Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A zerotree stereo video encoder

Over the past decade, the growing interests in realistic visual communication systems have led to the rapid development of 3D visual compression techniques. A stereoscopic system is one way of simulating 3D perception. Without exploiting the high redundancy in a stereo pair, the amount of data required to store or transmit it is doubled, when compared to that for monocular images. In this paper, we present a new technique for coding stereo video sequences based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The proposed technique exploits Zerotree Entropy Coding (ZTE) that makes use of the wavelet block concept to achieve low bit rate stereo video coding. One of the two image streams, the main stream, is independently coded by a modified zerotree video coder and the second stream, the auxiliary stream, is predicted based on disparity compensation. The residual image of the auxiliary stream is then coded by a modified zerotree video coder. Results show that the proposed encoder can achieve 50% bandwidth reduction compared to the ZTE based monoscopic compression encoder.
A false‐discovery‐rate‐based loss framework for selection of interactions

Interaction effects have been consistently found important in explaining the variation in outcomes in many scientific research fields. Yet, in practice, variable selection including interactions is complicated due to the limited sample size, conflicting philosophies regarding model interpretability, and accompanying amplified multiple‐testing problems. The lack of statistically sound algorithms for automatic variable selection with interactions has discouraged activities in exploring important interaction effects. In this article, we investigated issues of selecting interactions from three aspects: (1) What is the model space to be searched? (2) How is the hypothesis‐testing performed? (3) How to address the multiple‐testing issue? We propose loss functions and corresponding decision rules that control FDR in a Bayesian context. Properties of the decision rules are discussed and their performance in terms of power and FDR is compared through simulations. Methods are illustrated on data from a colorectal cancer study assessing the chemotherapy treatments and data from a diffuse large‐B‐cell lymphoma study assessing the prognostic effect of gene expressions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Biblical and theistic arguments against the evolutionary argument against naturalism

Alvin Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism states that evolution cannot produce warranted beliefs. In contrast, according to Plantinga, Christian theism provides (I) properly functioning cognitive faculties in (II) an appropriate cognitive environment, in accordance with (III) a design plan aimed at producing true beliefs. But does theism fulfill criteria I–III? Judging from the Bible, God employs deceit in his relations with humanity, rendering our cognitive functions unreliable (I). Moreover, there is no reason to suppose that God's purpose would be to produce true beliefs in humans (III). Finally, from the theistic/religious perspective, it is impossible to tell whether observations have natural or supernatural causes, which undermines an appropriate cognitive environment (II). Reliable identification of deceit or miracles could alleviate these problems, but the theistic community has failed to resolve this issue. Dismissal of parts of the Bible, or attempts to find alternative interpretations, would collapse into skepticism or deism. Thus, Plantinga's problem of epistemic warrant backfires on theism.
ATP‐dependent aggregation of single‐stranded DNA by a bacterial SMC homodimer

SMC (structural maintenance of chromosomes) proteins are putative ATPases that are highly conserved among Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya. Eukaryotic SMC proteins are implicated in a diverse range of chromosome dynamics including chromosome condensation, dosage compensation and recombinational repair. In eukaryotes, two different SMC proteins form a heterodimer, which in turn acts as the core component of a large protein complex. Despite recent progress, no ATP‐dependent activity has been found in individual SMC subunits. We report here the first biochemical characterization of a bacterial SMC protein from Bacillus subtilis. Unlike eukaryotic versions, the B.subtilis SMC protein (BsSMC) is a simple homodimer with no associated subunits. It binds preferentially to single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA) and has a ssDNA‐stimulated ATPase activity. In the presence of ATP, BsSMC forms large nucleoprotein aggregates in a ssDNA‐specific manner. Proteolytic cleavage of BsSMC is changed upon binding to ATP and ssDNA. The energy‐dependent aggregation of ssDNA might represent a primitive type of chromosome condensation that occurs during segregation of bacterial chromosomes.
THE AGENT'S ROLE IN THE CAUSATION OF ACTION: IS MICHAEL SMITH'S CAUSAL THEORY OF ACTION IN TROUBLE?

ABSTRACT The goal of this paper is to find out if Michael Smith's version of the causal theory of action is able to solve David Velleman's agency par excellence challenge. Smith (2012) has claimed that his theory can deal with the challenge insofar as the exercise of the capacity to be instrumentally rational plays the intermediating role which Velleman (1992a) thinks of the agent as playing in the causation of action. However, I argue Smith misunderstands the challenge at hand, thereby failing to find the agent's proper role in action explanation. Moreover, I claim Velleman's objection puts Smith's account of the causal theory in trouble by showing it cannot reconcile the causal explanation of intentional action with our ordinary conception of agency. If Smith intends to explain what a 'full-blooded' intentional action is, I then believe he needs to incorporate into his theory a more robust account of rational guidance.
Diagnosis and Management of Noninfectious Pediatric Uveitis

Uveitis is estimated to account for more than 10% of all causes of severe vision loss in developed countries. In children, the overall yearly incidence of uveitis in North America and Europe is estimated to be 4.3 to 6 in 100,000 population, which is lower than rates for adults and accounts for fewer than 10% of all patients with uveitis overall. Nevertheless, uveitis in children merits particular attention given the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges associated with this population and the risk of amblyopia in a visual system that is still developing. Furthermore, the impact of vision loss over a longer lifespan is far greater in children in regard to financial cost, loss of productivity, and quality of life metrics. Devising evidence-based treatment strategies for pediatric noninfectious uveitis is challenged by the lack of large, well designed, clinical studies. Compared with historical reports, there is some evidence that visual outcomes may be improving with modern treatment strategies, but it is difficult to verify these trends given the inherent bias with retrospective reporting. Although there have been previous reviews addressing noninfectious pediatric uveitis, the specific intent of this report is to provide an updated accounting of current diagnostic and management strategies incorporating the best available evidence.
Cytogenetic Monitoring in Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome: A Note on Clonal Progression and a Practical Warning

We analyzed the results of periodic chromosome analyses performed on bone marrow of 22 patients with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS), 8 directly observed and 14 from the literature, selected because of changes in the cytogenetic picture during the course of the disease. This study points out some features of the cytogenetic evolution in SDS relevant for prognostic evaluation but never noted in the literature. In particular, the lack of any clonal progression and the frequent appearance of independent clones with chromosomal changes different from the one initially discovered, with possible severe prognostic implications, are reported.
Immune response to rabies vaccination in pediatric transplant patients

Abstract: Children have become engaged in a wider variety of activities as the success of solid organ transplantation has improved. These activities can result in exposure to infectious agents for which there are no data documenting the efficacy of standard treatment in children on immunosuppressive therapy. This is a retrospective review of five OLT patients and three RT patients who were potentially exposed to rabies during camp. They completed the immunoprophylaxis treatment for rabies exposure outlined by the CDC in the 2003 Red Book. Rabies titers were followed for six to 12 months post‐immunization. All five OLT patients were on tacrolimus. All three RT patients were on tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and prednisone. At the time of exposure median age was 10.0 yr (8.4–17.3). None of the subjects developed rabies. A positive rabies titer, indicative of successful immunization, was present by one month in seven subjects and all subjects by six months. Rabies vaccination in pediatric transplant patients is safe and associated with the successful production of antirabies titers.
The evolvability of herkogamy: Quantifying the evolutionary potential of a composite trait

Accurate estimates of trait evolvabilities are central to predicting the short‐term evolutionary potential of populations, and hence their ability to adapt to changing environments. We quantify and evaluate the evolvability of herkogamy, the spatial separation of male and female structures in flowers, a key floral trait associated with variation in mating systems. We compiled genetic‐variance estimates for herkogamy and related floral traits, computed evolvabilities, and compared these among trait groups and among species differing in their mating systems. When measured in percentage of its own size, the median evolvability of herkogamy was an order of magnitude greater than the evolvability of other floral size measurements, and was generally not strongly constrained by genetic covariance between its components (pistil and stamen lengths). Median evolvabilities were similar across mating systems, with only a tendency toward reduction in highly selfing taxa. We conclude that herkogamy has the potential to evolve rapidly in response to changing environments. This suggests that the extensive variation in herkogamy commonly observed among closely related populations and species may result from rapid adaptive tracking of fitness optima determined by variation in pollinator communities or other selective factors.
University of Birmingham Learning part-based spatial models for laser-vision-based room categorization

Room categorization, i.e., recognizing the functionality of a never before seen room, is a crucial capability for a household mobile robot. We present a new approach for room categorization that is based on 2D laser range data. The method is based on a novel spatial model consisting of mid-level parts that are built on top of a low-level part-based representation. The approach is then fused with a vision-based method for room categorization, which is also based on a spatial model consisting of mid-level visual-parts. In addition, we propose a new discriminative dictionary learning technique that is applied for part-dictionary selection in both laser-based and vision-based modalities. Finally, we present a comparative analysis between laser-based, vision-based, and laser-vision-fusion-based approaches in a uniform part-based framework that is evaluated on a large dataset with several categories of rooms from the domestic environments.
Reviving the Acid Hydrolysis Process of Lignocellulosic Material in Biorefinery

The acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material (LM) is one of the most widely studied and important subprocess in the LM biorefinery. After acid hydrolysis, LM can be converted to various biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials through chemical or biochemical methods. However, conventional LM acid hydrolysis is not regarded as a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly process because it has drawbacks such as difficulties in acid recovery, equipment corrosion, and chemical wastes from the neutralization of acid and the removal of LM degradation products. Use of ionic liquids and solid acids during LM hydrolysis has provided potential technical tools to overcome these problems and has given new life to the LM acid hydrolysis process in the biorefinery. This editorial will discuss the role of the LM acid hydrolysis process in the LM biorefinery, provide an analysis of the conventional LM acid hydrolysis process, and briefly discuss new developments in the LM acid process.
Acute Allograft Rejection Occurs Independently of Inducible Heat Shock Protein-70

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key mediators of the innate response to transplantation. Yet, the substances that activate these cells during acute allograft rejection remain elusive. Previous work has suggested that heat shock protein (HSP)-70 is associated with acute allograft rejection. Hence, the goal of this study was to determine whether HSP-70 activates DCs and plays a critical role in acute allograft rejection in an experimental model that is dependent on innate MyD88 signaling. Our in vitro data indicate that HSP-70 does not activate DCs. In vivo transplant studies demonstrate that HSP-70 levels are not increased during acute allograft rejection and that an absence of the inducible form of HSP-70 neither delays acute allograft rejection, impairs DCs maturation, nor alters Th1 immune responses during acute allograft rejection. In conclusion, our results indicate that HSP-70 in our experimental models does not play an essential role in acute allograft rejection.
Cultured autografting for juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia

Summary. A case of juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML) associated with a chromosomal translocation (1;5) is described. Initial cytoreductive therapy failed to control the disease. In the absence of a matched family or unrelated donor, a Dexter‐type long‐term bone marrow culture (LTBMC) was established. The LTBMC showed preferential growth of normal stem cells over the abnormal clone, allowing a cultured autologous stem cell transplantation to be performed. Despite detection of the t(1;5) from 5 months to 7 years following cultured autograft, the patient remained in haematological remission. Currently the patient is alive and well at 10 years in full cytogenetic remission.
Accurate 3-D Position and Orientation Method for Indoor Mobile Robot Navigation Based on Photoelectric Scanning

Position and orientation of indoor mobile robots must be obtained real timely during operation in structured industrial environment, so as to ensure the security and efficiency of cargo transportation and assembly precision. But for such a large-scale space, only 2-D coordinates and heading angle of the mobile robot can be measured with a relatively low precision in current major methods. This paper presents a novel method for 3-D position and orientation measurement of indoor mobile robot. In this method, a rotary-laser transmitter is utilized, which is mounted on the indoor mobile robot measuring the scanning angles relative to photoelectric artificial landmarks and obtaining its own 3-D space location information. The landmarks whose coordinates in navigation frame should be precalibrated are distributed at the most appropriate positions of the structured industrial environment. On the basis of that, an algorithm of multiangle intersection was established and in-depth discussed to solve transmitter's spatial position and orientation. Experimental results show that, in an 8 m × 6 m × 2.5 m working volume, transmitter's position, and orientation measurement accuracy of proposed method were higher than 3.8 mm and 0.104°, respectively. It demonstrates that the proposed method is reliable and flexible for indoor mobile robot navigation tasks and the measurement accuracy can be further improved by increasing layout density of landmarks.
Modélisation biomécanique du corps humain pour une ergonomie de conception centrée sur l'homme

L’integration d’une analyse ergonomique dans le processus de conception d’un produit est fondamentale pour fournir des informations en termes d’usage, de confort et de securite. Un mannequin numerique comme MANERCOS peut aujourd’hui etre utilise dans ce contexte mais il ne represente que partiellement l’aspect biomecanique de l’activite humaine. Nous proposons donc de developper cet aspect en liaison avec MANERCOS en modelisant par elements finis le corps humain grâce au code de calcul FER.
The Assessment and Prediction of Outcome in Affective Disorders

While detailed and systematic studies have been carried out on the course and outcome of manic-depressive psychoses (Kraepelin, 1921; Rennie, 1942; Poort, 1945; Lundquist, 1945; Astrup et al., 1959; Olsen, 1961; Bratfos and Haug, 1968), depressive illnesses (Lewis, 1936; Kay et al, 1969) and anxiety states (Miles et al., 1951; Eitinger, 1955; Greer and Cawley, 1966), there is little information concerning the prognosis of affective disorders as a whole.
THE EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO ORGANOPHOSPHOROUS COMPOUNDS ON SOME ASPECTS OF CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM IN Tilapia zillii

The Effect of organophosphorous insecticides compounds (Malathion and Fenitrothion) on certain aspects of carbohydrate metabolism in the freshwater fish Tilapia zillii exposed to 1/3 LC50 of both insecticides for 96 hours was studied. Organophosphorous compounds were found to affect some parameters of carbohydrate metabolism. Muscle and liver glycogen decreased significantly accompanied with significant increase of the plasma glucose and the specific activity of phosphorylase enzyme in both liver and muscles. The activity of Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) showed a significant decrease in liver and muscle tissues. Alanine transferase (ALT) and Aspartate transferase (AST) in liver and muscles also showed a significant decrease. Significant alterations in the content of metabolites and enzyme activity under malathion and fenitrothion toxicity seemed to suggest marked shift from aerobic to anaerobic condition.
MEMS based intracranial pressure monitoring sensor

Intracranial Pressure (ICP) is associated with the brain of the body and therefore monitoring of ICP is having a vital role in various diagnostic procedures of patients with head injuries and trauma. Conventionally, invasive methods are used for ICP monitoring which involve surgical procedures. This work proposes a non-invasive, MEMS based capacitive pressure sensor using Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) for sensing increased ICP. This sensor could be useful for neurosurgeons and medical researchers. The MEMS based CMUT is designed using COMSOL Multiphysics choosing dimensions based on the results obtained in mathematical analysis and Genetic Algorithm optimization using GATOOL in MATLAB. The sensor provides a sensitivity of 1 kPa to 2 GPa thus giving a capacitance output of 863 to 1150 fF respectively.
Effects of corticosteroid (dexamethasone) administration on the brain scan.

Abstract In a series of 12 cases with initially abnormal brain scans, repeat scan after dexamethasone therapy showed changes in 10 but none in 2. Two of the 10 reverted to nearly normal; 6 showed marked improvement although the lesions were still visible, and 1 showed slight improvement. One patient was on dexamethasone at the time the study was started and her scan showed dramatic, increased uptake after the drug was discontinued. Generally, clinical improvement correlated with improvement in the scan. Our clinical observations suggest that dexamethasone can cause changes in the 99mTc brain scan.
Predictive current control of a current-source inverter with active damping method

This paper presents a predictive current control strategy with active damping method applied to a current source inverter. This control strategy uses a discrete-time model of the system to predict the future value of the grid current for all possible current vectors generated by the inverter. According to a cost function that minimizes the errors of the predicted grid current and the reference grid current, the current vector at the next sampling time is determined. To suppress the LC resonance in the current source inverter, active damping method using virtual harmonic resistor is adopted. The performance of the proposed control method is compared with the conventional trilogic pulse width modulation control. Simulation results show that the predictive current control with active damping method has an excellent steady-state response as well as an extremely fast dynamic response compared with the conventional method.
Collapsing sponges: Post-quantum security of the sponge construction

We investigate the post-quantum security of hash functions based on the sponge construction. A crucial property for hash functions in the post-quantum setting is the collapsing property (a strengthening of collision-resistance). We show that the sponge construction is collapsing (and in consequence quantum collision-resistant) under suitable assumptions about the underlying block function. In particular, if the block function is a random function or a (non-invertible) random permutation, the sponge construction is collapsing.
Lateral condensation in canals prepared with nickel titanium rotary instruments: an evaluation of the use of three different master cones.

Forty-five single-rooted teeth were instrumented with ProFile ISO . 06 nickel-titanium rotary instruments and obturated with lateral condensation using three different master cones: an ISO-standardized gutta-percha cone (group A), a Dia-ISO(GT). 06 gutta-percha cone (group B), and a size medium gutta-percha cone (group C). Obturation efficiency in each group was evaluated by recording the number of accessory cones utilized. To evaluate obturation quality in the three groups, a cross-sectional observation of the ability of the gutta-percha in each group to obliterate the prepared canal space was carried out. Results showed that obturation efficiency was significantly greater in groups B and C than in group A. There was no significant difference in obturation quality between any of the three groups.
Goma gellan : formulación de geles fluidos y de emulsiones de a-pineno en presencia de copolímeros

El objetivo principal de esta tesis es el estudio de la goma gellan de bajo grado de acetilacion en forma de gel fluido como estabilizante de emulsiones agroquimicas, en las que hasta ahora, el hidrocoloide de referencia era la goma xantana. Se va a tratar, por tanto, las aplicaciones de este biopolimero en emulsiones modelos para aplicaciones agroquimicas, basadas en un disolvente verde, el alfa-pineno. La motivacion se basa en la necesidad de reformular muchos agroquimicos basados en disolventes con altos contenidos en compuestos aromaticos, que estan siendo progresivamente restringidos por la Union Europea. El alfa pineno es un disolvente terpenico facilmente biodegradable, que se puede obtener a partir de la resina de pinos y otras coniferas, asi como de los aceites esenciales de plantas como el enebro, romero y eucalipto. Tambien se ha estudiado la utilizacion de una combinacion de copolimeros anfifilicos de naturaleza no ionica, de distinto HLB, con objeto de favorecer un mecanismo de estabilizacion basado en interacciones ionicas. Finalmente decir, que el caracter heterogeneo de los geles fluidos de goma gellan producidos, no han facilitado su utilizacion como estabilizante eficaz, dado que las gotas emulsionadas de disolvente podia moverse con facilidad en las zonas libres de microgeles. Por ello, se ha optado por utilizar disoluciones concentradas de goma gellan.