Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of three commercial automatic emotion recognition systems across different individuals and their facial expressions

Automatic facial expression recognition systems can provide information about our emotions and how they change over time. However, based on different statistical methods the results of automatic systems have not yet been compared. In the current paper we evaluate the emotion detection between three different commercial systems (i.e. Affectiva, Kairos and Microsoft) when detecting dynamic and spontaneous facial expressions. Even if the study was performed on a limited sample of videos, the results show significant differences between the systems for the same video and per system across comparable facial expressions. Finally, we reflect on the implications according the generalization of the results provided by automatic emotion detection.
Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with improved mental and cognitive health in older adults from non-Western developing countries

Abstract Objectives Consumption of fruits and vegetables has been shown to contribute to mental and cognitive health in older adults from Western industrialized countries. However, it is unclear whether this effect replicates in older adults from non-Western developing countries. Thus, the present study examined the contribution of fruit and vegetable consumption to mental and cognitive health in older persons from China, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Ghana. Design Representative cross-sectional and cross-national study. Setting/Subjects We used data from the WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE), sampled in 2007 to 2010. Our final sample size included 28 078 participants. Results Fruit and vegetable consumption predicted an increased cognitive performance in older adults including improved verbal recall, improved delayed verbal recall, improved digit span test performance and improved verbal fluency; the effect of fruit consumption was much stronger than the effect of vegetable consumption. Regarding mental health, fruit consumption was significantly associated with better subjective quality of life and less depressive symptoms; vegetable consumption, however, did not significantly relate to mental health. Conclusions Consumption of fruits is associated with both improved cognitive and mental health in older adults from non-Western developing countries, and consumption of vegetables is associated with improved cognitive health only. Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption might be one easy and cost-effective way to improve the overall health and quality of life of older adults in non-Western developing countries.
Critical Appraisal of the Treatment Planning Performance of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy by Means of a Dual Layer Stacked Multileaf Collimator for Head and Neck, Breast, and Prostate

Purpose: To ascertain whether a new delivery system (the Halcyon system) equipped with dual-layer stacked multileaf collimator operating in a mode, which allows independent, fully interdigitating motion of both layers and 6 flattening filter free energy, could generate plans of high clinical quality compared to a well-established delivery system with single layer multileaf collimator. Methods: Twenty patients in each of the 3 groups (advanced head and neck, breast, and high-risk prostate) were selected for an in silico planning study. For each patient, reference plans were developed for volumetric modulated arc therapy technique with 6 MV photon beams from a TrueBeam linear accelerator and compared against the corresponding plans for the Halcyon system. Plan comparison was performed in terms of dose volume histogram quantitative analysis. Results: Concerning the planning target volumes, with identical dose calculation and optimization algorithms and with identical planning techniques, no clinically relevant difference in coverage (D98%), hot spot (D2%), or homogeneity was observed. Similarly, for all the organs at risk, the dosimetric findings showed that (1) all planning constraints were met by the 2 delivery systems and (2) although statistical significant differences were reported for most of the parameters but none of these were judged of potential clinical relevance. Conclusion: The data presented confirmed that the new delivery system can generate treatment plans for volumetric modulated arc therapy with the same dosimetric quality of what is achievable with other systems routinely used in the clinics without significantly changing the current practice. Additional studies which customize the optimization parameters for each delivery device would complement the spectrum of investigations.
Optimal Tracking Control and Stabilization for Stochastic Systems with Multi-Step Input Delay

This paper mainly investigates the linear quadratic tracking (LQT) control problems for the discrete-time systems with multiplicative noises and input delays. Both finite-horizon and infinite-horizon cases are considered. As for the finite-horizon case, an equivalent augmented problem is constructed with an augmented state which consists of the system state and the reference trajectory. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the optimal LQT controller is given explicitly from a set of generalized difference Riccati equations (GDRE) by a stochastic maximum principle method. As for the infinite-horizon case, a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the stabilization solution is established based on a set of generalized algebraic Riccati equations (GARE). The optimal controller and optimal cost function in infinite-horizon case are expressed explicitly. It is worthy to point out that both the GDRE and GARE have the same dimensions as that of the original system's state.
Analyzing the Elderly Users’ Adoption of Smart-Home Services

A rapid increase in the percentage of elderly people over the past few years has been a cause of serious concern among the research fraternity worldwide. Active research is being carried out to leverage the benefits of information and communication technologies that enable them to live independently and promote a sense of overall well-being. Smart-homes are often employed to assist this group of people. However, there is a serious lack of relevant exploratory research that tries to measure and explain the intention of these people toward using such a service. In this paper, we propose and validate a new comprehensive research model called the elderly smart home technology acceptance model by extending the original technology acceptance model that can explain the elderly intention to use the smart-homes. An online questionnaire survey is conducted for this purpose, the results of which are analyzed using the Partial least squares Structural Equation Modeling approach on data collected from 254 subjects. Subjective norm, compatibility, automation, self-capability, and satisfaction are positively related to the elderly intention in using smart-homes, whereas there is a negative association between affordability, security/privacy, and usage intention. Two other factors, namely universal connectivity and enjoyment, have no effect on the behavioral intention. The present study is a first empirical attempt that tries to explore the adoption of smart-homes among the elderly, as all other previous research has focused only on the technical aspects and implementation issues rather than the actual usage intention.
Time- and Frequency-Domain Fault Detection in a VSC-Interfaced Experimental DC Test System

The rapid discharge of a dc-link capacitor of the voltage-source converter (VSC)-based dc system is the primary indication of the fault condition. Apart from the time-domain analysis, frequency-domain analysis of the fault current could also be utilized for dc fault detection, as the rapidly rising fault current is expected to have high-frequency components. This paper proposes two fault detection methods and compares their performances with the wavelet transform. The first method is the time-domain analysis of the dc-link capacitor discharge and is termed as the capacitive discharge technique. The relationship between the dc line current and the behavior of the dc-link capacitor is measured in terms of a correlation coefficient, whose value can be used to establish a fault basis. The second method is the frequency-domain-based short-time Fourier transform, which is used for quantitative analysis of high-frequency components in the fault current. These methods are extensively analyzed and compared using a scaled-down VSC-based dc system experimental test setup. Comparison has been done based on fault detection time, sensitivity to fault parameters, influence of sampling frequency, and computation speed. Furthermore, the selectivity of the fault detection methods is studied on the multiterminal dc systems of two different topologies (ring and radial), modeled in PSCAD/EMTDC. The experimental and simulation results substantiate the applicability of all the methods to the dc system. Brief comparative analysis with the di/dt method is also presented to highlight the advantages of the proposed methods.
Mutual Coupling Reduction of Rotationally Symmetric Multiport Antennas

A systematic method for reducing the mutual coupling of a rotationally symmetric multiport antenna system is proposed. A compact design example for a four-port antenna with low mutual coupling across two frequency bands centered around 2.4 and 5.8 GHz is provided. The entire size of the proposed four-port antenna is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.28\lambda _{o}\times 0.28\lambda _{o}\times 0.04\lambda _{o}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda _{o}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the wavelength in free space, and it is compact enough for the use in smartwatch applications for example. The defected ground structure and slot-lines used in the design are also modeled with an equivalent circuit to explain the achieved high port isolation. A prototype is fabricated and tested to confirm the results of the electromagnetic simulation. Furthermore, the proposed design method can be applied to five-port and three-port antenna systems in rotationally symmetric geometries for suppressing mutual coupling between ports.
Two Typical Charge Transportation Characteristics in Nanosecond-Pulse Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Charge transportation expressed as a Lissajous figure usually is a standard method for the analysis of discharge power and energy in surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD). In this paper, the charge transportation characteristics under different parameters of power supply and actuator configurations are investigated, and the mechanisms of two typical Lissajous figures are discussed theoretically. Experimental results show that when the plasma distribution is quasi-diffuse mode, the Lissajous figure is almond shape correspondingly, while the plasma distribution looks like separated-channel mode, the Lissajous figure presents a parallelogram shape. Based on an improved time-varying lumped-element circuit model, two equivalent circuits of SDBD under two plasma distributions are built, and the Lissajous figures are calculated theoretically. Calculations and analysis results indicate that the two kinds of Lissajous figures under different plasma distribution modes are due to the current pulse durations and equivalent dielectric capacitances caused by plasma distributions acting together. The protrusions of Lissajous figures are caused by the current narrow pulses in the characteristics of separated-channel mode, while Lissajous figures under quasi-diffuse mode have no protrusions.
Genomic copy-number loss is rescued by self-limiting production of DNA circles

Copy-number changes generate phenotypic variability in health and disease. Whether organisms protect against copy-number changes is largely unknown. Here, we show that Saccharomyces cerevisiae monitors the copy number of its ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and rapidly responds to copy-number loss with the clonal amplification of extrachromosomal rDNA circles (ERCs) from chromosomal repeats. ERC production is proportional to repeat loss and reaches a dynamic steady state that responds to the addition of exogenous rDNA copies. ERC levels are also modulated by RNAPI activity and diet, suggesting that rDNA copy number is calibrated against the cellular demand for rRNA. Lastly, we show that ERCs reinsert into the genome in a dosage-dependent manner, indicating that they provide a reservoir for ultimately increasing rDNA array length. Our results reveal a DNA-based mechanism for rapidly restoring copy number in response to catastrophic gene loss that shares fundamental features with unscheduled copy-number amplifications in cancer cells.
Background Filtering and Vehicle Detection with Roadside Lidar Based on Point Association

The high-resolution traffic data (HRTD) is important to intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The roadside LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors can provide HRTD by collecting real-time 3D point clouds of surrounding objects. To analyze HRTD, background filtering and vehicle detection are the essential steps. This paper presents an algorithm to extract background and detect vehicles based on point association in 3D point clouds. To improve the accuracy, DBSCAN is combined with time-limited window for vehicle detection according to the relationship between vehicle points.
A 220-MHz Bondwire-Based Fully-Integrated KY Converter With Fast Transient Response Under DCM Operation

This paper presents a 220-MHz pulse width modulation (PWM) fully integrated KY dc–dc step-up converter utilizing bondwire as power inductor, with discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) calibration control. We develop the first DCM closed-loop PWM controller for the KY converter, including: 1) its parameter design; 2) a DCM closed-loop voltage mode control with Type II compensator; 3) a zero current detection method to activate DCM control; and 4) a DCM calibration loop. Fabricated in 65-nm CMOS, the designed KY converter core occupies 0.93 mm2 and achieves an output conversion range of 1.5–2 V from a 1.2-V input. The measured peak efficiency is 75.2% at 97.5 mW. With a 500-ps rising/falling time of the load current step (56 mA), the undershoot/overshoot is 245/205 mV at 146-/140-ns recovery time, and the dc–dc converter achieves a settling time per load transient step of 2.6 ns/mA, which is competitive with the state-of-the-art boost converters.
Minimum Annotation Identification of Facial Affects for Video Advertisement

Consumer's market has witnessed a radical change. It has shifted from being a seller's market to buyer's market. Reviews and feedback play an important role deciding the marketing strategy. These reviews express opinions or sentiments of a particular individual for a particular product, which contains information that is useful for others who are interested in buying that product. The paper proposes a model to automate the product review for an advertisement by making use of affective computing. The computerized model for Facial emotion recognition using wearable biometric sensors is used analyze the consumer behavior on a video advertisement. The model detects five basic emotions of happy, sad, surprise, anger and neutral. The logistic regression classification algorithm was used to classify the various sentiments given by various users against the advertisement on the given test data. The result of the classification algorithm has been compared with training data using WEKA. The accuracy of 82% is obtained through classification algorithm.
LiveCap

We present the first real-time human performance capture approach that reconstructs dense, space-time coherent deforming geometry of entire humans in general everyday clothing from just a single RGB video. We propose a novel two-stage analysis-by-synthesis optimization whose formulation and implementation are designed for high performance. In the first stage, a skinned template model is jointly fitted to background subtracted input video, 2D and 3D skeleton joint positions found using a deep neural network, and a set of sparse facial landmark detections. In the second stage, dense non-rigid 3D deformations of skin and even loose apparel are captured based on a novel real-time capable algorithm for non-rigid tracking using dense photometric and silhouette constraints. Our novel energy formulation leverages automatically identified material regions on the template to model the differing non-rigid deformation behavior of skin and apparel. The two resulting non-linear optimization problems per frame are solved with specially tailored data-parallel Gauss-Newton solvers. To achieve real-time performance of over 25Hz, we design a pipelined parallel architecture using the CPU and two commodity GPUs. Our method is the first real-time monocular approach for full-body performance capture. Our method yields comparable accuracy with off-line performance capture techniques while being orders of magnitude faster.
Scale Matters: Spatially Partitioned Unsupervised Segmentation Parameter Optimization for Large and Heterogeneous Satellite Images

To classify Very-High-Resolution (VHR) imagery, Geographic Object Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) is the most popular method used to produce high quality Land-Use/Land-Cover maps. A crucial step in GEOBIA is the appropriate parametrization of the segmentation algorithm prior to the classification. However, little effort has been made to automatically optimize GEOBIA algorithms in an unsupervised and spatially meaningful manner. So far, most Unsupervised Segmentation Parameter Optimization (USPO) techniques, assume spatial stationarity for the whole study area extent. This can be questionable, particularly for applications in geographically large and heterogeneous urban areas. In this study, we employed a novel framework named Spatially Partitioned Unsupervised Segmentation Parameter Optimization (SPUSPO), which optimizes segmentation parameters locally rather than globally, for the Sub-Saharan African city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, using WorldView-3 imagery (607 km2). The results showed that there exists significant spatial variation in the optimal segmentation parameters suggested by USPO across the whole scene, which follows landscape patterns—mainly of the various built-up and vegetation types. The most appropriate automatic spatial partitioning method from the investigated techniques, was an edge-detection cutline algorithm, which achieved higher classification accuracy than a global optimization, better predicted built-up regions, and did not suffer from edge effects. The overall classification accuracy using SPUSPO was 90.5%, whilst the accuracy from undertaking a traditional USPO approach was 89.5%. The differences between them were statistically significant (p < 0.05) based on a McNemar’s test of similarity. Our methods were validated further by employing a segmentation goodness metric, Area Fit Index (AFI)on building objects across Ouagadougou, which suggested that a global USPO was more over-segmented than our local approach. The mean AFI values for SPUSPO and USPO were 0.28 and 0.36, respectively. Finally, the processing was carried out using the open-source software GRASS GIS, due to its efficiency in raster-based applications.
Ficolin-1 and Ficolin-3 Plasma Levels Are Altered in HIV and HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients From Southern Brazil

The complement system is a key component of the innate immune system, participating in the surveillance against infectious agents. Once activated by one of the three different pathways, complement mediates cell lysis, opsonization, signalizes pathogens for phagocytosis and induces the adaptive immune response. The lectin pathway is constituted by several soluble and membrane bound proteins, called pattern recognition molecules (PRM), including mannose binding lectin (MBL), Ficolins-1, -2, and -3, and Collectin 11. These PRMs act on complement activation as recognition molecules of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) such as N-acetylated, found in glycoproteins of viral envelopes. In this study, Ficolin-1 and Ficolin-3 plasma levels were evaluated in 178 HIV patients (93 HIV; 85 HIV/HCV) and 85 controls from southern Brazil. Demographic and clinical-laboratory findings were obtained during medical interview and from medical records. All parameters were assessed by logistic regression, adjusted for age, ancestry, and sex. Significantly lower levels of Ficolin-1 were observed in HIV/HCV coinfected when compared to HIV patients (p = 0.005, median = 516 vs. 667 ng/ul, respectively) and to controls (p < 0.0001, 1186 ng/ul). Ficolin-1 levels were lower in males than in females among HIV patients (p = 0.03) and controls (p = 0.0003), but no association of Ficolin-1 levels with AIDS was observed. On the other hand, Ficolin-3 levels were significantly lower in controls when compared to HIV (p < 0.0001, medians 18,240 vs. 44,030 ng/ml, respectively) and HIV/HCV coinfected (p < 0.0001, 40,351 ng/ml) patients. There was no correlation between Ficolin-1 and Ficolin-3 levels and age, HIV viral load or opportunistic infections. However, Ficolin-3 showed a positive correlation with T CD4 cell counts in HIV monoinfected patients (p = 0.007). We provide here the first assessment of Ficolin-1 and−3 levels in HIV and HIV/HCV coinfected patients, which indicates a distinct role for these pattern recognition molecules in both viral infections.
Defining Author's Style for Plagiarism Detection in Academic Environment

The usage of linguometry and stylometry technologies for author's style detection is discussed. The statistical linguistic analysis of author's text uses the advantages of content monitoring based on NLP methods for stop words definition. They are used in stylometry for definition of attribution degree of analyzed text to the specific author. The formal approach for Ukrainian language text author's style definition is proposed.
Dynamics of Permafrost Coasts of Baydaratskaya Bay (Kara Sea) Based on Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Data

Arctic coasts that are composed of frozen deposits are extremely sensitive to climate change and human impact. They retreat with average rates of 1–2 m per year, depending on climatic and permafrost conditions. In recent decades, retreat rates have shown a tendency to increase. In this paper, we studied the coastal dynamics of two key sites (Ural and Yamal coasts) of Baydaratskaya Bay, Kara Sea, where a gas pipeline had been constructed. Based on multi-temporal aerial and satellite imagery, we identified coastal erosion rates at several time lapses, in natural conditions and under human impact, and discussed their temporal variability. In addition to planimetric (m/yr), we calculated volumetric (m3/m/yr) retreat rates of erosional coasts using ArcticDEM. We also estimated the influence of geomorphology, lithology, and permafrost structure of the coasts on spatial variations of their dynamics. Erosional coasts of the Ural key site retreat with higher mean rates (1.2 m/yr and 8.7 m3/m/yr) as compared to the Yamal key site (0.3 m/yr and 3.7 m3/m/yr) due to their exposure to higher open sea waves, more complex lithology, higher ice content and lower coastal bluffs. Since the 1960s, coastal retreat rates have been growing on both coasts of Baydaratskaya Bay; we relate this effect with Arctic climate warming. From the 1960s to 2005, such growth was moderate, while in 2005–2016 it became rapid, which may be explained by the enhanced wave and thermal action or by the onset of industrial development. The adjacent coastal segments, originally accumulative, remained relatively stable from the 1960s to 2005. After 2005, a considerable part of them began to retreat as a result of changing weather conditions and/or increasing human impact.