Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Saliency-Guided Unsupervised Feature Learning for Scene Classification

Due to the rapid technological development of various different satellite sensors, a huge volume of high-resolution image data sets can now be acquired. How to efficiently represent and recognize the scenes from such high-resolution image data has become a critical task. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised feature learning framework for scene classification. By using the saliency detection algorithm, we extract a representative set of patches from the salient regions in the image data set. These unlabeled data patches are exploited by an unsupervised feature learning method to learn a set of feature extractors which are robust and efficient and do not need elaborately designed descriptors such as the scale-invariant-feature-transform-based algorithm. We show that the statistics generated from the learned feature extractors can characterize a complex scene very well and can produce excellent classification accuracy. In order to reduce overfitting in the feature learning step, we further employ a recently developed regularization method called “dropout,” which has proved to be very effective in image classification. In the experiments, the proposed method was applied to two challenging high-resolution data sets: the UC Merced data set containing 21 different aerial scene categories with a submeter resolution and the Sydney data set containing seven land-use categories with a 60-cm spatial resolution. The proposed method obtained results that were equal to or even better than the previous best results with the UC Merced data set, and it also obtained the highest accuracy with the Sydney data set, demonstrating that the proposed unsupervised-feature-learning-based scene classification method provides more accurate classification results than the other latent-Dirichlet-allocation-based methods and the sparse coding method.
Galaxies on Sub-Galactic Scales

Abstract The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been immensely successful in detecting new Milky Way satellite galaxies over the past seven years. It was instrumental in finding examples of the least luminous galaxies we know in the Universe, uncovering apparent inconsistencies between cold dark matter theory and dwarf galaxy properties, providing first evidence for a possible lower mass limit for dark matter halos in visible galaxies, and reopening the discussion about the building block scenario for the Milky Way halo. Nonetheless, these results are still drawn only from a relatively small number of galaxies distributed over an area covering about 29% of the sky, which leaves us currently with more questions than answers. The study of these extreme stellar systems is a multi-parameter problem: ages, metallicities, star formation histories, dark matter contents, population fractions and spatial distributions must be determined. Progress in the field is discussed and attention drawn to some of the limitations that currently hamper our ability to fully understand the phenomenon of the ‘ultra-faint dwarf galaxy’. In this context, the Stromlo Milky Way Satellite Survey represents a new initiative to systematically search and scrutinize optically elusive Milky Way satellite galaxies in the Southern hemisphere. In doing so, the program aims at investigating some of the challenging questions in stellar evolution, galaxy formation and near-field cosmology.
Chemical Inhibition of NAT10 Corrects Defects of Laminopathic Cells

Remodelin Nuclear Defects Deregulation of A-type lamin proteins leads to disorganization of chromatin structure and misshapen nuclei, which are believed to underlie the pathologies of various human diseases, including the premature aging disorder Hutchinson Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and various cancers. Larrieu et al. (p. 527) developed a small molecule, Remodelin, that not only improved nuclear shape defects of human lamin A/C–depleted cells, HGPS cells, and aged normal cells, but also decreased the levels of a DNA damage marker and improved global cellular fitness. The small molecule Remodelin can correct nuclear architecture defects and improve cellular fitness of progeric human cells. Down-regulation and mutations of the nuclear-architecture proteins lamin A and C cause misshapen nuclei and altered chromatin organization associated with cancer and laminopathies, including the premature-aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS). Here, we identified the small molecule “Remodelin” that improved nuclear architecture, chromatin organization, and fitness of both human lamin A/C–depleted cells and HGPS-derived patient cells and decreased markers of DNA damage in these cells. Using a combination of chemical, cellular, and genetic approaches, we identified the acetyl-transferase protein NAT10 as the target of Remodelin that mediated nuclear shape rescue in laminopathic cells via microtubule reorganization. These findings provide insights into how NAT10 affects nuclear architecture and suggest alternative strategies for treating laminopathies and aging.
The Roles of the Amygdala and the Hippocampus in Fear Conditioning

The amygdala, a small structure located deep bilaterally in the medial temporal lobe, is the key structure for the emotional processing and storage of memories associated with emotional events, especially fear. The structure has also been shown to enable humans and animals to detect and respond to environmental threats. Fear conditioning became the main model to examine the neural substrates of emotional learning in mammals and specifically in rats’. With the fear conditioning method, researchers can tests rats’, responses to aversive stimuli during the delivery of a cue and then measure how the responses change after learning of the association between the stimuli and the cue. After learning of the two stimuli, the delivery of a cue alone will prompt a fear response in the rats. The fear response can also be elicited by placing the rats in the same chamber in which the aversive stimuli has previously been experienced, which depends on both the amygdala and the hippocampus. Where the amygdala stores the memories of stimulus related to fear, the hippocampus seems to hold all the fear memories in relation to contextual information about the stimulus. The aim of this paper will be to make a comprehensive overview of internal neural processes of both the amygdala and hippocampus and the interaction between the two structures during fear conditioning, to see how the structures separately work to overlap emotion and memory processes.
Valued skills among journalists: An exploratory comparison of six European nations

Cross-national comparative studies of journalists generally focus on the demographic characteristics and/or the values and role-perception of journalists. Systematic studies of journalistic skills have been rare, however. This article reports the findings from a comparative study of journalists from Britain, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. Based on an email survey of 2238 news professionals, journalistic skills can be grouped into three distinctive dimensions: reporting, editing, and networking skills. The data also show a number of similarities, but also important differences regarding the importance journalists give to different professional skills in different European countries.
Staphylococcal biofilm-forming protein has a contiguous rod-like structure

Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis form communities (called biofilms) on inserted medical devices, leading to infections that affect many millions of patients worldwide and cause substantial morbidity and mortality. As biofilms are resistant to antibiotics, device removal is often required to resolve the infection. Thus, there is a need for new therapeutic strategies and molecular data that might assist their development. Surface proteins S. aureus surface protein G (SasG) and accumulation-associated protein (S. epidermidis) promote biofilm formation through their “B” regions. B regions contain tandemly arrayed G5 domains interspersed with approximately 50 residue sequences (herein called E) and have been proposed to mediate intercellular accumulation through Zn2+-mediated homodimerization. Although E regions are predicted to be unstructured, SasG and accumulation-associated protein form extended fibrils on the bacterial surface. Here we report structures of E–G5 and G5–E–G5 from SasG and biophysical characteristics of single and multidomain fragments. E sequences fold cooperatively and form interlocking interfaces with G5 domains in a head-to-tail fashion, resulting in a contiguous, elongated, monomeric structure. E and G5 domains lack a compact hydrophobic core, and yet G5 domain and multidomain constructs have thermodynamic stabilities only slightly lower than globular proteins of similar size. Zn2+ does not cause SasG domains to form dimers. The work reveals a paradigm for formation of fibrils on the 100-nm scale and suggests that biofilm accumulation occurs through a mechanism distinct from the “zinc zipper. ” Finally, formation of two domains by each repeat (as in SasG) might reduce misfolding in proteins when the tandem arrangement of highly similar sequences is advantageous.
Tracking the establishment of local endemic populations of an emergent enteric pathogen

Significance Shigella sonnei is a globally emerging agent of bacterial dysentery. Here, we use genomics to examine the microevolution of S. sonnei in Vietnam. We show that S. sonnei was introduced into Vietnam in the early 1980s, where it continued to evolve, spreading geographically to establish localized founder populations. The population in Ho Chi Minh City has undergone several localized clonal replacement events, during which a small number of microevolutionary changes have risen to dominance. These changes, induced by horizontal gene transfer and substitution mutations, confer high-level antimicrobial resistance and the ability to kill other gut bacteria. This work provides a unique, high-resolution insight into the microevolution of a pioneering human pathogen during its establishment in a new host population. Shigella sonnei is a human-adapted pathogen that is emerging globally as the dominant agent of bacterial dysentery. To investigate local establishment, we sequenced the genomes of 263 Vietnamese S. sonnei isolated over 15 y. Our data show that S. sonnei was introduced into Vietnam in the 1980s and has undergone localized clonal expansion, punctuated by genomic fixation events through periodic selective sweeps. We uncover geographical spread, spatially restricted frontier populations, and convergent evolution through local gene pool sampling. This work provides a unique, high-resolution insight into the microevolution of a pioneering human pathogen during its establishment in a new host population.
Quick Identification of Child Pornography in Digital Videos

Computer forensics has the main objective to find digital evidences of crimes. One of the most researched digital crimes is the sexual abuse of children, including the production, sharing and possession of child pornographic files. Aiming to quickly detect files of child pornography at crime scenes, the NuDetective Forensic Tool was previously developed and it uses techniques like nudity detection in images and videos, among others. To automatically detect child pornography videos, a prior approach was developed, based on extraction and sampling a fixed number of frames of each video files, independently of the video duration. This work proposes a new adaptive sampling approach, considering the video duration, with the objective to increase the detection rate and/or reduce the runtime. Several experiments were performed and the results proved that this new approach is more appropriate to be used in the automatic detection of child pornographic videos at crime scenes, with detection rates around 87% and a reduction about 45% of the runtime over previous experiments. An experiment with a real forensic case was also performed and proved that the new approach can be used to quickly identify such illegal files at crime scenes.
Geometry of the gauge algebra in noncommutative Yang-Mills Theory

A detailed description of the infinite-dimensional Lie algebra of -gauge transformations in non-commutative Yang-Mills theory is presented. Various descriptions of this algebra are given in terms of inner automorphisms of the underlying deformed algebra of functions on spacetime, of deformed symplectic diffeomorphisms, of the infinite unitary Lie algebra u(∞), and of the C-algebra of compact operators on a quantum mechanical Hilbert space. The spacetime and string interpretations are also elucidated.
An Exploratory Comparative Case Study of Employee Engagement in Christian Higher Education

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have identified a positive correlation between employee engagement and overall organizational performance. However, research on employee engagement specifically within higher education is limited, and even less attention has been focused on engagement within the context of Christian higher education. An exploratory comparative case study research design was used to explore two faith-based universities that are atypical examples of excellence as measured by the Best Christian Workplace Institute (BCWI) “Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture” survey. Analysis of data gathered from 53 interviews with employees and document analysis led to the identification of institutional characteristics that fostered employee engagement at two universities that consistently exhibited high rankings of employee self-reported engagement based on the BCWI survey results. Despite substantial differences between the two institutions, commonalities were identified in many of the characteristics that fostered employee engagement on the two campuses. The findings revealed that the shared themes of mission, community, empowered human resource departments, and a sense of positive momentum all contributed to the atypically high employee engagement levels that resulted in a positive and empowering organizational culture.
A new object-order ray-casting algorithm

Many direct volume rendering algorithms have been proposed during the last decade to render 256/sup 3/ voxels interactively. However a lot of limitations are inherent to all of them, like low-quality images, a small viewport size or a fixed classification. In contrast, interactive high quality algorithms are still a challenge nowadays. We introduce here an efficient and accurate technique called object-order ray-casting that can achieve up to 10 fps on current workstations. Like usual ray-casting, colors and opacities are evenly sampled along the ray, but now within a new object-order algorithm. Thus, it allows to combine the main advantages of both worlds in term of speed and quality. We also describe an efficient hidden volume removal technique to compensate for the loss of early ray termination.
Early-life stress has persistent effects on amygdala function and development in mice and humans

Significance The current study provides evidence of early and persistent alterations in anxious behavior and amygdala function following the early-life stress of disorganized parental care. These changes in both brain and behavior are not diminished when the stressor is removed nor diminished with the development of prefrontal regulatory regions. The findings underscore the importance of early-life experiences on later development and highlight the need for early intervention for populations at-risk following early-life stressors. Relatively little is known about neurobiological changes attributable to early-life stressors (e.g., orphanage rearing), even though they have been associated with a heightened risk for later psychopathology. Human neuroimaging and animal studies provide complementary insights into the neural basis of problem behaviors following stress, but too often are limited by dissimilar experimental designs. The current mouse study manipulates the type and timing of a stressor to parallel the early-life stress experience of orphanage rearing, controlling for genetic and environmental confounds inherent in human studies. The results provide evidence of both early and persistent alterations in amygdala circuitry and function following early-life stress. These effects are not reversed when the stressor is removed nor diminished with the development of prefrontal regulation regions. These neural and behavioral findings are similar to our human findings in children adopted from orphanages abroad in that even following removal from the orphanage, the ability to suppress attention toward potentially threatening information in favor of goal-directed behavior was diminished relative to never-institutionalized children. Together, these findings highlight how early-life stress can lead to altered brain circuitry and emotion dysregulation that may increase the risk for psychopathology.
Antagonist of the Amylin Receptor Blocks β-Amyloid Toxicity in Rat Cholinergic Basal Forebrain Neurons

Salvage of cholinergic neurons in the brain through a blockade of the neurotoxic effects of amyloidβ protein (Aβ) is one of the major, but still elusive, therapeutic goals of current research in Alzheimer's disease (AD). To date, no receptor has been unequivocally identified for Aβ. Human amylin, which acts via a receptor composed of the calcitonin receptor-like receptor and a receptor-associated membrane protein, possesses amyloidogenic properties and has a profile of neurotoxicity that is strikingly similar to Aβ. In this study, using primary cultures of rat cholinergic basal forebrain neurons, we show that acetyl-[Asn30, Tyr32] sCT(8-37) (AC187), an amylin receptor antagonist, blocks Aβ-induced neurotoxicity. Treatment of cultures with AC187 before exposure to Aβ results in significantly improved neuronal survival as judged by MTT and live-dead cell assays. Quantitative measures of Aβ-evoked apoptotic cell death, using Hoechst and phosphotidylserine staining, confirm neuroprotective effects of AC187. We also demonstrate that AC187 attenuates the activation of initiator and effector caspases that mediate Aβ-induced apoptotic cell death. These data are the first to show that expression of Aβ toxicity may occur through the amylin receptor and suggest a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of AD.
Estudio neuropsicológico, neurorradiológico y clínico en el hipercortisolismo endógeno = Neuropsychological, neuroradiological and clinical study in endogenous hypercortisolism

Objective: Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is associated with neuropsychological deficits. As the cerebellum plays a key role in neuropsychological functions it may be affected in CS. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with CS have a smaller cerebellar volume than healthy controls, and to analyse whether cerebellar volume is associated with neuropsychological performance and clinical parameters. Design: A cross-sectional study was performed. Methods: Thirty-six CS patients (15 with active CS and 21 with CS in remission) and 36 controls matched for age, sex, and education underwent neuropsychological testing, quality of life assessment, clinical evaluation, and magnetic resonance imaging brain scan. Cerebellar volumes (white matter and cortex, bilateral) were calculated using FreeSurfer Software. Results: Patients with active CS showed smaller bilateral cerebellar cortex volumes than controls (left, PZ0.035 and right, PZ0.034), as well as a trend toward smaller right cerebellar cortex volumes than patients in remission CS (PZ0.051). No differences were observed in the volume of cerebellar white matter between the three groups. Both right and left cerebellar cortex volumes correlated negatively with triglyceride levels (right: rZK0.358, PZ0.002 and left: rZK0.317, PZ0.005) and age at diagnosis (right: rZK0.433, PZ0.008 and left: rZK0.457, PZ0.005). Left cerebellar cortex volume also correlated positively with visual memory performance (rZ0.245, PZ0.038). Right cerebellar cortex volume positively correlated with quality-of-life scores (rZ0.468, PZ0.004). Conclusions: The cerebellar cortex volume is smaller in active CS patients than in controls. This finding is associated with poor visual memory and quality of life and is mostly pronounced in patients with higher triglyceride levels and older age at diagnosis. European Journal of Endocrinology (2014) 171, 461–469
Brain network alterations in Alzheimer's disease measured by eigenvector centrality in fMRI are related to cognition and CSF biomarkers

Recent imaging studies have demonstrated functional brain network changes in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Eigenvector centrality (EC) is a graph analytical measure that identifies prominent regions in the brain network hierarchy and detects localized differences between patient populations. This study used voxel‐wise EC mapping (ECM) to analyze individual whole‐brain resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in 39 AD patients (age 67 ± 8) and 43 healthy controls (age 69 ± 7). Between‐group differences were assessed by a permutation‐based method. Associations of EC with biomarkers for AD pathology in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were assessed using Spearman correlation analysis. Decreased EC was found bilaterally in the occipital cortex in AD patients compared to controls. Regions of increased EC were identified in the anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus. Across groups, frontal and occipital EC changes were associated with pathological concentrations of CSF biomarkers and with cognition. In controls, decreased EC values in the occipital regions were related to lower MMSE scores. Our main finding is that ECM, a hypothesis‐free and computationally efficient analysis method of functional MRI (fMRI) data, identifies changes in brain network organization in AD patients that are related to cognition and underlying AD pathology. The relation between AD‐like EC changes and cognitive performance suggests that resting‐state fMRI measured EC is a potential marker of disease severity for AD. Hum Brain Mapp 35:2383–2393, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effect of different grinding burs on the physical properties of zirconia

PURPOSE Grinding with less stress on 3Y-TZP through proper selection of methods and instruments can lead to a long-term success of prosthesis. The purpose of this study was to compare the phase transformation and physical properties after zirconia surface grinding with 3 different grinding burs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty disc-shaped zirconia specimens were fabricated. Each Ten specimens were ground with AllCeramic SuperMax (NTI, Kahla, Germany), Dura-Green DIA (Shofu Inc., Kyoto, Japan), and Dura-Green (Shofu Inc., Kyoto, Japan). Ten specimens were not ground and used as a control group. After the specimen grinding, XRD analysis, surface roughness test, FE-SEM imaging, and biaxial flexural strength test were performed. RESULTS After surface grinding, small amount of monoclinic phase in all experimental groups was observed. The phase change was higher in specimens, which were ground with Dura-Green DIA and AllCeramic SuperMax burs. The roughness of surfaces increased in specimens, which were ground with Dura-Green DIA and AllCeramic SuperMax burs than control groups and ground with Dura-Green. All experimental groups showed lower flexural strength than control group, but there was no statistically significant difference between control group and ground with Dura-Green DIA and AllCeramic SuperMax burs. The specimens, which were ground with Dura- Green showed the lowest strength. CONCLUSION The use of dedicated zirconia-specific grinding burs such as Dura-Green DIA and AllCeramic SuperMax burs decreases the grinding time and did not significantly affect the flexural strength of zirconia, and therefore, they may be recommended. However, a fine polishing process should be accompanied to reduce the surface roughness after grinding.