Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TWIN-GRU: Twin Stream GRU Network for Action Recognition from RGB Video

Human Action Recognition (HAR) is an important task for numerous computer vision applications. Recently, deep learning approaches have shown proficiency in recognizing actions in RGB video. However, existing models rely mainly on global appearance and could potentially under perform in real world applications, such as sport events and clinical applications. Refereeing to domain knowledge in how human perceive action, we hypothesis that observing the dynamic of a 2D human body joints representation extracted from RGB video frames is sufficient to recognize an action in video. Moreover, body joints contain structural information with a strong spatial (intra-frame) and temporal (inter-frame) correlation between adjacent joints. In this paper, we propose a psychology-inspired twin stream Gated Recurrent Unit network for action recognition based on the dynamic of 2D human body joints in RGB videos. The proposed model achieves a classification accuracy of 89,97% in a subject-specific experiment and outperforms the baseline method that fuses depth and inertial sensor data on the UTD-MHAD dataset. The proposed framework is more cost effective and highly competitive than depth 3D skeleton based solutions and therefore can be used outside capture motion labs for real world applications.
Towards Verifying a Blocks World for Teams GOAL Agent

We continue to see an increase in applications based on multi-agent system technology. As the technology becomes more widespread, so does the requirement for agent systems to operate reliably. In this paper, we expand on the approach of using an agents logic to prove properties of agents. Our work describes a transformation from GOAL program code to an agent logic. We apply it to a Blocks World for Teams agent and prove a correctness property. Finally, we sketch future challenges of extending the framework.
Optimal Sensor Placement for Human Activity Recognition with a Minimal Smartphone-IMU Setup

: Human Activity Recognition (HAR) of everyday activities using smartphones has been intensively researched over the past years. Despite the high detection performance, smartphones can not continuously provide reliable information about the currently conducted activity as their placement at the subject’s body is uncertain. In this study, a system is developed that enables real-time collection of data from various Bluetooth inertial measurement units (IMUs) in addition to the smartphone. The contribution of this work is an extensive overview of related work in this ﬁeld and the identiﬁcation of unobtrusive, minimal combinations of IMUs with the smartphone that achieve high recognition performance. Eighteen young subjects with unrestricted mobility were recorded conducting seven daily-life activities with a smartphone in the pocket and ﬁve IMUs at different body positions. With a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for activity recognition, activity classiﬁcation accuracy increased by up to 23% with one IMU additional to the smartphone. An overall prediction rate of 97% was reached with a smartphone in the pocket and an IMU at the ankle. This study demonstrated the potential that an additional IMU can improve the accuracy of smartphone-based HAR on daily-life activities.
Field Studies on the Impact of Cryptographic Signatures and Encryption on Phishing Emails

Phishing is a type of scam designed to steal users’ personal information, e.g. passwords, credit card information, or other account details. Phishing websites look similar to legitimate ones, making it difficult for users to differentiate between them. Phishing attacks are constantly being improved and the range of techniques used are continuously expanded. Signatures and encryption in emails are security mechanisms that phishers could attempt to misuse. This paper analyses the potential of these methods. Two comparative studies on the effect of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures and encryption in phishing mails were conducted. The effect was analysed in social and security-related contexts and with computer-savvy as well as regular recipients. We examined the factors computer experience, signature, encryption, signature and encryption, as well as interaction between computer experience and signatures. The results indicate a potential for misuse. Observations made during this study are stated along with future work.
A Very Large Scale Neighborhood Approach to Pickup and Delivery Problems with Time Windows

When solving optimisation problem in the presence of strong constraints, local search algorithms often fall into local minima. One approach that helps escaping local minima is using Very Large Scale Neighborhoods (VLSN). We applied VLSN to the pick-up and delivery problem with time windows (PDPTW). Unfortunately, VLSN can be rather slow: it requires to build a large graph of moves (the VLSN graph) and explore the graph to identify cycles in it. Most of the execution time is spent building the graph. Once a cycle is found, large parts of the graph are invalidated, hence the time spent building these portions of the graph is wasted. We introduce a generic speed improvement of the VLSN algorithm. The idea is to build the VLSN graph gradually and to perform the cycle search regularly throughout the construction of the graph, so that if the searched cycles are discovered, large portions of the graph under construction are not explored at all. Roughly speaking, on a specific standard PDPTW instance (LC1 2 1), only 43% of the graph needs to be built, and the sped up VLSN procedure only takes 53% of time taken by the original one.
Anaplasma phagocytophilum Induces TLR- and MyD88-Dependent Signaling in In Vitro Generated Murine Neutrophils

Anaplasma phagocytophilum is a tick-transmitted obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that replicates in neutrophils. It elicits febrile disease in humans and in animals. In a mouse model, elimination of A. phagocytophilum required CD4+ T cells, but was independent of IFN-γ and other classical antibacterial effector mechanisms. Further, mice deficient for immune recognition and signaling via Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR4 or MyD88 were unimpaired in pathogen control. In contrast, animals lacking adaptor molecules of Nod-like receptors (NLR) such as RIP2 or ASC showed delayed clearance of A. phagocytophilum. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of further pattern recognition receptor (PRR) pathways to the control of A. phagocytophilum in vivo. Mice deficient for the NLR NOD2 had elevated bacterial loads in the early phase of infection, but were unimpaired in pathogen elimination. In contrast, animals lacking adaptor proteins of different C-type lectin receptors (CLR) such as DAP12, Fc-receptor γ-chain (FcRγ) and SYK controlled A. phagocytophilum as efficiently as wild-type mice. Further, we investigated which PRR pathways are involved in the sensing of A. phagocytophilum by in vitro generated Hoxb8 murine neutrophils. In vitro, recognition of A. phagocytophilum by murine neutrophils was dependent on TLR- and MyD88 signaling. However, it remained intact in the absence of the NLR NOD1, NOD2 and NALP3 and of the CLR adaptor molecules DAP12 and FcRγ. From these results, we conclude that TLR rather than NLR or CLR are critical for the detection of A. phagocytophilum by neutrophils although in vivo defective TLR-signaling is compensated probably because of the redundancy of the immune system.
Therapeutic Potentials of Selected Antihypertensive Agents and Their Fixed-Dose Combinations Against Trastuzumab-Mediated Cardiotoxicity

Trastuzumab (TZM) is useful in the clinical management of HER2-positive metastatic breast, gastric, and colorectal carcinoma but has been limited by its off-target cardiotoxicity. This study investigates the therapeutic potentials of 0.25 mg/kg/day amlodipine, 0.035 mg/kg/day lisinopril, 5 mg/kg/day valsartan, and their fixed-dose combinations in TZM-intoxicated Wistar rats that were randomly allotted into 10 groups of 6 rats for each group. Group I rats were treated with 10 ml/kg/day sterile water orally and 1 ml/kg/day sterile water intraperitoneally; Groups II, III, and IV rats were orally gavaged with 5 mg/kg/day valsartan and 1 ml/kg/day sterile water intraperitoneally, 0.25 mg/kg/day amlodipine and 1 ml/kg/day sterile water via the intraperitoneal route, 0.035 mg/kg/day lisinopril and 1 ml/kg/day sterile water administered intraperitoneally, respectively. Group V rats were orally treated with 10 ml/kg/day of sterile water prior to intraperitoneal administration of 2.25 mg/kg/day of TZM. Groups VI–VIII rats were equally pretreated with 5 mg/kg/day valsartan, 0.25 mg/kg/day amlodipine, and 0.035 mg/kg/day lisinopril before intraperitoneal 2.25 mg/kg/day TZM treatment, respectively; Groups IX and X rats were orally pretreated with the fixed-dose combinations of 0.25 mg/kg/day amlodipine +0.035 mg/kg/day lisinopril and 5 mg/kg/day valsartan +0.035 mg/kg/day lisinopril, respectively, before TZM treatment. Cardiac injury and tissue oxidative stress markers, complete lipids profile, histopathological, and immunohistochemical assays were the evaluating endpoints. Results showed that repeated TZM treatments caused profound increases in the serum TG and VLDL-c levels, serum cTnI and LDH levels, and cardiac tissue caspase-3 and -9 levels but decreased BCL-2 expression. TZM also profoundly attenuated CAT, SOD, GST and GPx activities, and increased MDA levels in the treated tissues. In addition, TZM cardiotoxicity was characterized by marked vascular and cardiomyocyte congestion and coronary artery microthrombi formation. However, the altered biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical changes were reversed with amlodipine, lisinopril, valsartan, and fixed-dose combinations, although fixed-dose valsartan/lisinopril combination was further associated with hyperlipidemia and increased AI and CRI values and coronary artery cartilaginous metaplasia. Thus, the promising therapeutic potentials of amlodipine, lisinopril, valsartan and their fixed-dose combinations in the management of TZM cardiotoxicity, majorly mediated via antiapoptotic and oxidative stress inhibition mechanisms were unveiled through this study.
Marine Sedimentary Carbon Stocks of the United Kingdom’s Exclusive Economic Zone

Continental shelf sediments are recognized as long-term stores of globally significant quantities of carbon (C) and potentially provide an important, yet largely overlooked climate regulation service via the Earth’s C cycle. Current understanding of the spatial distribution of sedimentary C across continental shelves remains poor, inhibiting the targeted management and potential inclusion of these globally significant C stores into national C budgets. Further understanding of the spatial heterogeneity of continental shelf sediments and associated C provides a foundation to quantify the organic carbon (OC) stock and better understand the role that marine sediments play in regulating the global climate and the potential for CO2 to be released through anthropogenic disturbance of these C stores. Utilizing a spectrum of available marine data, we have created bespoke sediment maps that quantify the surficial (top 10 cm) OC stock and highlight significant spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of sediments and their associated C content across the United Kingdom’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The surficial sediments within the UK EEZ are estimated to store 524 ± 68 Mt of organic carbon (OC) and 2,582 ± 168 Mt of inorganic carbon (IC). The spatial mapping of this C highlights well-defined OC accumulation hotspots in fjords, estuaries and coastal muds, while large accumulations of IC are found in the tidally swept areas around Orkney, Shetland and the South West of England. Within the well-defined OC hotspots, muddy sediments store the greatest quantity of OC; the muds offer potentially valuable opportunities for targeted future management and protection of sedimentary C stores within the UK EEZ. In the future, if areas of the seafloor were to be managed to include the protection of these valuable sedimentary C resources, we recommend an initial focus on hotspots of high sedimentary OC density.
Neural Coding in Spiking Neural Networks: A Comparative Study for Robust Neuromorphic Systems

Various hypotheses of information representation in brain, referred to as neural codes, have been proposed to explain the information transmission between neurons. Neural coding plays an essential role in enabling the brain-inspired spiking neural networks (SNNs) to perform different tasks. To search for the best coding scheme, we performed an extensive comparative study on the impact and performance of four important neural coding schemes, namely, rate coding, time-to-first spike (TTFS) coding, phase coding, and burst coding. The comparative study was carried out using a biological 2-layer SNN trained with an unsupervised spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) algorithm. Various aspects of network performance were considered, including classification accuracy, processing latency, synaptic operations (SOPs), hardware implementation, network compression efficacy, input and synaptic noise resilience, and synaptic fault tolerance. The classification tasks on Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) and Fashion-MNIST datasets were applied in our study. For hardware implementation, area and power consumption were estimated for these coding schemes, and the network compression efficacy was analyzed using pruning and quantization techniques. Different types of input noise and noise variations in the datasets were considered and applied. Furthermore, the robustness of each coding scheme to the non-ideality-induced synaptic noise and fault in analog neuromorphic systems was studied and compared. Our results show that TTFS coding is the best choice in achieving the highest computational performance with very low hardware implementation overhead. TTFS coding requires 4x/7.5x lower processing latency and 3.5x/6.5x fewer SOPs than rate coding during the training/inference process. Phase coding is the most resilient scheme to input noise. Burst coding offers the highest network compression efficacy and the best overall robustness to hardware non-idealities for both training and inference processes. The study presented in this paper reveals the design space created by the choice of each coding scheme, allowing designers to frame each scheme in terms of its strength and weakness given a designs’ constraints and considerations in neuromorphic systems.
The Association of Meat Intake With All-Cause Mortality and Acute Myocardial Infarction Is Age-Dependent in Patients With Stable Angina Pectoris

Background: Red and processed meat intake have been associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality, and a restricted intake is encouraged in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, evidence on the association between total meat intake and clinical outcomes in this patient group is lacking. Objectives: To investigate the association between total meat intake and risk of all-cause mortality, acute myocardial infarction, cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer in patients with stable angina pectoris. We also investigated whether age modified these associations. Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study consisted of 1,929 patients (80% male, mean age 62 years) with stable angina pectoris from the Western Norway B-Vitamin Intervention Trial. Dietary assessment was performed by the administration of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the association between a relative increase in total meat intake and the outcomes of interest. Results: The association per 50 g/1,000 kcal higher intake of total meat with morbidity and mortality were generally inconclusive but indicated an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction [HR: 1.26 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.61)] and gastrointestinal cancer [1.23 (0.70, 2.16)]. However, we observed a clear effect modification by age, where total meat intake was associated with an increased risk of mortality and acute myocardial infarction among younger individuals, but an attenuation, and even reversal of the risk association with increasing age. Conclusion: Our findings support the current dietary guidelines emphasizing a restricted meat intake in cardiovascular disease patients but highlights the need for further research on the association between meat intake and health outcomes in elderly populations. Future studies should investigate different types of meat separately in other CVD-cohorts, in different age-groups, as well as in the general population.
Circulating MicroRNAs and Long Non-coding RNAs as Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers for Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the world’s second most common neurodegenerative disease that is associated with age. With the aging of the population, patients with PD are increasing in number year by year. Most such patients lose their ability to self-care with disease progression, which brings an incalculable burden to individual families and society. The pathogenesis of PD is complex, and its clinical manifestations are diverse. Therefore, it is of great significance to screen for circulating biomarkers associated with PD to reveal its pathogenesis and develop objective diagnostic methods so as to prevent, control, and treat the disease. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are considered to be effective biomarkers for various diseases due to their stability, and resistance to RNAase digestion and extreme conditions in circulating fluids. Here, we review recent advances in the detection of abnormally expressed miRNAs and lncRNAs in PD circulating fluids, and discuss the function and molecular mechanisms of plasma or serum miR-124, miR-132, miR-29, miR-221, miR-7, miR-433, and miR-153 in the regulation and progression of PD. Additionally, application of the differential expression of lncRNAs in circulating fluid in the pathological progression and diagnosis of PD is also reviewed. In short, the determination of abnormally expressed circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs will be valuable for the future diagnosis and treatment of PD.
Gender Differences in the Distribution of Creativity Scores: Domain-Specific Patterns in Divergent Thinking and Creative Problem Solving

The present study examined gender differences in the distribution of creative abilities through the lens of the greater male variability hypothesis, which postulated that men showed greater interindividual variability than women in both physical and psychological attributes (Ellis, 1894/1934). Two hundred and six (51.9% female) undergraduate students in Hong Kong completed two creativity measures that evaluated different aspects of creativity, including: (a) a divergent thinking test that aimed to assess idea generation and (b) a creative problem-solving test that aimed to assess restructuring ability. The present findings extended the research of greater male variability in creativity by showing that men generally exhibited greater variance than women in the overall distribution of the creativity scores in both divergent thinking and creative problem solving, despite trivial gender differences in mean scores. The findings further enriched the discourse of the greater male variability hypothesis by showing interesting domain-specific gendered patterns: (1) greater male variability was more likely to occur in figural forms of creativity, with larger effect sizes, when compared to the variability in verbal forms of creativity; and (2) mixed gendered patterns were found in the upper tails of the creativity score distribution with respect to the verbal domain but not the figural one, despite greater male representation being consistently observed in the lower tail of the distribution. Possible underlying mechanisms and implications were discussed.
Construction of hemocompatible polycarbonate urethane with sulfoammonium zwitterionic polyethylene glycol

The novel hydrophilic sulfoammonium zwitterionic polyethylene glycol (SAPEG) macromolecule was designed and synthesized using polyethylene glycol (PEG, Mw = 1000) as the starting agent. The sulfoammonium zwitterionic PEG was grafted onto polycarbonate urethane (PCU) via two ways: (1) direct grafting of SAPEG onto PCU using diisocyanate as a spacer; (2) grafting of PEG mono(N,N-dimethyl glycine)ester (APEG) onto the PCU with diisocyanate, and then reacting with 1,3-propanesulfone via ring-opening reaction to form sulfoammonium zwitterionic structure. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to analyze the elements of the grafted materials. The results showed that the sulfur contents on the modified PCU were 0.5 and 0.9% for both grafting methods, respectively, indicating sulfoammonium zwitterionic PEG has successfully been grafted onto PCU chains. The low-water contact angle showed that the modified PCUs were higher hydrophilic than unmodified PCU. The results of hemolysis test and cytotoxicity test indicated that blood compatibility of the modified PCU was better than that of the unmodified PCU. The modified PCUs are preferred candidates for blood-contacting implants or devices due to the hemocompatibility and nontoxicity in vitro. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
Exploring Value Propositions to Drive Self-Sovereign Identity Adoption

This paper presents research exploring the balancing of interactive friction and value proposition in the context of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) technology adoption. This work extends a related investigation of a full agency engagement with a User-Centred Data Ecosystem utilising what is described as a Sovereign Boundary Mechanism (SBM). An SBM is a standardised collection of SSI interactions, which can collectively be described as a metaphorical ring of sovereignty between the participant and the wider network. Within this model participants control identity, relationships, credentials, data streams, and access control. This related work concludes that the developing trend poses significant interactive friction, and that clear and substantive value proposition would be required to drive and sustain participant adoption. This paper explores potential value propositions for SSI, considering theory relating to Privacy, Surveillance Capitalism, and Human Data Interaction; in parallel opinions are drawn from the thematic analysis of interviews with experts in the decentralised field and results from a public survey. This research concludes that the value proposition is unlikely to come from the direct perceived protection of privacy. Also, that the decentralised technologies cannot be marketed solely on the fact that it is decentralised. Instead, value will emerge from the capability of SSI functionality to supersede the centralised model, offering innovation and reduced transactional friction across individual, business and wider society. This research suggests that the SSI community needs to develop a cohesive design strategy, a clear narrative and vocabulary. Value needs to be defined across cultural context, while targeting accessible, high value niche opportunities to build momentum toward sustainable adoption.