Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-level image thresholding based on improved fireworks algorithm

Aiming at achieving the optimal multi-level thresholding quickly and effectively for the image segmentation, this paper proposes an improved fireworks algorithm based image segmentation method. The proposed method transforms the multi-level thresholding problem into a multivariate combinational optimization problem and then improved the fireworks algorithm for a better image segmentation. Meanwhile, the Otsu method is adopted as the fitness function, and the global search and the local search in the improved fireworks algorithm method is utilized to achieve multi-level thresholding concurrently and efficiently. The experimental results show that the improved fireworks algorithm based image segmentation method can significantly improve the segmentation efficiency comparing with other swarm intelligence algorithm based image segmentation methods.
Large-scale replicated field study of maize rhizosphere identifies heritable microbes

Significance In this very large-scale longitudinal field study of the maize rhizosphere microbiome, we identify heritable taxa. These taxa display variance in their relative abundances that can be partially explained by genetic differences between the maize lines, above and beyond the strong influences of field, plant age, and weather on the diversity of the rhizosphere microbiome. If these heritable taxa are associated with beneficial traits, they may serve as phenotypes in future breeding endeavors. Soil microbes that colonize plant roots and are responsive to differences in plant genotype remain to be ascertained for agronomically important crops. From a very large-scale longitudinal field study of 27 maize inbred lines planted in three fields, with partial replication 5 y later, we identify root-associated microbiota exhibiting reproducible associations with plant genotype. Analysis of 4,866 samples identified 143 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) whose variation in relative abundances across the samples was significantly regulated by plant genotype, and included five of seven core OTUs present in all samples. Plant genetic effects were significant amid the large effects of plant age on the rhizosphere microbiome, regardless of the specific community of each field, and despite microbiome responses to climate events. Seasonal patterns showed that the plant root microbiome is locally seeded, changes with plant growth, and responds to weather events. However, against this background of variation, specific taxa responded to differences in host genotype. If shown to have beneficial functions, microbes may be considered candidate traits for selective breeding.
An Untapped Resource in the Spotlight of Medicinal Biotechnology: The Genus Scutellaria.

BACKGROUND This review is intended to draw the attention of pharmaceutical and biotechnological communities to the untapped potential of the Scutellaria genus. Skullcaps, as they are more widely known, are found in one of the oldest materia medica in the world, that of ancient Chinese pharmacology, and their numerous wide range of medicinal bioactivities have been studied both in vivo and in vitro. For thousands of years, chemical compounds from the Scutellaria species have been safely used as antitumor, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant or hepatoprotective factors. OBJECTIVE As these effects are well known, reflected in the presence of Scutellaria plants in national pharmacopoeias, it is clear that the plant has yet enormous unexploited potential. The European pharmacological market has turned to the resources of Scutellaria only in the last two decades, and although the construction and clinical processing of a new drug is a long process, the general impression is that very few medical products in pharmacies have been inspired by the phytochemistry of skullcaps. CONCLUSION This paper presents the current state of knowledge on the wealth of Scutellaria chemical compounds with treatment applications, its tissue culture and biotechnological achievements, especially in the context of the production of secondary metabolites.
The design and implementation of a low-cost power monitoring system for campus power monitoring

The real-time electricity data can be regarded as a building event sensor to detect various events in a building. The idea is that the use of electricity comes mainly from the users in the build, the trends and changes in electricity data reflect the behavior of the users. For example, the increase of electricity may come from the user turning on the air conditioner, and the reduction of electricity may come from the user turning off the light and leaving the laboratory. In this paper, we report our design and implementation of power monitoring devices to collect actual electricity usage data from NCHU campus and propose to analyze the power data in the building space by heat map views. We collected more than 7 billion electricity usage records. We also made the data set publicly available to the public in the hope that it will be helpful in the field of electricity data research.
Inflammation‐dependent and independent airway remodelling in asthma

The pathology of asthma is characterized by airway inflammation (granulocytic (GA) or paucigranulocytic (PGA)) and remodelling of airway structures. However, the relationship between inflammatory phenotypes and remodelling is unclear. We hypothesized that some features of airway remodelling are dependent on granulocytic airway inflammation while others are not.
Efficacy of PRIME, a Mobile App Intervention Designed to Improve Motivation in Young People With Schizophrenia

The onset of schizophrenia occurs during a period critical for development of social relationships and functional independence. As such, interventions that target the early course of illness have the potential to stave off functional decline and restore functioning to pre-illness levels. In this entirely remote study, people with recent-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) participated in a 12-week randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of PRIME (personalized real-time intervention for motivational enhancement), a mobile-based digital health intervention designed to improve motivation and quality of life. Participants were randomized into the PRIME (n = 22) or treatment-as-usual/waitlist (TAU/WL) condition (n = 21) and completed assessments at baseline, post-trial (12 wk), and for people in the PRIME condition, 3 months after the end of the trial. After 12-weeks, WL participants received PRIME, resulting in a total sample of 38 participants completing PRIME. In PRIME, participants worked towards self-identified goals with the support of a virtual community of age-matched peers with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders as well as motivation coaches. Compared to the WL condition, people in the PRIME condition had significantly greater improvements in self-reported depression, defeatist beliefs, self-efficacy, and a trend towards motivation/pleasure negative symptoms post-trial, and these improvements were maintained 3 months after the end of trial. We also found that people in the PRIME condition had significantly greater improvements in components of social motivation post-trial (anticipated pleasure and effort expenditure). Our results suggest that PRIME has the potential to be an effective mobile-based intervention for improving aspects of mood and motivation in young people with SSDs.
Transmit Precoder Design for Two-User Broadcast Channel with Statistical and Delayed CSIT

Recent studies have revealed the efficacy of incorporating delayed channel state information at transmit side (CSIT) in transmission scheme design. This paper focuses on transmit precoder design to maximize the ergodic sum-rate in a two-user Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) system with delayed and statistical CSIT. A new transmit strategy which precodes signals in all transmit slots is proposed in this paper, denoted as all time-slots precoding Alternative MAT (AAMAT). There is a common procedure in conventional delayed-CSIT based schemes, which is retransmitting the overheard interferences. Since the retransmitting signal is intended to both users, all previous schemes tend to use only one antenna. We however figure out an improvement in spectral efficiency could be realized if all antennas can be utilized. In this paper, we detail the design of the procoder which enabling all antennas and also we compute a lower bound of the ergodic sum-rate in an ideal condition. In addition, simulation results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed scheme .
Transcriptional Alterations in the Trigeminal Ganglia, Nucleus and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in a Rat Orofacial Pain Model

Orofacial pain and headache disorders are among the most debilitating pain conditions. While the pathophysiological basis of these disorders may be diverse, it is generally accepted that a common mechanism behind the arising pain is the sensitization of extra- and intracranial trigeminal primary afferents. In the present study we investigated gene expression changes in the trigeminal ganglia (TRG), trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) evoked by Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA)-induced orofacial inflammation in rats, as a model of trigeminal sensitization. Microarray analysis revealed 512 differentially expressed genes between the ipsi- and contralateral TRG samples 7 days after CFA injection. Time-dependent expression changes of G-protein coupled receptor 39 (Gpr39), kisspeptin-1 receptor (Kiss1r), kisspeptin (Kiss1), as well as synaptic plasticity-associated Lkaaear1 (Lkr) and Neurod2 mRNA were described on the basis of qPCR results. The greatest alterations were observed on day 3 ipsilaterally, when orofacial mechanical allodynia reached its maximum. This corresponded well with patterns of neuronal (Fosb), microglia (Iba1), and astrocyte (Gfap) activation markers in both TRG and TNC, and interestingly also in PBMCs. This is the first description of up- and downregulated genes both in primary and secondary sensory neurones of the trigeminovascular system that might play important roles in neuroinflammatory activation mechanisms. We are the first to show transcriptomic alterations in the PBMCs that are similar to the neuronal changes. These results open new perspectives and initiate further investigations in the research of trigeminal pain disorders.
Localization in coupled systems: Part III - vibration characteristics analysis in a mode-localized four cantilever array with and without mass perturbation

The effects of geometrical design of the coupling overhang, cantilever length, as well as the number of identical coupled cantilevers on the magnitude enhancement with a small mass perturbation were previously reported in DTIP 2011. And the effect of material damping induced by the internal friction loss was studied in DTIP 2017. However, this paper has made an analytical study on mass perturbation in a mode-localized four-cantilever array made of copper, whose amplitude ratio is higher than previous cantilever arrays. In light of vibration eigenstate changes, the sensitivity is higher when mass is applied on the side resonator (NO.1 or NO. 4). The conclusion can be analytically determined by simulation results. To further analyze sensitivity, amplitude ratio between NO.1 and NO.4 resonator (NO.2 and NO.3 resonator) has been investigated. In this paper, the mode-localized cantilever array has a wide range of applications such as in measuring electric field force, magnetic force etc.
[Effect of the vacuum-formed retainer on preventing the proximal contact loss between implant supported crown and adjacent natural teeth].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of the vacuum-formed retainer on preventing the proximal contact loss between the implant supported crown and its adjacent natural teeth. METHODS Forty-six posterior implant crowns in the mandible including 92 interproximal contacts in 46 patients (19 men, 27 women) aged from 25 to 66 years were included. The participants in experimental group (22 cases) were vacuum-formed retainers at night, while participants in control group (24 cases) only received routine examination. The two groups were not different in age, gender, the time interval of the tooth loss and tooth position at baseline. Mesial and distal proximal contact tightness was measured using the orthodontic dynamometer and metallic articulating film immediately after crown delivery, and 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-up respectively. The articulating film was inserted interdentally from the occlusal direction, and then it was slowly removed in the buccallingual direction by the dynamometer. Increasing the number of films (N) piece by piece until the frictional force (F) was great than 0, and the number of films (N) was recorded. At each follow-up, proximal contact between implant crown and its adjacent teeth was considered to be loss if the number of films (N) used at immediate crown delivery passed without frictional force (F=0). Besides, the periodontal conditions [scored according to the probing depth (PD), bleeding index (BI), mobility (M)] and complaint of food impaction were recorded. The mesial and distal proximal contact loss rates were compared between the two groups at different times. Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS The proximal contact loss rate on the mesial surface of the implant supported crown continuously increased over the follow-up periods. At the end of the 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow ups, 18.2%, 22.7% and 27.3% were identified for the contact loss rates on the mesial surface of the implant supported crown in the experimental group, respectively. Meanwhile in control group, the rates were 20.8%, 37.5% and 45.8%. No significant differences were observed at the end of the 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow ups(1-month: χ2=0.000, P=1.000; 3-month: χ2=1.183, P=0.277; 6-month: χ2=1.697, P=0.193). The proximal contact loss rate on the mesial surface in control group (62.5%) was significantly higher than that in the experimental group (31.8%, χ2=4.330, P=0.037) at the end of the 1-year follow-up. However, no statistical difference was found on the distal surfaces between the two groups during the whole follow-up periods. The first open contact was noted 1 month after crown insertion. CONCLUSION By wearing vacuum-formed retainer for one year, the incidence of open contacts between the posterior implant prostheses and mesial adjacent teeth in the mandible has been reduced.
Influence of doping profiles and chip temperature on short-circuit oscillations of IGBTs

TCAD simulations of 1200 V IGBT with different p-emitter and field-stop doses, and different junction temperatures show that oscillations are likely to occur for short-circuit conditions with relatively low bipolar current gains of the IGBT's collector-side p-n-p-transistor and for relative low junction temperatures respectively. Measurement results from different IGBTs are in qualitative agreement with the simulation results. Accordingly, short-circuit oscillations can be controlled by an adjustment of the bipolar current gain by means of an appropriate field-stop and p-emitter design.
A parallel randomized neural network on in-memory cluster computing for big data

Owing to its good generalization performance and rapid learning speed, RNN (Randomized Neural Network) is widely used in text classification, image recognition, bioinformatics and other fields. However, the amount of data generated by applications in the real world is growing, and the traditional centralized randomized neural network (RNN) is no longer able to quickly and efficiently learn data that is so large. Therefore, this paper makes use of the distributed framework provided by Flink to realize the randomized neural network (RNN) parallelization algorithm to make up for the deficiency of traditional centralized randomized neural network (RNN) algorithm in dealing with large datasets. By analyzing the characteristics of the traditional centralized randomized neural network (RNN), we find that the most time consuming part is the matrix multiplication operation of the Moore generalized inverse matrix when calculating the output weight vector. Since the matrix multiplication can be decomposed, the distributed matrix can be multiplied by the distributed framework provided by Flink, and then the corresponding output weight vector is centrally calculated. Extensive experiments have validated the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.
Getting the control across: Control transmission in information systems offshoring projects

Offshoring of information systems (IS) projects has become a widespread global practice. While prior research suggests that controlling, and communicating with, offshore vendors represent key managerial challenges, the topic of how control is communicated, or transmitted, from client to vendor has been widely neglected. Our study focuses on control transmission in the critical relationship between client and offshore vendor managers, and its impact on the performance of IS offshoring projects. Drawing on a matched‐pair survey with 172 client and vendor managers from 86 projects, our results provide several new insights to the IS literature: First, we find that both behaviour and outcome control have the capacity to be transmitted consistently in lateral IS offshore project relationships. Second, our results show that consistent transmission translates into a performance effect only for outcome control. Third, we find that high‐performing offshore projects are characterized by both greater control transmission consistency and greater use of outcome control compared to low‐performing projects. In sum, our study extends theory on IS project control by highlighting that effective control of IS offshoring projects is not only about selecting proper controls but also about ensuring that, as a controller, you get the control across to the controllee.
Pathogenomics of Endometriosis Development

For over 100 years, endometriosis, as a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory, heritable disease affecting approximately 5–10% of women in reproductive age has been the focus of clinicians and scientists. In spite of numerous environmental, genetic, epigenetic, endocrine, and immunological studies, our knowledge of endometriosis is still fragmentary, and its precise pathophysiology and pathogenomics remain a mystery. The implementation of new technologies has provided tremendous progress in understanding the many intrinsic molecular mechanisms in the development of endometriosis, with progenitor and stem cells (SCs) of the eutopic endometrium as the starting players and endometriotic lesions as the final pathomorphological trait. Novel data on the molecular, genetic, and epigenetic mechanisms of the disease are briefly outlined. We hypothesize the existence of an endometriosis development genetic program (EMDP) that governs the origin of endometrium stem cells programmed for endometriosis (1), their transition (metaplasia) into mesenchymal SCs (2), and their invasion of the peritoneum and progression to endometriotic lesions (3). The pros and cons of the recent unifying theory of endometriosis are also discussed. Complex genomic and epigenetic interactions at different stages of the endometriosis process result in different forms of the disease, with specific features and clinical manifestations. The significance of the EMDP in elaborating a new strategy for endometriosis prediction, prevention, and treatment is discussed.
Q fever: an under-reported reportable communicable disease

Abstract The objective of this study was to provide real-world clinical laboratory-based data to supplement Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting of Q fever. We analysed titre results of specimens submitted to a large US clinical laboratory for Coxiella burnetii IgG antibody testing from 2010 through 2016. Presumptive Q fever was defined as acute (phase II IgG titre ⩾1:128, phase I titre <1:1024) or chronic (phase I IgG titre ⩾1:1024), based on the results from a single serum specimen. During 2010–2016, an average of 328 presumptive acute Q fever cases were identified at Quest each year, nearly three times the annual average reported to the CDC (122). During the same period, the number of chronic cases identified annually at Quest Diagnostics (34) was similar to that reported to the CDC (29). These findings suggest that CDC data may underestimate the incidence of acute Q fever.
Multi-focus Image Fusion using Fully Convolutional Two-stream Network for Visual Sensors

We propose a deep learning method for multi-focus image fusion. Unlike most existing pixel-level fusion methods, either in spatial domain or in transform domain, our method directly learns an end-to-end fully convolutional two-stream network. The framework maps a pair of different focus images to a clean version, with a chain of convolutional layers, fusion layer and deconvolutional layers. Our deep fusion model has advantages of efficiency and robustness, yet demonstrates state-of-art fusion quality. We explore different parameter settings to achieve trade-offs between performance and speed. Moreover, the experiment results on our training dataset show that our network can achieve good performance with subjective visual perception and objective assessment metrics.
Field Extraction by Hybrid Incremental and A-Priori Structural Templates

In this paper, we present an incremental frame-work for extracting information fields from administrative documents. First, we demonstrate some limits of the existing state-of-the-art methods such as the delay of the system efficiency. This is a concern in industrial context when we have only few samples of each document class. Based on this analysis, we propose a hybrid system combining incremental learning by means of itf-df statistics and a-priori generic models. We report in the experimental section our results obtained with a dataset of real invoices.
On Energy-Efficient NOMA Designs for Heterogeneous Low-Latency Downlink Transmissions

This paper investigates energy-efficient resource allocation for the two-user downlink with strict latency constraints at users. To cope with strict latency constraints, the capacity formula of the finite blocklength codes (FBCs) is adopted, in contrast to the classical Shannon capacity formula. The FBC formula explicitly specifies the trade-off between blocklength and reliability. We first consider the case where the transmitter uses super-position coding based non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). However, due to heterogeneous latency constraints and channel conditions at users, the conventional successive interference cancellation may be infeasible. We thus propose to use different interference mitigation schemes according to heterogeneous user conditions and solve the corresponding NOMA design problems. Though the target energy function is non-convex and implicit, optimal user blocklength and power allocation can still be identified for the considered NOMA schemes and checking the problem feasibility is simple. It is observed that when the latency requirements are more heterogeneous, the NOMA scheme cannot achieve the best energy-efficiency of the downlink. In view of this, a hybrid transmission scheme which includes time division multiple access (TDMA) and NOMA as special cases is considered. Although the energy minimization is even challenging than the pure NOMA design problem, we propose a concave approximation of the FBC capacity formula which allows to obtain computationally efficient and high-quality solutions. Simulation results show that the hybrid scheme can benefits from both NOMA and TDMA.