Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Underwater stereo calibration utilizing virtual object points

For 3D-reconstruction of underwater scenes, a camera calibration handling refractive effects is indispensable. We present a novel geometry-based approach for calibration of stereo-camera-systems in a single underwater housing with a flat interface. Our approach consists of three steps. First, we show a hypothesis on how to relate the location of virtual object points non-ambiguously to the true object location in water. Secondly, axis determination and thirdly, distance determination of a refractive interface towards the cameras is performed with the aid of this hypothesis. We propose, that the calibration can be done with just one stereo-view of a known calibration pattern, that axis determination can be done from stereo correspondences alone and that our hypothesis is a valid constraint for stereo 3d-reconstruction. We evaluated our approach on simulated data with ground truth and real data.
Gibberellic acid and cGMP-dependent transcriptional regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana

An ever increasing amount of transcriptomic data and analysis tools provide novel insight into complex responses of biological systems. Given these resources we have undertaken to review aspects of transcriptional regulation in response to the plant hormone gibberellic acid (GA) and its second messenger guanosine 3’,5’-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) in Arabidopsis thaliana, both wild type and selected mutants. Evidence suggests enrichment of GA-responsive (GARE) elements in promoters of genes that are transcriptionally up-regulated in response to cGMP but down-regulated in a GA insensitive mutant (ga1-3). In contrast, in the genes up-regulated in the mutant, no enrichment in the GARE is observed suggesting that GARE elements are diagnostic for GA-induced and cGMP-dependent transcriptional up-regulation. Further, we review how expression studies of GA-dependent transcription factors and transcriptional networks based on common promoter signatures derived from ab initio analyses can contribute to our understanding of plant responses at the systems level.
Resting Heart Rate Trajectory Pattern Predicts Arterial Stiffness in a Community-Based Chinese Cohort

Objective— To examine whether the long-term resting heart rate (RHR) pattern can predict the risk of having arterial stiffness in a large ongoing cohort. Approach and Results— This community-based cohort included 12 554 participants in the Kailun study, who were free of myocardial infarction, stroke, arrhythmia, and cancer. We used latent mixture modeling to identify RHR trajectories in 2006, 2008, and 2010. We used multivariate linear regression model to examine the association between RHR trajectory patterns and the risk of having arterial stiffness, which was assessed by brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity in 2010 to 2016. We adjusted for possible confounding factors, including socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, use of medications, comorbidities, and serum concentrations of lipids, glucose, and high-sensitivity C-reactive proteins. We identified 5 distinct RHR trajectory patterns based on their 2006 status and on the pattern of change during 2006 to 2010 (low–stable, moderate–stable, moderate–increasing, elevated–decreasing, and elevated–stable). We found that individuals with elevated–stable RHR trajectory pattern had the highest brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity value and individuals with the low–stable RHR trajectory pattern had the lowest value (adjusted mean difference=157 cm/s; P<0.001). Adjusted odds ratio for risk of having arterial stiffness (brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity ≥1400 cm/s) was 4.14 (95% confidence interval, 2.61–6.57) relative to these 2 extreme categories. Consistently, a higher average RHR, a higher annual RHR increase rate, and a higher RHR variability were all associated with a higher risk of having arterial stiffness. Conclusions— Long-term RHR pattern is a strong predictor of having arterial stiffness.
Sensitization, Kindling, and Carbamazepine: An Update on their Implications for the Course of Affective Illness

In our previous manuscript (Post, 1990), the implications of the sensitization and kindling models for the course of atTective illness, and the impact of treatment with the anticonvulsant carbamazepine, were briefly summarized. In this manuscript, we wish to update and highlight several new developments in our laboratory that may be relevant for the course of affective disorder and its treatment with carbamazepine.
Optimal detection of heterogeneous and heteroscedastic mixtures

Summary. The problem of detecting heterogeneous and heteroscedastic Gaussian mixtures is considered. The focus is on how the parameters of heterogeneity, heteroscedasticity and proportion of non‐null component influence the difficulty of the problem. We establish an explicit detection boundary which separates the detectable region where the likelihood ratio test is shown to detect the presence of non‐null effects reliably from the undetectable region where no method can do so. In particular, the results show that the detection boundary changes dramatically when the proportion of non‐null component shifts from the sparse regime to the dense regime. Furthermore, it is shown that the higher criticism test, which does not require specific information on model parameters, is optimally adaptive to the unknown degrees of heterogeneity and heteroscedasticity in both the sparse and the dense cases.
Alternative implementations of metabolic P system in FPGA

Metabolic P (MP) system formalism is already proven to be applicable and useful in various fields of science, however knowledge about possibilities of MP system implementation in a hardware is limited. The use of a reconfigurable hardware empowers investigation in a search of the best implementation strategy for specified computing. Thus in the paper FPGA implementation techniques for MP systems were examined and compared. The MP system that models the process of Glucose-Insulin interactions in the intravenous glucose tolerance test was used in the study. It was implemented in FPGA by the use of three alternative FPGA implementation techniques: single process, single DSP slice and pipelined implementation. Experimental results together with suggested evaluation metrics were estimated. It was shown that single DSP slice implementation is preferable if minimal FPGA resource utilization is required, while pipelined technique use yields MP system that has a better balance between operating frequency and latency.
Genetic Sources of Subcomponents of Event-Related Potential in the Dimension of Psychosis Analyzed From the B-SNIP Study.

OBJECTIVE Biological risk factors underlying psychosis are poorly understood. Biological underpinnings of the dimension of psychosis can be derived using genetic associations with intermediate phenotypes such as subcomponents of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs). Various ERP subcomponent abnormalities in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder are heritable and are expressed in unaffected relatives, although studies investigating genetic contributions to ERP abnormalities are limited. The authors used a novel parallel independent component analysis (para-ICA) to determine which empirically derived gene clusters are associated with data-driven ERP subcomponents, assuming a complex etiology underlying psychosis. METHOD The authors examined the multivariate polygenic association of ERP subcomponents from 64-channel auditory oddball data in 144 individuals with schizophrenia, 210 psychotic bipolar disorder probands, and 95 healthy individuals from the multisite Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes study. Data were reduced by principal components analysis to two target and one standard ERP waveforms. Multivariate association of compressed ERP waveforms with a set of 20,329 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (reduced from a 1-million-SNP array) was examined using para-ICA. Genes associated with SNPs were further examined using pathway analysis tools. RESULTS Para-ICA identified four ERP components that were significantly correlated with three genetic components. Enrichment analysis revealed complement immune response pathway and multiple processes that significantly mediate ERP abnormalities in psychosis, including synaptic cell adhesion, axon guidance, and neurogenesis. CONCLUSIONS This study identified three genetic components comprising multiple genes mediating ERP subcomponent abnormalities in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder. The data suggest a possible polygenic structure comprising genes influencing key neurodevelopmental processes, neural circuitry, and brain function mediating biological pathways plausibly associated with psychosis.
The degree of left atrial structural remodeling impacts left ventricular ejection fraction in patients with atrial fibrillation.

OBJECTIVES The extent of left atrial (LA) wall structural remodeling (fibrosis) detected by late gadolinium enhancement-magnetic resonance imaging (LGE-MRI) is correlated with advanced atrial fibrillation (AF). The concomitant occurrence of AF and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is not uncommon. We studied the effect of LA fibrosis, a confounder of both AF and LV dysfunction, on LV ejection fraction (EF). STUDY DESIGN For the analysis, we identified and included 384 patients from our retrospective AF database who underwent LGE-MRI and transthoracic echocardiography prior to AF ablation. Based on the degree of LA fibrosis, patients were categorized into four stages as: Utah 1 (<5% LA fibrosis), Utah 2 (5-20% fibrosis), Utah 3 (20-35% fibrosis), and Utah 4 (>35% fibrosis). RESULTS The average pre-ablation LVEF was 60.5%±8.5% (n=24) in Utah stage 1 patients, 55.7%±10.3% (n=240) in Utah stage 2 patients, 51.7±11.5% (n=90) in Utah stage 3 patients, and 48.9%±11.6% (n=30) in Utah stage 4 patients (p<0.001, one-way ANOVA). The percentage of LA fibrosis was significantly negatively correlated to LVEF pre-ablation in a univariate analysis (p<0.001). In a multivariate model accounting for age, gender, AF type, and comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, Utah stage remained a significant predictor of pre-ablation EF (p<0.001). CONCLUSION Patients with extensive LA fibrosis appear to have depressed LV function pre-ablation, suggesting that structural remodeling in the LA may also be triggering and promoting remodeling within the ventricular myocardium.
Managing Knowledge in Global Software Development Projects

Software is increasingly developed in global projects, and such projects are challenged by distance, different time zones, and cultural differences. Knowledge management is central to ensuring effective development of a product with the right features and the right level of quality. A central question then is what knowledge management approach to apply in global software development. This article draws on established research in software engineering, combined with three focus groups in two global companies, to discuss what knowledge management schools are appropriate on a global level and what approaches are relevant for new global projects.
Pseudonyms in IPv6 ITS Communications: Use of Pseudonyms, Performance Degradation, and Optimal Pseudonym Change

IPv6 developed as a next generation Internet protocol will provide us with safer and more efficient driving environments as well as convenient and infotainment features in cooperative intelligent transportation systems (ITS). In this paper, we introduce the use of pseudonyms in IPv6 ITS communications for preserving location privacy. We conduct qualitative study on the performance degradation due to the use of pseudonyms and quantitative analysis on the optimal pseudonym change interval. Numerical results demonstrate that an appropriate pseudonym change interval should be changed depending on the packet arrival rate, mobility rate, and security level.
NK‐lysin, a novel effector peptide of cytotoxic T and NK cells. Structure and cDNA cloning of the porcine form, induction by interleukin 2, antibacterial and antitumour activity.

A 78 residue antimicrobial, basic peptide, NK‐lysin, with three intrachain disulfide bonds was purified from pig small intestine and characterized. A corresponding clone was isolated from a porcine bone marrow cDNA library. The 780 bp DNA sequence had a reading frame of 129 amino acids which corresponded to NK‐lysin. The clone was used to show that stimulation with human interleukin‐2 induced synthesis of NK‐lysin‐specific mRNA in a lymphocyte fraction enriched for T and NK cells. Lower levels of mRNA were detected in tissues known to contain T and NK cells, such as small intestine, spleen and colon. Interleukin‐2 also induced both proliferation of the lymphocyte fraction and cytolytic function in these cells. Immunostaining showed that NK‐lysin was present in cells positive for CD8, CD2 and CD4. NK‐lysin showed high anti‐bacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus megaterium and moderate activity against Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Streptococcus pyogenes. The peptide showed a marked lytic activity against an NK‐sensitive mouse tumour cell line, YAC‐1, but it did not lyse red blood cells. The amino acid sequence of NK‐lysin exhibits 33% identity with a putative human preproprotein, NKG5, of unknown function but derived from a cDNA clone of activated NK cells. We suggest that NK‐lysin is a new effector molecule of cytotoxic T and NK cells.
Dimethicone (silicone) skin protection in surgical patients.

Contact dermatoses develop frequently during the treatment of surgical patients with serious intra-abdominal disease. The procedures commonly responsible for these dermatoses are temporary or permanent exteriorization of open bowel, or drainage from within the peritoneal cavity to the outside, or both. Protection of the skin against contact irritants from intra-abdominal drainage of any form is a major part of the patient's care. Many types of skin protectants, in the form of powders, ointments, and plastics, have been used on the surgical services of the Cincinnati General Hospital and the Children's Hospital in the past. None was found to be consistently effective. This report is a clinical evaluation of the effectiveness of a dimethicone (silicone)containing ointment as a skin protectant on the surgical services of the above hospitals over a seven-month period. Materials and Methods The ointment (Silicote) used in this study contains 30% of the silicones in a petrolatum base.
Automatic Extraction of Idiom , Proverb and its Variations from Text using Statistical Approach

Natural languages are full of idiomatic uses, which while translating through present NLP system do not extract variations of idioms and proverbs. To overcome this problem, a new method to extract idioms / proverbs is proposed in this paper. The proposed methodology uses statistical method to automatically extract idioms and proverbs from the text along with their variations. The system is updated with a huge database of idioms and proverbs with all of their variations and then tested on a large text file of ‘Panchatantra Tales’. The system gave an accuracy of more than 80%, which proves that our method is a successful approach in correctly interpreting and generating the translation of natural language. Keywords----Natural Language, Proverb, Idiom, Statistical Approach, Idiomatic
Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis and Recycling of the Neuron-specific Na+/H+ Exchanger NHE5 Isoform

Mammalian Na+/H+exchangers (NHEs) are a family of integral membrane proteins that play central roles in sodium, acid-base, and cell volume homeostasis. The recently cloned NHE5 isoform is expressed predominantly in brain, but its functional and cellular properties are poorly understood. To facilitate its characterization, an epitope-tagged construct of NHE5 was ectopically expressed in nonneuronal and neuronal cells. In NHE-deficient Chinese hamster ovary AP-1 cells, NHE5 localized at the plasmalemma, but a significant fraction accumulated intracellularly in vesicles that concentrated in a juxtanuclear region. Similarly, in nerve growth factor-differentiated neuroendocrine PC12 cells and primary hippocampal neurons, immunolabeling of NHE5 was detected in endomembrane vesicles in the perinuclear region of the cell body but also along the processes. More detailed characterization in AP-1 cells using organelle-specific markers showed that NHE5 co-localized with internalized transferrin, a marker of recycling endosomes. Transient transfection of a dominant negative mutant of dynamin-1, which inhibits clathrin-mediated endocytosis, blocked uptake of transferrin as well as internalization of NHE5. Likewise, wortmannin inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase, a lipid kinase implicated in endosomal traffic, induced coalescence of vesicles containing NHE5 and caused a pronounced inhibition of plasmalemmal Na+/H+ exchange. By contrast, disruption of the F-actin cytoskeleton with cytochalasin D increased cell surface NHE5 activity and abundance. These observations demonstrate that NHE5 is localized to the recycling endosomal pathway and is dynamically regulated by phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase and by the state of F-actin assembly.
Full-duplex radio-over-fiber transport systems based on direct-detection scheme

A full-duplex radio-over-fiber (ROF) transport system based on direct-detection scheme is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In this approach, the RF power degradation introduced by fiber dispersion can be cancelled since the optical carrier and one of the sidebands are eliminated before detecting. A data stream of 70 Mbps transmitted over an 80-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission both for down/up-link with good bit error rate (BER) performance was achieved.
Co-ordination of growth, gas exchange and hydraulics define the carbon safety margin in tree species with contrasting drought strategies.

Gas exchange, growth, water transport and carbon (C) metabolism diminish during drought according to their respective sensitivities to declining water status. The timing of this sequence of declining physiological functions may determine how water and C relations compromise plant survival. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the degree of asynchrony between declining C supply (photosynthesis) and C demand (growth and respiration) determines the rate and magnitude of changes in whole-plant non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) during drought. Two complementary experiments using two tree species (Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Pinus radiata D. Don) with contrasting drought response strategies were performed to (i) assess changes in radial stem growth, transpiration, leaf water potential and gas exchange in response to chronic drought, and (ii) evaluate the concomitant impacts of these drought responses on the temporal patterns of NSC during terminal drought. The three distinct phases of water stress were delineated by thresholds of growth cessation and stomatal closure that defined the 'carbon safety margin' (i.e., the difference between leaf water potential when growth is zero and leaf water potential when net photosynthesis is zero). A wider C safety margin in E. globulus was defined by an earlier cessation of growth relative to photosynthesis that reduced the demand for NSC while maintaining C acquisition. By contrast, the narrower C safety margin in P. radiata was characterized by a synchronous decline in growth and photosynthesis, whereby growth continued under a declining supply of NSC from photosynthesis. The narrower C safety margin in P. radiata was associated with declines in starch concentrations after ∼ 90 days of chronic drought and significant depletion of starch in all organs at mortality. The observed divergence in the sensitivity of drought responses is indicative of a potential trade-off between maintaining hydraulic safety and adequate C availability.
Planning of vision and motion for a mobile robot using a probabilistic model of uncertainty

The authors propose a framework of unified planning of vision and motion with uncertainty. They use a probabilistic model to represent uncertainty and use statistical decision theory to make a unified plan of vision and motion. They describe a method of predicting the information acquired by a sensing operation and formulate the planning problem in a recurrence formula. They analyze vision-motion planning problem in a simple example and conclude that the combination of dynamic programming and hill-climbing is useful. Simulation results show the validity of the approach. <<ETX>>
A randomized, controlled trial of early versus late initiation of dialysis.

BACKGROUND In clinical practice, there is considerable variation in the timing of the initiation of maintenance dialysis for patients with stage V chronic kidney disease, with a worldwide trend toward early initiation. In this study, conducted at 32 centers in Australia and New Zealand, we examined whether the timing of the initiation of maintenance dialysis influenced survival among patients with chronic kidney disease. METHODS We randomly assigned patients 18 years of age or older with progressive chronic kidney disease and an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) between 10.0 and 15.0 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area (calculated with the use of the Cockcroft-Gault equation) to planned initiation of dialysis when the estimated GFR was 10.0 to 14.0 ml per minute (early start) or when the estimated GFR was 5.0 to 7.0 ml per minute (late start). The primary outcome was death from any cause. RESULTS Between July 2000 and November 2008, a total of 828 adults (mean age, 60.4 years; 542 men and 286 women; 355 with diabetes) underwent randomization, with a median time to the initiation of dialysis of 1.80 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.60 to 2.23) in the early-start group and 7.40 months (95% CI, 6.23 to 8.27) in the late-start group. A total of 75.9% of the patients in the late-start group initiated dialysis when the estimated GFR was above the target of 7.0 ml per minute, owing to the development of symptoms. During a median follow-up period of 3.59 years, 152 of 404 patients in the early-start group (37.6%) and 155 of 424 in the late-start group (36.6%) died (hazard ratio with early initiation, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.30; P=0.75). There was no significant difference between the groups in the frequency of adverse events (cardiovascular events, infections, or complications of dialysis). CONCLUSIONS In this study, planned early initiation of dialysis in patients with stage V chronic kidney disease was not associated with an improvement in survival or clinical outcomes. (Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and others; Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry number, 12609000266268.)
High density bump-less Cu-Cu bonding with enhanced quality achieved by pre-bonding temporary passivation for 3D wafer stacking

Face-to-face stacking of wafer-on-wafer is demonstrated successfully using bump-less Cu-Cu bonding. Using self-assembled monolayer passivation and in-situ desorption, Cu-Cu bond is enhanced in shear strength and bonding uniformity. Excellent specific contact resistance of 0.30 fl. μm is obtained. Continuous daisy chain of at least 6,000 contacts at 15μm pitch is connected successfully. This provides inter-IC connection density of 4.4 × 10 cm−2 suitable for wafer level 3D integration to augment Moore Law's scaling.