Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated Firearm Identification: On using a novel Multiple-Slice-Shape (MSS) Approach for Comparison and Matching of Firing Pin Impression Topography

The examination of firearm related toolmarks impressed to cartridges and bullets is a well known forensic discipline. The application of three dimensional imaging systems and pattern recognition techniques for automatic comparison and matching of topographic data is a central field of research in the domain of digital crime scene analysis. In this work, we introduce and evaluate a novel Multiple-Slice-Shape (MSS) approach with the objective to closer link the preprocessing and feature extraction stages and improve the automated examinations of firearm toolmark surface data. We employ two existing features which are applied to the topography of firing pin impressions and aim at an automatic matching of the shapes based on multiple line-profile measurement. We suggest several modifications of the original Multiple-Angle-Path (MAP) and Multiple-Circle-Path (MCP) features to achieve an optimal integration into the proposed processing pipeline. Our evaluation approach is three-fold. First, we aim at the determination of an initial parameterization for MSS processing and feature extraction. Second, we evaluate the accuracy of discrimination for two firearms of the same mark and model. Third, we evaluate the accuracy using six different weapons. The test set contains 72 cartridge samples including six guns and three ammunition manufactures. Regarding the first evaluation, the results indicate an improvement of the accuracy for both features. Regarding the second evaluation, the achieved accuracy ranges between 67% and 100% for the MAP feature, and between 92% and 100% for the MCP feature. With respect to the third evaluation, the best result is achieved for MAP32 with 73% and for MCP15 with 92% compared to 56% and 82% correct classification rate regarding the original versions. It is supposed that various 3D spatial features can be combined and maybe improved by using the proposed MSS approach. We motivate the evaluation of this question for future work.
Neuroimaging and Neurocognitive Correlates of Aggression and Violence in Schizophrenia

Individuals diagnosed with major mental disorders such as schizophrenia are more likely to have engaged in violent behavior than mentally healthy members of the same communities. Although aggressive acts can have numerous causes, research about the underlying neurobiology of violence and aggression in schizophrenia can lead to a better understanding of the heterogeneous nature of that behavior and can assist in developing new treatment strategies. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent literature and discuss some of the neurobiological correlates of aggression and violence. The focus will be on schizophrenia, and the results of neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies that have directly investigated brain functioning and/or structure in aggressive and violent samples will be discussed as well as other domains that might predispose to aggression and violence such as deficits in responding to the emotional expressions of others, impulsivity, and psychopathological symptoms. Finally gender differences regarding aggression and violence are discussed. In this context several methodological and conceptional issues that limited the comparison of these studies will be addressed.
Chemoradiotherapy and concurrent radiofrequency thermal therapy to treat primary rectal cancer and prediction of treatment responses

The present study aimed to evaluate a previously reported predictive formula of output-limiting symptoms induced by radiofrequency (RF) to determine the efficacy of this neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NACR) and concurrent RF thermal therapy. The present study included 81 consecutive patients with confirmed diagnoses of rectal adenocarcinoma that was localized in the mid-low rectum (up to 12 cm from the anal verge) who received NACR [intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), 50 Gy/25 fractions, capecitabine 1,700 mg/m2/day for 5 days/week)] with concurrent thermal therapy (Thermotron-RF8, once a week for 5 weeks with 50 min irradiation). Patients with progressive disease (PD) did not receive RF outputs higher than the predicted value. Some patients who were predicted to receive more output in fact received more than the predicted output. In patients who were predicted to receive moderately higher outputs, 37.5% of the patients experienced pathological complete responses, which was the highest rate, while in those who did not receive more than the predicted output, 66.7% of the patients experienced PD, which was the highest rate in the present study. We speculate that RF thermal therapy may offset the chemoradiation effects in some patients. Adding thermal therapy as a multimodality therapy to NACR potentially affects patients with lower predicted outputs and actual observed outputs slightly higher than the predictive value. Our predictive equation for initial energy output, in which output-limiting symptoms can be used to predict treatment efficacy, consequently, can be used to decide whether to continue this treatment modality.
Synergistic cytotoxicity in solid tumor cell lines between N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide and modulators of ceramide metabolism.

BACKGROUND We previously reported that N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (4-HPR, fenretinide) treatment caused large increases of ceramide levels in neuroblastoma cell lines and induced cell death by a combination of apoptosis and necrosis through p53 (also known as TP53)-independent and caspase-independent pathways. Our goal was to determine if several molecules that inhibit enzymes involved in ceramide metabolism-L-threo-dihydrosphingosine (safingol), d, l-threo-1-phenyl-2-hexadecanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (PPMP), and tamoxifen-enhanced 4-HPR-mediated cytotoxicity and/or affected ceramide levels. METHODS Cellular lipids were quantified by radiolabeling and thin-layer chromatography. Cytotoxicity and cytotoxic synergy (expressed as combination index, where combination index <1 indicates synergy and >1 indicates antagonism) were measured in cultured cancer cell lines with the use of a fluorescence-based assay of cell viability employing digital imaging microscopy. Statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS 4-HPR increased ceramide levels by de novo synthesis. Safingol (1-4 microM) was incorporated into a stereochemical variant of ceramide and synergized with a 3:1 molar ratio of 4-HPR (3-12 microM), to produce a 100-fold to 10 000-fold (2 to 4 logs) increase in cytotoxicity relative to 4-HPR alone in neuroblastoma (combination index <0.1), lung (combination index <0.1-0.2), melanoma (combination index <0.1-0.2), prostate (combination index <0.1-1.0), colon (combination index 0.1-0.3), breast (combination index = 0.1-0.5), and pancreas (combination index = 0.2) cell lines, including p53 mutant and alkylator-resistant cell lines. The 4-HPR and safingol combination was cytotoxic in low-oxygen conditions and was minimally toxic to normal fibroblasts and bone marrow myeloid progenitor cells. Addition of agents that retard ceramide glucosylation and/or acylation, such as PPMP or tamoxifen, to 4-HPR or to the combination of 4-HPR and safingol further increased cytotoxicity to tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS Combinations of 4-HPR and modulators of ceramide metabolism may form the basis for a novel chemotherapy that is functional under hypoxic conditions (e.g., such as those within tumors) and is p53 independent and caspase independent.
NOD2 Polymorphisms and Their Impact on Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Outcome

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a valuable tool in the treatment of many haematological disorders. Advances in understanding HLA matching have improved prognoses. However, many recipients of well-matched HSCT develop posttransplant complications, and survival is far from absolute. The pursuit of novel genetic factors that may impact on HSCT outcome has resulted in the publication of many articles on a multitude of genes. Three NOD2 polymorphisms, identified as disease-associated variants in Crohn's disease, have recently been suggested as important candidate gene markers in the outcome of HSCT. It was originally postulated that as the clinical manifestation of inflammatory responses characteristic of several post-transplant complications was of notable similarity to those seen in Crohn's disease, it was possible that they shared a common cause. Since the publication of this first paper, numerous studies have attempted to replicate the results in different transplant settings. The data has varied considerably between studies, and as yet no consensus on the impact of NOD2 SNPs on HSCT outcome has been achieved. Here, we will review the existing literature, summarise current theories as to why the data differs, and suggest possible mechanisms by which the SNPs affect HSCT outcome.
Some characteristics of the rabbit vermiform appendix as a secreting organ.

It has been confirmed that the rabbit vermiform appendix secretes spontaneously at a relatively rapid rate (1-12 ml.h(-1); 1.4+/-0.24 mul.min(-1). cm(-2)). The electrolyte composition is similar to that of ileal fluids and independent of the secretory rate. The transmural potential difference is about 12 mV, mucosa negative. Of the major electrolytes, only HCO(3) (-) is secreted grossly against its electrochemical potential difference. This finding plus the low hydraulic (or osmotic) permeability (L(p)) and high secretory pressures of the organ strongly suggest that the secretion is an active one. The passive permeability to Na(+) and Cl(-) appears to be, at most, somewhat less than for small bowel. Permeability to mannitol was estimated at 2.5 x 10(-7) cm.s(-1). On the basis of reasonable assumptions and results with luminal test solutions of differing osmolarities, it was concluded that (a) the L(p) of the appendiceal epithelium is in the lower range of values reported for small bowel and colon; (b) the L(p) is higher for osmotic absorption than for osmotic secretion; and (c) the rate of spontaneous secretion is insensitive to luminal anisotonicity over a wide range of values. But sufficiently hypotonic solutions can reverse net secretion to net absorption, more by inhibiting spontaneous secretion than increasing osmotic absorption. The rabbit vermiform appendix appears to be a useful model for the elucidation of intestinal secretory processes.
Megalin and cubilin expression in gallbladder epithelium and regulation by bile acids Published, JLR Papers in Press, September 16, 2004. DOI 10.1194/jlr.M400235-JLR200

Cholesterol crystal formation in the gallbladder is a key step in gallstone pathogenesis. Gallbladder epithelial cells might prevent luminal gallstone formation through a poorly understood cholesterol absorption process. Genetic studies in mice have highlighted potential gallstone susceptibility alleles, Lith genes, which include the gene for megalin. Megalin, in conjunction with the large peripheral membrane protein cubilin, mediates the endocytosis of numerous ligands, including HDL/apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I). Although the bile contains apoA-I and several cholesterol-binding megalin ligands, the expression of megalin and cubilin in the gallbladder has not been investigated. Here, we show that both proteins are expressed by human and mouse gallbladder epithelia. In vitro studies using a megalin-expressing cell line showed that lithocholic acid strongly inhibits and cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids increase megalin expression. The effects of bile acids (BAs) were also demonstrated in vivo, analyzing gallbladder levels of megalin and cubilin from mice fed with different BAs. The BA effects could be mediated by the farnesoid X receptor, expressed in the gallbladder. Megalin protein was also strongly increased after feeding a lithogenic diet. These results indicate a physiological role for megalin and cubilin in the gallbladder and provide support for a role for megalin in gallstone pathogenesis.
PILCO: A Model-Based and Data-Efficient Approach to Policy Search

In this paper, we introduce PILCO, a practical, data-efficient model-based policy search method. PILCO reduces model bias, one of the key problems of model-based reinforcement learning, in a principled way. By learning a probabilistic dynamics model and explicitly incorporating model uncertainty into long-term planning, PILCO can cope with very little data and facilitates learning from scratch in only a few trials. Policy evaluation is performed in closed form using state-of-the-art approximate inference. Furthermore, policy gradients are computed analytically for policy improvement. We report unprecedented learning efficiency on challenging and high-dimensional control tasks.
Viewpoint-dependent Priming Effects in the Perception of Human Actions and Body Postures

The identification of human actions and body postures viewed from different viewpoints was examined in four long-term priming experiments with static pictures of a human model. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants had to name or describe the pictures, and in Experiments 3 and 4 participants had to decide whether the pictures showed a possible or impossible body pose. Reliable priming effects were obtained only when priming and primed action or pose shared the same in-depth orientation (Experiments 1 and 4) and left-right reflection (Experiments 2 and 3). Having seen the same action or pose in a different orientation did not reliably facilitate identification performance later on. Also, there was no priming for poses that are impossible to perform with a human body, not even when an identical same-view prime was used. These findings suggest that the stored representations that mediate the identification of human actions and postures are viewpoint specific.
A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Efik Proverbs

Proverbs are important aspects of verbal discourse within the socio-cultural contexts in which knowledge, ideas and emotions are communicated. They reflect the people‟s social and cultural orientations, philosophy, worldviews, as well as psychological and literary make-ups that generally depict the experience of life. The language of proverbs is commonly figurative, colourful, pithy, grammatically insightful and condensing the wisdom of experience. In this study, we attempt the morphological and syntactic description of proverbs in Efik, a Lower-Cross language spoken predominantly in Southern Cross River State, Nigeria. Proverbs are morphosyntactic constructions of different kinds, structures and functions, with their unique grammatical peculiarities. We investigate the internal structure of Efik proverbs and highlight their grammatical relevance in an attempt to accentuate an aspect of the Efik language and culture which is daily put out of prominence and active use, given that Efik proverbs mainly thrive in oral tradition. Our aim is to arrest the loss of this inherited knowledge and attempt to preserve a valuable part of the Efik linguistic, literary and cultural heritage.
A Remote Code Update Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract : Wireless sensor networks consist of collections of small, low-power nodes that interface or interact with the physical environment. The ability to add new functionality or perform software maintenance without having to physically reach each individual node is already an essential service, even at the limited scale at which current sensor networks are deployed. TinyOS supports single-hop over-the-air reprogramming today, but the need to reprogram sensors in a multi-hop network will become particularly critical as sensor networks mature and move toward larger deployment sizes. In this paper we present Multihop Over-the-Air Programming (MOAP), a code distribution mechanism specifically targeted for Mica-2 Motes. We discuss and analyze the design goals, constraints, choices and optimizations focusing in particular on dissemination strategies and retransmission policies. We have implemented MOAP on Mica-2 motes and we evaluate that implementation using both emulation and testbed experiments. We show that our dissemination mechanism obtains a 60-90% performance improvement in terms of required transmissions compared to flooding. We also show that a very simple windowed retransmission tracking scheme is nearly as effective as arbitrary repairs and yet is much better suited to energy and memory constrained embedded systems.
On Extra Variables in (Equational) Logic Programming

Extra variables in a clause are variables which occur in the body but not in the head. It has been argued that extra variables are necessary and contribute to the expressive power of logic languages. In the first part of this paper, we show that this is not true in general. For this purpose, we provide a simple syntactic transformation of each logic program into a logic program without extra variables. Moreover, we show a strong correspondence between the original and the transformed program with respect to the declarative and the operational semantics. In the second part of this paper, we use a similar technique to provide new completeness results for equational logic programs with extra variables. In equational logic programming it is well known that extra variables cause problems since narrowing, the standard operational semantics for equational logic programming, may become incomplete in the presence of extra variables. Since extra variables are useful from a programming point of view, we characterize new classes of equational logic programs with extra variables for which narrowing and particular narrowing strategies are complete. In particular, we show the completeness of narrowing strategies in the presence of nonterminating functions and extra variables in right-hand sides of rewrite rules.
Proof systems for the coalgebraic cover modality

We investigate an alternative presentation of classical and pos- itive modal logic where the coalgebraic cover modality is taken as primitive. For each logic, we present a sound and complete Hilbert-styl e axiomatiza- tion. Moreover, we give a two-sided sound and complete seque nt calculus for the negation-free language, and for the language with negat ion we provide a one-sided sequent calculus which is sound, complete and cu t-free.
Effect of a Multi-Level Education Intervention Model on Knowledge and Attitudes of Accidental Injuries in Rural Children in Zunyi, Southwest China

Objective: To explore the effect of a school-family-individual (SFI) multi-level education intervention model on knowledge and attitudes about accidental injuries among school-aged children to improve injury prevention strategies and reduce the incidence of pediatric injuries. Methods: The random sample of rural school-aged children were recruited by using a multistage, stratified, cluster sampling method in Zunyi, Southwest China from 2012 to 2014, and 2342 children were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Then children answered a baseline survey to collect knowledge and attitude scores (KAS) of accidental injuries. In the intervention group, children, their parents/guardians and the school received a SFI multi-level education intervention, which included a children’s injury-prevention poster at schools, an open letter about security instruction for parents/guardians and multiple-media health education (Microsoft PowerPoint lectures, videos, handbooks, etc.) to children. Children in the control group were given only handbook education. After 16 months, children answered a follow-up survey to collect data on accidental injury types and accidental injury-related KAS for comparing the intervention and control groups and baseline and follow-up data. Results: The distribution of gender was not significantly different while age was different between the baseline and follow-up survey. At baseline, the mean KAS was lower for the intervention than control group (15.37 ± 3.40 and 18.35 ± 5.01; p < 0.001). At follow-up, the mean KAS was higher for the intervention than control group (21.16 ± 3.05 and 20.02 ± 3.40; p < 0.001). The increase in KAS in the intervention and control groups was significant (p < 0.001; KAS: 5.79 vs. 1.67) and suggested that children’s injury-related KAS improved in the intervention group. Moreover, the KAS between the groups differed for most subtypes of incidental injuries (based on International Classification of Diseases 10, ICD-10) (p < 0.05). Before intervention, 350 children had reported their accident injury episodes, while after intervention 237 children had reported their accidental injury episodes in the follow-up survey. Conclusions: SFI multi-level education intervention could significantly increase KAS for accidental injuries, which should improve children’s prevention-related knowledge and attitudes about such injuries. It should help children change their risk behaviors and reduce the incidence of accidental injuries. Our results highlight a new intervention model of injury prevention among school-aged children.
BLIND DETECTIONS OF CO J = 1–0 IN 11 H-ATLAS GALAXIES AT z = 2.1–3.5 WITH THE GBT/ZPECTROMETER

We report measurements of the carbon monoxide ground state rotational transition (12C16O J = 1–0) with the Zpectrometer ultrawideband spectrometer on the 100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. The sample comprises 11 galaxies with redshifts between z = 2.1 and 3.5 from a total sample of 24 targets identified by Herschel-ATLAS photometric colors from the SPIRE instrument. Nine of the CO measurements are new redshift determinations, substantially adding to the number of detections of galaxies with rest-frame peak submillimeter emission near 100 μm. The CO detections confirm the existence of massive gas reservoirs within these luminous dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). The CO redshift distribution of the 350 μm selected galaxies is strikingly similar to the optical redshifts of 850 μm-selected submillimeter galaxies in 2.1 ⩽ z ⩽ 3.5. Spectroscopic redshifts break a temperature–redshift degeneracy; optically thin dust models fit to the far-infrared photometry indicate characteristic dust temperatures near 34 K for most of the galaxies we detect in CO. Detections of two warmer galaxies, and statistically significant nondetections, hint at warmer or molecule-poor DSFGs with redshifts that are difficult to determine from Herschel-SPIRE photometric colors alone. Many of the galaxies identified by H-ATLAS photometry are expected to be amplified by foreground gravitational lenses. Analysis of CO linewidths and luminosities provides a method for finding approximate gravitational lens magnifications μ from spectroscopic data alone, yielding μ ∼ 3–20. Corrected for magnification, most galaxy luminosities are consistent with an ultraluminous infrared galaxy classification, but three are candidate hyper-LIRGs with luminosities greater than 1013 L☉.
An Empirical Study of the Joint Space Inertia Matrix

The joint-space inertia matrix of a robot mechanism can be highly ill-conditioned. This phenomenon is not merely a numerical artifact; it is symptomatic of an underlying property of the mechanism itself that can make it more difficult to simulate or control. This paper investigates the problem by means of an empirical study of the eigenvalues, eigenvectors and condition number of the joint-space inertia matrix. It is shown that the condition number is typically large, and that it grows anywhere from O(N) to O(N4) with the number of bodies in the system. Several graphs are presented, showing how the condition number varies with configuration, the number of links, variations in link sizes, variations in connectivity, and fixed or floating bases. Explanations are offered for some of the observed effects.