Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-Media Similarity Evaluation for Web Image Retrieval in the Wild

In order to retrieve unlabeled images by textual queries, cross-media similarity computation is a key ingredient. Although novel methods are continuously introduced, little has been done to evaluate these methods together with large-scale query log analysis. Consequently, how far have these methods brought us in answering real-user queries is unclear. Given baseline methods that use relatively simple text/image matching, how much progress have advanced models made is also unclear. This paper takes a pragmatic approach to answering the two questions. Queries are automatically categorized according to the proposed query visualness measure and later connected to the evaluation of multiple cross-media similarity models on three test sets. Such a connection reveals that the success of the state of the art is mainly attributed to their good performance on visual-oriented queries, which account for only a small part of real-user queries. To quantify the current progress, we propose a simple text2image method, representing a novel query by a set of images selected from large-scale query log. Consequently, computing cross-media similarity between the query and a given image boils down to comparing the visual similarity between the given image and the selected images. Image retrieval experiments on the challenging Clickture dataset show that the proposed text2image is a strong baseline, comparing favorably to recent deep learning alternatives.
Guar Seed ß-Mannan Synthase Is a Member of the Cellulose Synthase Super Gene Family

Genes for the enzymes that make plant cell wall hemicellulosic polysaccharides remain to be identified. We report here the isolation of a complementary DNA (cDNA) clone encodingone such enzyme, mannan synthase (ManS), that makes the β-1, 4-mannan backbone of galactomannan, a hemicellulosic storage polysaccharide in guar seed endosperm walls. The soybean somatic embryos expressing ManS cDNA contained high levels of ManS activities that localized to Golgi. Phylogenetically, ManS is closest to group A of the cellulose synthase–like (Csl) sequences from Arabidopsis and rice. Our results provide the biochemical proof for the involvement of the Csl genes in β-glycan formation in plants.
Improving Travel Times for Emergency Response Vehicles: Traffic Control Strategies Based on Connected Vehicles Technologies

This research is focused on developing and evaluating new traffic control strategies to enable emergency response vehicles (EVs) to travel in transportation networks as quickly as possible while the disruption to the rest of the traffic is kept to a minimum. Providing the best possible route or trajectory for an EV depends on the traffic conditions, the type of roadway, and other relevant factors. For instance, under light traffic on multilane highways, vehicles equipped with Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications can be alerted to clear a particular lane to allow the EV to pass by at its desired speed. If the lanes are wide enough or there is a wide shoulder, vehicles can also be directed to move to the shoulder to provide the EV an unobstructed path. However, under congested conditions on roadways with narrow lanes, enabling the EV to traverse the road at high speeds may not be trivial since there is no obvious solution to clear a lane for the EV. In this research, new methods and traffic control strategies are developed to optimize the travel time of an EV in a transportation network with signalized intersections. It will be assumed that regular vehicles have communications capabilities and comply with the alert messages sent by the EV. The proposed strategies are evaluated in microscopic simulation software (e.g., VISSIM).
Ontogeny of the Daily Profile of Plasma Melatonin in European Starlings Raised under Long or Short Photoperiods

Photoperiodic manipulation of young European starlings suggests that their reproductive physiology is incapable of responding to a short photoperiod until they are fully grown. This study aimed to determine whether the lack of response to a short photoperiod is reflected in the daily profile of plasma melatonin concentrations. Five-day-old starlings taken from nest boxes showed a significant (p < 0.0001) rhythm in plasma melatonin concentrations, with high values during night. In nestlings hand-reared from 5 days of age on a long photoperiod (LD 16:8), equivalent to natural photoperiod at the time, the amplitude of the daily rhythm in melatonin increased significantly (p < 0.01) with age until birds were fully grown (20 days old). In nestlings reared on a short photoperiod (LD 8:16), the daily melatonin profile remained almost identical to that of long photoperiod birds until they were fully grown. However, after 20 days old, the duration of elevated nighttime melatonin began to extend to encompass the entire period of darkness. In contrast, fully grown starlings transferred from a long to a short photoperiod had partially adapted to the short photoperiod after 5 days; by 10 days, the daily melatonin profile was identical to that of birds held chronically on a short photoperiod. Thus, consistent with responses of reproductive physiology, the pineal of young birds appears to be incapable of perceiving, or adapting to, a short photoperiod.
Inhibition of Ca2+-Independent Phospholipase A2 Decreases Prostate Cancer Cell Growth by p53-Dependent and Independent Mechanisms

The mechanisms by which Ca2+-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) mediates cell growth in p53-positive LNCaP and p53-negative PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines were studied. Exposure of cells to the iPLA2 selective inhibitor bromoenol lactone (BEL; 0–20 μM) induced concentration- and time-dependent decreases in cell growth based on 3-(4, dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide staining and cell number. Decreased cell growth was not caused by cell death as BEL exposure did not alter nuclear morphology or increase annexin V (apoptotic cell marker) or propidium iodide (necrotic cell marker) staining after 48 h. Decreased growth correlated to a G1/G0 arrest in LNCaP cells and aG2/M arrest in PC-3 cells. In LNCaP cells, G1 arrest was preceded by time- (0–48 h) and concentration-dependent (0–10 μM) increases in the expression of the tumor suppresser protein p53 and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. Increases in p53 expression preceded increases in p21 expression by 8 h. In LNCaP cells, BEL treatment decreased the expression of the p53 antagonist Mdm2, while increasing Akt phosphorylation. BEL treatment also increased Akt phosphorylation in PC-3 cells, but Mdm2 was not detected. The ability of BEL to increase Akt phosphorylation was inhibited by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 [2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one]. BEL treatment also decreased agonist-induced activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor. These data suggest that inhibition of iPLA2 decreases prostate cancer cell growth by p53-dependent and independent mechanisms. Furthermore, alterations in Mdm2 and epidermal growth factor receptor activation following BEL exposure suggest novel roles for iPLA2 in prostate cancer cell signaling.
Multiple subsequence combination in human action recognition

Human action recognition is an active research area with applications in several domains such as visual surveillance, video retrieval and human–computer interaction. Current approaches assign action labels to video streams considering the whole video as a single sequence but, in some cases, the large variability between frames may lead to misclassifications. The authors propose a multiple subsequence combination (MSC) method that divides the video into several consecutive subsequences. It applies part-based and bag of visual words approaches to classify each subsequence. Then, it combines subsequence labels to assign an action label to the video. The proposed approach was tested on the KTH, UCF sports, Youtube and Robo-Kitchen datasets, which have large differences in terms of video length, object appearance and pose, object scale, viewpoint, background, as well as number, type and complexity of actions performed. Two main results were achieved. First, the MSC approach shows better performances compared to classify the video as a whole, even when few subsequences are used. Second, the approach is robust and stable since, for each dataset, its performances are comparable to the part-based approach at the state-of-the-art.
Mismatch repair involving localized DNA synthesis in extracts of Xenopus eggs.

Repair of heteroduplex DNA containing G.T or A.C mismatches or containing two tandem unpaired bases occurred in vitro with Xenopus egg extracts as detected by a physical assay. The repair was accompanied by a mismatch-stimulated and mismatch-localized DNA synthesis. Repaired molecules, separated from unrepaired molecules, showed a 20- to 100-fold increase in DNA synthesis in the region of the mismatch compared to regions distant from the mismatch. The remaining unrepaired heteroduplex DNA included molecules that also displayed mismatch-stimulated DNA synthesis in the mismatch-proximal regions. These may represent intermediates in the repair process. The patterns of DNA synthesis suggest that repair begins at some distance from the mismatch and that as much as 1 kilobase or more can be involved in the mismatch-stimulated synthesis.
Analysis of Pilot Contamination in Very Large Scale MIMO Systems

In this thesis, a regular hexagonal geometry with random deployment of users is considered in order to study the impact of pilot contamination for a more general scenario. Specifically, we study a conventional frequency reuse hexagonal geometry and derive the throughput of the network when multiple users are reusing the same pilots leading to pilot contamination problem. We restrict ourselves to only first tier of co-channel interferers. Finally, with the help of numerical simulations, relations among cell throughput, numbers of antennas, number of users per cell, pilot reuse factor and coherence period have been studied. It is shown that the reuse pattern has strong impact on the system achievable throughput.
The burden of hepatitis C in the United States

According to the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 3.9 million of the U.S. civilian population have been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), of whom 2.7 million (74%) have chronic infection. Hepatitis C virus infection is most common among non‐Caucasian men, ages 30 to 49 years. Moreover, the prevalence of antibody to hepatitis C virus in groups not represented in the NHANES sample, such as the homeless or incarcerated, may be as high as 40%. The age‐adjusted death rate for non‐A, non‐B viral hepatitis increased from 0.4 to 1.8 deaths per 100,000 persons per year between 1982 and 1999. In 1999, the first year hepatitis C was reported separately, there were 3,759 deaths attributed to HCV, although this is likely an underestimate. There was a 5‐fold increase in the annual number of patients with HCV who underwent liver transplantation between 1990 and 2000. Currently, more than one third of liver transplant candidates have HCV. Inpatient care of HCV‐related liver disease has also been increasing. In 1998, an estimated 140,000 discharges listed an HCV‐related diagnosis, accounting for 2% of discharges from non‐federal acute care hospitals in the United States. The total direct health care cost associated with HCV is estimated to have exceeded $1 billion in 1998. Future projections predict a 4‐fold increase between 1990 and 2015 in persons at risk of chronic liver disease (i.e., those with infection for 20 years or longer), suggesting a continued rise in the burden of HCV in the United States in the foreseeable future. (HEPATOLOGY 2002;36:S30‐S34).
Phenotype of Hepatocyte Spheroids in Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) Containing a Thermo-Reversible Extracellular Matrix

The spheroid of specific cells is often regarded as the better form in artificial organs and mammalian cell bioreactors for improved cell-specific functions. In this study, freshly harvested primary rat hepatocytes, which had been cultivated as spheroids and entrapped in a synthetic thermo-reversible extracellular matrix, were examined for differentiated morphology and enhanced liver-specific functions as compared to a control set (hepatocytes in single-cell form). A copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide (98 mole % in the feed) and acrylic acid (poly(NiPAAm-co-AAc)), and the adhesion molecule, an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-incorporated thermo-reversible matrix, were used to entrap hepatocytes in the form of either spheroids or single cells. In a 28-day culture period, the spheroids in the RGD-incorporated gel maintained higher viability and produced albumin and urea at constant rates, while there was lower cell viability and less albumin secretion by the spheroids in p(NiPAAm-co-AAc). Hepatocytes cultured as spheroids in the RGD-incorporated gel would constitute a potentially useful three-dimensional cell system for application in a bio-artificial liver device.
Production and perception of pseudo-V1CV2 outside the vowel triangle: speech illusion effects

Vowels are generally described with static articulatory configurations represented by targets in the acoustic space: typically, formant frequencies in the F1-F2 and F2-F3 planes. Plosive consonants can be described in terms of places of articulation, represented by locus or locus equations in an acoustic plane. But how are a given vowel and a given consonant identified, when produced with different acoustic characteristics and in different environments? To which extent do listeners use contextual information? To which extent do they use normalization, and of which kind? These questions lead to studying both vowels and consonants from a dynamic point of view. At this level, what are the respective roles of static targets and dynamics information? Previous studies reveal that synthesized transitions situated on a F1-F2 plane but beyond the values observed in natural speech can be perceived as V1V2: that is, vowel-to-vowel transitions can be characterized simply by the direction and rate of the transitions, even when absolute frequency values are outside of the vowel triangle. The present paper extends the investigation to consonants: it reports new experiments showing that perception of pseudo-V1CV2 can also be obtained with formant transitions situated outside the vowel triangle.
Species of Tetrahymena Identical by Small Subunit rRNA Gene Sequences are Discriminated by Mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase I Gene Sequences

ABSTRACT. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) genes of two isolates of each of the seven mating types of Tetrahymena thermophila were sequenced and found to differ by < 1% in nucleotide sequence and to be identical by putative protein sequence. As this gene was highly conserved in this species, the CO1 gene sequence was determined for four pairs of Tetrahymena species identical in their small subunit rRNA gene sequences. The following pairs of species showed from 1% to 12% divergence at the nucleotide level, enabling discrimination of all these species: (1) Tetrahymena pyriformis strain T and Tetrahymena setosa strain HZ‐1; (2) Tetrahymena canadensis strain UM1215 and Tetrahymena rostrata strain ID‐3; (3) Tetrahymena pigmentosa strain UM1285 and Tetrahymena hyperangularis strain EN112; and (4) Tetrahymena tropicalis strain TC‐105 and Tetrahymena mobilis. However, because of the synonymous nature of the majority of substitutions, the pairs of species were identical based on the putative protein sequence.
Evidence for early-childhood, pan-developmental impairment specific to schizophreniform disorder: results from a longitudinal birth cohort.

BACKGROUND Childhood developmental abnormalities have been previously described in schizophrenia. It is not known, however, whether childhood developmental impairment is specific to schizophrenia or is merely a marker for a range of psychiatric outcomes. METHODS A 1-year birth cohort (1972-1973) of 1037 children enrolled in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study was assessed at biennial intervals between ages 3 and 11 years on emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems, motor and language development, and intelligence. At age 11 years, children were asked about psychotic symptoms. At age 26 years, DSM-IV diagnoses were made using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Study members having schizophreniform disorder (n = 36 [3.7%]) were compared with healthy controls and also with groups diagnosed as having mania (n = 20 [2%]) and nonpsychotic anxiety or depression disorders (n = 278 [28.5%]) on childhood variables. RESULTS Emotional problems and interpersonal difficulties were noted in children who later fulfilled diagnostic criteria for any of the adult psychiatric outcomes assessed. However, significant impairments in neuromotor, receptive language, and cognitive development were additionally present only among children later diagnosed as having schizophreniform disorder. Developmental impairments also predicted self-reported psychotic symptoms at age 11 years. These impairments were independent of the effects of socioeconomic, obstetric, and maternal factors. CONCLUSIONS The results provide evidence for an early-childhood, persistent, pan-developmental impairment that is specifically associated with schizophreniform disorder and that predicts psychotic symptoms in childhood and adulthood.
Proteolysis of NR2B by calpain in the hippocampus of epileptic rats

Overactivation of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors is known to mediate excitotoxicity due to excessive entry of calcium, leading to the activation of several calcium-dependent enzymes. Calpains are calcium-activated proteases that appear to play a role in excitotoxic neuronal death. Several cellular proteins are substrates for these proteases, particularly the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. Recently, cleavage of NR2B subunits has been implicated in excitotoxic neurodegeneration in ischemia. In this work, we investigated the proteolysis by calpains of NR2B subunits of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in the hippocampus of epileptic rats. Our results show that cleaved forms of NR2B subunits are formed after status epilepticus, in the same areas of the hippocampus where calpain activation was detected by immunohistochemical staining of calpain-specific spectrin breakdown products.
Vowel Duration as a Perceptual Cue for Preceding Stop Laryngeal Contrast in Korean

This study explores the effects of vowel duration in identifying the previous stop laryngeal contrast in Korean. The durational resolution in Korean shows a limited variation of syllable duration and a strong correlation between VOT and vowel duration [1]. The systematic variation of vowel duration due to different VOTs of prevocalic stops suggests vowel duration as a plausible perceptual cue in identifying the preceding stops. Identification tests on stop categories (plain, tense, aspirated) in Korean were conducted with 12 native Korean listeners, using 33 disyllabic word tokens in the utterance-initial position. All sound tokens were manipulated in the vowel duration, pitch, and VOT. The results show that listeners employ multiple cues of VOT, pitch, and vowel duration in identifying the stop categories. It is also confirmed that vowel duration is actively used, even with unambiguous F0. The effect of vowel duration, however, is found to depend on stop laryngeal categories. Identification of the plain stop based strongly on F0 information. The effects of vowel duration were more obvious in tense and aspirated stops in the higher F0 ranges.
Retrospective Motion Correction in Digital Subtraction Angiography: A Review"

Although Close and Whiting found the paper by Meijering el al. (ibid., vol. 18, p. 2-21, 1999) to be both thorough and informative, Close and Whiting feel compelled to correct what they feel to be an inaccurate characterization of their work. Meijering et al. refer to Close and Whitings' 1995 paper ("Motion compensated signal and background estimation from coronary angiograms," in Medical Imaging 1995: image processing, M. H. Loew, Ed., Proc. SPIE, vol. 2434, p. 185-94, 1995) as being "for the purpose of motion analysis" and, more specifically, "for the analysis of cardiac or vascular motion (vessel tracking). " Although Close and Whiting do perform vessel tracking, the purpose of their work is to obtain an accurate densitometric representation of the projected vessel lumen. Indeed, the title of their 1995 paper, "Motion-compensated signal and background estimation from coronary angiograms" clearly refers to densitometric estimation rather than analysis of motion. The basis of Close and Whitings' approach is the observation that although the anatomical motion is inherently three-dimensional (3-D) and nonuniform, the motion of a short vessel segment can be approximated well by a single rigid motion. Therefore, Close and Whiting expect that by decomposing an angiographic image sequence into moving layers, one can separate the densitometric profile of the vessel from background structures which have different motion.
Measuring the Informatization Level of Business: A Study of Brazilian Industrial Companies

Information Technology (IT) diffusion is a central theme of the new economy and is evidenced through a process, named Informatization, which permeates our society and businesses. Relative to businesses, managers have a need for instruments to evaluate the organizational use of IT and inform them about its possibilities. This paper presents a tool for evaluating the organizational use of IT based on the measurement of the Informatization Level of companies. Four evaluation dimensions are considered: IT assets; IT organizational use; IT governance; and IT impacts. The tool was built starting with 345 survey questions that were summarized to 66 indicators. A sample of 830 industrial companies was covered and structural equation modeling was employed to develop and validate the model. It achieved requirements of reliability and internal validity and showed external validity, as the hypothesis of being related to size and of not being related to IT investment were confirmed.
Clinical Spectrum of Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Aspergillus produces diverse pulmonary manifestations, its clinical spectrum extending from harmless saprbphytic colonization to universally lethal disseminated infection. Management of the conditions produced by Aspergillus is also diverse and may consist of either observation or treatment with corticosteroid agents or amphotericin B. The factors that influence the expression of Aspergillus into a specific clinical entity are not well understood, but are believed to be related to immune status, both pulmonary and systemic, and the genetic composition of the host.