Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EDA Based Motion Deblurring for Sandroid CubeSats Imaging System

Motion blur, which increases the difficulty of locating and identifying target objects, has always been an ill-posed issue of space-based imaging system. In our paper, we point out the issue of deblurring degraded images caused by relative motion between space-based imaging system and observation targets. Such as motion of target objects to be observed or tremors of space-based imaging system. We propose a strategy to deblur degraded images that uses Estimation of Distribution Algorithm to obtain a better motion blur kernel in both linear and non-linear non-blind deconvolution situations. To produce a deblurred result, the strategy will be applied on a single image collected from the space-based imaging system on our Sandroid CubeSats, a member of NanoSats. Sandroid bases on Android operating system and our Sandroid CubeSats make full use of mobile device cluster as the main support of computing resources. Currently, the superior on-board computing capability of our Sandroid CubeSats makes sure that the proposed strategy is operative. In addition, experimental results prove that the proposed strategy is efficient and effective.
A new method for summation of short time CAF’s based on RLCS motion

Cross ambiguity function is a common method for joint estimation of TDOA/FDOA. CAF performance degrades in wideband situation. The maximum likelihood estimator in wideband model contains data resampling. Because of intensive computational burden data resampling isnpsilat viewed as a practical method. Calculation of short time CAFs and summation of them is suggested as a practical alternative method. Different summation methods were suggested for compensation of TDOA variation in the integration time. In this paper first with an experimental test we find the areas in which FDOA variations is noticeable and we indicate that these regions are big enough not to be ignored. Then a new method for summation of sequential CAFs is presented. The proposed method compensates variation of both TDOA and FDOA together and via this method, detection ability of peak in combined CAF is improved. The proposed method is based on recti linear constant speed (RLSC) motion.
Formation of Complex Craters in Layered Targets With Material Anisotropy

Meteorite impacts often occur in layered targets, where the strength of the target varies as a function of depth, but this complexity is often not represented in numerical impact simulations because of the high computational cost of resolving thin layers. To address this limitation, we developed a method to approximate the effect of multiple thin weak layers within a sedimentary sequence using a single material layer to represent the entire sequence. Our approach, implemented in the iSALE (impact‐Simplified Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian) shock physics code, combines an anisotropic yield criterion with a cell‐based method to track the orientation of layers. To demonstrate the efficacy of the method and constrain parameters of the anisotropic strength model required to replicate the effects of thin, weak layers, we compare results of simulations of an ~20‐ to 25‐km diameter complex crater on Earth using the new method to those from simulations that explicitly resolve multiple thin weak layers. We show that our approach allows for a reduction in computational cost, negating the need for an increase in spatial resolution to resolve thin layers in the target, while replicating crater formation and final morphology from the high‐resolution models. In keeping with field observations, we also find that anisotropic layers may be responsible for a lack of central uplift expression observed at many craters formed in targets with thick sedimentary layers (e.g., the Haughton and Ries impact structures).
Learning Privacy Preferences

This paper suggests a machine learning approach to preference generation in the context of privacy agents. With this solution, users are relieved from the complex task of specifying their preferences beforehand, disconnected from actual situations. Instead, historical privacy decisions are used as a basis for providing privacy recommendations to users in new situations. The solution also takes into account the reasons why users act as they do, and allows users to benefit from information on the privacy trade-offs made by others.
Analysis of Gln223Agr Polymorphism of Leptin Receptor Gene in Type II Diabetic Mellitus Subjects among Malaysians

Leptin is known as the adipose peptide hormone. It plays an important role in the regulation of body fat and inhibits food intake by its action. Moreover, it is believed that leptin level deductions might be the cause of obesity and may play an important role in the development of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), as well as in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The Leptin Receptor (LEPR) gene and its polymorphisms have not been extensively studied in relation to the T2DM and its complications in various populations. In this study, we have determined the association of Gln223Agr loci of LEPR gene in three ethnic groups of Malaysia, namely: Malays, Chinese and Indians. A total of 284 T2DM subjects and 281 healthy individuals were recruited based on International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buccal specimens of the subjects. The commercial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was carried out by proper restriction enzyme MSP I to both amplify and digest the Gln223Agr polymorphism. The p-value among the three studied races was 0.057, 0.011 and 0.095, respectively. The values such as age, WHR, FPG, HbA1C, LDL, HDL, Chol and Family History were significantly different among the subjects with Gln223Agr polymorphism of LEPR (p < 0.05).
Peritoneal dialysis fluid-induced changes of the peritoneal membrane are reversible after peritoneal rest in rats.

BACKGROUND Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with functional and structural alterations of the peritoneal membrane. However, the (ir)reversibility of these pathological changes of the peritoneum is not understood fully. METHODS In an experimental PD model, rats (n = 15) received daily 10 ml conventional glucose containing PD fluid, via peritoneal catheters connected to implanted subcutaneous mini vascular access ports. After 5 weeks of treatment, the first group of animals (PDF; n = 10) was sacrificed, while peritoneal catheters of the remaining group of rats (PD-rest; n = 5) were removed 1 week later. The latter group (PD-rest) was sacrificed 12 weeks after removing catheters. At both time points, untreated rats were included as controls. Cellular and morphological parameters were analysed by light and electron microscopy. RESULTS Rats exposed to PD fluid for 5 weeks showed a severe angiogenesis in various peritoneal tissues. Peritoneal rest resulted in a significant reduction in blood vessel density in visceral (mesentery, P<0.05), but not in parietal peritoneum. Five weeks' exposure to PD fluid resulted in a profound fibrosis in the parietal peritoneum, whereas the degree of fibrosis was significantly reduced in the PD-rest group (P<0.02). Daily exposure to PD fluid induced a higher number of mast cells in the omentum compared with untreated rats, whereas peritoneal rest normalized the increased mast cell density completely (P<0.03). Likewise, continued PD fluid instillation evoked a strong omental milky spot response, which was returned to the control level after peritoneal rest (P<0.009). Furthermore, the number of mesothelial cells on the liver was significantly increased in rats treated with PD fluid, whereas animals from the PD-rest group had a lower number of mesothelial cells, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.08). Finally, as evidenced by electron microscopy, daily exposure to PD fluid resulted in severe damage to the mesothelial cell layer covering the peritoneum, whereas this cell layer was completely recovered after peritoneal rest. CONCLUSIONS We show that PD fluid-induced cellular and morphological alterations of the peritoneal membrane are generally reversible.
On Causal Discovery with Cyclic Additive Noise Models

We study a particular class of cyclic causal models, where each variable is a (possibly nonlinear) function of its parents and additive noise. We prove that the causal graph of such models is generically identifiable in the bivariate, Gaussian-noise case. We also propose a method to learn such models from observational data. In the acyclic case, the method reduces to ordinary regression, but in the more challenging cyclic case, an additional term arises in the loss function, which makes it a special case of nonlinear independent component analysis. We illustrate the proposed method on synthetic data.
The importance of surface-based cues for face discrimination in non-human primates

Understanding how individual identity is processed from faces remains a complex problem. Contrast reversal, showing faces in photographic negative, impairs face recognition in humans and demonstrates the importance of surface-based information (shading and pigmentation) in face recognition. We tested the importance of contrast information for face encoding in chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys using a computerized face-matching task. Results showed that contrast reversal (positive to negative) selectively impaired face processing in these two species, although the impairment was greater for chimpanzees. Unlike chimpanzees, however, monkeys performed just as well matching negative to positive faces, suggesting that they retained some ability to extract identity information from negative faces. A control task showed that chimpanzees, but not rhesus monkeys, performed significantly better matching face parts compared with whole faces after a contrast reversal, suggesting that contrast reversal acts selectively on face processing, rather than general visual-processing mechanisms. These results confirm the importance of surface-based cues for face processing in chimpanzees and humans, while the results were less salient for rhesus monkeys. These findings make a significant contribution to understanding the evolution of cognitive specializations for face processing among primates, and suggest potential differences between monkeys and apes.
Event-Related fMRI: Characterizing Differential Responses

We present an approach to characterizing the differences among event-related hemodynamic responses in functional magnetic resonance imaging that are evoked by different sorts of stimuli. This approach is predicated on a linear convolution model and standard inferential statistics as employed by statistical parametric mapping. In particular we model evoked responses, and their differences, in terms of basis functions of the peri-stimulus time. This facilitates a characterization of the temporal response profiles that has a high effective temporal resolution relative to the repetition time. To demonstrate the technique we examined differential responses to visually presented words that had been seen prior to scanning or that were novel. The form of these differences involved both the magnitude and the latency of the response components. In this paper we focus on bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal responses that show deactivations for previously seen words and activations for novel words.
Direct and acclimatory responses of dark respiration and translocation to temperature.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Accounting for the acclimation of respiration of plants to temperature remains a major problem in analysis of carbon balances of plants and ecosystems. Translocation of carbohydrates out of leaves in the dark requires energy from respiration. In this study relationships between the responses of leaf respiration and translocation to temperature are examined. METHODS Direct and acclimatory responses to temperature of respiration and translocation in the dark were investigated in mature leaves of soybean and amaranth. In some cases translocation from leaves was prevented by heat-girdling the phloem in the leaf petiole, or photosynthesis during the previous day was altered. KEY RESULTS In both species short-term increases in temperature early in the dark period led to exponential increases in rates of respiration. However, respiration rates decreased toward the end of the dark period at higher temperatures. Stopping translocation largely prevented this decrease in respiration, suggesting that the decrease in respiration was due to low availability of substrates. In soybean, translocation also increased with temperature, and both respiration and translocation fully acclimated to temperature. In amaranth, translocation in the dark was independent of temperature, and respiration did not acclimate to temperature. Respiration and translocation rates both decreased with lower photosynthesis during the previous day in the two species. CONCLUSIONS Substrate supply limited total night-time respiration in both species at high temperatures and following days with low photosynthesis. This resulted in an apparent acclimation of respiration to high temperatures within one night in both species. However, after long-term exposure to different temperatures there was no evidence that lack of substrates limited respiration in either species. In amaranth, respiration did not limit translocation rates over the temperature range of 20-35 degrees C.
Regulation of Fission Yeast Morphogenesis by PP2A Activator pta2

Cell polarization is key for the function of most eukaryotic cells, and regulates cell shape, migration and tissue architecture. Fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells are cylindrical and polarize cell growth to one or both cell tips dependent on the cell cycle stage. Whereas microtubule cytoskeleton contributes to the positioning of the growth sites by delivering polarity factors to the cell ends, the Cdc42 GTPase polarizes secretion via actin-dependent delivery and tethering of secretory vesicles to plasma membrane. How growth is restricted to cell tips and how re-initiation of tip growth is regulated in the cell cycle remains poorly understood. In this work we investigated the function of protein phosphatase type 2A (PP2A) in S. pombe morphogenesis by deleting the evolutionary conserved PTPA-type regulatory subunit that we named pta2. pta2-deleted cells showed morphological defects and altered growth pattern. Consistent with this, actin patches and active Cdc42 were mislocalized in the pta2 deletion. These defects were additive to the lack of Cdc42-GAP Rga4. pta2Δ cells show upregulated Cdc42 activity and pta2 interacts genetically with polarisome components Tea1, Tea4 and For3 leading to complete loss of cell polarity and rounded morphology. Thus, regulation of polarity by PP2A requires the polarisome and involves Pta2-dependent control of Cdc42 activity.
Spatiotemporal Data Cleansing for Indoor RFID Tracking Data

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is increasingly being deployed in indoor tracking systems, e.g., airport baggage monitoring. However, the “dirtiness” in raw RFID readings hinder the progress of applying meaningful high level applications that range from monitoring to analysis. Hence, it is indispensable to cleansing RFID data in such systems. In this paper, we focus on two quality aspects in raw indoor RFID data: temporal redundancy and spatial ambiguity. The former refers to the large number of repeated readings for the same object and the same RFID reader during a period of time. The latter refers to the undetermined whereabouts of an object due to multiple readings by different readers simultaneously. We investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of indoor spaces as well as RFID reader deployment, and exploit them in designing effective data cleansing techniques. Specifically, we aggregate raw RFID readings to reduce temporal redundancy; we design a distance-aware graph to resolve spatial ambiguity with respect to the indoor topology and the RFID reader deployment captured in the graph. We evaluate the spatiotemporal data cleansing techniques using both real and synthetic datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed techniques are effective and efficient in cleansing indoor RFID tracking data.
Shame, Humiliation, and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Distinct Contributions and Emotional Coherence

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may produce powerful and enduring emotion reactions, including intense shame, anger, and humiliation. Whereas shame and anger have received considerable interest from researchers, less attention has been paid to humiliation or associated coherence among these emotions as it relates to the psychological adjustment in CSA survivors. In the current investigation, the authors coded shame, anger, and humiliation from narrative transcripts of CSA survivors as they either voluntarily disclosed an abuse experience or described a distressing nonabuse experience and from nonabused individuals as they described a distressing experience. Verbal humiliation was found to be significantly associated with nonverbal displays of shame. Coherence between verbal humiliation and facial shame among CSA nondisclosers was associated with increased symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.
Placental villus morphology in relation to maternal hypoxia at high altitude.

Pregnancy at high altitude is associated with maternal hypoxaemic hypoxia with resultant intervillus blood hypoxia. Maternal haemoglobin concentration and blood gases were measured in pregnant women in two cities in Peru; Lima at sea level (n=18) and Cerro de Pasco at 4300 metres above sea level (n=12). Following delivery, placental sections from both groups were examined histomorphometrically using an image analysis system. Villus diameter, villus cross-sectional area, capillary diameter, capillary cross-sectional area and the percentage of villus cross-sectional area occupied by villus capillaries were calculated and parameters were compared between the two altitude groups. Maternal haemoglobin concentration and maternal blood pH were significantly higher, and maternal pO(2), pCO(2)and O(2)saturation were significantly lower in the high altitude group compared to those at sea level. The villus vessel area as a percentage of villus cross-sectional area and capillary diameter were significantly greater in the cases from the high altitude group and villus vessel area as a percentage of the villus cross-sectional area was significantly related to maternal pO(2)(r=-0.7, P=0.01), and maternal pCO(2)(r=0.7, P=0.02), but multiple regression analysis demonstrated that only pO(2)remained significantly independently associated with these villus histological findings (P=0.03). Placental terminal villi from term pregnancies at high altitude show different morphological features from pregnancies at sea level, and these changes are primarily related to maternal pO(2). The predominant morphological alteration is an increase in villus capillary diameter and therefore of the proportion of villus cross-sectional area occupied by capillary lumens.
Shortened sleep duration does not predict obesity in adolescents

Obesity continues to be a major public health issue. In adolescents, there are limited studies on the relationship between obesity and sleep duration. We found hypothesized that an average sleep duration of <6 h in adolescents was associated with obesity. Data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health); a survey of 90 000 youths, aged 12–18 years; surveyed in several waves. The sample population for our study was 13 568. Weighted multiple logistic regression was used to identify the relationship between obesity at Wave II and sleep duration, having adjusted for skipping breakfast ≥ 2/week; race, gender, parental income, TV ≥ 2 h per day, depression, and obesity at Wave I. At Wave I, the mean age was 15.96 ± 0.11 years; mean sleep hours were 7.91 ± 0.04. At Waves I and II, respectively, 10.6 and 11.2% of adolescents were obese. Adjusted analyses suggest that the effect of shortened sleep duration in Wave I was not significantly predictive of obesity in Wave II (P < 0.218). Longitudinally, depression and TV ≥ 2 h per day at Wave I was associated with a higher risk of obesity at Wave II in adjusted analyses. Depressed adolescents were almost twice as likely to be obese (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.25–2.72); adolescents who watched TV ≥ 2 h per day were 37% more likely to be obese (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.09–1.72). Environmental factors including TV ≥ 2 h per day and depression were significantly associated with obesity; shortened sleep duration was not. Future longitudinal studies in adolescents are needed to determine whether timing of television watching directly influences sleep patterns and, ultimately, obesity.
Ancient Cities and Landscapes in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey 2012 Season1

In 2012, the Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS) conducted its first season of fieldwork. The project's goal is the complete mapping of the archaeological landscape of Erbil, with an emphasis on the Neo-Assyrian and Hellenistic periods. It will test the hypothesis that the Neo-Assyrian landscape was closely planned. This first report emphasizes the project's field methodology, especially the use of a variety of satellite remote sensing imagery. Our preliminary results suggest that the plain was part of the urbanized world of Mesopotamia, with new cities of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Sasanian era identified.
Efficient simulation of wildfire spread on an irregular grid

A cell-based wildfire simulator that uses an irregular grid is presented. Cell-based methods are simpler to implement than fire front propagation methods but have traditionally been plagued by fire shape distortion caused by the fire only being able to travel in certain directions. Using an irregular grid randomises the error introduced by the grid, so that the shape of simulated fire spread is independent of the direction of the wind with respect to the underlying grid. The cell-based fire spread simulator is implemented using discrete event simulation, which is a much more efficient computational method than conventional wildfire simulation techniques because computing resources are not used in repeatedly computing small updates to parts of the fire whose dynamics change infrequently, namely those areas of a fire that move slowly. The resulting simulator is comparable in accuracy with traditional fire front propagation schemes but is much faster and can therefore be used as an engine for fire simulation applications that require large numbers of simulations, such as in the role of a risk analysis engine.
Distribution patterns of phosphorylated Thr 3 and Thr 32 of histone H3 in plant mitosis and meiosis

Cell cycle dependent phosphorylation of conserved N-terminal tail residues of histone H3 has been described in both animal and plant cells. Through cytogenetic approaches using different plant species we show a detailed description of distribution patterns of phosphorylated histone H3 at either threonine 3 or threonine 32 in mitosis and meiosis. In meristematic cells of the large genome species Secale cereale, Vicia faba and Hordeum vulgare we have found that phosphorylation of both threonine residues begins in prophase, and dephosphorylation occurs in late anaphase. However, in the small genome species Arabidopsis thaliana dephosphorylation occurs at anaphase. In the first division of meiosis of species with large genomes phosphorylation of histone H3 at either threonine 3 or threonine 32 is seen first in diakinesis and extends to anaphase I, whereas in the second division these post-translational modifications are visible at metaphase II through anaphase II. While in A. thaliana dephosphorylation takes place at anaphase I and II. In all species analysed phosphorylated H3 at either threonine 3 or threonine 32 are distributed along the entire length of chromosomes during mitotic metaphase and metaphase I. In the second meiotic division threonine 3 phosphorylation is restricted to the pericentromeric domain, while phosphorylation of threonine 32 is widespread along chromosome arms of all species analysed.