Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and Recognizing Binary Human Interactions

Modeling and Recognizing Binary Human Interactions by Ke Feng Master of Science in Computer Science West Virginia University Gianfranco Doretto, Ph.D., Chair Recognizing human activities from video is an important step forward towards the long-term goal of performing scene understanding fully automatically. Applications in this domain include, but are not limited to, the automated analysis of video surveillance footage for public and private monitoring, remote patient and elderly home monitoring, video archiving, search and retrieval, human-computer interaction, and robotics. While recent years have seen a concentration of works focusing on modeling and recognizing either group activities, or actions performed by people in isolation, modeling and recognizing binary human-human interactions is a fundamental building block that only recently has started to catalyze the attention of researchers. This thesis introduces a new modeling framework for binary human-human interactions. The main idea is to describe interactions with spatio-temporal trajectories. Interaction trajectories can then be modeled as the output of dynamical systems, and recognizing interactions entails designing a suitable way for comparing them. This poses several challenges, starting from the type of information that should be captured by the trajectories, which defines the geometry structure of the output space of the systems. In addition, decision functions performing the recognition should account for the fact that the people interacting do not have a predefined ordering. This work addresses those challenges by carefully designing a kernel-based approach that combines non-linear dynamical system modeling with kernel PCA. Experimental results computed on three recently published datasets, clearly show the promise of this approach, where the classification accuracy, and the retrieval precision are comparable or better than the state-of-the-art.
Quorum Quenching Strains Isolated from the Microbiota of Sea Anemones and Holothurians Attenuate Vibrio corallilyticus Virulence Factors and Reduce Mortality in Artemia salina

Interference with quorum-sensing (QS) intercellular communication systems by the enzymatic disruption of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) in Gram-negative bacteria has become a promising strategy to fight bacterial infections. In this study, seven strains previously isolated from marine invertebrates and selected for their ability to degrade C6 and C10-HSL, were identified as Acinetobacter junii, Ruegeria atlantica, Microbulbifer echini, Reinheimera aquimaris, and Pseudomonas sihuiensis. AHL-degrading activity against a wide range of synthetic AHLs were identified by using an agar well diffusion assay and Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4 and Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and VIR07 as biosensors. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) analysis indicated that this activity was not due to an AHL lactonase. All the strains degraded Vibrio coralliilyticus AHLs in coculture experiments, while some strains reduced or abolished the production of virulence factors. In vivo assays showed that strains M3-111 and M3-127 reduced this pathogen’s virulence and increased the survival rate of Artemia salina up to 3-fold, indicating its potential use for biotechnological purposes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe AHL-degrading activities in some of these marine species. These findings highlight that the microbiota associated with marine invertebrates constitute an important underexplored source of biological valuable compounds.
Unified Posit/IEEE-754 Vector MAC Unit for Transprecision Computing

Transprecision computing targets energy-efficiency with multiple floating-point modules with different precisions to suit application requirements. Variable-precision architectures aim at making a more efficient hardware resource utilization, but they often rely on the IEEE-754 standard, without low-precision arithmetic support. Alternatively, the Posit format is particularly well-suited for low-precision arithmetic. However, for higher precisions, hardware requirements become prohibitive. Accordingly, this brief proposes a new unified Posit/IEEE-754 Vector Multiply-Accumulate (VMAC) unit, comprising a vectorized variable-precision datapath with shared support for the Posit and IEEE-754 formats. A 28nm ASIC implementation resulted in 50% less area and $2.9\times $ less power consumption than typical transprecision setups.
A study of determinants that affect the intention to participate in online tours and the role of constraints under COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT To overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19, the tourism sector has introduced online tours to the market, in which tour guides introduce product via video conferencing tools. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing people's behavioral intentions to consume this new product. For this study, we conducted a web-based questionnaire survey in Japan in December 2020. The data analysis results confirm that positive emotions and telepresence positively influence people’s intention to participate in online tours. Additionally, we identified that travel constraints did not directly influence participation intention. Alternatively, they have an indirect influence through interactions with other factors. Specifically, structural constraints caused by external factors, such as lack of time, amplified the effect of authenticity, but attenuated the effect of telepresence. In addition, interpersonal constraints, such as incompatibility of schedules with companions, were found to increase the effect of telepresence, but weaken the effect of authenticity. Furthermore, the analysis results suggested that while daily travel constraints indicated a significant mediation influence on tourists’ participation intention, COVID-19 constraints indicated no significant influence for either direct or indirect effects. The findings of this study are beneficial in designing online travel experiences that can benefit tourists under travel constraints in the future.
Histone Methylation and Oxidative Stress in Cardiovascular Diseases

Oxidative stress occurs when ROS overproduction overwhelms the elimination ability of antioxidants. Accumulated studies have found that oxidative stress is regulated by histone methylation and plays a critical role in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. Targeting the underlying molecular mechanism to alter the interplay of oxidative stress and histone methylation may enable creative and effective therapeutic strategies to be developed against a variety of cardiovascular disorders. Recently, some drugs targeting epigenetic modifiers have been used to treat specific types of cancers. However, the comprehensive signaling pathways bridging oxidative stress and histone methylation need to be deeply explored in the contexts of cardiovascular physiology and pathology before clinical therapies be developed. In the present review, we summarize and update information on the interplay between histone methylation and oxidative stress during the development of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, pulmonary hypertension, and diabetic macro- and microvascular pathologies.
Can Biological Drugs Diminish the Risk of Sarcopenia in Psoriatic Patients? A Systematic Review

Sarcopenia and psoriasis are different inflammatory diseases that share common comorbidities (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, obesity, autoimmune diseases, depression). Psoriasis is a dermatosis involving the skin, joints, and nails. Its estimated prevalence is 2–4%, and the possibility of progression to psoriatic arthritis reaches 6–42%. Sarcopenia is defined as reduced muscle strength, muscle quantity, and physical performance due to non-ageing related causes. It affects up to 10% of the general population. We conducted a review of the literature to provide up-to-date information about the risk of sarcopenia in psoriasis and to identify risk factors that increase this risk. The search of the literature allowed us to include 51 publications, but only five cross-sectional studies provided quantitative results on the rates of sarcopenia in psoriasis. The prevalence of sarcopenia in psoriasis varied from 9.1% to 61.7%. This wide range was caused by different definitions of sarcopenia and different cut-off values across studies. Prognostic factors include lean mass and fat mass. Further research based on the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People guidelines is required. Such studies should include not only muscle mass and strength but also other factors that may influence the occurrence of sarcopenia and inflammatory markers.
Statistical tests for the local spatial variance

Abstract The concept of local variance is used in the literature on image processing, and, to a lesser extent, in spatial analyses of local heterogeneity. Ord and Getis’ local statistic of heterogeneity (LOSH) is used to test the null hypothesis that the local variance is no different from the variance for the entire study area. LOSH is a ratio of two variances, and it is shown here to also be closely related to the Geary statistic, which measures spatial autocorrelation. In this article, the Brown-Forsythe statistic is proposed as a way to test a similar null hypothesis—namely, that the local spatial variance is no different from that observed elsewhere in the study area. Rejection of the null in favor of significant homogeneity can be interpreted as an indicator of local positive spatial autocorrelation. The merits of the proposed test are illustrated via simulations of both null and alternative hypotheses, and the statistic is used to find local areas of homogeneous values in the classic spatial dataset on wheat yields in Rothamsted, England.
PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF VITAMIN D INADEQUACY AMONG THAI ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH OSTEOPOROTIC HIP FRACTURE

Background: Vitamin D deficiency directly impacts bone biology, eventually resulting in elevated risk of fragility fracture. Despite its global abundance, data concerning its prevalence and risk factors among Thai patients with osteoporotic hip fractures remains lacking. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the average level of serum vitamin D, prevalence of hypovitaminosis D and its risk factor among Thai elderly patients with fragility hip fractures. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Thai patients with fragility hip fractures aged 60 years or older in a single center from April 2016-April 2020. The patients were divided according to serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-(OH)D) levels. Demographic data were compared to identify risk factors of vitamin D inadequacy. Results: Of 258 patients, 74.81% were females with mean age of 78.76 years. The average serum 25(OH)D level was 19.64 ng/mL. Prevalences of vitamin D inadequacy, vitamin D insufficiency and vitamin D deficiency were 86.05, 28.69 and 57.36%, respectively. When compared with the vitamin D sufficiency group, the vitamin D inadequacy group had a history of frequent falls, higher body mass index (BMI) as well as high parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels. Risk factors associated with vitamin D inadequacy were BMI >23 kg/m2 (AOR= 4.67, 95%CI=1.24-17.73), and two or more falls within a year (AOR= 3.96, 95%CI=1.38-11.33). Moreover, risk factors associated with vitamin D deficiency were being female (AOR= 2.87, 95%CI=1.06-7.78), BMI >23 kg/m (AOR=7.20, 95%CI =1.67-31.02), two or more falls within one year (AOR=7.32, 95%CI =2.17-24.69) and elevated PTH level (AOR= 3.38, 95%CI=1.17-0.74). Conclusion: Most elderly patients with fragility hip fractures had hypovitaminosis D. Risk factors included high BMI, frequent falls for vitamin D inadequacy, being female and high PTH levels for vitamin D deficiency. Serum 25(OH)D assessment and appropriate supplement are recommended, especially for patients with fragility hip fractures and aforementioned risk factors.
SOSIALISASI BAHAYA NIKAH DINI SEBAGAI UPAYA PENINGKATAN KUALITAS KELUARGA DI TENGAH PANDEMI COVID-19 DI KECAMATAN KARANGREJO, TULUNGAGUNG

Perkawinan di usia dini yang sering kita jumpai merupakan praktik yang bertentangan dengan semangat konstitusi, sekaligus akan berdampak pada menurunnya kualitas keluarga, khususnya dari sisi reproduksi dan psikologi. Artikel ini fokus mendiskusikan tentang bagaimana seharusnya peran akademisi untuk melakukan Dharma-nya, khususnya dalam upaya peningkatan kesadaran masyarakat untuk menghindari praktik perkawinan anak, karena efek buruk yang akan ditimbulkannya. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi wawancara dengan informan sebagai data primer, sedangkan data skunder didasarkan pada studi literatur yang berkembang. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa dengan adanya kegiatan sosialisasi bahaya nikah dini tersebut, masyarakat merasakan dampak positif yaitu semakin antisipatif dalam melakukan keputusan, khususnya ketika sedang intervensi kepada anaknya berkaitan dengan keputusan menikah.
Empathy but not musicality is at the root of musical reward: A behavioral study with adults and children

Music is one of the most pleasurable human experiences. However, the determinants of the variation in individual sensitivity to musical reward are not yet fully unraveled. Empathy has been identified as a determinant of musical affect, including consciously experiencing pleasure from listening to sad music. Additionally, higher musical expertise may enhance pleasurable responses to music, whereas aging decreases individual sensitivity to musical pleasure. We conducted a study to investigate the contribution of empathy and musical abilities on musical pleasure, measured by Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Musical Ear Test, and Barcelona Musical Reward Questionnaire, respectively. To this purpose, we performed a developmental comparison between 48 children (9–11 years old) and 42 adults (18–32 years old). Our findings suggest that individual sensitivity to musical reward is positively correlated with empathy trait in both adults and children, but not with musical abilities. However, when inserted in a regression model including empathy, musical abilities are also predictive of musical reward, but only among adults. These results show that empathy plays a crucial role in determining the individual sensitivity to music reward, whereas musical abilities are less influential. More broadly, this study contributes to shed light on the determinants of the emotional responses to music affect.
Informative Power Evaluation of Clinical Parameters to Predict Initial Therapeutic Response in Patients with Advanced Pleural Mesothelioma: A Machine Learning Approach

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare neoplasm whose early diagnosis is challenging and systemic treatments are generally administered as first line in the advanced disease stage. The initial clinical response may represent a useful parameter in terms of identifying patients with a better long-term outcome. In this report, the initial therapeutical response in 46 patients affected with advanced/unresectable pleural mesothelioma was investigated. The initial therapeutic response was assessed by CT scan and clinical examination after 2–3 treatment cycles. Our preliminary evaluation shows that the group of patients treated with regimens including antiangiogenetics and/or immunotherapy had a significantly better initial response as compared to patients only treated with standard chemotherapy, exhibiting a disease control rate (DCR) of 100% (95% IC, 79.40–100%) and 80.0% (95% IC, 61.40–92.30%), respectively. Furthermore, the therapeutic response was correlated with the disease stage, blood leukocytes and neutrophils, high albumin serum levels, and basal body mass index (BMI). Specifically, the patients with disease stage III showed a DCR of 95.7% (95% IC, 78.1–99.9%), whereas for disease stage IV the DCR decreased to 66.7% (95% IC, 34.9–9.1%). Moreover, a better initial response was observed in patients with a higher BMI, who reached a DCR of 96.10% (95% IC, 80.36–99.90%). Furthermore, in order to evaluate in the predictive power of the collected features a multivariate way, we report the preliminary results of a machine learning model for predicting the initial therapeutic response. We trained a state-of-the-art algorithm combined to a sequential forward feature selection procedure. The model reached a median AUC value, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 77.0%, 75%, 74.8%, and 83.3%, respectively. The features with greater informational power were gender, histotype, BMI, smoking habits, packs/year, and disease stage. Our preliminary data support the possible favorable correlation between innovative treatments and therapeutic response in patients with unresectable/advanced pleural mesothelioma. The small sample size does not allow concrete conclusions to be drawn; nevertheless, this work is the basis of an ongoing study that will also involve radiomics in a larger dataset.
Regulation of ABCA1 by AMD-Associated Genetic Variants and Hypoxia in iPSC-RPE

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive disease of the macula characterized by atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor degeneration, leading to severe vision loss at advanced stages in the elderly population. Impaired reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) as well as intracellular lipid accumulation in the RPE are implicated in AMD pathogenesis. Here, we focus on ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), a major cholesterol transport protein in the RPE, and analyze conditions that lead to ABCA1 dysregulation in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived RPE cells (iRPEs). Our results indicate that the risk-conferring alleles rs1883025 (C) and rs2740488 (A) in ABCA1 are associated with increased ABCA1 mRNA and protein levels and reduced efficiency of cholesterol efflux from the RPE. Hypoxia, an environmental risk factor for AMD, reduced expression of ABCA1 and increased intracellular lipid accumulation. Treatment with a liver X receptor (LXR) agonist led to an increase in ABCA1 expression and reduced lipid accumulation. Our data strengthen the homeostatic role of cholesterol efflux in the RPE and suggest that increasing cellular cholesterol export by stimulating ABCA1 expression might lessen lipid load, improving RPE survival and reducing the risk of developing AMD.
A Comparison of the Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Caregivers of Autistic Children and Caregivers of Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

ABSTRACT Introduction Caregivers of autistic children and caregivers of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) experience considerable stress. However, what is unique or similar across these groups remains understudied. This study explored how female caregivers of children with FASD who registered to participate in a caregiver focused mental health intervention differed from female caregivers of autistic children participating in a similar intervention. Methods Prior to the intervention, caregivers of children with FASD (n = 21), and caregivers of autistic children (n = 22) were asked to complete an online baseline questionnaire. This questionnaire collected information pertaining to caregiver and child demographics, as well as clinical characteristics related to wellbeing, values, and what caregivers identified as rewarding and challenging about raising their child. Results Results identified similarities across caregiver groups in terms of wellbeing, values, and the challenges and rewards they identified with raising their children. Conclusions Given the similarities in these two caregiver groups, and the shortage of research on families of people with FASD relative to families of autistic people, interventions for family caregivers in the autism community may also be applicable for FASD families, for whom fewer resources are available.
Prevalence and Correlates of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Spatial Distribution of Unimproved WASH in Nepal

This study aims to estimate the prevalence and correlation of household levels of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), including the identification of areas where WASH facilities are unimproved in Nepal. The study population was 11,040 household heads, using the data collected in the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Logistic regression analysis was performed and crude odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using a 0.05 significance level are presented. Getis–Ord Gi* statistics were used to identify the hot and cold spot areas of unimproved WASH. GPS locations of WASH points were used for spatial analysis. Approximately 95% of households had an improved water source, 84% had improved sanitation facilities, 81% had a fixed place for handwashing, and 47% had soap and water. Education, wealth, and ecology were significantly associated with WASH. The people from the hills were less likely to have an improved water source (OR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.16–0.64) than those from the plain. Households with a poor wealth index had 78% lower odds of having an improved water source compared to households with a rich wealth index. Respondents from Madhes Province had lower odds (OR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.08–0.28) and Gandaki Pradesh had the highest odds (OR = 2.92; 95% CI: 1.52–5.61) of having improved sanitation facilities compared to Province 1. Respondents aged 35–44 years had higher odds (OR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.04–1.29) of having soap and water available compared to those aged 45 years and older. Education and geographical disparities were the factors associated with having reduced access to WASH. These findings suggest the need to focus on advocacy, services, and policy approaches.
Drivers of intraspecific differentiation of an alpine cold‐tolerant herb, Notopterygium oviforme: Roles of isolation by distance and ecological factors

Determining the mechanisms that drive phenotypic and genetic divergence by species has been a central topic in evolutionary biology for many years. However, the relative contributions of isolation by distance (IBD) and environment factors to species divergence are largely unknown in perennial herbs in East Asia. In this study, we collected population genetic samples of the cold‐tolerant perennial herb Notopterygium oviforme R. H. Shan in central China. We integrated the population transcriptomes, whole chloroplast genomes, genotyping‐by‐sequencing, microsatellite markers, and ecological factors to determine the relative contributions of geography, climate, and soil factors to genetic, chemical, and phenotypic divergence. A clear genetic distinction was identified between the West Qinling and East Qinling Mountains geographical groups of N. oviforme based on various molecular datasets. Interestingly, obvious niche conservation might have been responsible for the similarity of most of the leaf functional traits in the two groups. Multiple matrix regression with randomization analysis showed that the spatial intraspecific divergence pattern was mainly due to IBD rather than isolation by environment. In addition, transcriptomic expression divergence and some ecological factors have played key roles in intraspecific lineage differentiation. Approximate Bayesian Computation showed that both lineages have experienced historical population expansion and recent range contraction. Molecular dating suggested that intraspecific divergence was closely associated with dramatic uplifts of the Qinling Mountains in East Asia. These results demonstrate that geographical, geological, and environmental factors together shaped cryptic intraspecific diversification and shifts in the population dynamics of the perennial cold‐tolerant herb N. oviforme.