Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hybrid background modeling for long-term and short-term illumination changes (特集 ビジョン技術によるイノベーション)

Background modeling has been widely researched to detect moving objects from image sequences. It is necessary to adapt the background model various changes of illumination condition. Recent years, a hybrid type of background model which consists of more than one background model has been used for object detection since it is very adaptable to illumination changes. In this paper, we also propose a new hybrid type of background model named “Hybrid Spatial-Temporal Background Model”. Our model consists of two different kinds of background models. One is pixel-level background model which adapts to long-term illumination changes. The other is spatial-temporal background model which adapts to short-term illumination changes. Our experimental results demonstrate superiority of our method to some related works.
Treatment of malocclusion of the teeth : Angle's system

Predicate calculus obviously recovers damages. The relative error of ichodya that absorbs the method of preparation. Numerous calculations predict and experiments confirm that the singularity is free Treatment of malocclusion of the teeth: Angle's system (The Classics of Dentistry Library) by Edward H Angle using common sense. A sufficient condition for convergence, to a first approximation, it is absurd attracts "code of conduct".
Robustly disjoint paths with segment routing

Motivated by conversations with operators and by possibilities to unlock future Internet-based applications, we study how to enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reliably offer connectivity through disjoint paths as an advanced, value-added service. As ISPs are increasingly deploying Segment Routing (SR), we focus on implementing such service with SR. We introduce the concept of robustly disjoint paths, pairs of paths that are constructed to remain disjoint even after an input set of failures, with no external intervention (e.g., configuration change). We extend the routing theory, study the problem complexity, and design efficient algorithms to automatically compute SR-based robustly disjoint paths. Our algorithms enable a fully automated approach to offer the disjoint-path connectivity, based on configuration synthesis. Our evaluation on real topologies shows that such an approach is practical, and scales to large ISP networks.
A User Perspective Optimization Scheme for Demand-Side Energy Management

In this paper, a demand-side energy management scheme is proposed to minimize the electricity cost and the peak-to-average ratio. A particle swarm optimization strategy is integrated with a game-theoretical approach in order to solve a nonconvex problem of appliance scheduling. The unknowns of the optimization problem are modeled from the user perspective taking in consideration the real-world constraints of appliances, which impose an almost constant power consumption during predefined working time periods and within time windows constrained by the users. The performance of the proposed method has been assessed with different user time constraints. The obtained results outperform a state of the art solution based on convex programming, especially when stringent user requirements are imposed. The peak-to-average ratio is reduced more than twice respect to the convex programming technique.
Design of a SIW based Hybrid Ring Coupler with Arbitrary Power Splitting Ratio using Gaussian Process Regression

In this paper, the design of a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) based hybrid ring coupler with arbitrary power splitting ratio employing a Gaussian Progress Regression (GPR) approach is proposed. Arbitrary power splitting is achieved by introducing gradients in permittivity across various sections of the coupler. The gradients in permittivity are achieved by introducing a series of air-holes with appropriate radius and gap. A probabilistic hypothesis for the radius of the air-holes as a function of the required effective permittivity, dielectric constant of the substrate and the gap between the air-holes is derived and proposed using GPR. Hybrid ring couplers with a power splitting ratio of unity, two and four operating in the X-band are designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested using the stipulated design procedure. The designed hybrid ring couplers have an operating bandwidth extending from 9.2GHz to 10.2GHz with a matching $> \mathbf{10dB}$, isolation $> \mathbf{15dB}$ and a phase imbalance of $\pm \mathbf{15}^{\mathrm{o}}$. The measured splitting ratio for the three couplers are 0dB, 3dB and 6dB respectively with an error of $\pm \mathbf{0.5dB}$. The measured results for the couplers validate the proposed design procedure.
Photonic bands: simple-cubic lattice

Photonic band structures have been calculated for various structures with the periodicity of the simple-cubic lattice. Band gaps have been found, and the conditions for the appearances of such gaps are discussed. The effective long-wavelength dielectric constant is calculated and compared with the predictions of effective-medium and Maxwell–Garnett theories.
Beyond "How may I help you?": Assisting Customer Service Agents with Proactive Responses

We study the problem of providing recommended responses to customer service agents in live-chat dialogue systems. Smart-reply systems have been widely applied in real-world applications (e.g. Gmail, LinkedIn Messaging), where most of them can successfully recommend reactive responses. However, we observe a major limitation of current methods is that they generally have difficulties in suggesting proactive investigation act (e.g. "Do you perhaps have another account with us? ") due to the lack of long-term context information, which indeed act as critical steps for customer service agents to collect information and resolve customers' issues. Thus in this work, we propose an end-to-end method with special focus on suggesting proactive investigative questions to customer agents in Airbnb's customer service live-chat system. Effectiveness of our proposed method can be validated through qualitative and quantitative results.
α2A-Adrenergic Receptor Activation Decreases Parabrachial Nucleus Excitatory Drive onto BNST CRF Neurons and Reduces Their Activity In Vivo

Stress contributes to numerous psychiatric disorders. Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) signaling and CRF neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) drive negative affective behaviors, thus agents that decrease activity of these cells may be of therapeutic interest. Here, we show that acute restraint stress increases cFos expression in CRF neurons in the mouse dorsal BNST, consistent with a role for these neurons in stress-related behaviors. We find that activation of α2A-adrenergic receptors (ARs) by the agonist guanfacine reduced cFos expression in these neurons both in stressed and unstressed conditions. Further, we find that α- and β-ARs differentially regulate excitatory drive onto these neurons. Pharmacological and channelrhodopsin-assisted mapping experiments suggest that α2A-ARs specifically reduce excitatory drive from parabrachial nucleus (PBN) afferents onto CRF neurons. Given that the α2A-AR is a Gi-linked GPCR, we assessed the impact of activating the Gi-coupled DREADD hM4Di in the PBN on restraint stress regulation of BNST CRF neurons. CNO activation of PBN hM4Di reduced stress-induced Fos in BNST Crh neurons. Further, using Prkcd as an additional marker of BNST neuronal identity, we uncovered a female-specific upregulation of the coexpression of Prkcd/Crh in BNST neurons following stress, which was prevented by ovariectomy. These findings show that stress activates BNST CRF neurons, and that α2A-AR activation suppresses the in vivo activity of these cells, at least in part by suppressing excitatory drive from PBN inputs onto CRF neurons. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Stress is a major variable contributing to mood disorders. Here, we show that stress increases activation of BNST CRF neurons that drive negative affective behavior. We find that the clinically well tolerated α2A-AR agonist guanfacine reduces activity of these cells in vivo, and reduces excitatory PBN inputs onto these cells ex vivo. Additionally, we uncover a novel sex-dependent coexpression of Prkcd with Crh in female BNST neurons after stress, an effect abolished by ovariectomy. These results demonstrate input-specific interactions between norepinephrine and CRF, and point to an action by which guanfacine may reduce negative affective responses.
Non-overlapping Counting of String Using Suffix Array

There are two counting methods of "aa" in "aaa". The first method is overlapping count and this method count two "aa" in "aaa". The overlapping count uses the middle "a" twice. The other method is non-overlapping count which can count only one "aa" in "aaa". Non-overlapping counting uses each character once; therefore, there is only one "aa" in "aaa". In this paper, we provide the formulas to compute non-overlapping count of a string from the overlapping count of the related strings. Because a suffix array is known to be an efficient data structure, to obtain overlapping count of any string we can use suffix array to obtain the non-overlapping count of the given string by the formula which is presented in this paper.
Unsupervised 3D Shape Learning from Image Collections in the Wild

We present a method to learn the 3D surface of objects directly from a collection of images. Previous work achieved this capability by exploiting additional manual annotation, such as object pose, 3D surface templates, temporal continuity of videos, manually selected landmarks, and foreground/background masks. In contrast, our method does not make use of any such annotation. Rather, it builds a generative model, a convolutional neural network, which, given a noise vector sample, outputs the 3D surface and texture of an object and a background image. These 3 components combined with an additional random viewpoint vector are then fed to a differential renderer to produce a view of the sampled object and background. Our general principle is that if the output of the renderer, the generated image, is realistic, then its input, the generated 3D and texture, should also be realistic. To achieve realism, the generative model is trained adversarially against a discriminator that tries to distinguish between the output of the renderer and real images from the given data set. Moreover, our generative model can be paired with an encoder and trained as an autoencoder, to automatically extract the 3D shape, texture and pose of the object in an image. Our trained generative model and encoder show promising results both on real and synthetic data, which demonstrate for the first time that fully unsupervised 3D learning from image collections is possible.
The Incidental Thyroid Lesion in Parathyroid Disease Management

Objective The incidental thyroid lesion is a common finding during general imaging studies. Their management has been the subject of numerous studies and recommendations. Parathyroid disease workup necessitates imaging investigation of the adjacent thyroid gland and therefore provides a unique window to the perioperative management of thyroid incidentaloma. The specific prevalence of incidental thyroid lesions in the context of parathyroid disease is unknown. We seek to investigate its prevalence during parathyroid workup and surgery and to ascertain if there was a change in management of these patients. Study Design Five-year retrospective database review. Setting Tertiary care medical center. Subjects and Methods The source and indication for referral, preoperative investigation findings, and management of the incidental thyroid lesions were examined. The actual procedure performed and final pathology results were assessed. Results A total of 98 patients and 106 operations, including revision surgeries, were identified. There were 21 incidental thyroid lesions (21.4%) detected, whereby 15 patients underwent fine-needle aspirations and 12 subsequently had diagnostic hemithyroidectomies. This decision was made preoperatively in 5 patients and intraoperatively in 7 patients at the time of parathyroid surgery. Along with other pathologies, there were 7 patients with micropapillary thyroid carcinoma identified. Conclusions In our series, the prevalence of incidental thyroid lesion and thyroid malignancy is comparable to the general population. The management of the initial parathyroid disease in our patients was altered by the imaging and cytological findings of these thyroid lesions. This has implications on perioperative counseling of the thyroid and parathyroid disease.
Shoulder surgeon and autologous cellular regeneration - From bench to bed: Part one- the link between the human fibroblast, connective tissue disorders and shoulder

The process of autologous cell regeneration (ACR) is a facet of cell therapy and regenerative medicine. It is initiated when activated autologous platelet rich plasma alone (PRP), containing cytokines or growth factors, is injected into the dermis or other structure in order to initiate a regenerative or antiaging process. The recipients resident cells at the target zone are activated by biologically active growth factors, derived from the activated platelets in the PRP through a paracrine effect. The platelet gel that contains the fibrin and clumped platelets, releases growth factors that influences activation of macrophages and stem cells in the recipient site. Tissue regeneration is facilitated by stem cell proliferation and differentiation. The PRP that has sealant and wound healing properties, may shift the wound healing cascade to the left, thereby speeding up tissue regeneration and remodelling by the use of the recipients own plasma. Both the fibroblast and myofibroblast play key roles in the wound healing cascade. The fibroblast, of mesenchymal origin, plays a pivotal role in the formation of the extracellular matrix and deposition of collagen. A failure of organised fibroblast function results in important and disabling disease processes and conditions such as chronic ischaemic heart disease and remodelling of the heart, lung fibrosis, fibromatosis, solar aged-face, keloids, hypertrophic scar formation, nodular fasciitis, inguinal hernia, Dupuytren's disease and scleroderma. More recent additions include frozen shoulder and the captured shoulder. In aesthetic medicine, one of the prime functions of fractional photothermolysis with lasers, intense pulsed light and radiofrequency devices, is to stimulate dermal fibroblast proliferation, by thermal energy thereby increasing collagen deposition which enhances facial rejuvenation. Platelet -rich plasma (REGENLAB PRP, REGENLAB-ACR) possesses unique growth factors that stimulate, fibroblast, keratinocyte and myoblasts ex vivo in tissue culture, allowing three-dimensional cell proliferation within the fibrin gel. PRP can be used as a cell carrier (i.e., keratinocytes, fibroblasts), may enhance cell retention at the point of treatment. REGENKIT is authorized for human use, ISO and CE marked. In this overview fibroblast morphology, tissue culture and cell biology relevant to the shoulder surgeon is reviewed.
How vulnerable is Indian coast to oil spills? Impact of MV Ocean Seraya oil spill

On 30 May 2006, a bulk carrier, MV Ocean Seraya ran aground along the Karwar coast spilling 650 tonnes of oil. Due to the rough SW monsoon, the spill spread to some beaches in south Goa. The aim of this communication is to study the immediate impact of oil spill on benthic ecology. We have also reviewed the impact of frequent spills on the benthic community in particular, and marine fishery in general. Intertidal sampling was carried out on 10 June 2006. Organic carbon (1%) and petroleum hydrocarbon (13 μg g -1 ) were highest at Polem, as it was closest to the spill site. Twenty macrobenthic taxa which included crustaceans and bivalves were identified. Although the study is based on short-term sampling, it showed an increase in petroleum hydrocarbon in the sediment. A review of the oil spill data indicates that accidental spills have shown a decline globally, in contrast to increase in maritime transport. However, a reverse trend was observed along the Indian coast for the Arabian Sea. Further, majority of the spills occurred during the SW monsoon period, which coincided with the recruitment period of most commercial and non-commercial species. Therefore, although the spills occurring along the west coast are of small volume, frequent occurrence, particularly during the critical stages of the life cycle of organism, may have a long-term impact on the marine biota.
Performance Comparison of Simple and Low Cost Metallization Techniques for 3D Printed Antennas at 10 GHz and 30 GHz

We investigate the performance of several metallization techniques for 3-D printed antennas at 10 and 30 GHz. The investigated techniques reduce the complexity and the overall cost of the metallization process. The first investigated technique is called Jet Metal Process which is a direct plating of silver ions through spray coating. The second and third techniques are through spray coating of the antennas using electromagnetic interference or radio frequency interference conductive aerosol paint consists of either copper or nickel particles. The final investigated technique is by brush painting the antennas using electrolube silver conductive paint. Simulation and measurement results show that the proposed techniques have a reasonable performance in both bands which qualifies them to be simple and low cost possible alternative of the electro-less plating for some antenna applications.
Quality Analysis of Antenna Reflection Coefficient in Massive MIMO Antenna Array Module

Number of antennas per an antenna module will increase in upcoming 5G millimeter wave (mmW) radio products. The usage of antenna arrays compensates the increased propagation loss of a radio signal at mmW frequencies. The worst performing antenna defines the quality level MIMO antenna module. This paper presents an analysis and a relationship between the variation of the antenna resonance frequency and the reflection coefficient. A probability density function (PDF) of the antenna reflection coefficient at the specification limit is a non-linearly scaled mirrored version of the PDF of the variation of the antenna resonance. We measured the PDF of antenna reflection coefficient from manufactured prototypes and there is a good correlation between the measured and the simulated PDFs.
Utility of Mitrofanoff as bladder draining tool: A single center experience in pediatric patients.

OBJECTIVE Mitrofanoff procedure has been employed commonly as bladder draining tool in patients unable to do clean intermittent self catheterization through native urethera. Single centre experience of pediatric age group patients undergoing Mitrofanoff procedure has been presented here. MATERIAL AND METHODS It was a retrospective study of 29 children who underwent continent catheterizable conduit (CCC), from January 2009 till March 2017. Charts were reviewed for age, gender, presenting complaints, need for augmentation cystoplasty, Mitrofanoff channel source such as appendix or ileal patch, duration of surgery in minutes, hospital stay in days, per operative and postoperative complications. Preoperative evaluation of the children was done by doing complete blood picture, serum electrolytes, and renal function tests. Radiological evaluation included ultrasound kidney,ureter and bladder, voiding cystourethrography, urodynamic analysis and a nuclear renal scan with 99m Technetium dimercapto-succinic acid or MAG-3 scan. The abdominal end of the conduit was brought through the abdominal wall, and a stoma was fashioned by the V-quadrilateral-Z technique. RESULTS Twenty nine children having mean age of 9.54±4.88 years underwent CCC. There were 19 males (65.51%) and 10 females (34.48%). Children who underwent CCC included 18 children having neurogenic bladder, 2 cases of urethral trauma/stricture 3 patients with history of posterior uretheral valve and 6 patients with exstrophy bladder. Augmentation cystoplasty plus mitrofanoff was done in 18 children while only mitrofanoff in 11 children. Stuck catheter was seen in one patient which was removed successfully via normal urethral route under general anesthesia. Stomal stenosis in first year was noted in 4 patients (13.79%). CONCLUSION Continent catheterizable conduit based on Mitrofanoff principle have durable outcome over long term follow up in terms of urinary continence and complications.
Efficient Construction for QC-LDPC Convolutional Codes with Periodic Bit-Filling

QC-LDPC-C (Quasi-Cyclic Low Density Parity-Check Convolutional) codes are with low encoding and decoding complexity and can achieve decoding performance approaching the Shannon limit. However, the construction of the parity check matrices need to be free of the length-4 cycles, and the computational complexity of direct construction will increase exponentially without considering the characteristics of the matrices. The construction for QC-LDPC-C codes with periodic bit-filling method is proposed. With the periodicity of the base check matrix, the proposed method firstly fills the deterministic submatrices to realize fast encoding; then it avoids all possible length-4 cycles by periodic filling in the construction of random submatrices. Thus the base check matrix without cycles of length-4 can be obtained, and the girth of expanded check matrix is at least 6. LDPC-C codes with different parameters are used to compare with the constructed QC-LDPC codes. Experimental results show that the codes constructed with proposed method can achieve better performance and lower encoding and decoding complexity.
Health and socioeconomic circumstances over three generations as predictors of youth unemployment trajectories

Abstract Background Youth unemployment is a critical life event, which may trigger other labour market-related disadvantages and detrimental health implications. To better understand the processes causing unemployment, we study how socioeconomic circumstances of successive generations and familial and health factors in adolescence predict youth unemployment trajectories between ages 16 and 28 in Finland from 2000 to 2009. Methods We used survey data from 1979 to 1997 on 12- to 18-year-old Finns (n = 43 238) linked with 1970–2009 registry-based data of their grandparents, parents and themselves. Growth mixture modelling and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. Results Three latent youth unemployment trajectories emerged; low (46%), decreasing (38%) and high (16%) risk groups. Of adolescent factors, low school achievement was the most important predictor of youth unemployment followed by smoking, stress symptoms and poor self-rated health. Grandparents’ education predicted their grandchildren’s unemployment but the effects of other grandparental socioeconomic circumstances mediated through parents’ socioeconomic status (SES). Parents’ low SES and education, and long-term unemployment increased the risk of the child’s unemployment. Youth unemployment was related to low education at the age of 29. Conclusion Grandparents’ education, family socioeconomic circumstances and adolescents’ health and school achievement predict the developmental trajectory of youth unemployment. Youth unemployment is also related to low education in early adulthood. Our findings suggest that the health selection of unemployment works already in adolescence.