Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Use of Sum and Difference Histograms and Gray Levels Occurrence Matrix for Texture Descriptors

Computation of texture information for image classification and pattern recognition is a highly complex activity. Much of this complexity is related to feature extractions where computational cost is related with the tonal levels and resolution of the images. One of the more used methods is the Gray Level Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) that present quadratic time complexity in relation to of gray levels. After the computation of such a matrix the Haralick descriptors are calculated from the GLCM and used for the next steps of classification for pattern recognition. However, the same descriptors can be calculated from another approach, with lower complexity and computational cost, presenting the same results as this work shows. This approach is based on the construction of the Sum and Difference Histograms (SDH). The computational complexity of this method is linear in relation to the amount of gray levels. This work, by examples, demonstrates the above mentioned statement.
Do an ecosystem engineer and environmental gradient act independently or in concert to shape juvenile plant communities? Tests with the leaf-cutter ant Atta laevigata in a Neotropical savanna

Background Ecosystem engineers are species that transform habitats in ways that influence other species.While the impacts of many engineers have been well described, our understanding of how their impact varies along environmental gradients remains limited. Although disentangling the effects of gradients and engineers on biodiversity is complicated—the gradients themselves can be altered by engineers—doing so is necessary to advance conceptual and mathematical models of ecosystem engineering. We used leaf-cutter ants (Atta spp.) to investigate the relative influence of gradients and environmental engineers on the abundance and species richness of woody plants. Methods We conducted our research in South America’s Cerrado. With a survey of plant recruits along a canopy cover gradient, and data on environmental conditions that influence plant recruitment, we fit statistical models that addressed the following questions: (1) Does A. laevigata modify the gradient in canopy cover found in our Cerrado site? (2) Do environmental conditions that influence woody plant establishment in the Cerrado vary with canopy cover or proximity to A. laevigata nests? (3) Do A. laevigata and canopy cover act independently or in concert to influence recruit abundance and species richness? Results We found that environmental conditions previously shown to influence plant establishment in the Cerrado varied in concert with canopy cover, but that ants are not modifying the cover gradient or cover over nests. However, ants are modifying other local environmental conditions, and the magnitude and spatial extent of these changes are consistent across the gradient. In contrast to prior studies, we found that ant-related factors (e.g., proximity to nests, ant changes in surface conditions), rather than canopy cover, had the strongest effect on the abundance of plant recruits. However, the diversity of plants was influenced by both the engineer and the canopy cover gradient. Discussion Atta laevigata in the Cerrado modify local conditions in ways that have strong but spatially restricted consequences for plant communities. We hypothesize that ants indirectly reduce seedling establishment by clearing litter and reducing soil moisture, which leads to seed and seedling desiccation. Altering soil nutrients could also reduce juvenile growth and survivorship; if so these indirect negative effects of engineering could exacerbate their direct effects of harvesting plants. The effects of Atta appear restricted to nest mounds, but they could be long-lasting because mounds persist long after a colony has died or migrated. Our results support the hypothesis that leaf-cutter ants play a dominant role in Cerrado plant demography. We suggest the ecological and economic footprint of these engineers may increase dramatically in coming decades due to the transformation of the Cerrado by human activities.
Detection of uric acid crystal deposition by ultrasonography and dual-energy computed tomography

Abstract The aim of our study was to compare the performance of ultrasonography (US) and dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) in detecting the crystal deposition at lower extremity joints in patients with gout. The correlation of imaging findings with microscopic findings was further assessed whenever aspiration is available. We recruited consecutive patients who were presented with arthritis of lower extremity from January 2012 to December 2014. All the patients underwent DECT and US scan of bilateral knees, ankles, and feet. Synovial fluid was obtained by aspiration from an acute inflammatory joint if possible. Finally, 60 patients fulfilling the 1977 gout classification criteria were included in our study. We found that US can detect significantly more patients with crystal deposition than DECT (81.7% vs 56.7%, by US and DECT, respectively, P < .001). The frequency of urate crystal deposition detected by US at MTP1, knee, and ankle joints regions was 56.7%, 63.3%, and 51.7%, respectively. The percentage of positivity of double contour sign on US was 33.3%, 48.3%, and 41.7% at the joints mentioned above, respectively. There was a good correlation between ultrasound and synovial fluid analysis in detecting crystal deposition (&kgr; = 0.87, P = .001), while the agreement between DECT and synovial fluid analysis was just fair (&kgr; = 0.28, P = .02). The sensitivity of US in detecting urate crystal deposition in lower extremity joints was higher than DECT. The superiority was more obvious in knee and MTP1 joints. US should be considered as the first choice of image examinations when diagnosing gout.
Lower neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts high risk of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia

Background and purpose Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality despite advances in antimicrobial therapy. The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is of major concern. Our aim was to evaluate the risk factors and prognosis of HAP due to MDR-PA infection. Patients and methods In a retrospective observational study, we collected data on all episodes of HAP caused by PA (PA-HAP) occurring from January 2013 to December 2016. Characteristics of patients with drug-sensitive PA were compared with those with MDR-PA. Data of demographic, underlying conditions, peripheral neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and clinical outcomes were collected and analyzed. Results One hundred fifty-seven patients with PA-HAP were included, of which 69 (43.9%) patients were diagnosed with MDR-PA infection. There were significant differences between MDR-PA group and non-MDR-PA group on the following variables: initial inappropriate antibiotic therapy (P<0.001, OR 0.103, 95% CI 0.044–0.244), admission in more than two departments in previous 30 days (P<0.001, OR 0.186, 95% CI 0.072–0.476), and NLR level (P=0.020, OR 0.911, 95% CI 0.843–0.985). The effect of antibiotic treatment was significantly different (P<0.001, OR 4.263, 95% CI 2.142–8.483). The 30-day mortality was higher in MDR-PA group than that in non-MDR-PA group (P<0.001). Conclusion We have shown that lower NLR level was identified as a clinical predictor of MDR-PA infection in HAP patients. Even with goal-directed therapy, MDR-PA infection implicates poor outcomes in patients with HPA.
Seamless Nudity Censorship: an Image-to-Image Translation Approach based on Adversarial Training

The easy access and widespread of the Internet makes it easier than ever to reach content of any kind at any moment, and while that poses several advantages, there is also the fact that sensitive audiences may be inadvertently exposed to nudity content they did not ask for. Virtually every work on nudity and pornography censorship focus solely on performing binary classification, where the result is used to decide whether to completely ignore the accessed content or not. Such an approach may compromise user experience because the entire content, either images or frames of a video, has to be removed/blocked. In this paper, we propose a paradigmatic shift in the literature of adult censorship: instead of detecting and excluding the identified content, we propose to automatically filter out only the sensitive regions of an image. For that, we have developed an image-to-image translation approach based on adversarial training that implicitly locates sensitive regions in images and covers them whilst preserving its semantics, i.e., putting appropriate clothing. We test this novel approach on images of nude women, in which we are capable of automatically generating bikinis that cover the sensitive parts without the additional effort of previously annotating body parts. Our results are visually impressive, proving that it is possible to perform seamless nudity censorship with small effort of data collection and annotation.
Spiritual interventions for preventing HIV/AIDS in Iran

Developing health programs based on the beliefs and values of communities has a great impact. Given the priority and importance of AIDS and its transmission through high-risk sexual behaviors, we sought to design a religious/spiritual intervention for preventing AIDS. Relevant statements were extracted from the literature and spiritual/religion documents, and the study questions were reviewed by a modified Delphi consensus panel. The statements were arranged in four areas of recipients, main components, providers, and settings for spiritual interventions. Using the existing capacities for Islamic spiritual interventions to prevent and control AIDS requires the development of executive factors along with underlying factors, such as infrastructure and facilities for the provision of interventions. The results of this study can lay the groundwork for supplementary studies.
A doubly anharmonic oscillator in an induced electric dipole system

The behaviour of the interaction of the induced electric dipole moment of an atom with a uniform magnetic field and a non-uniform electric field are investigated in a rotating reference frame. An interesting aspect of this interaction is that it gives rise to an analogue of a spinless particle subject to the doubly anharmonic oscillator. Then, it is shown that analytical solutions to the Schrödinger equation can be obtained. Another point raised is that the quantum effects on the induced electric dipole moment can be observed if the uniform magnetic field possesses a discrete set of values.
Mixed-Timescale Online PHY Caching for Dual-Mode MIMO Cooperative Networks

Recently, physical layer (PHY) caching has been proposed to exploit the dynamic side information induced by caches at base stations (BSs) to support coordinated multi-point (CoMP) and achieve high degrees of freedom (DoF) gains. Due to the limited cache storage capacity, the performance of PHY caching depends heavily on the cache content placement algorithm. In the existing algorithms, the cache content placement is adaptive to the long-term popularity distribution in an offline manner. We propose an online PHY caching framework, which adapts the cache content placement to microscopic spatial and temporary popularity variations to fully exploit the benefits of PHY caching. Specifically, the joint optimization of online cache content placement and content delivery is formulated as a mixed-timescale drift minimization problem to increase the CoMP opportunity and reduce the cache content placement cost. We propose a low-complexity algorithm to obtain a throughput-optimal solution. Moreover, we provide a closed-form characterization of the maximum sum DoF in the stability region and study the impact of key system parameters on the stability region. The simulations results show that the proposed online PHY caching framework achieves large gain over existing solutions.
Cell-Based Therapies for Cardiac Regeneration: A Comprehensive Review of Past and Ongoing Strategies

Despite considerable improvements in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, heart failure (HF) still represents one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Poor prognosis is mostly due to the limited regenerative capacity of the adult human heart, which ultimately leads to left ventricular dysfunction. As a consequence, heart transplantation is virtually the only alternative for many patients. Therefore, novel regenerative approaches are extremely needed, and several attempts have been performed to improve HF patients’ clinical conditions by promoting the replacement of the lost cardiomyocytes and by activating cardiac repair. In particular, cell-based therapies have been shown to possess a great potential for cardiac regeneration. Different cell types have been extensively tested in clinical trials, demonstrating consistent safety results. However, heterogeneous efficacy data have been reported, probably because precise end-points still need to be clearly defined. Moreover, the principal mechanism responsible for these beneficial effects seems to be the paracrine release of antiapoptotic and immunomodulatory molecules from the injected cells. This review covers past and state-of-the-art strategies in cell-based heart regeneration, highlighting the advantages, challenges, and limitations of each approach.
Immunohistochemical studies on meningoencephalitis in feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)

The present study describes the association between inflammatory cell types and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) antigen in the brain of 4 cats diagnosed as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). Immunohistochemically, FIPV antigens were detected in the inflammatory foci of the leptomeninges, choroid plexus and ventricles in 3 of the 4 cats. In 3 cases, inflammatory foci mainly consisted of CD204- and Iba1-positive macrophages, and the FIPV antigens were found in the macrophages. In the other case which was negative for FIPV antigen, severe inflammation predominantly consisting of CD20-positive B lymphocytes was observed in the leptomeninges and subventricles, accompanied with diffuse proliferation of gemistocytic astrocytes. The difference in histopathology may reflect the inflammatory process or the strain variation of FIP virus.
"What was that site doing with my Facebook password?": Designing Password-Reuse Notifications

Password reuse is widespread, so a breach of one provider's password database threatens accounts on other providers. When companies find stolen credentials on the black market and notice potential password reuse, they may require a password reset and send affected users a notification. Through two user studies, we provide insight into such notifications. In Study 1, 180 respondents saw one of six representative notifications used by companies in situations potentially involving password reuse. Respondents answered questions about their reactions and understanding of the situation. Notifications differed in the concern they elicited and intended actions they inspired. Concerningly, less than a third of respondents reported intentions to change any passwords. In Study 2, 588 respondents saw one of 15 variations on a model notification synthesizing results from Study 1. While the variations' impact differed in small ways, respondents' intended actions across all notifications would leave them vulnerable to future password-reuse attacks. We discuss best practices for password-reuse notifications and how notifications alone appear insufficient in solving password reuse.
Improving Video Saliency Detection via Localized Estimation and Spatiotemporal Refinement

Video saliency detection aims to pop out the most salient regions in every frame of a video. Up to now, many efforts have been made from various aspects for video saliency detection. Unfortunately, the existing video saliency models are very likely to fail in challenging videos with complicated motions and complex scenes. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel framework to improve the saliency detection results generated by existing video saliency models. The proposed framework consists of three key steps including localized estimation, spatiotemporal refinement, and saliency update. Specifically, the initial saliency map of each frame in a video is first generated by using an existing saliency model. Then, by considering the temporal consistency and strong correlation among adjacent frames, the localized estimation models, which are generated by training the random forest regressor within a local temporal window, are employed to generate the temporary saliency map. Finally, by taking the appearance and motion information of salient objects into consideration, the spatiotemporal refinement step is deployed to further improve the temporary saliency map and generate the final saliency map. Furthermore, such an improved saliency map is then utilized to update the initial saliency map and provide reliable cues for saliency detection in the next frame. The experimental results on four challenging datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework is able to consistently and significantly improve the saliency detection performance of various video saliency models, thereby achieving the state-of-the-art performance.
Sensitivity Enhanced Refractive Index Sensor by Reducing the Influence of In-Plane Wavevector in Photonic Spin Hall Effect

Photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) can be an effective sensor for determining the refractive index (RI) variation of a sensing medium. How to further improve its sensitivity is a very interesting and important issue. In this paper, we theoretically propose a weak measurement method for enhancing the sensitivity of the photonic SHE-based RI sensor by reducing the influence of the in-plane wavevector. Of particular interest, our results indicate that the sensitivity of the presented configuration reaches about 3.16 × 10−7 RIU/μ m which shows nearly two orders of magnitude improvement compared with the conventional one. Remarkably, this method can be applied for wide range of RI variation of the sensing medium while keeping the high sensitivity.
The impact of water crises and climate changes on the transmission of protozoan parasites in Africa

ABSTRACT Waterborne protozoa (WBP) are important cause of several outbreaks all over the world. The report system of WBP in Africa is weak. More than one third of African countries (21/54) reported WBP with absent reports in the remaining countries (33/54). The top reported WBP were Cryptosporidium, Giardia, FLA and Entamoeba contaminating different African water resources. Other protozoa were less documented even though it is abundant and robust. More than one protozoa were detected in contaminated African water including drinking sources, a prediction index to popular epidemics and real presence of undocumented WBP outbreaks. Risk factors in Africa were observed to be abundant and multi-factorial ‘socioeconomic, governmental, pathogen in water and climate change. Climate change is an important factor impacting Africa. Increasing droughts in Africa with other extreme weather events will lead to water crises. Incidence and transmission of WBP will change, with new manifested strains/species. Recognizing future consequences of water crises in Africa are important. Governments and population unity will be needed to protect against expected raise and spread of WBP diseases and water shortages.
Basal epithelial tissue folding is mediated by differential regulation of microtubules

ABSTRACT The folding of epithelial tissues is crucial for development of three-dimensional structure and function. Understanding this process can assist in determining the etiology of developmental disease and engineering of tissues for the future of regenerative medicine. Folding of epithelial tissues towards the apical surface has long been studied, but the molecular mechanisms that mediate epithelial folding towards the basal surface are just emerging. Here, we utilize zebrafish neuroepithelium to identify mechanisms that mediate basal tissue folding to form the highly conserved embryonic midbrain-hindbrain boundary. Live imaging revealed Wnt5b as a mediator of anisotropic epithelial cell shape, both apically and basally. In addition, we uncovered a Wnt5b-mediated mechanism for specific regulation of basal anisotropic cell shape that is microtubule dependent and likely to involve JNK signaling. We propose a model in which a single morphogen can differentially regulate apical versus basal cell shape during tissue morphogenesis. Summary: Examination of cell shape changes during zebrafish neuroepithelium tissue folding reveals that Wnt5b specifically regulates basal anisotropic cell shape via a microtubule-dependent mechanism, likely involving JNK signaling.
Malignancy rate of atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance in thyroid nodules undergoing FNA in a suburban endocrinology practice: A retrospective cohort analysis

The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) was created to establish a standard terminology regarding thyroid nodules that can be shared between endocrinologists, pathologists, radiologists, and surgeons. Since its inception and use in 2009, multiple large hospitals and academic institutions have performed retrospective studies to compare their classification rates, specifically those of atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) and follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS), with the recommended rates created by the National Cancer Institute. The current study compared AUS/FLUS rates at a private suburban endocrine practice with those of previous publications from large institutions and the rates established by the National Cancer Institute.
Monte Carlo Tree Search for Cross-Stratum Optimization of Survivable Inter-Data Center Elastic Optical Network

In last few years, cloud computing and other services based on data centers have evolved from an emerging technology to a recognized approach that is gaining broad acceptance and deployment. Therefore, there is a significant need to provide efficient and reliable operation of inter-data center networks based on optical technologies. In this article, we focus on cross stratum optimization of an inter-data center elastic optical network with additional survivability requirements. We propose a novel optimization approach that employs machine learning Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) algorithm for simulation of future traffic to improve the performance of the network regarding blocking probability and operational cost. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method and other reference algorithms under various network scenarios, using representative topologies and real data provided by Amazon Web Services. The main conclusion is that the approach based on the MCTS algorithm enables better coordination of resource allocation in both strata, which results in lower blocking of requests and lower cost taking into account the survivability requirements, in comparison to other algorithms.