PetroSurf3D - A Dataset for high-resolution 3D Surface Segmentation

The development of powerful 3D scanning hardware and reconstruction algorithms has strongly promoted the generation of 3D surface reconstructions in different domains. An area of special interest for such 3D reconstructions is the cultural heritage domain, where surface reconstructions are generated to digitally preserve historical artifacts. While reconstruction quality nowadays is sufficient in many cases, the robust analysis (e.g. segmentation, matching, and classification) of reconstructed 3D data is still an open topic. In this paper, we target the automatic and interactive segmentation of high-resolution 3D surface reconstructions from the archaeological domain. To foster research in this field, we introduce a fully annotated and publicly available large-scale 3D surface dataset including high-resolution meshes, depth maps and point clouds as a novel benchmark dataset to the community. We provide baseline results for our existing random forest-based approach and for the first time investigate segmentation with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on the data. Results show that both approaches have complementary strengths and weaknesses and that the provided dataset represents a challenge for future research.Comment: CBMI Submission; Dataset and more information can be found at http://lrs.icg.tugraz.at/research/petroglyphsegmentation

5GNOW: Challenging the LTE Design Paradigms of Orthogonality and Synchronicity

LTE and LTE-Advanced have been optimized to deliver high bandwidth pipes to wireless users. The transport mechanisms have been tailored to maximize single cell performance by enforcing strict synchronism and orthogonality within a single cell and within a single contiguous frequency band. Various emerging trends reveal major shortcomings of those design criteria: 1) The fraction of machine-type-communications (MTC) is growing fast. Transmissions of this kind are suffering from the bulky procedures necessary to ensure strict synchronism. 2) Collaborative schemes have been introduced to boost capacity and coverage (CoMP), and wireless networks are becoming more and more heterogeneous following the non-uniform distribution of users. Tremendous efforts must be spent to collect the gains and to manage such systems under the premise of strict synchronism and orthogonality. 3) The advent of the Digital Agenda and the introduction of carrier aggregation are forcing the transmission systems to deal with fragmented spectrum. 5GNOW is an European research project supported by the European Commission within FP7 ICT Call 8. It will question the design targets of LTE and LTE-Advanced having these shortcomings in mind and the obedience to strict synchronism and orthogonality will be challenged. It will develop new PHY and MAC layer concepts being better suited to meet the upcoming needs with respect to service variety and heterogeneous transmission setups. Wireless transmission networks following the outcomes of 5GNOW will be better suited to meet the manifoldness of services, device classes and transmission setups present in envisioned future scenarios like smart cities. The integration of systems relying heavily on MTC into the communication network will be eased. The per-user experience will be more uniform and satisfying. To ensure this 5GNOW will contribute to upcoming 5G standardization.Comment: Submitted to Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Communication Systems for 2020 and beyond (at IEEE VTC 2013, Spring

Large-scale motorised prospection along the “SuedLink” route in Lower Franconia

Large-scale archaeological prospection has proven itself as an essential tool in advance of a linear infrastructure project. The non-destructive survey is a basis for infrastructural planning and the protection of archaeological sites. More than 410 ha of high-resolution motorized geomagnetics were surveyed within six weeks. Such infrastructure projects can also be seen as an opportunity for archaeological research

Plasmons and polaritons in a semi-infinite plasma and a plasma slab

Plasmon and polariton modes are derived for an ideal semi-infinite (half-space) plasma and an ideal plasma slab by using a general, unifying procedure, based on equations of motion, Maxwell's equations and suitable boundary conditions. Known results are re-obtained in much a more direct manner and new ones are derived. The approach consists of representing the charge disturbances by a displacement field in the positions of the moving particles (electrons). The dielectric response and the electron energy loss are computed. The surface contribution to the energy loss exhibits an oscillatory behaviour in the transient regime near the surfaces. The propagation of an electromagnetic wave in these plasmas is treated by using the retarded electromagnetic potentials. The resulting integral equations are solved and the reflected and refracted waves are computed, as well as the reflection coefficient. For the slab we compute also the transmitted wave and the transmission coefficient. Generalized Fresnel's relations are thereby obtained for any incidence angle and polarization. Bulk and surface plasmon-polariton modes are identified. As it is well known, the field inside the plasma is either damped (evanescent) or propagating (transparency regime), and the reflection coefficient for a semi-infinite plasma exhibits an abrupt enhancement on passing from the propagating regime to the damped one (total reflection). Similarly, apart from characteristic oscillations, the reflection and transmission coefficients for a plasma slab exhibit an appreciable enhancement in the damped regime.Comment: 20 pages, 6 Figure

5GNOW: Challenging the LTE Design Paradigms of Orthogonality and Synchronicity

Abstract-LTE and LTE-Advanced have been optimized to deliver high bandwidth pipes to wireless users. The transport mechanisms have been tailored to maximize single cell performance by enforcing strict synchronism and orthogonality within a single cell and within a single contiguous frequency band. Various emerging trends reveal major shortcomings of those design criteria: • The fraction of machine-type-communications (MTC) is growing fast. Transmissions of this kind are suffering from the bulky procedures necessary to ensure strict synchronism. • Collaborative schemes have been introduced to boost capacity and coverage (CoMP), and wireless networks are becoming more and more heterogeneous following the non-uniform distribution of users. Tremendous efforts must be spent to collect the gains and to manage such systems under the premise of strict synchronism and orthogonality. • The advent of the Digital Agenda and the introduction of carrier aggregation are forcing the transmission systems to deal with fragmented spectrum. 5GNOW will question the design targets of LTE and LTEAdvanced having these shortcomings in mind. The obedience of LTE and LTE-Advanced to strict synchronism and orthogonality will be challenged. It will develop new PHY and MAC layer concepts being better suited to meet the upcoming needs with respect to service variety and heterogeneous transmission setups. A demonstrator will be built as Proof-of-Concept relying upon continuously growing capabilities of silicon based processing. Wireless transmission networks following the outcomes of 5GNOW will be better suited to meet the manifoldness of services, device classes and transmission setups being present in envisioned future scenarios like smart cities. The integration of systems relying heavily on MTC, e.g. sensor networks, into the communication network will be eased. The per-user experience will be more uniform and satisfying. To ensure this 5GNOW will contribute to upcoming 5G standardization. First and foremost the need for un-tethered telephony and therefore wireless real-time communication has dominated the success of cordless phones, followed by first generation (1G) of cellular communications. Soon, incorporated in 2G, twoway paging implemented by SMS text messaging became the second killer application. With the success of wireless LAN technology (i.e. IEEE 802.11), http internet browsing, and the widespread market adoption of laptop computers internet data connectivity became interesting for anyone, opening up the opportunity for creating a market for the third killer application in 3G, wireless data connectivity. The logical next step has been the shrinkage of the laptop, merging it with the cellular telephone into todays' smartphones, and offering high bandwidth access to wireless users with the world's information at their fingertips everywhere and everytime. This is the scenario of the current 4G generation with the most prominent example LTE-A (Long Term EvolutionAdvanced). Hence, smartphones are, undoubtedly, in the focus of service architectures for future mobile access networks. Current market trends and future projections indicate that smartphone sales will keep growing and overtook conventional phones [TIA's 2009 to constitute now the lion's share of the global phone market: the smartphone has become a mass market device. Keywords-LTE- The next foreseen killer application is the massive wireless connectivity of machines with other machines, referred to as M2M or the Internet of Things (IoT). During the past years a multitude of wireless M2M applications has been explored, e.g. information dissemination in public transport systems or in manufacturing plants. However, fast deployment of M2M through a simple 'plug and play' connection via cellular networks is not a reality and the commercial success has been somewhat limited, yet. The availability of cellular coverage needs to be combined with simplicity of handling, in both software and hardware aspects, i.e. avoiding having to setup and connect as in a ZigBee or WLAN hot-spot but at the same time allowing longer battery life time and cheap devices. These principles can stimulate subscribers to buy M2M sensors and participate in the collection of monitoring data. M2M can be employed by communities (social network) to share monitoring information about cars, homes an

The emerging role of exosome and microvesicle- (EMV-) based cancer therapeutics and immunotherapy

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Colin Moore, Uchini Kosgodage, Sigrun Lange, and Jameel M. Inal, ‘The emerging role of exosome and microvesicle- (EMV-) based cancer therapeutics and immunotherapy’, International Journal of Cancer, Vol. 141 (3): 428-436, August 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.30672. © 2017 UICC. This manuscript version may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.There is an urgent need to develop new combination therapies beyond existing surgery, radio- and chemo-therapy, perhaps initially combining chemotherapy with the targeting specificities of immunotherapy. For this, strategies to limit inflammation and immunosuppression and evasion in the tumour microenvironment are also needed. To devise effective new immunotherapies we must first understand tumour immunology, including the roles of T cells, macrophages, myeloid suppressor cells and of exosomes and microvesicles (EMVs) in promoting angiogenesis, tumour growth, drug resistance and metastasis. One promising cancer immunotherapy discussed uses cationic liposomes carrying tumour RNA (RNA-lipoplexes) to provoke a strong anti-viral-like (cytotoxic CD8+ ) anti-tumour immune response. Mesenchymal stem cell-derived EMVs, with their capacity to migrate towards inflammatory areas including solid tumours, have also been used. As tumour EMVs clearly exacerbate the tumour microenvironment, another therapy option could involve EMV removal. Affinity-based methods to deplete EMVs, including an immunodepletion, antibody-based affinity substrate, are therefore considered. Finally EMV and exosome-mimetic nanovesicles (NVs) delivery of siRNA or chemotherapeutic drugs that target tumours using peptide ligands for cognate receptors on the tumour cells are discussed. We also touch upon the reversal of drug efflux in EMVs from cancer cells which can sensitize cells to chemotherapy. The use of immunotherapy in combination with the advent of EMVs provides potent therapies to various cancers.Peer reviewe

Lattice QCD and Particle Physics

Contribution from the USQCD Collaboration to the Proceedings of the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021).Comment: 27 pp. main text, 4 pp. appendices, 30 pp. reference