Modality-Based Multi-View Indoor Video Synthesis

This thesis aims at reproducing the video of an indoor scene as seen from another, targeted, view using modalities such as depth and skeleton as guidance. However, synthesizing the video containing a moving person is challenging due to the camera placement in the scene that causes scale difference and self-occlusion. The other key challenge is maintaining temporal consistency across the synthesized frames. Current state-of-the-art methods focus on synthesizing each frame separately, which can cause the loss of the motion information contained in the input view. Therefore, we need to model the temporal consistency for a smooth transitioning between the synthesized frames. We consider a neural network-based approach and use the body skeleton as a driving cue, visible texture transfer for self-occlusion, and recurrent neural network to maintain temporal consistency in the feature space. We propose a 2D-based synthesis network that specifically disentangles the encoding of the input image and the target pose which allows learning better features that lead to better image synthesis. We also propose a training strategy based on a pixel-wise loss function that improves high-frequency details to enhance the visual quality of the synthesized images. Moreover, we propose a novel masking scheme to account for the scale difference and the spatial shift and deformation between the input and output skeleton. We propose a new formulation of the 2D-based synthesis network to address the temporal consistency constraint on the synthesized multi-view frames. In particular, we extend recurrent neural networks to learn a spatiotemporal feature space that preserves the texture and approximates the targeted view. In addition, we propose a hybrid approach combining a direct texture transfer of the visible pixel from the input to the targeted view and a 3D-based synthesis network for refinement. Experimental results on standard image and multi-view video benchmarks improve existing alternatives in terms of visual quality and the smoothness of the synthesized frames

Rational points on the superelliptic erdös-selfridge curve of fifth degree

§1. Introduction, By a remarkable result of Erdos and Selfridge [3] in 1975. the diophantine equation - yk = (x+1)(x+2)…(x+m), (1) - with integers k≥2 and m≥2, has only the trivial solutions. x = −j(j = i, …, m), y = 0. This put an end to the old question whether the product of consecutive positive integers could ever be a perfect power; for a brief account of its history see [7]

Effects of Oxygen Vacancy Defect on Magnetic Properties of (Ca,Mn)O Doped System

We study the (Ca, Mn)O doped system with oxygen vacancy point defects in monoxide CaO material. Using density functional theory calculation based on a generalized gradient approximation, we show that such a defect can convert the ground state from a spin glass to a ferromagnetic phase. Then, we discuss the stability of the magnetism in the (Ca, Mn)O doped system. The ferromagnetic and the disordered local moment states are also investigated and a super-exchange mechanism is proposed to explain such ferromagnetic magnetic behaviours. Based on the mean field approximation used in the elaboration of the Heisenberg model, we estimate the Curie temperature

Aripiprazole dose associations with metabolic adverse effect: Results from a longitudinal study.

Weight gain, blood lipids and/or glucose dysregulation can follow aripiprazole treatment onset. Whether aripiprazole dosage is associated with an increase in these metabolic parameters remains uncertain. The present study investigates aripiprazole dose associations with weight change, blood glucose, lipids, and blood pressure. 422 patients taking aripiprazole for a minimum of three weeks to one year were selected from PsyMetab and PsyClin cohorts. Associations between aripiprazole dose and metabolic outcomes were examined using linear mixed-effect models. Aripiprazole dose was associated with weight change when considering its interaction with treatment duration (interaction term: -0.10, p < 0.001). This interaction resulted in greater weight gain for high versus low doses at the beginning of the treatment, this result being overturned at approximately five months, with greater weight increase for low versus high doses thereafter. LDL and HDL cholesterol levels were associated with aripiprazole dose over five months independently of treatment duration, with an average of 0.06 and 0.02 mmol/l increase for each 5 mg increment, respectively (p = 0.033 and p = 0.016, respectively). Furthermore, mean dose increases were associated with greater odds (+30 % per 5 mg increase) of clinically relevant weight gain (i.e., ≥7 %) over one year (p = 0.025). Aripiprazole dose was associated with one-year weight changes when considering its interaction with treatment duration. Increasing its dose could lead to metabolic worsening over the first five months of treatment, during which minimum effective doses should be particularly preferred

Genome-wide footprints in the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) unveil a new domestication pattern of a fruit tree in the Mediterranean

Intense research efforts over the last two decades have renewed our understanding of plant phylogeography and domestication in the Mediterranean basin. Here we aim to investigate the evolutionary history and the origin of domestication of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), which has been cultivated for millennia for food and fodder. We used >1000 microsatellite genotypes to delimit seven carob evolutionary units (CEUs). We investigated genome-wide diversity and evolutionary patterns of the CEUs with 3557 single nucleotide polymorphisms generated by restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq). To address the complex wild vs. cultivated status of sampled trees, we classified 56 sampled populations across the Mediterranean basin as wild, seminatural or cultivated. Nuclear and cytoplasmic loci were identified from RADseq data and separated for analyses. Phylogenetic analyses of these genomic-wide data allowed us to resolve west-to-east expansions from a single long-term refugium probably located in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains near the Atlantic coast. Our findings support multiple origins of domestication with a low impact on the genetic diversity at range-wide level. The carob was mostly domesticated from locally selected wild genotypes and scattered long-distance westward dispersals of domesticated varieties by humans, concomitant with major historical migrations by Romans, Greeks and Arabs. Ex situ efforts to preserve carob genetic resources should prioritize accessions from both western and eastern populations, with emphasis on the most differentiated CEUs situated in southwest Morocco, south Spain and eastern Mediterranean. Our study highlights the relevance of wild and seminatural habitats in the conservation of genetic resources for cultivated trees

The pregnane X receptor drives sexually dimorphic hepatic changes in lipid and xenobiotic metabolism in response to gut microbiota in mice.

The gut microbiota-intestine-liver relationship is emerging as an important factor in multiple hepatic pathologies, but the hepatic sensors and effectors of microbial signals are not well defined. By comparing publicly available liver transcriptomics data from conventional vs. germ-free mice, we identified pregnane X receptor (PXR, NR1I2) transcriptional activity as strongly affected by the absence of gut microbes. Microbiota depletion using antibiotics in Pxr <sup>+/+</sup> vs Pxr <sup>-/-</sup> C57BL/6J littermate mice followed by hepatic transcriptomics revealed that most microbiota-sensitive genes were PXR-dependent in the liver in males, but not in females. Pathway enrichment analysis suggested that microbiota-PXR interaction controlled fatty acid and xenobiotic metabolism. We confirmed that antibiotic treatment reduced liver triglyceride content and hampered xenobiotic metabolism in the liver from Pxr <sup>+/+</sup> but not Pxr <sup>-/-</sup> male mice. These findings identify PXR as a hepatic effector of microbiota-derived signals that regulate the host's sexually dimorphic lipid and xenobiotic metabolisms in the liver. Thus, our results reveal a potential new mechanism for unexpected drug-drug or food-drug interactions. Video abstract