Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Image Alignment-Based Multi-Region Matching for Object-Level Tampering Detection

Tampering detection methods based on image hashing have been widely studied with continuous advancements. However, most existing models cannot generate object-level tampering localization results, because the forensic hashes attached to the image lack contour information. In this paper, we present a novel tampering detection model that can generate an accurate, object-level tampering localization result. First, an adaptive image segmentation method is proposed to segment the image into closed regions based on strong edges. Then, the color and position features of the closed regions are extracted as a forensic hash. Furthermore, a geometric invariant tampering localization model named image alignment-based multi-region matching (IAMRM) is proposed to establish the region correspondence between the received and forensic images by exploiting their intrinsic structure information. The model estimates the parameters of geometric transformations via a robust image alignment method based on triangle similarity; in addition, it matches multiple regions simultaneously by utilizing manifold ranking based on different graph structures and features. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed IAMRM is a promising method for object-level tampering detection compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
DENTAL CARIES IN CHILDREN THAT PARTICIPATED IN A DENTAL PROGRAM PROVIDING MOTHER AND CHILD CARE

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of caries in children that participate in a dental program attending mothers and children in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. A selection was made of 343 children of both genders, from 3 to 6 years of age. The mothers answered questionnaires and children were examined at the Infant Dental Clinic of the Federal University of Piauí. The epidemiological index dmft was applied and active white spot lesions were included. The SPSS for Windows program, version 11.1 was used and non-parametric tests carried out (Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis). An alpha error of 5% (0.05) was considered for the null hypothesis of false rejection, with a confidence interval of 95%. The results showed that 57.5% (197) of the children were breast-fed for a period longer than 12 months. The mean dmft index and percentages of caries-free children at the age of 3 was 1.86 (58.82%); at 4 years of age 1.94 (57.60%); at 5 years of age 1.98 (56.86%) and at 6 years of age 2.42 (42.55%). The decay component (d) was prevalent at all ages. When active white spot lesions were added to the dmft index, there was an increase of 7.2% for children who had caries activity and/or previous caries experience and 2.61% for those with dmft equal to zero. The daily consumption of fermentable carbohydrates and free demand breast-feeding were factors increasing caries activity. Dental follow-up after the program and the number of daily brushings were shown to be factors providing protection against caries . Based on the results, the authors were able to conclude that the program caused a positive impact on caries disease control, as the number of dental appointments kept influenced the dmft index values in a statistically significant manner.
Predicting dialogue state transitions using prosodic markers: Exploring AMI Corpus backchannels

In a typical conversation held within a small group, we often see one person speaking, whilst the others listen. In most dialogues the listeners are not completely silent while the speaker has the floor. Occasionally they indicate to the speaker and the rest of the group their engagement in the discourse by giving feedback in the form of words like “Oh really? ”, “yeah”, “hmm-mm”, “you don’t say! ”. By doing so, the listener informs the speaker with their opinion about what is being said. Opposed to these feedback words – called backchannels – a listener can choose to interrupt or take over with a new statement if he or she wishes to contribute more than a few backchanneling words. In this thesis we have studied recordings of conversations in order to determine if the prosody from the speaker contains characteristic differences between the situation in which a listener uses a backchannel and the other situation, in which a listener adds an entirely new verbal contribution to the conversation. We used a corpus, consisting of the recorded signals of 138 multiparty meetings with an average length of 33 minutes each, in which four participants discuss the design of a new product. From the participants’ speech each utterance is annotated with a type, indicating whether it is a backchannel or not. From this corpus we selected the utterances of a speaker wherein or where shortly after, one of the listeners would start a contribution. By using “Praat”, we extracted several prosodic features from the selected utterances, normalized them for each speaker and used the resulting dataset in a series of machine learning experiments. By applying statistical techniques on our data, we assessed whether the two different types of contributions could be distinguished, based on the prosodic features that can be taken from the speaker’s speech. We found our decision tree to be correct in classifying the type of the contribution in backchannels and non-backchannels in 65.9% of all cases. With the baseline set at 50%, this is an increase of 15.9%. This report will present the following contents: chapter one serves as the introduction and is followed by chapter two, presenting previous findings from fields related to our study. Chapter three will present the corpus used and how this was formatted to support automatic utterance selection. The selection criteria, resulting data selection and feature sets that are extracted are presented in chapter four. The experiments that were conducted and the results obtained from them are described in chapter five. Finally, we conclude in chapter six with conclusions and suggestions of further research.
A Multi-Factor Model for Energy Derivatives

In this paper we develop a general framework for the risk management of energy derivatives. The framework is designed to be consistent not only with the market observable forward price curve but also the volatilities and correlations of forward prices. We show how these volatilities and correlations can be estimated from the market and incorporated into the model in order to price a wide range of energy derivatives. Our framework extends and synthesises the results of Amin and Jarrow [1991a,b], Cortazar and Schwartz [1994], Amin, Ng and Pirrong [1995], Schwartz [1997], and Hilliard and Reis [1998]. We demonstrate the application of our framework to oil and gas futures data from the New York Mercantile Exchange and give numerical results for the pricing of European Caps and Swaptions. A Multi-Factor Model for Energy Derivatives Clewlow and Strickland multi_factor_energy_derivatives. doc 3
Modern protein force fields behave comparably in molecular dynamics simulations

Several molecular dynamics simulations were performed on three proteins—bovine apo‐calbindin D9K, human interleukin‐4 R88Q mutant, and domain IIA of bacillus subtilis glucose permease—with each of the AMBER94, CHARMM22, and OPLS‐AA force fields as implemented in CHARMM. Structural and dynamic properties such as solvent‐accessible surface area, radius of gyration, deviation from their respective experimental structures, secondary structure, and backbone order parameters are obtained from each of the 2‐ns simulations for the purpose of comparing the protein portions of these force fields. For one of the proteins, the interleukin‐4 mutant, two independent simulations were performed using the CHARMM22 force field to gauge the sensitivity of some of these properties to the specific trajectory. In general, the force fields tested performed remarkably similarly with differences on the order of those found for the two independent trajectories of interleukin‐4 with CHARMM22. When all three proteins are considered together, no force field showed any consistent trend in variations for most of the properties monitored in the study. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 23: 1045–1057, 2002
PRICE DISCOVERY MECHANISMS AND ALTERNATIVES FOR CANADIAN AGRICULTURE; Part I: A Review of Pricing Mechanisms in Agriculture

The purpose of this section is to review pricing mechanisms in agriculture and food. We started by constructing a taxonomy and system of classification for pricing mechanisms that is rooted in economic theory. This framework was applied to 26 pricing mechanisms observed from the following product categories: · Beef · Hogs · Grains and oilseeds · Dairy · Poultry and Eggs · Processed Food and Horticulture
A study on FDI's crowd-out and crowd-in effect on the central region's domestic investment-based on Panel Data Model

This paper make a comprehensive and systematic study of the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic investment in the region. Results show that: For the central six provinces, FDI has caused the crowd-in effect on the domestic investment. However,due to the central region provinces, such as economic and management level differences, leading to FDI on domestic investment to crowd-in and crowd-out effect of differences.
Event-Related Potentials Reveal Preserved Attention Allocation but Impaired Emotion Regulation in Patients with Epilepsy and Comorbid Negative Affect

Patients with epilepsy have a high prevalence of comorbid mood disorders. This study aims to evaluate whether negative affect in epilepsy is associated with dysfunction of emotion regulation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are used in order to unravel the exact electrophysiological time course and investigate whether a possible dysfunction arises during early (attention) and/or late (regulation) stages of emotion control. Fifty epileptic patients with (n = 25) versus without (n = 25) comorbid negative affect plus twenty-five matched controls were recruited. ERPs were recorded while subjects performed a face- or house-matching task in which fearful, sad or neutral faces were presented either at attended or unattended spatial locations. Two ERP components were analyzed: the early vertex positive potential (VPP) which is normally enhanced for faces, and the late positive potential (LPP) that is typically larger for emotional stimuli. All participants had larger amplitude of the early face-sensitive VPP for attended faces compared to houses, regardless of their emotional content. By contrast, in patients with negative affect only, the amplitude of the LPP was significantly increased for unattended negative emotional expressions. These VPP results indicate that epilepsy with or without negative affect does not interfere with the early structural encoding and attention selection of faces. However, the LPP results suggest abnormal regulation processes during the processing of unattended emotional faces in patients with epilepsy and comorbid negative affect. In conclusion, this ERP study reveals that early object-based attention processes are not compromised by epilepsy, but instead, when combined with negative affect, this neurological disease is associated with dysfunction during the later stages of emotion regulation. As such, these new neurophysiological findings shed light on the complex interplay of epilepsy with negative affect during the processing of emotional visual stimuli and in turn might help to better understand the etiology and maintenance of mood disorders in epilepsy.
Study on Portfolio La-VaR Analysis Based on Copula-Kernel Model

Traditional VaR method has many defects in measuring portfolio risk, this paper modifies BDSS model and gets revised BDSS model - La-VaR model based on relative price. For fitting the sequences of the rate of return and relative price, this paper adopts Gaussian-kernel function with good smoothness and Copula-kernel model to portray marginal distribution and correlation structure. Afterwards sequence of empirical distribution is produced through Monte Carlo simulation. The empirical results show that Copula-kernel model has a high accuracy in fitting sequences of the rate of return and relative price. Liquidity risk in La-VaR model is getting significant as the decrease of confidence c, but back testing shows that both VaR and La-VaR model overestimate the risk.
Adaptive Evolution Coupled with Retrotransposon Exaptation Allowed for the Generation of a Human-Protein-Specific Coding Gene That Promotes Cancer Cell Proliferation and Metastasis in Both Haematological Malignancies and Solid Tumours: The Extraordinary Case of MYEOV Gene

The incidence of cancer in human is high as compared to chimpanzee. However previous analysis has documented that numerous human cancer-related genes are highly conserved in chimpanzee. Till date whether human genome includes species-specific cancer-related genes that could potentially contribute to a higher cancer susceptibility remains obscure. This study focuses on MYEOV, an oncogene encoding for two protein isoforms, reported as causally involved in promoting cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in both haematological malignancies and solid tumours. First we document, via stringent in silico analysis, that MYEOV arose de novo in Catarrhini. We show that MYEOV short-isoform start codon was evolutionarily acquired after Catarrhini/Platyrrhini divergence. Throughout the course of Catarrhini evolution MYEOV acquired a gradually elongated translatable open reading frame (ORF), a gradually shortened translation-regulatory upstream ORF, and alternatively spliced mRNA variants. A point mutation introduced in human allowed for the acquisition of MYEOV long-isoform start codon. Second, we demonstrate the precious impact of exonized transposable elements on the creation of MYEOV gene structure. Third, we highlight that the initial part of MYEOV long-isoform coding DNA sequence was under positive selection pressure during Catarrhini evolution. MYEOV represents a Primate Orphan Gene that acquired, via ORF expansion, a human-protein-specific coding potential.
Widespread Adaptive Evolution of Drosophila Genes With Sex-Biased Expression

Many genes in higher eukaryotes show sexually dimorphic expression, and these genes tend to be among the most divergent between species. In most cases, however, it is not known whether this rapid divergence is caused by positive selection or if it is due to a relaxation of selective constraint. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we surveyed DNA sequence polymorphism in 91 Drosophila melanogaster genes with male-, female-, or nonsex-biased expression and determined their divergence from the sister species D. simulans. Using several single- and multilocus statistical tests, we estimated the type and strength of selection influencing the evolution of the proteins encoded by genes of each expression class. Adaptive evolution, as indicated by a relative excess of nonsynonymous divergence between species, was common among the sex-biased genes (both male and female). Male-biased genes, in particular, showed a strong and consistent signal of positive selection, while female-biased genes showed more variation in the type of selection they experience. Genes expressed equally in the two sexes, in contrast, showed no evidence for adaptive evolution between D. melanogaster and D. simulans. This suggests that sexual selection and intersexual coevolution are the major forces driving genetic differentiation between species.
Fruit-Surface Flavonoid Accumulation in Tomato Is Controlled by a SlMYB12-Regulated Transcriptional Network

The cuticle covering plants' aerial surfaces is a unique structure that plays a key role in organ development and protection against diverse stress conditions. A detailed analysis of the tomato colorless-peel y mutant was carried out in the framework of studying the outer surface of reproductive organs. The y mutant peel lacks the yellow flavonoid pigment naringenin chalcone, which has been suggested to influence the characteristics and function of the cuticular layer. Large-scale metabolic and transcript profiling revealed broad effects on both primary and secondary metabolism, related mostly to the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, particularly flavonoids. These were not restricted to the fruit or to a specific stage of its development and indicated that the y mutant phenotype is due to a mutation in a regulatory gene. Indeed, expression analyses specified three R2R3-MYB–type transcription factors that were significantly down-regulated in the y mutant fruit peel. One of these, SlMYB12, was mapped to the genomic region on tomato chromosome 1 previously shown to harbor the y mutation. Identification of an additional mutant allele that co-segregates with the colorless-peel trait, specific down-regulation of SlMYB12 and rescue of the y phenotype by overexpression of SlMYB12 on the mutant background, confirmed that a lesion in this regulator underlies the y phenotype. Hence, this work provides novel insight to the study of fleshy fruit cuticular structure and paves the way for the elucidation of the regulatory network that controls flavonoid accumulation in tomato fruit cuticle.
NET CAPITAL FLOWS TO AND THE REAL EXCHANGE RATE OF WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES

This paper uses Granger causality tests to assess the linkages between changes in the real exchange rate and net capital inflows using the example of Western Balkan countries, which have suffered from low competitiveness and external imbalances for many years. The real exchange rate is a measure of a country’s price competitiveness, and the paper uses two concepts: relative unit labour cost and relative inflation differential. The sample consists of six Western Balkan countries for the period 1996–2012, relative to the European Union (EU). The main finding is that changes in the net capital flows precede changes in relative unit labour costs and not vice versa. Also, there is evidence that net capital flows affect the inflation differential of countries, although to a less discernible extent. This suggests that the increasing divergence in the unit labour cost between the EU and Western Balkan countries up to the global financial crisis was at least partly the result of net capital inflows. The paper adds to the ongoing debate on improving cost competitiveness through wage restrictions as the main vehicle to avert the accumulation of current account imbalances. It shows the importance of changes in the exchange rate regime, reform of the interaction between the financial and the real sector, and financial supervision and structural change.
Cardiovascular Responses Induced by Obstructive Apnea Are Enhanced in Hypertensive Rats Due to Enhanced Chemoreceptor Responsivity

Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), like patients with sleep apnea, have hypertension, increased sympathetic activity, and increased chemoreceptor drive. We investigated the role of carotid chemoreceptors in cardiovascular responses induced by obstructive apnea in awake SHR. A tracheal balloon and vascular cannulas were implanted, and a week later, apneas of 15 s each were induced. The effects of apnea were more pronounced in SHR than in control rats (Wistar Kyoto; WKY). Blood pressure increased by 57±3 mmHg during apnea in SHR and by 28±3 mmHg in WKY (p<0.05, n = 14/13). The respiratory effort increased by 53±6 mmHg in SHR and by 34±5 mmHg in WKY. The heart rate fell by 209±19 bpm in SHR and by 155±16 bpm in WKY. The carotid chemoreceptors were then inactivated by the ligation of the carotid body artery, and apneas were induced two days later. The inactivation of chemoreceptors reduced the responses to apnea and abolished the difference between SHR and controls. The apnea-induced hypertension was 11±4 mmHg in SHR and 8±4 mmHg in WKY. The respiratory effort was 15±2 mmHg in SHR and 15±2 mmHg in WKY. The heart rate fell 63±18 bpm in SHR and 52±14 bpm in WKY. Similarly, when the chemoreceptors were unloaded by the administration of 100% oxygen, the responses to apnea were reduced. In conclusion, arterial chemoreceptors contribute to the responses induced by apnea in both strains, but they are more important in SHR and account for the exaggerated responses of this strain to apnea.
An Efficient Framework for Automatic Highlights Generation from Sports Videos

This letter presents a framework for replay detection in sports videos to generate highlights. For replay detection, the proposed work exploits the following facts: 1) broadcasters introduce gradual transition (GT) effect both at the start and at the end of a replay segment (RS), and 2) the absence of score captions (SCs) in an RS. The dual-threshold-based method is used to detect GT frames from the input video. A pair of successive GT frames is used to extract the candidate RSs. All frames in the selected segment are processed to detect SC. To this end, temporal running average is used to filter out temporal variations. First- and second-order statistics are used to binarize the running average image, which is fed to optical character recognition stage for character recognition. The absence/presence of SC is used for replay/live frame labeling. The SC detection stage complements the GT detection process, therefore, a combination of both is expected to result in superior computational complexity and detection accuracy. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated on 22 videos of four different sports (e.g., Cricket, tennis, baseball, and basketball). Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can achieve average detection accuracy ≥ 94.7%.
Micron-Size Zero-Valent Iron Emplacement in Porous Media Using Polymer Additives: Column and Flow Cell Ex-periments

At the Hanford Site, an extensive In Situ Redox Manipulation (ISRM) permeable reactive barrier was installed to prevent chromate from reaching the Columbia River. However, chromium has been detected in several wells, indicating a premature loss of the reductive capacity in the aquifer. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to investigate whether barrier reductive capacity can be enhanced by adding micron-scale zero-valent iron to the high-permeability zones within the aquifer using shear-thinning fluids containing polymers. Porous media were packed in a wedge-shaped flow cell to create either a heterogeneous layered system with a high-permeability zone between two low-permeability zones or a high-permeability channel sur-rounded by low-permeability materials. The injection flow rate, polymer type, polymer concentration, and injected pore volumes were determined based on preliminary short- and long-column experiments. The flow cell experiments indicated that iron concentration enhancements of at least 0.6% (w/w) could be obtained using moderate flow rates and injection of 30 pore volumes. The 0.6% amended Fe0 concentration would provide approximately 20 times the average reductive capacity that is provided by the dithionite-reduced iron in the ISRM barrier. Calculations show that a 1-m-long Fe0 amended zone with an average concentration of 0.6% w/w iron subject to a groundwater velocity of 1 m/day will have an estimated longevity of 7.2 years.