XNect: Real-time Multi-person 3D Human Pose Estimation with a Single RGB Camera

We present a real-time approach for multi-person 3D motion capture at over 30 fps using a single RGB camera. It operates in generic scenes and is robust to difficult occlusions both by other people and objects. Our method operates in subsequent stages. The first stage is a convolutional neural network (CNN) that estimates 2D and 3D pose features along with identity assignments for all visible joints of all individuals. We contribute a new architecture for this CNN, called SelecSLS Net, that uses novel selective long and short range skip connections to improve the information flow allowing for a drastically faster network without compromising accuracy. In the second stage, a fully-connected neural network turns the possibly partial (on account of occlusion) 2D pose and 3D pose features for each subject into a complete 3D pose estimate per individual. The third stage applies space-time skeletal model fitting to the predicted 2D and 3D pose per subject to further reconcile the 2D and 3D pose, and enforce temporal coherence. Our method returns the full skeletal pose in joint angles for each subject. This is a further key distinction from previous work that neither extracted global body positions nor joint angle results of a coherent skeleton in real time for multi-person scenes. The proposed system runs on consumer hardware at a previously unseen speed of more than 30 fps given 512x320 images as input while achieving state-of-the-art accuracy, which we will demonstrate on a range of challenging real-world scenes

Scale-invariant magnetic anisotropy in RuCl3_3 at high magnetic fields

In RuCl$_3$, inelastic neutron scattering and Raman spectroscopy reveal a continuum of non-spin-wave excitations that persists to high temperature, suggesting the presence of a spin liquid state on a honeycomb lattice. In the context of the Kitaev model, magnetic fields introduce finite interactions between the elementary excitations, and thus the effects of high magnetic fields - comparable to the spin exchange energy scale - must be explored. Here we report measurements of the magnetotropic coefficient - the second derivative of the free energy with respect to magnetic field orientation - over a wide range of magnetic fields and temperatures. We find that magnetic field and temperature compete to determine the magnetic response in a way that is independent of the large intrinsic exchange interaction energy. This emergent scale-invariant magnetic anisotropy provides evidence for a high degree of exchange frustration that favors the formation of a spin liquid state in RuCl$_3$.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1901.09245. Nature Physic

Rhomboid family member 2 regulates cytoskeletal stress-associated Keratin 16.

Keratin 16 (K16) is a cytoskeletal scaffolding protein highly expressed at pressure-bearing sites of the mammalian footpad. It can be induced in hyperproliferative states such as wound healing, inflammation and cancer. Here we show that the inactive rhomboid protease RHBDF2 (iRHOM2) regulates thickening of the footpad epidermis through its interaction with K16. K16 expression is absent in the thinned footpads of irhom2-/- mice compared with irhom2+/+mice, due to reduced keratinocyte proliferation. Gain-of-function mutations in iRHOM2 underlie Tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC), characterized by palmoplantar thickening, upregulate K16 with robust downregulation of its type II keratin binding partner, K6. By orchestrating the remodelling and turnover of K16, and uncoupling it from K6, iRHOM2 regulates the epithelial response to physical stress. These findings contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperproliferation of the palmoplantar epidermis in both physiological and disease states, and how this 'stress' keratin is regulated

Why do dogs (Canis familiaris) select the empty container in an observational learning task?

Many argue that dogs show unique susceptibility to human communicative signals that make them suitable for being engaged in complex co-operation with humans. It has also been revealed that socially provided information is particularly effective in influencing the behaviour of dogs even when the human’s action demonstration conveys inefficient or mistaken solution of task. It is unclear, however, how the communicative nature of the demonstration context and the presence of the human demonstrator affect the dogs’ object-choice behaviour in observational learning situations. In order to unfold the effects of these factors, 76 adult pet dogs could observe a communicative or a non-communicative demonstration in which the human retrieved a tennis ball from under an opaque container while manipulating another distant and obviously empty (transparent) one. Subjects were then allowed to choose either in the presence of the demonstrator or after she left the room. Results showed a significant main effect of the demonstration context (presence or absence of the human’s communicative signals), and we also found some evidence for the response-modifying effect of the presence of the human demonstrator during the dogs’ choice. That is, dogs predominantly chose the baited container, but if the demonstration context was communicative and the human was present during the dogs’ choice, subjects’ tendency to select the baited container has been reduced. In agreement with the studies showing sensitivity to human’s communicative signals in dogs, these findings point to a special form of social influence in observational learning situations when it comes to learning about causally opaque and less efficient (compared to what comes natural to the dog) action demonstrations

hypersaline infusion protocol through the portal vein may focus electroporation on tumor tissue, but is it really safe? Ppreliminary results

Introduction: irreversible Electroporation (IRE) is highly dependent on the electrical conductivity of the tissue and the high conductivity of tumor tissue, which leads to a lower field than that in the surrounding healthy tissue. Hypersaline Infusion (HI) through the portal vein focuses IRE on scattered liver tumors, by creating a differential conductivity between the different types of tissue. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of the HI protocol on the hepatic and histological biochemical results. Methods: Ten male Sprague Dawley rats were used for HI protocol. Blood samples were collected at pre-, immediately post-, 24-hrs, 72-hrs, 1- week and 3-weeks post-HI. All the animals were sacrificed after a one-month follow-up in order to collect histological samples. Results: The mortality rate in this procedure reached 30% (3/10). Only the pH and transaminases at 24-hrs were significantly and directly linked to mortality (p=0.036 and p=0.004, respectively). The three non-surviving animals had a four-time higher AST level at 24-hrs. Natremianormalized at 24-hrs post-HI. Statistically significant differences were found in hepatic necrosis between the non-surviving (n=3) and surviving rats (n=7) (30.67 ± 10.97 vs. 2.86 ± 7.56% respectively, p=0.01). Discussion: HI through the portal system involves a significant risk of possibly lethal cytolysis and acidosis. Therefore, compensatory measures and a reduced saline overload are warranted to improve the survival rates

Experimental determination of proton hardness factors at several irradiation facilities

The effort to characterise detector sensors and components for the High Luminosity upgrade of the CERN Large Hadron Collider requires collaboration between irradiation facilities around the world. By convention, the radiation damage following irradiation with particle beams is reported as the 1 MeV neutron equivalent fluence, obtained using the corresponding hardness factor. Measurements of proton hardness factors at three different kinetic energies are presented, by characterisation of commercially available diodes before and after irradiation, using irradiations at the University of Birmingham, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and CERN. Possible future improvements to these measurements are also discussed

The use of measured genotype information in the analysis of quantitative phenotypes in man

Improved laboratory methods allow one to investigate the contribution of measured allelic variability at a locus physiologically involved in determining the expression of a quantitative trait. We present statistical methods that incorporate measured genotype information into the analysis of a quantitative phenotype that allows one simultaneously to detect and estimate the effects of a measured single locus and residual polygenic effects. Likelihoods are presented for the joint distribution of the quantitative phenotype and a measured genotype that are appropriate when the data are collected as a sample of unrelated individuals or as a sample of nuclear families. Application of this method to the analysis of serum cholesterol levels and the concentration of the group specific component (Gc) are presented. The analysis of the contribution of the common Gc polymorphism to the determination of quantitative variability in Gc using smaples of related and unrelated individuals presents, for the first time, the simultaneous estimation of the frequencies and the effects of the genotypes at a measured locus, and the contribution of residual unmeasured polygenes to phenotypic variability.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65935/1/j.1469-1809.1986.tb01037.x.pd

Current Indications of Secondary Enucleation in Retinoblastoma Management: A Position Paper on Behalf of the European Retinoblastoma Group (EURbG).

Secondary enucleation (SE) puts an irreversible end to eye-preserving therapies, whenever their prolongation is expected to violate the presumed state of metastatic grace. At present, it must be acknowledged that clear criteria for SE are missing, leading to empiric and subjective indications commonly related to disease progression or relapse, disease persistence masking the optic nerve head or treatment-related complications obscuring the fundus view. This absence of evidence-based consensus regarding SE is explained by the continuously moving frontiers of the conservative management as a result of diagnostic and therapeutic advances, as well as by the lack of studies sufficiently powered to accurately stratify the risk of metastasis in conservatively treated patients. In this position paper of the European Retinoblastoma Group (EURbG), we give an overview of the progressive shift in the indications for SE over the past decades and propose guidelines to assist decision-making with respect to when SE becomes imperative or recommended, with corresponding absolute and relative SE indications. Further studies and validation of biologic markers correlated with the risk of metastasis are expected to set more precisely the frontiers of conservative management and thus consensual criteria for SE in the future