Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AIM: an Auto-Augmenter for Images and Meshes

Data augmentations are commonly used to increase the robustness of deep neural networks. In most contemporary research, the networks do not decide the augmentations; they are task-agnostic, and grid search determines their magnitudes. Furthermore, augmentations applicable to lower-dimensional data do not easily extend to higher-dimensional data and vice versa. This paper presents an auto-augmenter for images and meshes (AIM) that easily incorporates into neural networks at training and inference times. It Jointly optimizes with the network to produce constrained, non-rigid deformations in the data. AIM predicts sample-aware deformations suited for a task, and our experiments confirm its effectiveness with various networks.
FORECAST AND FOLLOW-UP AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CLINICAL, SOCIAL, AND MENTAL FACTORS DETERMINING THE RESULTS OF HOSPITAL TREATMENT

The investigation reported here is based on three previous publications (Querido, 1954; and Levita, In the first of these it was determined how far somatic illness was accompanied by mental and/or social stress in a random sample of patients of a general hospital. Such stresses were present in a little over 50 per cent. of a sample of 200. An attempt to systematize various forms of stress resulted in the following classification: somatic, psychosomatic, psycho-somatic-social, and parallel problems. In the second investigation an attempt was to determine how the needs of a sample of hospital patients could be met if problems other than those this it was found that 44 per cent. were suffering from tensions and stresses apart from the somatic complaint which had necessitated hospital admission. It was estimated 12 per cent. psychiatric a programme treatment, 15 per cent. psychia- tric treatment after discharge, 27 per cent. needed supporting treatment by the family doctor, 41 per cent. needed after-care or case-work by a social worker, and 5 per cent. needed the care of a priest. These results indicate that many patients admitted to a general hospital may be burdened by stresses which may or may not be interwoven with the somatic but may well impede the chances of complete recovery and so diminish the effect of the labours of the hospital staff.
Pyramid Architecture for Multi-Scale Processing in Point Cloud Segmentation

Semantic segmentation of point cloud data is a critical task for autonomous driving and other applications. Recent advances of point cloud segmentation are mainly driven by new designs of local aggregation operators and point sampling methods. Unlike image segmentation, few efforts have been made to understand the fundamental issue of scale and how scales should interact and be fused. In this work, we investigate how to efficiently and effectively integrate features at varying scales and varying stages in a point cloud segmentation network. In particular, we open up the commonly used encoder-decoder architecture, and design scale pyramid architectures that allow information to flow more freely and systematically, both laterally and upward/downward in scale. Moreover, a cross-scale attention feature learning block has been designed to enhance the multi-scale feature fusion which occurs everywhere in the network. Such a design of multi-scale processing and fusion gains large improvements in accuracy without adding much additional computation. When built on top of the popular KPConv network, we see consistent improvements on a wide range of datasets, including achieving state-of-the-art performance on NPM3D and S3DIS. Moreover, the pyramid architecture is generic and can be applied to other network designs: we show an example of similar improvements over RandLANet.
Supplementary Material for: Ditto: Building Digital Twins of Articulated Objects through Interaction

We use the Shape2Motion dataset [1] and the Synthetic dataset [2]. The Shape2Motion dataset is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. For Shape2Motion dataset, we choose four categories with more than 30 instances. We choose 4 out of 6 categories for the synthetic dataset because the other two are very similar to the chosen ones. We sample 8,192 points for each input point cloud. In each iteration, we sample 2,048 pairs of p and corresponding occupancy. We also 512 pairs of pin inside the object and corresponding segmentation and joint parameters as query points and ground truths. p and pin are input query points for geometry decoder and articulation decoders separately. We implement the models with Pytorch [3] and train the models with the Adam [4] optimizer and a learning rate of 10−4 and batch sizes of 8.
A Blockchain-Based Approach to Drug Diversion Monitoring

Prescription drug monitoring programs are an essential element for controlling diversion of drugs for sale or abuse. Most US States have laws which institute drug monitoring programs, but current monitoring programs are generally not as widely-adopted or effective as the demand for drug management requires. This paper proposes a drug monitoring solution based on blockchain technology and Internet of Things inspired smart dispensing hardware, designed to address the limitations of current drug monitoring programs.
Application of Atomic Force Microscopy as Advanced Asphalt Testing Technology: A Comprehensive Review

In the past three decades, researchers have engaged in the relationship between the composition, macro performance, and microstructure of asphalt. There are many research results in the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the microstructure and related mechanisms of asphalt. Based on previous studies, the performance of asphalt from its microstructure has been observed and analyzed, and different evaluation indices and modification methods have been proposed, providing guidance toward improving the performance of asphalt materials and benefiting potential applications. This review focuses on the typical application and analysis of AFM in the study of the aging regeneration and modification properties of asphalt. Additionally, this review introduces the history of the rheological and chemical testing of asphalt materials and the history of using AFM to investigate asphalt. Furthermore, this review introduces the basic principles of various modes of application of AFM in the microstructure of asphalt, providing a research direction for the further popularization and application of AFM in asphalt or other materials in the future. This review aims to provide a reference and direction for researchers to further popularize the application of AFM in asphalt and standardize the testing methods of AFM. This paper is also helpful in further exploring the relationship between the microstructure and macro performance of asphalt.
Good Approximation of Exponential Utility Function for Optimal Futures Hedging

: To get optimal production and hedging decision with normal random variables, Lien (2008) compares the exponential utility function with its second order approximation. In this paper, we ﬁrst extend the theory further by comparing the exponential utility function with a n -order approximation for any integer n . We then propose an approach with illustration how to get the least n one could choose to get a good approximation.
Humans Discriminate Individual Large-Billed Crows and Individual Cats by Their Respective Vocalizations

Previous research has shown that human adults can easily discriminate two individual zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) by their signature songs, struggle to discriminate two individual rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) by their calls, and are unable to discriminate two individual dogs (Canis familiaris) by their barks. The purpose of the present experiment was to examine whether acoustic discrimination of individual non-primate heterospecifics is limited to species producing stereotyped signature songs, or whether it is possible with the vocalizations of other species as well. This was tested here with the calls of individual large-billed crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) and the meows of individual domestic cats (Felis catus) using a forced-choice Same-Different Paradigm. Results show a high discrimination accuracy without prior training, although the scores obtained here for both species were lower than those in the zebra finch discrimination task. Discrimination accuracy of cat voices decreased when mean pitch was equalized between individuals, but was still possible without this cue. The removal of formant frequencies did not influence the discrimination, and there was no significant performance improvement across trials. These experiments suggest that individual acoustic discrimination is possible not only with species producing signature songs, but also with unlearned vocalizations of both birds and non-human mammals.
Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus and nitrogen — Source link

Agriculture and urban activities are major sources of phosphorus and nitrogen to aquatic ecosystems. Atmospheric deposition further contributes as a source of N. These nonpoint inputs of nutrients are difﬁcult to measure and regulate because they derive from activities dispersed over wide areas of land and are variable in time due to effects of weather. In aquatic ecosystems, these nutrients cause diverse problems such as toxic algal blooms, loss of oxygen, ﬁsh kills, loss of biodiversity (including species important for commerce and recreation), loss of aquatic plant beds and coral reefs, and other problems. Nutrient enrichment seriously degrades aquatic ecosystems and impairs the use of water for drinking, industry, agriculture, recreation, and other purposes. Based on our review of the scientiﬁc literature, we are certain that (1) eutrophication is a widespread problem in rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal oceans, caused by over-enrichment with P and N; (2) nonpoint pollution, a major source of P and N to surface waters of the United States, results primarily from agriculture and urban activity, including industry; (3) inputs of P and N to agriculture in the form of fertilizers exceed outputs in produce in the United States and many other nations; (4) nutrient ﬂows to aquatic ecosystems are directly related to animal stocking densities, and under high livestock densities, manure production exceeds the needs of crops to which the manure is applied; (5) excess fertilization and manure production cause a P surplus to accumulate in soil, some of which is transported to aquatic ecosystems; and (6) excess fertilization and manure production on agricultural lands create surplus N, which is mobile in many soils and often leaches to downstream aquatic ecosystems, and which can also volatilize to the atmosphere, redepositing elsewhere and eventually reaching aquatic ecosystems. If current practices continue, nonpoint pollution of surface waters is virtually certain to increase in the future. Such an outcome is not inevitable, however, because a number of technologies, land use practices, and conservation measures are capable of decreasing the ﬂow of nonpoint P and N into surface waters. From our review of the available scientiﬁc information, we are conﬁdent that: (1) nonpoint pollution of surface waters with P and N could be reduced by reducing surplus nutrient ﬂows in agricultural systems and processes, reducing agricultural and urban runoff by diverse methods, and reducing N emissions from fossil fuel burning; and (2) eutrophication can be reversed by decreasing input rates of P and N to aquatic ecosystems, but rates of recovery are highly variable among water bodies. Often, the eutrophic state is persistent, and recovery is slow.
Development of Neuron Ion Channel Model using Colored Noise Terms in the Conductance

The aim of this study is the ion channel model with noise variance as approximations to the HodgkinHuxley model proposed, due to the Hodgkin-Huxley model affected when inserting some colored noise terms inside the conductances, where those effects captured by colored noise because of the gate multiplicity. Firstly, it introduces the comparison of ion channel based on Fox, Lu and Linaro models. Additionally, in order to overcome the limitations of other parameter estimation methods, the proposed method fully constrains their models and obtains all model's capabilities of reproducing the data. Finally, the relationship between the sequence of colored noise and the spike frequency are simulated efficiently each gate compared with microscopic simulations of the stochastic Markov process method. In simulation results, the spiking rate generated from the proposed model very close to microscopic simulations and doesn’t effect by the membrane size.
Building PRFs from TPRPs: Beyond the Block and the Tweak Length Bounds

A secure n-bit tweakable block cipher (TBC) using t-bit tweaks can be modeled as a tweakable uniform random permutation, where each tweak defines an independent random n-bit permutation. When an input to this tweakable permutation is fixed, it can be viewed as a perfectly secure t-bit random function. On the other hand, when a tweak is fixed, it can be viewed as a perfectly secure n-bit random permutation, and it is well known that the sum of two random permutations is pseudorandom up to 2n queries.A natural question is whether one can construct a pseudorandom function (PRF) beyond the block and the tweak length bounds using a small number of calls to the underlying tweakable permutations. A straightforward way of constructing a PRF from tweakable permutations is to xor the outputs from two tweakable permutations with c bits of the input to each permutation fixed. Using the multi-user security of the sum of two permutations, one can prove that the (t + n − c)-to-n bit PRF is secure up to 2n+c queries.In this paper, we propose a family of PRF constructions based on tweakable permutations, dubbed XoTPc, achieving stronger security than the straightforward construction. XoTPc is parameterized by c, giving a (t + n − c)-to-n bit PRF. When t < 3n and c = t/3 , XoTPt/3 becomes an (n + 2t/3 )-to-n bit pseudorandom function, which is secure up to 2n+2t/3 queries. It provides security beyond the block and the tweak length bounds, making two calls to the underlying tweakable permutations. In order to prove the security of XoTPc, we extend Mirror theory to q ≫ 2n, where q is the number of equations. From a practical point of view, our construction can be used to construct TBC-based MAC finalization functions and CTR-type encryption modes with stronger provable security compared to existing schemes.
The Sub-Saharan African information potential to unveil adaptations to infectious diseases.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most promising region of the world to conduct high-throughput studies to unveil adaptations to infectious diseases due to several reasons, namely: the longest evolving time-depth in the Homo sapiens phylogenetic tree (at least 2/3 older than any other worldwide region); the continuous burden of infectious diseases (still number one in health/life threat); and the coexistence of populations practising diverse subsistence modes (nomadic or seminomadic hunter-gatherers and agropastoralists, and sedentary agriculturalists, small urban and megacity groups). In this review we will present the most up-to-date results that shed light on three main hypotheses related with this adaptation. One is the hypothesis of coevolution between host and pathogen, given enough time for the establishment of this highly dynamic relationship. The second hypothesis enunciates that the agricultural transition was responsible for the increase of the infectious disease burden, due to the huge expansion of the sedentary human population and the cohabitation with domesticates as main reservoirs of pathogens. The third hypothesis states that the boosting of our immune system against pathogens by past selection may have resulted in maladaptation of the developed hygienic societies, leading to an increase of allergic, inflammatory- and autoimmune disorders. Further work will enlighten the biological mechanisms behind these main adaptations, which can be insightful for translation into diagnosis, prognosis and treatment interventions.
Utilization , non compliance and causes of unmet needs of family planning among women served by family medicine centers in Menyat Sandoub , Dakahlia , Egypt

Background : Family planning has a great impact on women’s health. The practice of family planning helps in reducing the rate of maternal and child mortality thus help in improving maternal and child health. Aim: To identify pattern of contraception use, causes of non compliance,and determinants of unmet needs among rural women in Meniet Sandoub, Dakahlia Governorate. Subjects and methods: A comparative cross sectional study was conducted in Menyat Sandoub family medicine center. The studys composed of two groups, the first group were female contraceptive users, and the second group were FP un-met-needs outreached from the catchment area served by the study family medicine center . All target women groups were subjected to a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic, reproductive characteritcs , contraception use pattern as well as causes of family planing and unmet needs client satifaction with provided services. Results: Proportionate utilization rate among attendants was 73.14% while prevalence of contraception use was 58.8% with 3.9% discontinuation rate. Working husband and duration of marriage (≤10years) decreased the risk for family planning unmet needs by logistic regression models (OR=0.28, delete OR=0.19 respectively). Causes of unmet needs were , male baby wish by the family(32%) and related health concerns (32%) , negative religious idea (28%). 68.6% of compliant users had health barriers during regular use . Conclusion: Contraception prevalence was 58.8%. Male baby wish, rumors about side effects, and husband disapproval were determinants of unmet needs that necessitate community based intervention to increase family planning utilization conducive to acceleration of Egypt’s progress towards development goals.
OTT_A_190601 3905..3918

Monika WitusikPerkowska Magdalena Zakrzewska Dariusz J Jaskolski Pawel P Liberski Janusz Szemraj 1Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland; 2Department of Molecular Pathology and Neuropathology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland; 3Department of Neurosurgery and Neurooncology, Medical University of Lodz, Barlicki University Hospital, Lodz, Poland Purpose: The in vitro environment can influence not only the molecular background of glioblastoma drug-resistance and treatment efficiency, but also the mechanisms and pathways of cell death. Both crucial molecular pathways and the deregulation of miRNAs are thought to participate in tumor therapy-resistance. The aim of our study is to examine the potential influence of ex vivo conditions on the expression of miRNAs engaged in the machinery of tumor-drug resistance, since in vitro models are commonly used for testing new therapeutics. Methods: Glioblastoma-derived cells, cultured under three different sets of conditions, were used as experimental models in vitro. The expression of 84 miRNAs relevant to brain tumorigenesis was evaluated by multi-miRNA profiling for initial tumors and their corresponding cultures. Finally, the expression of selected miRNAs related to temozolomideresistance (miR-125b, miR-130a, miR-21, miR-221, miR-222, miR-31, miR-149, miR-210, miR-181a) was assessed by real-time PCR for each tumor and neoplastic cells in cultures. Results: Our results demonstrate significant discrepancies in the expression of several miRNAs between tumor cells in vivo and in vitro, with miR-130a, miR-221, miR-31, miR-21, miR-222, miR-210 being the most marked. Also differences were observed between particular models in vitro. The results of computational analysis revealed the interplay between examined miRNAs and their targets involved in processes of glioblastoma chemosensitivity, including the genes relevant to temozolomide response (MGMT, PTEN, MDM2, TP53, BBC3A). Conclusion: The artificial environment may influence the selective proliferation of cell populations carrying specific patterns of miRNAs and/or the phenotype of neoplastic cells (eg differentiation) by the action of molecular events including miRNAs. These phenomena may influence the tumor-responsiveness to particular drugs, disturbing the evaluation of their efficacy in vitro, with unpredictable results caused by the interdependency of molecular pathways.
Title: Anti-biofilm activities of a novel chimeolysin against S. mutans in physiological 1 and cariogenic conditions

30 31 Streptococcus mutans often survives as a biofilm on the tooth surface and contributes to the 32 development of dental caries. We investigated the efficacy of ClyR, an engineered 33 chimeolysin, against S. mutans biofilms in physiological and cariogenic conditions. 34 Susceptibility tests showed that ClyR was active against all clinical S. mutans isolates tested 35 as well as S. mutans biofilms that displayed resistance to penicillin. S. mutans biofilms 36 formed on hydroxyapatite discs in physiological sugar conditions and cariogenic conditions 37 were reduced ~2 logs and 3 logs after treatment with 100 μg/ml ClyR, respectively. In 38 comparison, only 1 log reduction was observed in the chlorhexidine (ChX) treated group, and 39 no killing effect was observed in the NaF treated group. A mouse dental colonization model 40 showed that repeated use of ClyR for 3 weeks (5 μg/day) reduced the number of colonized S. 41 mutans in the dental plaques significantly (p<0.05), without harmful effects on mice. 42 Furthermore, toxicity was not noted at concentrations exceeding those used for these studies 43 and ClyR-specific antibodies could not be detected in mice saliva after repeated use of ClyR 44 in the oral cavity. Our data collectively demonstrates that ClyR is active against S. mutans 45 biofilms both in vitro and in vivo , thus representing a preventative or therapeutic agent 46 against dental caries. 47 against is and is the reported is active against planktonic mutans In
CAPTURING NOTIONS FROM ABSTRACTIONS: THE FOUNDATION OF POETIC INTERACTION DESIGN

With the emergence of various genres of interaction design, there seems to be a promising direction: Poetic Interaction Design. We propose that a poetic image could be created through leaving blanks in the design expression, and be delivered via users’ reflection and imagination. The concept of Poetic Interaction however is abstract for designers to apply in practice. To address this challenge, we developed four principles by performing a process iteratively according to the action research method. For further validation of the principles, we built a design work, Scentonight, to evaluate the influences brought to the users in the context of usage. A within-subject experiment was performed. The result shows a significant shift that the participants tend to regard an everyday object in terms of its imaginary linking rather than its function. This paper demonstrates a systematic process of developing the theory of Poetic Interaction Design in a pragmatic manner.
A study of strain and deformation measurement using the Arduino microcontroller and strain gauges devices

This paper presents a methodology for the measurement of strain by means of strain-gauges, where the data acquisition is done by using an Arduino Uno board, due to the low-cost and the easy manipulation of this microcontrollers. The measured signal conditioning is performed by means of a Wheatstone Bridge and then discretized by an Analog-Digital Converter (ADC) external to the Arduino. For the validation of the proposed measurement system, experiments are performed on a cantilever beam and on a cantilever-supported shaft, where the experimental results are compared with those obtained analytically and by simulation using the finite element method. The results obtained are in agreement with the literature and demonstrate that the proposed system has satisfactory accuracy.