Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Motion Detection Method Resistant to Severe Illumination Changes

Recently, there has been a considerable attention given to the motion detection problem due to the explosive growth of its applications in video analysis and surveillance systems. While the previous approaches can produce good results, an accurate detection of motion remains a challenging task due to the difficulties raised by illumination variations, occlusion, camouflage, burst physical motion, dynamic texture, and environmental changes such as those on climate changes, sunlight changes during a day, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel per-pixel motion descriptor for both motion detection and dynamic texture segmentation which outperforms the current methods in the literature particularly in severe scenarios. The proposed descriptor is based on two complementary three-dimensional-discrete wavelet transform (3D-DWT) and three-dimensional wavelet leader. In this approach, a feature vector is extracted for each pixel by applying a novel three dimensional wavelet-based motion descriptor. Then, the extracted features are clustered by a clustering method such as well-known k-means algorithm or Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method compared to the other motion detection approaches from the literature. The application of the proposed method and additional experimental results for the different datasets are available at (this http URL).
Haplotype Analyses of Haemoglobin C and Haemoglobin S and the Dynamics of the Evolutionary Response to Malaria in Kassena-Nankana District of Ghana

Background Haemoglobin S (HbS) and C (HbC) are variants of the HBB gene which both protect against malaria. It is not clear, however, how these two alleles have evolved in the West African countries where they co-exist at high frequencies. Here we use haplotypic signatures of selection to investigate the evolutionary history of the malaria-protective alleles HbS and HbC in the Kassena-Nankana District (KND) of Ghana. Methodology/Principal Findings The haplotypic structure of HbS and HbC alleles was investigated, by genotyping 56 SNPs around the HBB locus. We found that, in the KND population, both alleles reside on extended haplotypes (approximately 1.5 Mb for HbS and 650 Kb for HbC) that are significantly less diverse than those of the ancestral HbA allele. The extended haplotypes span a recombination hotspot that is known to exist in this region of the genome Significance Our findings show strong support for recent positive selection of both the HbS and HbC alleles and provide insights into how these two alleles have both evolved in the population of northern Ghana.
Housing Demand and Expenditures : How Rising Rent Levels affect Behavior and Costs-of-Living over Space and Time

Since 1970, housing’s relative price, share of expenditure, and “unaffordability” have all grown. We estimate housing demand parameters using compensated and uncompensated frameworks over space and time, testing restrictions imposed by demand theory and household mobility. The data support the hypothesis that housing demand is both income and price inelastic, and that housing demand has exhibited a secular increase over time. We estimate an ideal cost-of-living index that demonstrates how the poor are impacted disproportionately in high-rent cities, and how rising rents amplified increases in real income inequality. Rising rents and inequality both help explain why housing has become less affordable.
Effects of drought and tapping for latex production on water relations of Hevea brasiliensis trees

The impact of drought conditions on the water relations of rubber trees is important because the trees could shed leaves while they are being continuously tapped. The aim of this work was to study the effect of soil drought and the tapping of latex on the water relations of rubber trees. This study distinguished between untapped trees and trees affected by tapping activity. The experiment was conducted on 14–15 year-old rubber trees from the clone, RRIM 600, at the Chachoengsao Rubber Research Center (CRRC). Climatic measurement, soil water content, predawn and midday leaf water potential, stand transpiration and percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity (PLC) were measured from January 2009 to January 2010, especially in the dry season. Under drought conditions, during the rainy season, stand transpiration and predawn leaf water potential decreased in response to soil drought in August. The midday leaf water potential and PLC did not change following soil water stress. In the dry season, the plant water status was related to climatic variables and soil drought. The results indicated that drought induces a reduction in the plant water status of rubber trees. Tapping activity did not have a marked infl uence on the water balance of the rubber trees. However, tapping reduced the sap fl ux density and stomatal conductance; thus, attention must be paid to tapping in the dry season, particularly
Hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha as a therapeutic target in multiple myeloma

The increasing importance of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in tumorigenesis raises the possibility that agents which specifically inhibit this transcription factor, would provide significant therapeutic benefit. The constitutive expression of HIF-1α in about 35% of Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients suggests HIF-1α suppression might be part of a therapeutic strategy. Accordingly, we explored the effect of EZN-2968, a small 3rd generation antisense oligonucleotide against HIF-1α, in a panel of MM cell lines and primary patients samples. Here, we demonstrated that EZN-2968 is highly specific for HIF-1α mRNA and that exposure of MM cells to EZN-2968 resulted in an efficient and homogeneous loading of the cells showing a long lasting low HIF-1α protein level. In MM cells, HIF-1α suppression induced a permanent cell cycle arrest by prolonging S-phase through cyclin A modulation and in addition it induced a mild apoptotic cell death. Moreover, HIF-1α suppression caused a metabolic shift that leaded to increased production of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation (i.e. Warburg effect reversion), that was confirmed by the observed mitochondrial membrane potential decrease. These results show that HIF-1α is an important player in MM homeostasis and that its inhibition by small antisense oligonucleotides provides a rationale for novel therapeutic strategy to improving MM treatment.
Neuronal Recordings with Solid-Conductor Intracellular Nanoelectrodes (SCINEs)

Direct electrical recording of the neuronal transmembrane potential has been crucial to our understanding of the biophysical mechanisms subserving neuronal computation. Existing intracellular recording techniques, however, limit the accuracy and duration of such measurements by changing intracellular biochemistry and/or by damaging the plasma membrane. Here we demonstrate that nanoengineered electrodes can be used to record neuronal transmembrane potentials in brain tissue without causing these physiological perturbations. Using focused ion beam milling, we have fabricated Solid-Conductor Intracellular NanoElectrodes (SCINEs), from conventional tungsten microelectrodes. SCINEs have tips that are <300 nm in diameter for several micrometers, but can be easily handled and can be inserted into brain tissue. Performing simultaneous whole-cell patch recordings, we show that SCINEs can record action potentials (APs) as well as slower, subthreshold neuronal potentials without altering cellular properties. These results show a key role for nanotechnology in the development of new electrical recording techniques in neuroscience.
Closing ranks in rigid multi‐agent formations using edge contraction

This paper proposes a systematic approach to solve the closing rank problem for a rigid multi‐agent formation, viz. restoring rigidity after loss of an agent. The approach is based on a particular graph operation, the edge contraction operation. It is proven that when an agent is lost in an arbitrary two‐dimensional rigid formation, rigidity can always be restored by transferring all links to which this agent was incident on to one of its neighbors, though not in general any arbitrary one of them. From a graph theoretical point of view, this corresponds to contraction of a certain edge incident to the vertex representing the agent being lost. It is established, for any two‐dimensional rigid formation (graph), that there exists at least two such edges that can be contracted to solve the closing ranks problem. Later, it is demonstrated that any potential decentralized algorithm to check if an arbitrary edge is contractible would need to use information on vertices and edges that can be at arbitrarily large distance from the edge considered; and a set of rigid graph theoretical results are established for several general settings, which can be used in selection of the edge to contract in these settings in order to solve the corresponding closing ranks problems. Partial results are also obtained for three‐dimensional formations, and it is shown that the two‐dimensional results do not generalize as such to higher dimension. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
No Perisaccadic Mislocalization with Abruptly Cancelled Saccades

Every saccadic eye movement that we make changes the image of the world on our retina. Yet, despite these retinal shifts, we still perceive our visual world to be stable. Efference copy from the oculomotor system to the visual system has been suggested to contribute to this stable percept, enabling the brain to anticipate the retinal image shifts by remapping the neural image. A psychophysical phenomenon that has been linked to this predictive remapping is the mislocalization of a stimulus flashed around the time of a saccade. If this mislocalization is initiated by saccade preparation, one should also observe localization errors when a saccade is planned, but abruptly aborted just before its execution. We tested this hypothesis in human subjects using a novel paradigm that combines a flash localization task with a countermanding component that occasionally requires saccade cancellation. Surprisingly, we found no trace of mislocalization, even for saccades cancelled close to the point of no return. This strongly suggests that the actual execution of the saccade is a prerequisite for the typical localization errors, which rejects various models and constrains neural substrates. We conclude that perisaccadic mislocalization is not a direct consequence of saccade preparation, but arises after saccade execution when the flash location is constructed from memory.
Structural and mechanical properties of a giomer-based bulk fill restorative in different curing conditions

ABSTRACT Objective The main goal of this study was to compare the polymerization degree of bulk-fill giomer resin cured with three different light-curing units (LCUs): a polywave third-generation (Valo); a monowave (DemiUltra: DU); and a second-generation LED (Optima 10: Opt) LCUs by using structural and mechanical properties. Material and methods Giomer samples of 2 and 4 mm cured with three LCUs were employed in vitro analysis. The degree of curing (DC%) was determined with Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Microstructural features were observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Flexural strength (FS), compression strength (CS), elastic modulus and fracturing strain were determined for mechanical properties. Surface microhardness (SMH) values were also measured. Oneway ANOVA, two-way analysis of variance and Tukey multiple comparison tests were used for statistically analyzing the FS and SMH. Results DC% values were 58.2, 47.6, and 39.7 for the 2 mm samples cured with DU, Opt. , and Valo LCUs, respectively. DC% values of the 4 mm samples were 50.4, 44.6, and 38.2 for DU, Opt, and Valo, respectively. SMH values were Valo, Opt<DU at top of the samples; Valo<DU, Opt at 2 mm, and DU, Valo<Opt at 4 mm depth. Giomer samples cured with Opt and DU exhibited higher FS values than Valo. CS values were similar but compressive modulus and fracturing strain (%) varied depending on the curing protocol. Conclusions Based on the results, it can be concluded that curing device and protocol strongly affect crosslinking reactions and thus DC%, SMH, compressive modulus and strain at break values. Consequently, it can be deduced that curing protocol is possibly the most important parameter for microstructure formation of highly-filled composite restoratives because it may bring some structural defects and physical frailties on restorations due to lower degree of polymerization.
Bidirectional associations between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms from adolescence through early adulthood

Abstract Body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms are commonly experienced during adolescence and increase the risk of adverse health outcomes, especially eating disorders. However, the dominant temporal associations between these two experiences (i.e., whether one is a risk factor for the other or the two are mutually reinforcing) has yet to be fully explored. We examined the associations between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms assessed at baseline and 5- and 10-year follow-up in younger (M age = 12.9 years at baseline, 56% female, n = 577) and older (M age = 15.9 years at baseline, 57% female, n = 1,325) adolescent cohorts assessed as part of Project Eating Among Teens and Young Adults. Associations between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms were examined using cross-lagged models. For females, the dominant directionality was for body dissatisfaction predicting later depressive symptoms. For males, the picture was more complex, with developmentally sensitive associations in which depressive symptoms predicted later body dissatisfaction in early adolescence and early adulthood, but the reverse association was dominant during middle adolescence. These findings suggest that interventions should be tailored to dynamic risk profiles that shift over adolescence and early adulthood, and that targeting body dissatisfaction at key periods during development may have downstream impacts on depressive symptoms.
Epidemiology and Management of Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes in Contemporary Real-World Practice: Evolving Trends From the EYESHOT Study to the START-ANTIPLATELET Registry

The epidemiology and management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) have evolved. We aimed to describe recent demographics and therapeutic changes in the Italian ACS population. We analyzed data from 2 multicenter consecutive Italian registries (the EYESHOT [EmploYEd antithrombotic therapies in patients with acute coronary Syndromes HOspitalised in iTalian cardiac care units] and START-ANTIPLATELET registries) enrolling patients with ACS between December 2013 and June 2016. An overall population of 3756 patients with ACS was enrolled: 2585 in the EYESHOT and 1171 in the START-ANTIPLATELET. Compared with the EYESHOT, patients in the START-ANTIPLATELET registry presented more frequently with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and were more often smokers and dyslipidemic (all P < .001) and had atrial fibrillation (P = .018) but were less frequently aged ≥75 years and with a history of major bleeding (all P < .001). Analysis of treatment strategy showed a significant increase in the use of percutaneous coronary intervention, drug-eluting stents, dual antiplatelet therapy, and ticagrelor in the START-ANTIPLATELET (all P < .001), with a substantial decline in the proportion of patients conservatively managed and on clopidogrel at discharge (P < .001). A lower rate of in-hospital events was recorded in the START-ANTIPLATELET compared with the EYESHOT. The START-ANTIPLATELET and EYESHOT registries provide consecutive snapshots in the contemporary management of patients with ACS in Italy, showing important changes in both demographic characteristics and treatment strategies.
The Complete Genome and Proteome of Laribacter hongkongensis Reveal Potential Mechanisms for Adaptations to Different Temperatures and Habitats

Laribacter hongkongensis is a newly discovered Gram-negative bacillus of the Neisseriaceae family associated with freshwater fish–borne gastroenteritis and traveler's diarrhea. The complete genome sequence of L. hongkongensis HLHK9, recovered from an immunocompetent patient with severe gastroenteritis, consists of a 3,169-kb chromosome with G+C content of 62.35%. Genome analysis reveals different mechanisms potentially important for its adaptation to diverse habitats of human and freshwater fish intestines and freshwater environments. The gene contents support its phenotypic properties and suggest that amino acids and fatty acids can be used as carbon sources. The extensive variety of transporters, including multidrug efflux and heavy metal transporters as well as genes involved in chemotaxis, may enable L. hongkongensis to survive in different environmental niches. Genes encoding urease, bile salts efflux pump, adhesin, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and other putative virulence factors—such as hemolysins, RTX toxins, patatin-like proteins, phospholipase A1, and collagenases—are present. Proteomes of L. hongkongensis HLHK9 cultured at 37°C (human body temperature) and 20°C (freshwater habitat temperature) showed differential gene expression, including two homologous copies of argB, argB-20, and argB-37, which encode two isoenzymes of N-acetyl-L-glutamate kinase (NAGK)—NAGK-20 and NAGK-37—in the arginine biosynthesis pathway. NAGK-20 showed higher expression at 20°C, whereas NAGK-37 showed higher expression at 37°C. NAGK-20 also had a lower optimal temperature for enzymatic activities and was inhibited by arginine probably as negative-feedback control. Similar duplicated copies of argB are also observed in bacteria from hot springs such as Thermus thermophilus, Deinococcus geothermalis, Deinococcus radiodurans, and Roseiflexus castenholzii, suggesting that similar mechanisms for temperature adaptation may be employed by other bacteria. Genome and proteome analysis of L. hongkongensis revealed novel mechanisms for adaptations to survival at different temperatures and habitats.
A Study of Stable Graphene Oxide Dispersions in Various Solvents

The work on processibility and practical use of Graphene is expanding, so the need for stable dispersion of Graphene in different solvents is ever increasing. The dispersion behavior of Graphene oxide (GO) prepared by modified Hummer’s method was studied in ten different solvents namely Water, Tetrahydofuran(THF), Dimethyl formamide(DMF), Ethylene Glycol, Acetone, Pyridine, 2-Propanol, Methanol, Ethanol, and Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effect of sonication and addition of surfactant (Sodium Cholate) on dispersion behavior was also investigated. Homogeneous dispersions were found in all freshly prepared GO solutions but they were short lived. The dispersions were then left as such for three weeks and after three weeks they were observed again. It was found that stable dispersions were left only in some solvents like Water, THF, DMF, Ethylene Glycol and Pyridine. Finally in a separate set of experiment we treated the GO solutions in all these solvents with surfactant (Sodium Cholate) and sonication (400 Hrs) to see the dispersion behavior. It was observed that stable dispersion remained only in few solvents like Water, DMF, Ethylene Glycol and Pyridine. These were most stable and showed no sedimentation or settling down of GO even after three weeks. These solvents are easily available and can be effectively used for dispersion formation and further processing of Graphene.
Sex Differences and Autism: Brain Function during Verbal Fluency and Mental Rotation

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect more males than females. This suggests that the neurobiology of autism: 1) may overlap with mechanisms underlying typical sex-differentiation or 2) alternately reflect sex-specificity in how autism is expressed in males and females. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test these alternate hypotheses. Fifteen men and fourteen women with Asperger syndrome (AS), and sixteen typically developing men and sixteen typically developing women underwent fMRI during performance of mental rotation and verbal fluency tasks. All groups performed the tasks equally well. On the verbal fluency task, despite equivalent task-performance, both males and females with AS showed enhanced activation of left occipitoparietal and inferior prefrontal activity compared to controls. During mental rotation, there was a significant diagnosis-by-sex interaction across occipital, temporal, parietal, middle frontal regions, with greater activation in AS males and typical females compared to AS females and typical males. These findings suggest a complex relationship between autism and sex that is differentially expressed in verbal and visuospatial domains.
Constraint patch matching for faster person re-identification

In person re-identification, it is of great importance to extract very discriminative features in order to distinguish between images of different persons captured in different camera views. Features can be extracted globally from the entire or parts of the image, or locally from patches. As a result, matching can either be done using global feature descriptors or local patch features with the latter being more computationally heavy due to the number of patch pairs to match. Horizontal constraints are therefore usually added to only match patches at same horizontal location. As an extension, we propose an algorithm which adds vertical constraints to different body parts, to increase accuracy and decrease processing time. The constraints are applied to the CVPDL system by Li et al. [13] in order to compare accuracy with the use of a foreground mask and processing time when only adding horizontal constraints. We refer to our constrained CVPDL as C-CVPDL. Experiments conducted on two datasets, VIPeR and CUHK01, show C-CVPDL to achieve similar rank-1 accuracy on VIPeR while improving rank-1 accuracy by 3.83% for CUHK01 compared to CVPDL. Furthermore, experimental results on CUHK03 show a rank-1 accuracy 52.05%, being comparable to state-of-the-art CNN's and beating other patch matching systems. Finally, timings for VIPeR and CUHK01 show our constraints to decrease time by 32.77% and 37%, respectively, while only taking up to 36ms to compute per person.