Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Edge-directed inference for microaneurysms detection in digital fundus images

Microaneurysms (MAs) detection is a critical step in diabetic retinopathy screening, since MAs are the earliest visible warning of potential future problems. A variety of algorithms have been proposed for MAs detection in mass screening. Different methods have been proposed for MAs detection. The core technology for most of existing methods is based on a directional mathematical morphological operation called "Top-Hat" filter that requires multiple filtering operations at each pixel. Background structure, uneven illumination and noise often cause confusion between MAs and some non-MA structures and limits the applicability of the filter. In this paper, a novel detection framework based on edge directed inference is proposed for MAs detection. The candidate MA regions are first delineated from the edge map of a fundus image. Features measuring shape, brightness and contrast are extracted for each candidate MA region to better exclude false detection from true MAs. Algorithmic analysis and empirical evaluation reveal that the proposed edge directed inference outperforms the "Top-Hat" based algorithm in both detection accuracy and computational speed.
Towards a Design Theory for Collaborative Qualitative Data Analysis

This position paper addresses how to develop a design theory to support the collaborative practice of qualitative data analysis. Qualitative researchers face several challenges in making sense of their empirical data and IS-support for this practice can be found in software applications such as NVivo, Atlas.ti, and DeDoose. While these software tools have utility and are valuable, they are also limiting – and they are particularly limiting researchers in their collaborative efforts with their co-researchers. In this paper, we investigate a design theory to extend it to support collaboration. We use this as a stepping stone to discuss how to use a design theory to problematize existing applications and how to extend a design theory by abduction.
Chapter 5 Hydrodynamics of Sniffing by Crustaceans

Chemical signals are dispersed in aquatic environments by turbulent water currents. The first step in smelling these signals is the capture of odor molecules from the water around an organism. Olfactory antennules of crustaceans are used to study the physical process of odor capture because they are external organs protruding into the water where researchers can measure how they interact with their fluid environment. The antennules of lobsters, crabs, and stomatopods, which bear chemosensory hairs (“aesthetascs”), flick through the water. For any array of small hairs, there is a critical velocity range above which the array is “leaky” and fluid can flow between the hairs, and below which fluid barely moves through the spaces between the hairs. When antennules flick they move faster than the critical velocity and water flows into the spaces between aesthetascs. In contrast, during the return stroke the antennule moves more slowly than the critical velocity and the water sampled during the flick is trapped between the aesthetascs until the next flick. Odorant molecules in the water trapped between the aesthetascs during the return stroke and interflick pause diffuse to the surfaces of the aesthetascs, before the next flick traps a new parcel of water. Therefore, each antennule flick is a “sniff,” taking a discrete sample of the odor plume in space and time.
Generalizing Koopman Theory to Allow for Inputs and Control

We develop a new generalization of Koopman operator theory that incorporates the effects of inputs and control. Koopman spectral analysis is a theoretical tool for the analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems. Moreover, Koopman is intimately connected to Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD), a method that discovers spatial-temporal coherent modes from data, connects local-linear analysis to nonlinear operator theory, and importantly creates an equation-free architecture allowing investigation of complex systems. In actuated systems, standard Koopman analysis and DMD are incapable of producing input-output models; moreover, the dynamics and the modes will be corrupted by external forcing. Our new theoretical developments extend Koopman operator theory to allow for systems with nonlinear input-output characteristics. We show how this generalization is rigorously connected and generalizes a recent development called Dynamic Mode Decomposition with control (DMDc). We demonstrate this new theory on nonlinear dynamical systems, including a standard Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered model with relevance to the analysis of infectious disease data with mass vaccination (actuation).
A Specific Reduction in Aβ1−42 vs. a Universal Loss of Aβ Peptides in CSF Differentiates Alzheimer's Disease From Meningitis and Multiple Sclerosis

A reduced concentration of Aβ1−42 in CSF is one of the established biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Reduced CSF concentrations of Aβ1−42 have also been shown in multiple sclerosis, viral encephalitis and bacterial meningitis. As neuroinflammation is one of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, an infectious origin of the disease has been proposed. According to this hypothesis, amyloid pathology is a consequence of a microbial infection and the resulting immune defense. Accordingly, changes in CSF levels of amyloid-β peptides should be similar in AD and inflammatory brain diseases. Aβ1−42 and Aβ1−40 levels were measured in cerebrospinal fluid by ELISA and Western blotting in 34 patients with bacterial meningitis (n = 9), multiple sclerosis (n = 5) or Alzheimer's disease (n = 9) and in suitable controls (n = 11). Reduced concentrations of Aβ1−42 were detected in patients with bacterial meningitis, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. However, due to a concurrent reduction in Aβ1−40 in multiple sclerosis and meningitis patients, the ratio of Aβ1−42/Aβ1−40 was reduced only in the CSF of Alzheimer's disease patients. Urea-SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting revealed that all Aβ peptide variants are reduced in bacterial meningitis, whereas in Alzheimer's disease, only Aβ1−42 is reduced. These results have two implications. First, they confirm the discriminatory diagnostic power of the Aβ1−42/Aβ1−40 ratio. Second, the differential pattern of Aβ peptide reductions suggests that the amyloid pathology in meningitis and multiple sclerosis differs from that in AD and does not support the notion of AD as an infection-triggered immunopathology.
CamK: Camera-Based Keystroke Detection and Localization for Small Mobile Devices

Because of the smaller size of mobile devices, text entry with on-screen keyboards becomes inefficient. Therefore, we present CamK, a camera-based text-entry method, which can use a panel (e.g., a piece of paper) with a keyboard layout to input text into small devices. With the built-in camera of the mobile device, CamK captures images during the typing process and utilizes image processing techniques to recognize the typing behavior, i.e., extract the keys, track the user's fingertips, detect, and locate keystrokes. To achieve high accuracy of keystroke localization and low false positive rate of keystroke detection, CamK introduces the initial training and online calibration. To reduce the time latency, CamK optimizes computation-intensive modules by changing image sizes, focusing on target areas, introducing multiple threads, removing the operations of writing or reading images. Finally, we implement CamK on mobile devices running Android. Our experimental results show that CamK can achieve above 95 percent accuracy in keystroke localization, with only a 4.8 percent false positive rate. When compared with on-screen keyboards, CamK can achieve a 1.25X typing speedup for regular text input and 2.5X for random character input. In addition, we introduce word prediction to further improve the input speed for regular text by 13.4 percent.
Sexual dimorphism in locomotor performance and its relation to morphology in wall lizards (Podarcis bocagei)

Sexual dimorphism (SD) is the result of evolutionary pressures acting differentially on members of each sex. Investigating the association between SD observed in different sets of phenotypic traits, which are evolutionarily linked, can shed light on the mechanisms causing SD variation within and across species. Although the association between morphology and locomotor performance is a major paradigm in ecomorphology, substantially less effort has been dedicated to investigate the covariation between both sets of traits in the context of sexual divergence. Here, we investigated morphology and locomotor performance in wall lizards Podarcis bocagei to determine if locomotor SD exists in this species, as one may expect based on the morphological SD observed, and test whether both types of SD are directly associated. Our results indicate that significant morphological and locomotor SD exists in this species, reporting a significant locomotor SD for the first time in this genus of lizards. Our study also provides evidence that a direct association between morphology and performance exists at the individual level, binding together SD in both sets of traits. The observed patterns of SD suggest that male locomotor capacity and the corresponding morphological features are well suited for sprinting in level surfaces, but less so for other types of locomotion, potentially as a result of sexual selection acting on male locomotor performance through influences on territory defence and reproductive fitness.
Verkehrstelematik und Analysen zu ihrer Akzeptanz: Sachstand – Defizite – Potenziale

Der vorliegende Artikel soll einen Beitrag dazu leisten, den Stand der Akzeptanzforschung in der Verkehrstelematik zu verbessern. Dazu werden zum einen die Einsatzmoglichkeiten ausgewahlter quantitativer Erhebungs- und Analysemethoden fur den Untersuchungsgegenstand Verkehrstelematik beschrieben. Zum anderen werden erste empirische Befunde der Akzeptanzforschung des DLR-Instituts fur Verkehrsforschung vorgestellt und diskutiert.
Automatic slice image matching algorithm for comparative reading using data of the pulmonary structure

The lung cancer is very difficult to treat when condition of disease reaches an advanced stage. Therefore, the early detection and the early treatment by the mass cscreening are important. Now, the3 mass screening using the chest X-rays film is performed, and its detection rate is low. Recently, mass screening for lung cancer started using helical CT. However, since each subject has about 30 images, there is concern about the increase ofa burden to a physician. This comparative reading system solves difficulties of efficient display with the past and present images. But, automatic slice-image-matching is difficult by computer, since the states of the lungs at the time of photography differ from each other. This research analyzed change of the lungs between images with time and proposed automatic slice image mtching algorithm for comparative reading.
Determination of total phenolics and ascorbic acid related to an antioxidant activity and thermal stability of the Mao fruit juice.

This study was aimed to determine total phenolics and ascorbic acid in association with their antioxidant activity and thermal stability. Both total phenolics and ascorbic acid contents of the mao juice were 337.52 mg GAE/100 mL and 175.34 mg/100 mL, respectively. Their antioxidant activity was comparatively assayed by four antioxidant methods, and found to be 590.81 mg BHT/100 mL, 95.41 mg Trolox/100 mL, 488.96 mg Trolox/100 mL and 15.77 mM Fe2+/100 mL, according to each corresponding substrate of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2 ́-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline 6-sulphonate (ABTS), N,N-dimethylp-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (DMPD) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), respectively. The heating effect on total phenolics of the mao juice was also investigated. It was found that changes in the antioxidant activity related total phenolics of the juice sample were not significantly found, indicating high thermal stability.
Running Head : GIVE IT UP Give It Up : A Strategy for Combatting Hedonic Adaptation

The present research provides the first evidence that temporarily giving up something pleasurable may provide an effective route to happiness. Participants were asked to eat a piece of chocolate during two lab sessions, held one week apart. During the intervening week, we randomly assigned them to abstain from chocolate or to eat as much of it as possible, while a control group received no special instructions related to their chocolate consumption. At the second lab session, participants who had temporarily given up chocolate savored it significantly more and experienced more positive moods after eating it, compared to those in either of the other two conditions. Many cultural and religious practices entail temporarily giving up something pleasurable, and our research suggests that such self-denial may carry ironic benefits for well-being by combatting hedonic adaptation. Give It Up: A Strategy for Combatting Hedonic Adaptation
Kobe University Repository : Kernel タイトル Tit le Act ivat ion of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor induces hepat ic steatosis via the upregulat ion of fat ty acid transport 著者

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a basic helix-loop-helix/Per-ARNT-Sim domain transcription factor, which is activated by various xenobiotic ligands. AHR is known to be abundant in liver tissue and to be associated with hepatic steatosis. However, it has not yet been elucidated how the activation of AHR promotes hepatic steatosis. The aim of this study is to clarify the role of AHR in hepatic steatosis. The intraperitoneal injection of 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC), a potent AHR ligand, into C57BL/6J mice significantly increased the levels of triglycerides and 6 long-chain monounsaturated fatty acids in the livers of mice, resulting in hepatic microvesicular steatosis. 3MC significantly enhanced the expression level of fatty acid translocase (FAT), a factor regulating the uptake of long-chain fatty acids into hepatocytes, in the liver. In an in vitro experiment using human hepatoma HepG2 cells, 3MC increased the expression level of FAT, and the downregulation of AHR by AHR siRNA led to the suppression of 3MC-induced FAT expression. In addition, the mRNA level of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α, an upstream factor of FAT, was increased in the livers of 3MC-treated mice. Taking together, AHR activation induces hepatic microvesicular steatosis by increasing the expression level of FAT.
Diets of sympatric red wolves and coyotes in northeastern North Carolina

Abstract The recent co-occurrence of red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) in eastern North Carolina provides a unique opportunity to study prey partitioning by sympatric canids. We collected scats from this region and examined them for prey contents. We used fecal DNA analysis to identify which taxa deposited each scat and multinomial modeling designed for mark–recapture data to investigate diets of sympatric red wolves and coyotes. Diets of red wolves and coyotes did not differ, but the proportion of small rodents in the composite scats of both canids was greater in the spring than in the summer. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.), and small rodents were the most common diet items in canid scats. The similarity of diet between red wolves and coyotes suggests that these 2 species may be affecting prey populations similarly.
Automatic Identification of Best Attributes for Indexing in Data Deduplication

We introduce an approach that selects relevant attributes to the indexing step of data deduplication, reducing the whole processing time and improving the deduplication effectiveness. We evaluate the proposed method on synthetic and real datasets over distinct domains. We also evaluate the impact of choosing the indexing attributes over the other steps of the deduplication process, then concluding our solution is both efficient (time cost) and effective (results quality) as a whole.
Accelerated 3D image registration

Image registration is an important task in most medical imaging applications. Numerous algorithms have been proposed and some are widely used. However, due to the vast amount of data collected by eg. a computed tomography (CT) scanner, most registration algorithms are very slow and memory consuming. This is a huge problem especially in atlas building, where potentially hundreds of registrations are performed. This paper describes an approach for accelerated image registration. A grid-based warp function proposed by Cootes and Twining, parameterized by the displacement of the grid-nodes, is used. Using a coarse-to-fine approach, the composition of small diffeomorphic warps, results in a final diffeomorphic warp. Normally the registration is done using a standard gradient-based optimizer, but to obtain a fast algorithm the optimization is formulated in the inverse compositional framework proposed by Baker and Matthews. By switching the roles of the target and the input volume, the Jacobian and the Hessian can be pre-calculated resulting in a very efficient optimization algorithm. By exploiting the local nature of the grid-based warp, the storage requirements of the Jacobian and the Hessian can be minimized. Furthermore, it is shown that additional constraints on the registration, such as the location of markers, are easily embedded in the optimization. The method is applied on volumes built from CT-scans of pig-carcasses, and results show a two-fold increase in speed using the inverse compositional approach versus the traditional gradient-based method.
Arabic-English Parallel Corpus: A New Resource for Translation Training and Language Teaching

Parallel corpora can be defined as collections of aligned, translated texts of two or more languages. They play a major role in translation and contrastive studies, and are also becoming popular in translation training and language teaching, with the advent of the data-driven learning (DDL) approach. Despite their significance, however, Arabic seems to lack a satisfactory general-use parallel corpus resource. The literature describes few Arabic–English parallel corpora, and these few are usually inaccurate and/or expensive. Some are small in size, while others are restricted in terms of genre, failing to meet the requirements of many academics and researchers. This paper describes an ongoing project at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, to compile a 10-million-word Arabic–English parallel corpus to be used as a resource for translation training and language teaching. The bidirectional corpus can be used to compare translated and source language and identify differences. The corpus has been manually verified at different stages, including translation, text segmentation, alignment, and file preparation; it is available as full-text in XML format and through a user-friendly web interface that provides a concordancer to support bilingual search queries and several filtering options.
Effect of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Particle Size on Cellulase Production by Botryosphaeria sp. Under Solid State Fermentation

Locally isolated Botryosphaeria sp. showed the ablity to produce cellulases (FPase, CMCase and β-glucosidase) from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) as substrate. Different particle sizes (0.25-0.3 mm, 0.42-0.6 mm, 0.84-1.0 mm and 5.0-10 mm) of OPEFB were investigated under solid state fermentation on the cellulase production. The highest production of FPase and β-glucosidase were obtained from OPEFB particle size of 0.42 - 0.60 mm with 3.261 ± 0.011 U/g and 0.115 ± 0.008 U/g, respectively. It was found that among the four different OPEFB particle sizes studied, particle size of 0.84 - 1.0 mm gave the highest activity of CMCase (8.134 ± 0.071 U/g). Highest concentration of reducing sugars produced in this experiment was 4.303 ± 0.095 mg/ml.
Towards an Information-Theoretic Framework for Quantifying Wayfinding Information in Virtual Environments

Signage systems are critical for communicating environmental information. Signage that is visible and properly located can assist individuals in making efﬁcient navigation decisions during wayﬁnd-ing. Drawing upon concepts from information theory, we propose a framework to quantify the wayﬁnding information available in a virtual environment. Towards this end, we calculate and visualize the uncertainty in the information available to agents for individual signs. In addition, we expand on the inﬂuence of new signs on overall information (e.g., joint entropy, conditional entropy, mutual Information). The proposed framework can serve as the backbone for an evaluation tool to help architects during different stages of the design process by analyzing the efﬁciency of the signage sys-tem.
Intensity-based registration and combined visualization of multimodal brain images for noninvasive epilepsy surgery planning

To visualize the brain anatomy, seizure focus location and grid and strip electrode in 3-dimensional space provides improved planning information for focus localization and margin determination pre- and intra-operatively. However given the relatively poor spatial resolution and structural detail of the PET images, it can be difficult to recognize precise anatomic localization of the site of increased activation during seizure. In this paper, we present an intensity-based registration and combined visualization of CT, MR and PET brain images to provide both critical functional information and the structural details.
Towards metrics of Evaluation of Pepper robot as a Social Companion for Elderly People

For the design of socially acceptable robots, field studies in Human-Robot Interaction are necessary. Constructing dialogue benchmarks can have a meaning only if researchers take into account the evaluation of robot, human, and their interaction. This paper describes a study aiming at finding an objective evaluation procedure of the dialogue with a social robot. The goal is to build an empathic robot (JOKER project) and it focuses on elderly people, the end-users expected by ROMEO2 project. The authors carried out three experimental sessions. The first time, the robot was NAO, and it was with a Wizard of Oz (emotions were entered manually by experimenters as inputs to the program). The other times, the robot was Pepper, and it was totally autonomous (automatic detection of emotions and decision according to). Each interaction involved various scenarios dealing with emotion recognition, humor, negotiation and cultural quiz. The paper details the system functioning, the scenarios and the evaluation of the experiments. Mélanie Garcia LIMSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France, e-mail: garcia@limsi.fr Lucile Béchade LIMSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France e-mail: lucile.bechade@limsi.fr Guillaume Dubuisson-Duplessis LIMSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France e-mail: gdubuisson@limsi.fr Gabrielle Pittaro LIMSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France e-mail: gabrielle.pittaro@univ-sorbonne.fr Laurence Devillers LIMSI-CNRS, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Orsay, France e-mail: devil@limsi.fr