding orders (corner points) required to achieve the optimal solution.
First impressions in software development effort estimation: Easy to create and difficult to neutralize

Background: Effort estimates of software development work are frequently very inaccurate, which contributes to project management problems and project failures. The most common estimation approach, expert judgment-based estimation, is currently not well understood and more knowledge about how experts create effort estimates may enable better estimation processes and eventually more accurate effort estimates. Aim: Software professionals are affected by their early judgment (first impression) of the effort required for software development work. They are, however, also affected by information presented late (more recently) in the information collection process. This study explores which of these effects, i.e., “first impression” or “recency,” that is likely to be the stronger. This is studied in a context where the information leading to the first impression and the update with more recent information are biased in opposite directions. Method: We completed four experiments. All experiments included the following steps: 1) Creation of a biased first impression through comparisons of the task to be estimated with either much too low or too high reference effort values. 2) Comparisons of the task to be estimated with reference effort values in the opposite direction. Those comparing the task with a much too low reference value in Step 1 now compared the task with a much too high reference value. 3) Estimation of the most likely use of effort. Results: The results suggest that the first impression is stronger than the recency effect, but that there is a noticeable effect from the subsequent (more recent) comparison. We also observed that the explicit instruction to “forget” the information leading to the biased first impression had the paradoxical effect of increasing the strength of the first impression. Conclusions: It is essential for software professionals to ensure that their first impression of a project's development effort is based on comparisons with representative reference values and objects, as first impressions are easy to create but difficult to remove. Software managers should not believe that it will be possible to remove the impact of an incorrect first impression on the effort estimate by instructing the estimator to forget the initial information. The evidence suggests that such instructions would rather lead to a stronger impact from the incorrect first impression.