Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crowd Scene Understanding from Video

Crowd video analysis has applications in crowd management, public space design, and visual surveillance. Example tasks potentially aided by automated analysis include anomaly detection (such as a person walking against the grain of traffic or rapid assembly/dispersion of groups of people), population and density measurements, and interactions between groups of people. This survey explores crowd analysis as it relates to two primary research areas: crowd statistics and behavior understanding. First, we survey methods for counting individuals and approximating the density of the crowd. Second, we showcase research efforts on behavior understanding as related to crowds. These works focus on identifying groups, interactions within small groups, and abnormal activity detection such as riots and bottlenecks in large crowds. Works presented in this section also focus on tracking groups of individuals, either as a single entity or a subset of individuals within the frame of reference. Finally, a summary of datasets available for crowd activity video research is provided.
Clinical presentation and early care relationships in 'poor-me' and 'bad-me' paranoia.

OBJECTIVE. To test the proposal that 'poor-me' (PM) and 'bad-me' (BM) paranoia can be differentiated in terms of (1) current emotional experience and presence of grandiose delusions and (2) early caregiving and threats to self-construction. METHOD. Participants experiencing persecutory delusions were separated into PM (N= 21) and BM (N= 15) groups on the basis of perceived deservedness of the persecution. The groups were compared on measures examining grandiose delusions, shame and depression, parental care, and threats of alienation and insecurity. RESULTS. As predicted, BM patients scored higher on shame and depression, and lower on grandiose delusions, than PM patients. BM patients reported higher levels of parental overprotection, but PM patients were not characterized by neglect, and the groups did not differ in type of threat to self-construction. Conclusion. The two paranoia types were differentiated on symptomatic and emotional presentation, but predicted differences in early relationships and self-construction were not fully supported.
Performance evaluation of a regenerative pump under fluid viscosity enhancement

Regenerative flow pumps are kinds of dynamic pumps with the ability to develop high heads at low flow rates. Despite the disadvantage of having low hydraulic efficiency, regenerative flow pumps have found many applications in industries. In this paper, the effect of fluid viscosity on the performance of regenerative pump has been investigated experimentally. The primary fluid was water with viscosity of 1 centipoise. Polyacrylamide (PAM) which is a soluble polymer in water was used to increase the viscosity of fluid. Solutions prepared from dry powder PAM at two concentrations of 1600 ppm and 2400 ppm. Solutions were pumped more than 30 times to have homogeneous fluids. The measured viscosities for these two solutions were 180 and 300 centipoise respectively. Results showed that as flow coefficient reduces, the decline in head coefficient gradually increases. Similarly, it was found that viscosity enhancement reduces the power coefficient. There was not any significant change in efficiency curves at low flow coefficients. In contrast, around design flow coefficient and at high flow coefficients, the hydraulic efficiency of the pump reduced by increasing viscosity of working fluid. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.mech. 23.6. 16204
An in situ toxicity assay with the local phytoplankton community

The present study describes an approach for toxicity estimates based on the in situ exposure of the local phytoplankton community immobilized in calcium‐alginate beads. The assay was deployed in an acid mine drainage‐impacted system, at a reference site and an impacted site. Abundances and growth rates of major taxonomic groups (green algae, flagellates, diatoms, and cyanobacteria) and of the entire community were measured. The ecological relevance of classical toxicity estimates was evaluated by performing in situ and laboratory assays with the standard species Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and Chlorella vulgaris. Site waters were tested without and with nutrient enrichment, to discriminate toxic effects from those caused by nutrient limitations. Despite the occurrence of growth‐limiting conditions for the local phytoplankton within the alginate matrix, an impact of the mine effluent on the community was detected. The growth of the community and of all taxonomic groups, except for the cyanobacteria, was less at the impacted site than at the reference site, although adding nutrients partially compensated for the effluent detrimental effects. Shifts in the community structure were also provoked by the mine effluent; decreases in the abundance of green algae were paralleled by increases in the abundance of flagellates and diatoms, but mainly of cyanobacteria. Effects on the growth of both standard species of green algae were in conformity with those on the local phytoplankton, probably because the latter was dominated by green algae. Although future improvements regarding the cell immobilization technique should be attempted, the proposed easy and inexpensive approach to assess both the growth and the structure of local phytoplankton communities will allow more environmentally realistic site‐specific assessments of water quality. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011;30:196–205. © 2010 SETAC
Anisotropic Solvent Model of the Lipid Bilayer. 1. Parameterization of Long-Range Electrostatics and First Solvation Shell Effects

A new implicit solvation model was developed for calculating free energies of transfer of molecules from water to any solvent with defined bulk properties. The transfer energy was calculated as a sum of the first solvation shell energy and the long-range electrostatic contribution. The first term was proportional to solvent accessible surface area and solvation parameters (σ(i)) for different atom types. The electrostatic term was computed as a product of group dipole moments and dipolar solvation parameter (η) for neutral molecules or using a modified Born equation for ions. The regression coefficients in linear dependencies of solvation parameters σ(i) and η on dielectric constant, solvatochromic polarizability parameter π*, and hydrogen-bonding donor and acceptor capacities of solvents were optimized using 1269 experimental transfer energies from 19 organic solvents to water. The root-mean-square errors for neutral compounds and ions were 0.82 and 1.61 kcal/mol, respectively. Quantification of energy components demonstrates the dominant roles of hydrophobic effect for nonpolar atoms and of hydrogen-bonding for polar atoms. The estimated first solvation shell energy outweighs the long-range electrostatics for most compounds including ions. The simplicity and computational efficiency of the model allows its application for modeling of macromolecules in anisotropic environments, such as biological membranes.
A new sawshark, Pristiophorus laevis, from the Eocene of Antarctica with comments on Pristiophorus lanceolatus

Abstract The highly fossiliferous Eocene deposits of the Antarctic Peninsula are among the most productive sites for fossil remains in the Southern Hemisphere and offer rare insights into high-latitude faunas during the Palaeogene. Chondrichthyans, which are represented by abundant isolated remains, seemingly dominate the marine assemblages. Eocene Antarctic sawsharks have only been known from few isolated rostral spines up to now, that were assigned to Pristiophorus lanceolatus. Here, we present the first oral teeth of a sawshark from the Eocene of Seymour Island and a re-evaluation of previously described Pristiophorus remains from Gondwana consisting exclusively of rostral spines. The holotype of Pristiophorus lanceolatus represents a single, abraded and insufficiently illustrated spine from the Oligocene of New Zealand. All other Cenozoic rostral spines assigned to this species are morphologically very indistinct and closely resemble those of living taxa. Consequently, we regard this species as dubious and introduce a new species, Pristiophorus laevis, based on oral teeth. The combination of dental characteristics of the new species makes it unique compared to all other described species based on oral teeth. Rostral spines from the Eocene of Seymour Island are assigned to this new species whereas those from other Cenozoic Gondwana localities remain ambiguous. LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7177A373-527B-4315-85F6-25180DB5E087
Sialic acid accelerates the electrophoretic velocity of injured dorsal root ganglion neurons

Peripheral nerve injury has been shown to result in ectopic spontaneous discharges on soma and injured sites of sensory neurons, thereby inducing neuropathic pain. With the increase of membrane proteins on soma and injured site neurons, the negatively charged sialic acids bind to the external domains of membrane proteins, resulting in an increase of this charge. We therefore speculate that the electrophoretic velocity of injured neurons may be faster than non-injured neurons. The present study established rat models of neuropathic pain via chronic constriction injury. Results of the cell electrophoresis test revealed that the electrophoretic velocity of injured neuronal cells was faster than that of non-injured (control) cells. We then treated cells with divalent cations of Ca 2+ and organic compounds with positive charges, polylysine to counteract the negatively charged sialic acids, or neuraminidase to specifically remove sialic acids from the membrane surface of injured neurons. All three treatments significantly reduced the electrophoretic velocity of injured neuronal cells. These findings suggest that enhanced sialic acids on injured neurons may accelerate the electrophoretic velocity of injured neurons.
Inverse tone mapping

In recent years many Tone Mapping Operators (TMOs) have been presented in order to display High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI) on typical display devices. TMOs compress the luminance range while trying to maintain contrast. The dual of tone mapping, inverse tone mapping, expands a Low Dynamic Range Image (LDRI) into a HDRI. HDRIs contain a broader range of physical values that can be perceived by the human visual system. The majority of today's media is stored in low dynamic range. Inverse Tone Mapping Operators (iTMOs) could thus potentially revive all of this content for use in high dynamic range display and image-based lighting. We propose an approximate solution to this problem that uses median-cut to find the areas considered of high luminance and subsequently apply a density estimation to generate an Expand-map in order to extend the range in the high luminance areas using an inverse Photographic Tone Reproduction operator.
Survey on Aspect-Level Sentiment Analysis

The field of sentiment analysis, in which sentiment is gathered, analyzed, and aggregated from text, has seen a lot of attention in the last few years. The corresponding growth of the field has resulted in the emergence of various subareas, each addressing a different level of analysis or research question. This survey focuses on aspect-level sentiment analysis, where the goal is to find and aggregate sentiment on entities mentioned within documents or aspects of them. An in-depth overview of the current state-of-the-art is given, showing the tremendous progress that has already been made in finding both the target, which can be an entity as such, or some aspect of it, and the corresponding sentiment. Aspect-level sentiment analysis yields very fine-grained sentiment information which can be useful for applications in various domains. Current solutions are categorized based on whether they provide a method for aspect detection, sentiment analysis, or both. Furthermore, a breakdown based on the type of algorithm used is provided. For each discussed study, the reported performance is included. To facilitate the quantitative evaluation of the various proposed methods, a call is made for the standardization of the evaluation methodology that includes the use of shared data sets. Semanticallyrich concept-centric aspect-level sentiment analysis is discussed and identified as one of the most promising future research direction.
A 41.3/26.7 pJ per Neuron Weight RBM Processor Supporting On-Chip Learning/Inference for IoT Applications

An energy-efficient restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) processor (RBM-P) supporting on-chip learning and inference is proposed for machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT) applications in this paper. To train a neural network (NN) model, the RBM structure is applied to supervised and unsupervised learning, and a multi-layer NN can be constructed and initialized by stacking multiple RBMs. Featuring NN model reduction for external memory bandwidth saving, low power neuron binarizer (LPNB) with dynamic clock gating and area-efficient NN-like activation function calculators for power reduction, user-defined connection map (UDCM) for both computation time and bandwidth saving, and early stopping (ES) mechanism for learning process, the proposed system integrates 32 RBM cores with maximal 4k neurons per layer and 128 candidates per sample for machine learning applications. Implemented in 65nm CMOS technology, the proposed RBM-P chip costs 2.2 M gates and 128 kB SRAM with 8.8 mm2 area. Operated at 1.2 V and 210 MHz, this chip achieves 7.53G neuron weights (NWs) and 11.63G NWs per second with 41.3 and 26.7 pJ per NW for learning and inference, respectively.
Enhanced Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Expression in Monocyte/Macrophages from Coronary Artery Disease Patients and Possible Gender Differences

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) activation reduces inflammation and atherosclerosis, but recent evidence raised concerns about its beneficial clinical effects. However, the effects of gender on PPAR expression and basal cytokine release have not been investigated. In the present study, we evaluated PPAR-γ and -α expression, as well as cytokine release, in monocyte/macrophages from 15 male and 15 female patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in comparison with healthy controls. Both expression and activation of PPAR-α and PPAR-γ proteins were evaluated by Western blot and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Gene expression was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction; cytokine release was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Monocyte/macrophages of CAD patients yielded a constitutively enhanced (approximately 10-fold; p < 0.001) protein expression of PPAR-γ, but not PPAR-α, compared with healthy controls. Evaluation of PPAR-γ gene expression showed a 60-fold increase in monocytes from CAD patients, compared with healthy donors. Moreover, monocytes spontaneously released higher amounts of proinflammatory cytokines than macrophages. It is interesting that monocytes from CAD females expressed significantly higher levels of PPAR-γ protein compared with male patients (p < 0.05) and showed the lowest basal release of tumor necrosis factor-α. These results indicate that the expression of PPAR-γ is significantly higher in CAD patients than in healthy donors and that, together with cytokine release, it seems to be gender-related. In fact, CAD women demonstrated the highest PPAR-γ expression and the lowest cytokine release. Such differences may, in part, modulate the response to PPAR-γ activators.
Milk immunity and reproductive status among Ariaal women of northern Kenya

Abstract Background: The immune factors in human milk protect infants from infection and promote immune development. Evidence suggests that the production of milk-specific immunoproteins is energetically costly, making them a form of maternal investment in offspring health that is subject to life history trade-offs. Aim: This research tests the relationship between measures of reproductive effort and the production of milk immunoglobulin A (IgA) among Ariaal women, a settled northern Kenyan pastoralist population that experiences nutritional and disease stress. Subjects and methods: Two hundred and forty-three lactating Ariaal women participated in a questionnaire, anthropometric measurement and milk collection. Milk IgA was analysed using ELISA. Results: There was a significant U-shaped relationship between post-partum months and milk IgA, reflecting decreasing investment in the current offspring over the early post-partum period and subsequent recovery of maternal energy status near the end. There was also a significant inverse U-shaped relationship between milk IgA and parity, with high parity women showing a drop in milk IgA. In contrast, anthropometric measures of energy status were not associated with the production of milk IgA. Conclusion: This research shows that patterns of reproductive investment can be demonstrated in milk IgA in the absence of measured energy changes.
An enhanced genetic algorithm for structural topology optimization

Genetic algorithms (GAs) have become a popular optimization tool for many areas of research and topology optimization an effective design tool for obtaining efficient and lighter structures. In this paper, a versatile, robust and enhanced GA is proposed for structural topology optimization by using problem‐specific knowledge. The original discrete black‐and‐white (0–1) problem is directly solved by using a bit‐array representation method. To address the related pronounced connectivity issue effectively, the four‐neighbourhood connectivity is used to suppress the occurrence of checkerboard patterns. A simpler version of the perimeter control approach is developed to obtain a well‐posed problem and the total number of hinges of each individual is explicitly penalized to achieve a hinge‐free design. To handle the problem of representation degeneracy effectively, a recessive gene technique is applied to viable topologies while unusable topologies are penalized in a hierarchical manner. An efficient FEM‐based function evaluation method is developed to reduce the computational cost. A dynamic penalty method is presented for the GA to convert the constrained optimization problem into an unconstrained problem without the possible degeneracy. With all these enhancements and appropriate choice of the GA operators, the present GA can achieve significant improvements in evolving into near‐optimum solutions and viable topologies with checkerboard free, mesh independent and hinge‐free characteristics. Numerical results show that the present GA can be more efficient and robust than the conventional GAs in solving the structural topology optimization problems of minimum compliance design, minimum weight design and optimal compliant mechanisms design. It is suggested that the present enhanced GA using problem‐specific knowledge can be a powerful global search tool for structural topology optimization. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Predicting toddler anxiety/depressive symptoms: Effects of caregiver sensitivity on temperamentally vulnerable children.

This research examines whether maternal sensitivity in early childhood reduces later anxiety/depressive symptoms for children with more temperamental vulnerability, and whether these effects are different for boys and girls. Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care study with 1,226 subjects (631 boys, 595 girls) were analyzed. Mothers and other caregivers rated children's difficult temperament at 1 and 6 months. Trained observers scored maternal sensitivity when children were 6 and 15 months. Child anxiety/depressive symptoms were rated by mothers and other caregivers when children were 2 and 3 years of age. Maternal sensitivity in early childhood significantly predicted decreased 2- and 3-year-old anxiety/depressive symptoms. Children with more difficult temperament were significantly more likely to show decreased anxiety/depressive symptoms at 2 years of age if their mothers had been more sensitive. Maternal sensitivity also was a significant predictor of decreased anxiety/depressive symptoms for more temperamentally difficult boys, and temperamentally difficult boys with more sensitive mothers were found to be significantly more likely than girls to show decreased anxiety/depressive symptoms at 3 years of age. The findings of this pilot research suggest that facilitating and supporting increased sensitivity for mothers with more temperamentally difficult children could be beneficial. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Binding of δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol and diazepam to human serum albumin

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug worldwide. Cannabis users also appear to use other psychoactive drugs more frequently than noncannabis users. Here, Δ9‐ tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and diazepam binding to human serum albumin (HSA) and HSA‐heme is reported. THC binds to two different binding sites of HSA (Kd1 ≤ 10−7 M and Kd2= 10−3 M) without affecting diazepam binding (Kd = 1.2 × 10−5 M). THC binding to the high‐affinity site accounts for the low free fraction of the drug in plasma. Moreover, THC increases the affinity of heme for HSA. Accordingly, the affinity of THC for HSA‐heme is higher than that for HSA. THC could bind to FA2 and FA7 sites, as substantiated by docking simulations; nevertheless, the observed allosteric effect(s) suggests that the primary binding site of THC is the FA2 cleft that positively modulates heme affinity. Possibly, the HSA conformational transition(s) induced by THC binding could account for drug delivery to the liver through receptor‐ mediated endocytosis. © 2011 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 63(6): 446–451, 2011
Normalization of B cell counts and subpopulations after antiretroviral therapy in chronic HIV disease.

BACKGROUND Untreated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease leads to abnormalities in all major lymphocyte populations, including CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells, and B cells. However, little is known regarding the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART)-induced decrease in HIV viremia on B cell numbers and subpopulations. METHODS We conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate changes in B cell numbers and subpopulations that occur during the course of 12 months of effective ART in a group of individuals with chronic HIV infection. RESULTS ART-induced decrease in HIV viremia was associated with a significant increase in B cell counts, similar to increases in CD4(+) T cell counts yet distinct from the lack of increase in CD8(+) T cells. The increase in B cell counts was accompanied by a significant decrease in the frequency of apoptosis-prone B cell subpopulations, namely mature activated and immature transitional B cells, which are overrepresented in untreated HIV disease. The increase in B cell counts was reflected by a significant increase in naive and resting memory B cells, both of which represent populations that are essential for generating adequate humoral immunity. CONCLUSIONS Normalization of B cell counts and subpopulations may help to explain the improvement in humoral immunity reported to occur after an ART-induced decrease in HIV viremia.