Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Latent Factor Guided Convolutional Neural Networks for Age-Invariant Face Recognition

While considerable progresses have been made on face recognition, age-invariant face recognition (AIFR) still remains a major challenge in real world applications of face recognition systems. The major difficulty of AIFR arises from the fact that the facial appearance is subject to significant intra-personal changes caused by the aging process over time. In order to address this problem, we propose a novel deep face recognition framework to learn the ageinvariant deep face features through a carefully designed CNN model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to show the effectiveness of deep CNNs in advancing the state-of-the-art of AIFR. Extensive experiments are conducted on several public domain face aging datasets (MORPH Album2, FGNET, and CACD-VS) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model over the state-of the-art. We also verify the excellent generalization of our new model on the famous LFW dataset.
Predicting adult obesity from childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

A systematic review and meta‐analysis was performed to investigate the ability of simple measures of childhood obesity such as body mass index (BMI) to predict future obesity in adolescence and adulthood. Large cohort studies, which measured obesity both in childhood and in later adolescence or adulthood, using any recognized measure of obesity were sought. Study quality was assessed. Studies were pooled using diagnostic meta‐analysis methods. Fifteen prospective cohort studies were included in the meta‐analysis. BMI was the only measure of obesity reported in any study, with 200,777 participants followed up. Obese children and adolescents were around five times more likely to be obese in adulthood than those who were not obese. Around 55% of obese children go on to be obese in adolescence, around 80% of obese adolescents will still be obese in adulthood and around 70% will be obese over age 30. Therefore, action to reduce and prevent obesity in these adolescents is needed. However, 70% of obese adults were not obese in childhood or adolescence, so targeting obesity reduction solely at obese or overweight children needs to be considered carefully as this may not substantially reduce the overall burden of adult obesity.
Changes in RANKL and osteoprotegerin expression after chronic exposure to indoor air pollution as a result of cooking with biomass fuel

The impact of indoor air pollution as a result of cooking with unprocessed biomass on membrane‐bound and serum receptor activator of nuclear factor‐kappa ligand 1 (RANKL), its soluble decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG) and osteoclast precursor CD14+CD16+ monocytes was investigated. Seventy‐four pre‐menopausal women from eastern India using biomass and 65 control women who cooked with cleaner liquefied petroleum gas were enrolled. PM10 and PM2.5 levels in their indoor air were measured with real‐time aerosol monitors. The levels of membrane‐bound RANKL on leukocytes and percentage CD14+CD16+ monocytes in the subjects' blood were assayed by flow cytometry. Soluble RANKL and OPG in serum were measured by ELISA. The results showed that PM10 and PM2.5 levels were significantly higher in the indoor air of biomass‐using households. Compared with the control women, the levels of CD4+ and CD19+ lymphocytes and circulating granulocytes with elevated levels of membrane‐bound RANKL were higher in biomass users. The serum levels of RANKL were increased by 41% whereas serum OPG was reduced by 22% among biomass users. The absolute number of CD14+CD16+ monocytes was significantly increased in biomass users than the control women. After controlling for potential confounders, PM10 and PM2.5 levels were found to be positively associated with leukocyte and serum RANKL and CD14+CD16+ monocyte levels, but negatively with serum OPG. From these results, we can conclude that chronic exposure to biomass smoke increased membrane‐bound and soluble RANKL and circulating osteoclast precursors but decreased OPG, suggesting an increased risk of bone resorption and consequent osteoporosis in biomass‐exposed women of a child‐bearing age. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of Temperature and Time on Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Corn Cobs

Lignocellulosic materials are new targeted source t o produce second generation biofuels like biobutanol. However, this process is significantly resisted by the native str ucture of biomass. Therefore, pretreatment process is always essential to remove hemicelluloses and lignin prior to the enzymatic hy drolysis. The goals of pretreatment are removing hemicellulos es and lignin, increasing biomass porosity, and increasing the enzyme accessibility. The main goal of this research is to tudy the important variables such as pretreatment temperature and time , which can give the highest total sugar yield in pretreatment step by using dilute phosphoric acid. After pretreatment, the highest to tal sugar yield of 13.61 g/L was obtained under an optimal condition a t 140°C for 10 min of pretreatment time by using 1.75% (w/w) H 3PO4 and at 15:1 liquid to solid ratio. The total sugar yield of two -stage process (pretreatment+enzymatic hydrolysis) of 27.38 g/L wa s obtained. Keywords—Butanol production, Corn cobs, Phosphoric acid, Pretreatment
Ethnic and sex differences in the total and differential white cell count and platelet count.

AIM/BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that healthy subjects of African ancestry have lower total white cell counts, neutrophil counts and platelet counts than Caucasian subjects and that, at least among Caucasians, women have higher neutrophil and platelet counts than men. The primary aim of this study was to confirm and quantify the ethnic differences, confirm the sex difference in Caucasians and determine whether there was a similar sex difference in non-Caucasians. A secondary aim was to establish reference ranges for white cell and platelet counts for the different ethnic and sex groups. METHODS: The study population comprised 417 healthy volunteers (201 women and 216 men), of whom 200 were Caucasian, 102 were Afrocaribbean and 115 were African. Full blood counts, including a differential white cell count, were measured using a H.2 automated differential counter. White cell and platelet counts were compared between the three different ethnic groups and between men and women. Reference ranges were determined for each ethnic and sex group. RESULTS: Africans and Afrocaribbeans had lower total white cell, neutrophil and platelet counts than Caucasians and counts were lower in Africans than in Afrocaribbeans. Women had higher neutrophil and platelet counts than men in all ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS: Sex and ethnic origin should be taken into consideration when assessing white cell and platelet counts.
In Vivo Imaging of Glial Activation after Unilateral Labyrinthectomy in the Rat: A [18F]GE180-PET Study

The functional relevance of reactive gliosis for recovery from acute unilateral vestibulopathy is unknown. In the present study, glial activation was visualized in vivo by [18F]GE180-PET in a rat model of unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL) and compared to behavioral vestibular compensation (VC) overtime. 14 Sprague-Dawley rats underwent a UL by transtympanic injection of bupivacaine/arsenilate, 14 rats a SHAM UL (injection of normal saline). Glial activation was depicted with [18F]GE180-PET and ex vivo autoradiography at baseline and 7, 15, 30 days after UL/SHAM UL. Postural asymmetry and nystagmus were registered at 1, 2, 3, 7, 15, 30 days after UL/SHAM UL. Signs of vestibular imbalance were found only after UL, which significantly decreased until days 15 and 30. In parallel, [18F]GE180-PET and ex vivo autoradiography depicted glial activation in the ipsilesional vestibular nerve and nucleus on days 7 and 15 after UL. Correlation analysis revealed a strong negative association of [18F]GE180 uptake in the ipsilesional vestibular nucleus on day 7 with the rate of postural recovery (R = −0.90, p < 0.001), suggesting that glial activation accelerates VC. In conclusion, glial activation takes place in the ipsilesional vestibular nerve and nucleus within the first 30 days after UL in the rat and can be visualized in vivo by [18F]GE180-PET.
User profiling in personalization applications through rule discovery and validation

Gediminas Adomavicius New York University adomavic@cs.nyu. edu In many applications, ranging from recommender systems to one-to-one marketing to Web browsing, it is important to build personalized profiles of individual users from their transactional histories. These profiles describe individual behavior of users and can be specified with sets of rules learned from user transactional histories using various data mining techniques. Since many discovered rules can be spurious, irrelevant, or trivial, one of the main problems is how to perform post-analysis of the discovered rules, i.e., how to validate customer profiles by separating “good” rules from the “bad. ” This paper presents a method for validating such rules with an explicit participation of a human expert
Diagnostic Accuracy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Parotid Lesions

Objective. Histopathology of parotid gland tumors is extremely varied and complex due to heterogeneous cellular composition. Preoperative diagnostic tools include fine needle aspiration cytology, the role of which remains controversial. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of parotid gland tumors. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed charts of 129 patients who underwent parotidectomy for parotid lesions at Aga Khan University Hospital from 2002 to 2010. We compared the results of preoperative FNAC with final histopathological diagnosis. Results. Concordance with histological results was observed in 86%, specificity was 98%, sensitivity was 84%, and diagnostic accuracy was 94%. Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that preoperative cytology in parotid lesions is fairly accurate and useful in diagnosing benign from malignant and in planning appropriate approach for treatment.
Finite-Sample Analysis of Fixed-k Nearest Neighbor Density Functional Estimators

We provide finite-sample analysis of a general framework for using k-nearest neighbor statistics to estimate functionals of a nonparametric continuous probability density, including entropies and divergences. Rather than plugging a consistent density estimate (which requires $k \to \infty$ as the sample size $n \to \infty$) into the functional of interest, the estimators we consider fix k and perform a bias correction. This is more efficient computationally, and, as we show in certain cases, statistically, leading to faster convergence rates. Our framework unifies several previous estimators, for most of which ours are the first finite sample guarantees.
The incidence of erythroderma: a survey among all dermatologists in The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND Erythroderma is a rare skin disorder, and studies on its incidence and causes are lacking. The annual incidence has been estimated to be 1 to 2 patients per 100,000 inhabitants. OBJECTIVE We investigated the incidence and cause of erythroderma in an unselected population and evaluated the referral pattern of erythrodermic patients by nonacademic dermatologists. METHODS A survey was performed among all nonacademic dermatologists in The Netherlands, using a mailed questionnaire. Questions dealt with the number of patients diagnosed with erythroderma in the year 1997, the cause of the erythroderma, and whether these patients were referred to a university hospital. A questionnaire was also sent to all university hospitals. RESULTS Seventy-eight percent of the nonacademic dermatologists answered the questionnaire, and all 8 university hospitals responded. In the year 1997, 141 patients were diagnosed with erythroderma in The Netherlands. The annual incidence of erythroderma based on these figures is 0.9 patients per 100,000 inhabitants. Compared with the university hospitals, erythroderma was more often diagnosed as an exacerbation of preexisting dermatoses (61% vs 51%; P =.37) and less often as idiopathic (14% vs 31%; P =.04) among the nonacademic dermatologists. Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma was rarely the cause, occurring in only 1% of patients diagnosed by the nonacademic dermatologists but in 6% of patients at the university hospitals. Overall, only 37% of nonacademic dermatologists referred patients with erythroderma to a university hospital. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of erythroderma in The Netherlands is slightly lower than the earlier estimate in the literature. Moreover, the cause of erythroderma is different among patients diagnosed in an academic and a nonacademic setting. The majority of dermatologists in The Netherlands treat patients with erythroderma themselves and do not refer these patients to university hospitals.
Structure Learning in Motor Control: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Model

Motor adaptation displays a structure-learning effect: adaptation to a new perturbation occurs more quickly when the subject has prior exposure to perturbations with related structure. Although this `learning-to-learn' effect is well documented, its underlying computational mechanisms are poorly understood. We present a new model of motor structure learning, approaching it from the point of view of deep reinforcement learning. Previous work outside of motor control has shown how recurrent neural networks can account for learning-to-learn effects. We leverage this insight to address motor learning, by importing it into the setting of model-based reinforcement learning. We apply the resulting processing architecture to empirical findings from a landmark study of structure learning in target-directed reaching (Braun et al., 2009), and discuss its implications for a wider range of learning-to-learn phenomena.
Study of Plasmodium falciparum DHHC palmitoyl transferases identifies a role for PfDHHC9 in gametocytogenesis

Palmitoylation is the post‐translational reversible addition of the acyl moiety, palmitate, to cysteine residues of proteins and is involved in regulating protein trafficking, localization, stability and function. The Aspartate‐Histidine‐Histidine‐Cysteine (DHHC) protein family, named for their highly conserved DHHC signature motif, is thought to be responsible for catalysing protein palmitoylation. Palmitoylation is widespread in all eukaryotes, including the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, where over 400 palmitoylated proteins are present in the asexual intraerythrocytic schizont stage parasites, including proteins involved in key aspects of parasite maturation and development. The P. falciparum genome includes 12 proteins containing the conserved DHHC motif. In this study, we adapted a palmitoyl‐transferase activity assay for use with P. falciparum proteins and demonstrated for the first time that P. falciparum DHHC proteins are responsible for the palmitoylation of P. falciparum substrates. This assay also reveals that multiple DHHCs are capable of palmitoylating the same substrate, indicating functional redundancy at least in vitro. To test whether functional redundancy also exists in vivo, we investigated the endogenous localization and essentiality of a subset of schizont‐expressed PfDHHC proteins. Individual PfDHHC proteins localized to distinct organelles, including parasite‐specific organelles such as the rhoptries and inner membrane complex. Knock‐out studies identified individual DHHCs that may be essential for blood‐stage growth and others that were functionally redundant in the blood stages but may have functions in other stages of parasite development. Supporting this hypothesis, disruption of PfDHHC9 had no effect on blood‐stage growth but reduced the formation of gametocytes, suggesting that this protein could be exploited as a transmission‐blocking target. The localization and stage‐specific expression of the DHHC proteins may be important for regulating their substrate specificity and thus may provide a path for inhibitor development.
Segmentation of thyroid gland in ultrasound image using neural network

The thyroid gland is highly vascular organ, and lies in the anterior part of the neck just below the thyroid cartilage. Ultrasound imaging is most commonly used to detect and classify abnormalities of the thyroid gland. Other modalities (CT/MRI) are also used. There is a challenge to segment ultrasound medical image which is often blurred and consists of noise as other modalities like CT contains ionizing radiations and expensive. Thus, there is a need to apply a method to automated segment well the objects for future analysis without any assumptions about the object's topology are made. Various methods or techniques are used for automatic segmention of thyroid gand but the application of neural network in image processing provides a better solution to segmentation problem. In this paper we use Feedforward neural network to classify the region using feature extraction and then segment it. Experiment and results are shown.
Learning Visual Predictive Models of Physics for Playing Billiards

The ability to plan and execute goal specific actions in varied, unexpected settings is a central requirement of intelligent agents. In this paper, we explore how an agent can be equipped with an internal model of the dynamics of the external world, and how it can use this model to plan novel actions by running multiple internal simulations ("visual imagination"). Our models directly process raw visual input, and use a novel object-centric prediction formulation based on visual glimpses centered on objects (fixations) to enforce translational invariance of the learned physical laws. The agent gathers training data through random interaction with a collection of different environments, and the resulting model can then be used to plan goal-directed actions in novel environments that the agent has not seen before. We demonstrate that our agent can accurately plan actions for playing a simulated billiards game, which requires pushing a ball into a target position or into collision with another ball.
The Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Sensor/Actuator Network for Autonomous Animal Control

This paper investigates a mobile, wireless sensor/actuator network application for use in the cattle breeding industry. Our goal is to prevent fighting between bulls in on-farm breeding paddocks by autonomously applying appropriate stimuli when one bull approaches another bull. This is an important application because fighting between high-value animals such as bulls during breeding seasons causes significant financial loss to producers. Furthermore, there are significant challenges in this type of application because it requires dynamic animal state estimation, real-time actuation and efficient mobile wireless transmissions. We designed and implemented an animal state estimation algorithm based on a state-machine mechanism for each animal. Autonomous actuation is performed based on the estimated states of an animal relative to other animals. A simple, yet effective, wireless communication model has been proposed and implemented to achieve high delivery rates in mobile environments. We evaluated the performance of our design by both simulations and field experiments, which demonstrated the effectiveness of our autonomous animal control system.
Network Function Virtualization: Challenges and Directions for Reliability Assurance

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging solution that aims at improving the flexibility, the efficiency and the manageability of networks, by leveraging virtualization and cloud computing technologies to run network appliances in software. Nevertheless, the "notarization" of network functions imposes software reliability concerns on future networks, which will be exposed to software issues arising from virtualization technologies. In this paper, we discuss the challenges for reliability in NFVIs, and present an industrial research project on their reliability assurance, which aims at developing novel fault injection technologies and systematic guidelines for this purpose.
The prevalence of computer and Internet addiction among pupils.

INTRODUCTION Media have an influence on the human psyche similar to the addictive actions of psychoactive substances or gambling. Computer overuse is claimed to be a cause of psychiatric disturbances such as computer and Internet addiction. It has not yet been recognized as a disease, but it evokes increasing controversy and results in mental disorders commonly defined as computer and Internet addiction. MATERIAL/METHODS This study was based on a diagnostic survey in which 120 subjects participated. The participants were pupils of three kinds of schools: primary, middle, and secondary school (high school). Information for this study was obtained from a questionnaire prepared by the authors as well as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Psychological Inventory of Aggression Syndrome (IPSA-II). RESULTS he results confirmed that every fourth pupil was addicted to the Internet. Internet addiction was very common among the youngest users of computers and the Internet, especially those who had no brothers and sisters or came from families with some kind of problems. Moreover, more frequent use of the computer and the Internet was connected with higher levels of aggression and anxiety. DISCUSSION Because computer and Internet addiction already constitute a real danger, it is worth considering preventive activities to treat this phenomenon. It is also necessary to make the youth and their parents aware of the dangers of uncontrolled Internet use and pay attention to behavior connected with Internet addiction.
Proposal of non-rotating joint drive type high output power assist suit for squat lifting

Lower back pain is a major health concern worldwide. One cause of lower back pain is the burden on the lumbar region caused by the handling of heavy objects. To reduce this burden, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan has recommended “squat lifting. ” However, this technique, which supports a large force on lower limbs, is not very popular. Therefore, we aimed to develop a power assist suit for squat lifting. In this paper, we propose a gastrocnemius-reinforcing mechanism. Next, we discuss estimation of joint torque from motion analysis of squat lifting in order to construct a prototype. Finally, we describe the performance of the prototype mounted on a human body. The %MVC of the gastrocnemius while performing squat lifting was reduced by 40% using the prototype assist suit compared with the value without using the suit.
Probability models for degree distributions of protein interaction networks

The degree distribution of many biological and technological networks has been described as a power-law distribution. While the degree distribution does not capture all aspects of a network, it has often been suggested that its functional form contains important clues as to underlying evolutionary processes that have shaped the network. Generally, the functional form for the degree distribution has been determined in an ad hoc fashion, with clear power-law–like behaviour often only extending over a limited range of connectivities. Here we apply formal model selection techniques to decide which probability distribution best describes the degree distributions of protein interaction networks. Contrary to previous studies, this well-defined approach suggests that the degree distribution of many molecular networks is often better described by distributions other than the popular power-law distribution. This, in turn, suggests that simple, if elegant, models may not necessarily help in the quantitative understanding of complex biological processes.