Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recognition of blurred faces using Local Phase Quantization

In this paper, recognition of blurred faces using the recently introduced Local Phase Quantization (LPQ) operator is proposed. LPQ is based on quantizing the Fourier transform phase in local neighborhoods. The phase can be shown to be a blur invariant property under certain commonly fulfilled conditions. In face image analysis, histograms of LPQ labels computed within local regions are used as a face descriptor similarly to the widely used Local Binary Pattern (LBP) methodology for face image description. The experimental results on CMU PIE and FRGC 1.0. 4 datasets show that the LPQ descriptor is highly tolerant to blur but still very descriptive outperforming LBP both with blurred and sharp images.
Meta-analysis: how does posterior parietal cortex contribute to reasoning?

Reasoning depends on the contribution of posterior parietal cortex (PPC). But PPC is involved in many basic operations—including spatial attention, mathematical cognition, working memory, long-term memory, and language—and the nature of its contribution to reasoning is unclear. Psychological theories of the processes underlying reasoning make divergent claims about the neural systems that are likely to be involved, and better understanding the specific contribution of PPC can help to inform these theories. We set out to address several competing hypotheses, concerning the role of PPC in reasoning: (1) reasoning involves application of formal logic and is dependent on language, with PPC activation for reasoning mainly reflective of linguistic processing; (2) reasoning involves probabilistic computation and is thus dependent on numerical processing mechanisms in PPC; and (3) reasoning is built upon the representation and processing of spatial relations, and PPC activation associated with reasoning reflects spatial processing. We conducted two separate meta-analyses. First, we pooled data from our own studies of reasoning in adults, and examined activation in PPC regions of interest (ROI). Second, we conducted an automated meta-analysis using Neurosynth, in which we examined overlap between activation maps associated with reasoning and maps associated with other key functions of PPC. In both analyses, we observed reasoning-related activation concentrated in the left Inferior Parietal Lobe (IPL). Reasoning maps demonstrated the greatest overlap with mathematical cognition. Maintenance, visuospatial, and phonological processing also demonstrated some overlap with reasoning, but a large portion of the reasoning map did not overlap with the map for any other function. This evidence suggests that the PPC’s contribution to reasoning may be most closely related to its role in mathematical cognition, but that a core component of this contribution may be specific to reasoning.
Enhanced brain motor activity in patients with MS after a single dose of 3,4-diaminopyridine

Background: 3,4-Diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP), a potassium (K+) channel blocker, improves fatigue and motor function in multiple sclerosis (MS). Although it was thought to do so by restoring conduction to demyelinated axons, recent experimental data show that aminopyridines administered at clinical doses potentiate synaptic transmission. Objective: To investigate motor cerebral activity with fMRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) after a single oral dose of 3,4-DAP in patients with MS. Methods: Twelve right-handed women (mean ± SD age 40.9 ± 9.3 years) underwent fMRI on two separate occasions (under 3,4-DAP and under placebo) during a simple motor task with the right hand. FMRI data were analyzed with SPM99. After fMRI, patients underwent single-pulse TMS to test motor threshold, amplitude, and latency of motor evoked potentials, central conduction time, and the cortical silent period; paired-pulse TMS to investigate intracortical inhibition (ICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF); and quantitative electromyography during maximal voluntary contraction. Results: FMRI motor-evoked brain activation was greater under 3,4-DAP than under placebo in the ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex and supplementary motor area (p < 0.05). 3,4-DAP decreased ICI and increased ICF; central motor conduction time and muscular fatigability did not change. Conclusion: 3,4-DAP may modulate brain motor activity in patients with MS, probably by enhancing excitatory synaptic transmission.
Refactoring multi-layered access control policies through (De)composition

Policy-based access control is a well-established paradigm for securing layered IT systems. Access control policies, however, often do not focus on dedicated architecture layers, but increasingly employ concepts of multiple layers. Web application servers, for instance, typically support request filtering on the basis of network addresses. The resulting flexibility comes with increased management complexity and the risk of security-relevant misconfiguration when looking at the various policies in isolation. We therefore propose a flexible access control framework able to provide a comprehensive view of the global access control policy implemented in a given system. The focus of this paper is to lay down the theoretical foundations of this framework that allows (i) to describe authorization policies from different architecture layers, (ii) to capture the semantics of dependencies between layers in order to create a composed view of the global policy, and (iii) to decompose the global policy again into a collection of simpler ones by means of algebraic techniques inspired from database normalization theory.
Seeing is knowing? Visual word recognition in non-dyslexic and dyslexic readers: An ERP study

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether phonological/semantic processing of the word takes place simultaneously with, or following, the early processing of its visual features. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 13 dyslexic (four female) and 14 non-dyslexic (six female) native English speaking young adults in two lexical decision tasks. In Task 1 participants had to make an orthographic lexical decision to distinguish frequently used words (W) from pseudohomophones (PH1) focusing on visual properties of stimuli. In Task 2 they had to make a phonological lexical decision—to pseudohomophones (PH2) and pseudowords (PW) and decide whether stimuli sounded like real words—focusing on non-visual higher order, i.e., phonological and semantic, processing of the stimuli. The behavioural performance was less good and the ERP peaks’ latency longer in dyslexics compared to controls. The reaction times (RTs) and the number of errors (reversed for the controls in Task 2) increased across four conditions for both groups in the following order: W< PH1< PH2< PW. The ERPs were larger in Task 2 compared to Task 1 starting at 100 ms (P1) for the controls and from about 220 ms (P2) for the dyslexics. The latency of N2 peak in left occipito-temporal sites was larger (as was the number of errors) in PH2 compared to PW condition in controls only, which indicates phonological/semantic specific processing at a time latency of 250–260 ms. Thus, the visual task required less effort than the phonological task, dyslexics’ behavioural performance was less good and the brain activation delayed compared to controls. Combined behavioural and ERP results of this study indicated that phonological/semantic processing of the word took place 150 ms after processing of its visual features in controls and possibly later in dyslexics.
Macrophages Survive Hyperoxia via Prolonged ERK Activation Due to Phosphatase Down-regulation*

Macrophages exposed to hyperoxia in the lung continue to survive for prolonged periods. We previously reported (Nyunoya, T., Powers, L. S., Yarovinsky, T. O., Butler, N. S., Monick, M. M., and Hunninghake, G. W. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 36099–36106) that hyperoxia induces cell cycle arrest and sustained extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) activity in macrophages. In this study, we determined the mechanisms of hyperoxia-induced ERK activation and how ERK activity plays a pro-survival role in hyperoxia-exposed cells. Inhibition of ERK activity decreased survival of hyperoxia-exposed macrophages. This was due, at least in part, to down-regulation of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member, BimEL. In determining the mechanism of ERK activation by hyperoxia, we found that ERK activation was not associated with hyperoxia-induced activation of the upstream ERK kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase 1/2. When we examined the ability of whole cell lysates from hyperoxia-exposed cells to dephosphorylate purified phosphorylated ERK, we found decreased ERK-directed phosphatase activity. Two particular ERK-directed phosphatases (protein phosphatase 2A and MAPK phosphatase-3) demonstrated decreased activity in hyperoxia-exposed cells. Moreover, whole cell lysates from normoxia-exposed cells depleted of PP2A or MAPK phosphatase-3 were also less able to dephosphorylate ERK. These data demonstrate that, in hyperoxia-exposed macrophages, sustained activation of ERK due to phosphatase down-regulation permits macrophage survival via effects on the balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins.
Efficacy prospective study of different frequencies of Epo administration by i.v. and s.c. routes in renal replacement therapy patients.

BACKGROUND The problem of pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) prompted nephrologists to revert to a wider intravenous (i.v.) utilization of erythropoeitin (Epo). Once weekly i.v. Epo administration has been suggested to be as effective as the twice/thrice weekly i.v. dose. The aim of the present study was to test whether once weekly i.v. Epo administration is equally as cost-effective as once weekly subcutaneous (s.c.) and 2-3 times weekly i.v. administration. METHODS We prospectively studied 41 patients (23 males, aged 28-82 years), on renal replacement therapy for 18-286 months, stabilized on twice or thrice weekly s.c. Epo-alpha (basal). The patients were treated for three consecutive 6 month periods with once weekly s.c. (OWSC), once weekly i.v. (OWIV) and twice/thrice weekly i.v. (TWIV) Epo-alpha. The initial dose for each period was equal to the final dose of the previous one; when necessary, the dose was adjusted according to DOQY guidelines. Iron, folic acid and vitamin B(12) supplementations were given throughout all the study periods. At the end of each of the four study periods, the following parameters were evaluated: haemoglobin, haematocrit, hypochromic red blood cells (RBCs), iron, serum ferritin, transferrin, folate, vitamin B(12), C-reactive protein (CRP), Kt/V, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and weekly dose of Epo-alpha. RESULTS Thirty-three out of 41 enrolled patients completed the study (there were five deaths, two renal transplants and one transfer). No significant changes were observed as regards iron, serum ferritin, transferrin, folate, vitamin B(12), CRP, Kt/V or PTH level. Haemoglobin levels were not different at the end of the basal (11.7+/-1.21), OWSC (11.8+/-0.86) and TWIV (12.1+/-1.04) periods, while significantly lower levels were observed after the OWIV period (11.0+/-0.97, P<0.01). Weekly Epo consumption (Epo U/week/kg body weight/g haemoglobin) was: basal 11.57+/-5.96; OWSC 10.22+/-4.53; OWIV 15.99+/-7.7*(a); and TWIV 11.89+/-6.3*(a) (*P<0.01 vs basal; (a)P<0.01 vs OWSC). CONCLUSIONS From our results, the OWIV schedule seems to have less efficacy in the control of anaemia of chronic renal failure patients on dialysis treatment than either OWSC or TWIV schedules.
Transcriptomic Profiling of Soybean in Response to High-Intensity UV-B Irradiation Reveals Stress Defense Signaling

The depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere has led to a dramatic spike in ultraviolet B (UV-B) intensity and increased UV-B light levels. The direct absorption of high-intensity UV-B induces complex abiotic stresses in plants, including excessive light exposure, heat, and dehydration. However, UV-B stress signaling mechanisms in plants including soybean (Glycine max [L.]) remain poorly understood. Here, we surveyed the overall transcriptional responses of two soybean genotypes, UV-B-sensitive Cheongja 3 and UV-B-resistant Buseok, to continuous UV-B irradiation for 0 (control), 0.5, and 6 h using RNA-seq analysis. Homology analysis using UV-B-related genes from Arabidopsis thaliana revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) likely involved in UV-B stress responses. Functional classification of the DEGs showed that the categories of immune response, stress defense signaling, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism were over-represented. UV-B-resistant Buseok utilized phosphatidic acid-dependent signaling pathways (based on subsequent reactions of phospholipase C and diacylglycerol kinase) rather than phospholipase D in response to UV-B exposure at high fluence rates, and genes involved in its downstream pathways, such as ABA signaling, mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades, and ROS overproduction, were upregulated in this genotype. In addition, the DEGs for TIR-NBS-LRR and heat shock proteins are positively activated. These results suggest that defense mechanisms against UV-B stress at high fluence rates are separate from the photomorphogenic responses utilized by plants to adapt to low-level UV light. Our study provides valuable information for deep understanding of UV-B stress defense mechanisms and for the development of resistant soybean genotypes that survive under high-intensity UV-B stress.
A simple single integral representation of the bivariate Rayleigh distribution

Using an alternate representation of the Marcum Q-function, an expression for the bivariate Rayleigh cumulative distribution function is found in the form of a single integral with finite limits and an integrand composed of elementary functions. This result has advantage over previous forms of the same CDF which involve the Marcum Q-function itself or are expressed as infinite series of products of integrals.
Adding linguistic knowledge to a lexical example-based translation system

Example-Based Machine Translation (EBMT) using partial exact matching against a database of translation examples has proven quite successful, but requires a large amount of pre-translated text in order to achieve broad coverage of unrestricted text. By adding linguistically tagged entries to the example base and permitting recursive matches that replace the matched text with the associated tag, substantial reductions in the required amount of pre-translated text can be achieved. A modest investment of time on the order of two person-weeks adding linguistic knowledge reduces the required example text by a factor of six or more, while retaining comparable translation quality. This reduction makes EBMT more attractive for so-called "low-density" languages for which little data is available.
Pharmacological characterization of LPS and opioid interactions at the toll‐like receptor 4

Previous work in our laboratory showed opioid agents inhibit cytokine expression in astrocytes. Recently, Watkins and colleagues hypothesized that opioid agonists activate toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) signalling, which leads to neuroinflammation. To test this hypothesis, we characterized LPS and opioid effects on TLR4 signalling in reporter cells.
Contextual Emergence from Physics to Cognitive Neuroscience

The concept of contextual emergence has been proposed as a non-reductive, yet well-defined relation between dierent levels of description of physical and other systems. It is illustrated for the transition from statistical mechanics to thermodynamical properties such as temperature. Stability conditions are shown to be crucial for a rigorous implementation of contingent contexts that are required to understand temperature as an emergent property. Are such stability conditions meaningful for contextual emergence beyond physics as well? An armative example from cognitive neuroscience addresses the relation between neurobiological and mental levels of description. For a particular class of partitions of the underlying neurobiological phase space, so-called generating partitions, the emergent mental states are stable under the dynamics. In this case, mental descriptions are (i) faithful representations of the neurodynamics and (ii) compatible with one another.
Tolerance for Error and Computational Estimation Ability

Previous investigators have suggested that the personality variable tolerance for error is related to success in computational estimation. However, this suggestion has not been tested directly. This study examined the relationship between performance on a computational estimation test and scores on the NEO–Five Factor Inventory, a measure of the Big Five personality traits, including Openness, an index of tolerance for ambiguity. Other variables included SAT–I Verbal and Mathematics scores and self-rated mathematics ability. Participants were 65 college students. There was no significant relationship between the tolerance variable and computational estimation performance. There was a modest negative relationship between Agreeableness and estimation performance. The skepticism associated with the negative pole of the Agreeableness dimension may be important to pursue in further understanding of estimation ability.
Association Between High and Very High Albuminuria and Nighttime Blood Pressure: Influence of Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease

OBJECTIVE Nighttime blood pressure (BP) and albuminuria are two important and independent predictors of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, we examined the quantitative differences in nighttime systolic BP (SBP) across albuminuria levels in patients with and without diabetes and chronic kidney disease. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 16,546 patients from the Spanish Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Registry cohort (mean age 59.6 years, 54.9% men) were analyzed. Patients were classified according to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), as ≥60 or <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (low eGFR), and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, as normoalbuminuria (<30 mg/g), high albuminuria (30–300 mg/g), or very high albuminuria (>300 mg/g). Office and 24-h BP were determined with standardized methods and conditions. RESULTS High albuminuria was associated with a statistically significant and clinically substantial higher nighttime SBP (6.8 mmHg higher than with normoalbuminuria, P < 0.001). This association was particularly striking at very high albuminuria among patients with diabetes and low eGFR (16.5 mmHg, P < 0.001). Generalized linear models showed that after full adjustment for demographic, lifestyles, and clinical characteristics, nighttime SBP was 4.8 mmHg higher in patients with high albuminuria than in those with normoalbuminuria (P < 0.001), and patients with very high albuminuria had a 6.1 mmHg greater nighttime SBP than those with high albuminuria (P < 0.001). These differences were 3.8 and 3.1 mmHg, respectively, among patients without diabetes, and 6.5 and 8 mmHg among patients with diabetes (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Albuminuria in hypertensive patients is accompanied by quantitatively striking higher nighttime SBP, particularly in those with diabetes with very high albuminuria and low eGFR.
Septic versus non-septic acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: characteristics and clinical outcomes

Objective This study aimed to describe and compare the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with septic and non-septic acute kidney injury. Methods This study evaluated an open cohort of 117 critically ill patients with acute kidney injury who were consecutively admitted to an intensive care unit, excluding patients with a history of advanced-stage chronic kidney disease, kidney transplantation, hospitalization or death in a period shorter than 24 hours. The presence of sepsis and in-hospital death were the exposure and primary variables in this study, respectively. A confounding analysis was performed using logistic regression. Results No significant differences were found between the mean ages of the groups with septic and non-septic acute kidney injury [65.30±21.27 years versus 66.35±12.82 years, respectively; p=0.75]. In the septic and non-septic acute kidney injury groups, a predominance of females (57.4% versus 52.4%, respectively; p=0.49) and Afro-descendants (81.5% versus 76.2%, respectively; p=0.49) was observed. Compared with the non-septic patients, the patients with sepsis had a higher mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score [21.73±7.26 versus 15.75±5.98; p<0.001)] and a higher mean water balance (p=0.001). Arterial hypertension (p=0.01) and heart failure (p<0.001) were more common in the non-septic patients. Septic acute kidney injury was associated with a greater number of patients who required dialysis (p=0.001) and a greater number of deaths (p<0.001); however, renal function recovery was more common in this group (p=0.01). Sepsis (OR: 3.88; 95%CI: 1.51-10.00) and an Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score >18.5 (OR: 9.77; 95%CI: 3.73-25.58) were associated with death in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion Sepsis was an independent predictor of death. Significant differences were found between the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with septic versus non-septic acute kidney injury.
A Meta-Analysis of School Belonging and Academic Success and Persistence

Jia Wu-Bohanon for their assistance and guidance in the completion of this dissertation and their support throughout my graduate career. I would also like to thank Dr. Marla Israel and Nancy Goldberger of the Chicagoland Partnerships for English-Language Learners (CPELL) for the opportunity to serve as a graduate assistant on the CPELL team. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and encouragement.
Segmentation of acne lesion using fuzzy C-means technique with intelligent selection of the desired cluster

Segmentation is the basic and important step for digital image analysis and understanding. Segmentation of acne lesions in the visual spectrum of light is very challenging due to factors such as varying skin tones due to ethnicity, camera calibration and the lighting conditions. In this approach the color image is transformed into various color spaces. The image is decomposed into the specified number of homogeneous regions based on the similarity of color using fuzzy C-means clustering technique. Features are extracted for each cluster and average values of these features are calculated. A new objective function is defined that selects the cluster holding the lesion pixels based on the average value of cluster features. In this study segmentation results are generated in four color spaces (RGB, rgb, YIQ, I1I2I3) and two individual color components (I3, Q). The number of clusters is varied from 2 to 6. The experiment was carried out on fifty images of acne patients. The performance of the proposed technique is measured in terms of the three mostly used metrics; sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. Best results were obtained for Q and I3 color components of YIQ and I1I2I3 color spaces with the number of clusters equal to three. These color components show robustness against non-uniform illumination and maximize the gap between the lesion and skin color.