Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Face Tracking Using Stereo Cameras: A Review

This review considers previous research, regarding the background and applications of 3D face-tracking systems with a focus on stereo camera-based systems. Stereo cameras are less expensive than laser ranging systems, and they are widely available on devices such as smart phones. This review aims to spur further development and applications of face tracking in this domain. Many studies on face tracking have used concepts such as the Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi method, particle filters, tracking-learning-detecting, probability hypothesis density, mean shift/cam shift, and others. As imaging constraints are relaxed, facial tracking becomes more challenging. This review presents an exposition of the most common challenges in face tracking, such as occlusion and clutter, pose variations, changes in facial resolution, illumination variations, and facial deformation. Five forms of pose estimation are discussed: appearance template methods, detector arrays, flexible models, geometric methods, and tracking methods. Applications of the listed 3D face tracking systems are also discussed, including face modelling, film editing, access control, security, and surveillance.
Stem Infusion of Maize Plants

A delivery method was developed for rapid exogenoos supply of dilute or concentrated doses of water-soluble materials to maize (Zea mays L.) plants. The point of access was through a small cavity, prepared in the stem which acted as as infusion port. A rubber serum bottle stopper with a septum served as an adapter both to seal the opening and to provide a means of liquid access. Convention hypodermic needles were used to transport the liquid from an external reservoir across the septum of the stopper
Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Mineralization Potential of Native Agroforestry Plant Residues in Soils of Senegal

The objectives of this study were to investigate Piliostigma reticulatum (shrub) and Cordyla pinnata (tree) residues for chemical composition, and C, N, and P mineralizationin Senegalese soils. Soil samples (Sols ferrugineux tropicaux) were collected from a native agroforestry system beneath and outside a C. pinnata canopy. Soils were incubated for 11 weeks with P. reticulatum (leaves), C. pinnata (stem, leaves or stem + leaves), peanut (Arachis hypogea), or pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) residues. Nitrogen and P mineralization for the soil-plant mixtures was determined by periodic leaching with a 0.01 M CaCl 2 solution. An additional separate incubation was conducted to investigate C mineralization. The results showed that only peanut residues caused net N mineralization, while N immobilization occurred in the remaining treatments in both the soils derived from beneath or outside the canopy. This indicates that, at least in the short-term, these agroforestry residues would not likely be a source of N for crops. Net P mineralization varied among plant residues and soils sites but P. reticulatum amended soils increased soluble PO in both soils. This suggested that it could be useful for improving P avail4 ability. Peanut residues had the highest CO evolution in both soils suggesting a 2 probable relationship between C and N mineralization.
Electricity Distribution System Switch Optimization Under Incentive Reliability Scheme

The judicious placement of disconnecting switches is an efficient means to enhance the reliability of distribution networks. Aiming at optimizing the investment in these switches, this paper presents a mathematical programming-based model considering the installation of remote-controlled and manual switches at various locations in the distribution network. The proposed model not only yields the optimal location and type of switches in the main feeders but also specifies the optimal type of tie switches, i.e., backup switches at the reserve connection points. Incentive reliability regulation in the form of a reward-penalty scheme is incorporated into the proposed model to take the distribution service reliability worth into account realistically. In addition to this cost, the revenue lost due to energy undelivered during the distribution network faults is considered to determine the unreliability costs more accurately. In order to estimate such reliability-related costs, a novel reliability assessment technique is developed and integrated into the proposed switch optimization model. Formulated as an instance of mixed-integer linear programming, the proposed model is applied to a test distribution network, and the outcomes are investigated in detail.
Effect of postpartum time and season on the physicochemical characteristics of Murciano‐Granadina goat colostrum

Changes in the physicochemical composition of Murciano-Granadina goat colostrum were studied with postpartum time and season. Samples that were taken immediately after partum showed the best characteristics, with the highest concentrations of proteins, solids, urea and immunoglobulin G (IgG). Samples obtained in the spring showed the highest concentration of total IgG at all postpartum times assayed. Exhaustive statistical analysis showed that the physicochemical composition of the colostrum was greatly affected by the postpartum time and only slightly affected by the season. The high protein and total IgG concentrations make goat colostrum an interesting product for uses beyond the traditional ones.
Improved reduced latency soft-cancellation algorithm for polar decoding

Soft-cancellation (SCAN) is a soft output iterative algorithm widely used in polar decoding. This algorithm has better decoding performance than reduced latency soft-cancellation (RLSC) algorithm, which can effectively reduce the decoding delay of SCAN algorithm by 50% but has obvious performance loss. A modified reduced latency soft-cancellation (MRLSC) algorithm is presented in the paper. Compared with RLSC algorithm, LLR information storage required in MRLSC algorithm can be reduced by about 50%, and better decoding performance can be achieved with only a small increase in decoding delay. The simulation results show that MRLSC algorithm can achieve a maximum block error rate (BLER) performance gain of about 0.4dB compared with RLSC algorithm when code length is 2048. At the same time, compared with the performance of several other algorithms under (1024, 512) polar codes, the results show that the throughput of proposed MRLSC algorithm has the advantage at the low and medium signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and better BLER performance at the high SNR.
Scale-Aware Hierarchical Detection Network for Pedestrian Detection

Several or even dozens of times spatial scale variation is one of the major bottleneck for pedestrian detection. Although the Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (R-CNN) families have shown promising results for object detection, they are still limited to detect pedestrians with large scale variations due to the fixed receptive field sizes on a single convolutional output layer. In contrast to previous methods that simply combined pedestrian predictions on feature maps with different resolution, we propose a scale-aware hierarchical detection network for pedestrian detection under large scale variations. First, we introduce a cross-scale features aggregation module to accomplish feature augmentation for pedestrian representation through merging the lateral connection, the top-down path and bottom-up path. Specifically, the cross-scale features aggregation module can adaptively fuse hierarchical features to enhance feature pyramid representation for robust semantic and accurate localization. Further, we design a scale-aware hierarchical detection network to effectively integrate multiscale pedestrian detection into a unified framework by adaptively perceiving the augmented feature level for special-scale pedestrian detection. Experimentally, the proposed scale-aware hierarchical detection network forms a more robust and discriminative model for pedestrian instances with different scales on widely-used ETH and Caltech benchmarks. In particular, compared with the state-of-the-art method FasterRCNN+ATT, the log-average miss rate of pedestrian detection is reduced by 11.98% for medium scale pedestrians (between 30–80 pixels in height), and 14.12% for whole scale pedestrians (above 20 pixels in height) on Caltech benchmark.
Anti-Adipogenic and Anti-Oxidant Activities of Mugwort and Pine Needles Fermented Using Leuconostoc mesenteroides 1076

In this study, we investigated the antioxidant and anti-adipogenic activities of aqueous extracts of mugwort and pine needles fermented by Leuconostoc mesenteroides 1076. We also evaluated the phenolic composition, total phenolic content and flavonoid contents of both the fermented mugwort extract (FME) and fermented pine needle extract (FPE). The antioxidant potentials of the FME and FPE were assessed using various antioxidant assays, including the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical assay, the 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylenebenzothiozoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assay, the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, and the reducing power assay. In addition, the anti-adipogenic effects of the FME and FPE were investigated during the adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 cells. Our results showed that the total phenolic contents of the FME and FPE were 182±4 and 116±5 mg GAE/g, respectively. Among the phenolic compounds, chlorogenic acid was found to be the major phenolic acid in the FPE, whereas hesperetin was found to be the major phenolic acid in the FME. The antioxidant activities of the FME and FPE increased in a dose-dependent manner. The FME exhibited higher antioxidant activities than the FPE. Furthermore, both the FME and FPE inhibited lipid accumulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which involved the down-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR γ), adipocyte protein 2 (aP2) and NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) mRNA expression. These results indicated that the FPE and FME could be useful in the treatment of obesity and as natural sources of antioxidants.
Volatile compounds produced in maillard reactions involving cysteine, ribose and phospholipid

The interaction of phospholipid in the Maillard reaction between cysteine and reducing sugars is of importance in the formation of meat flavour. The major volatile products of the aqueous reaction between cysteine and ribose, in the absence and presence of phospholipid, have been studied by gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry and GC-infrared spectroscopy, and the individual odours assessed by sensory evaluation of the GC effluent. Without phospholipid, sulphur-containing heterocyclic Maillard products predominated, while the inclusion of phospholipid added lipid degradation products as well as certain compounds specific to the interaction of lipid in the Maillard reaction. The phospholipid also has a marked effect on the overall odour of the reaction mixtures and on the nature of the individual aromas detected.
Feeding habits of the pelagic stingray Pteroplatytrygon violacea (Chondrichthyes: Dasyatidae) in the Adriatic Sea

The feeding habits of the pelagic stingray (Pteroplatytrygon violacea) were studied using 84 stomachs of specimens caught in the northern Adriatic Sea in the period from April 2004 to October 2005. Percentage of empty stomachs found was overall very low, being a bit bigger in smaller specimens. The diet consisted of two main taxonomic groups such as teleost fish and cephalopods, but few specimens of crustaceans were recorded as well. The main food item was represented by anchovy, while cuttlefish and red band fish represented the alternative preys. Prey size was positively correlated with the size of predator. The proportion of anchovies in the diet grew with size of predator, while the one for red band fish decreased. The stingray was confirmed to be a top predator of pelagic fish species, although the presence of benthic prey shows that it feeds also at the bottom.
A mid-Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) shell-rubble bryozoan fauna from the Goshoura Group, Kyushu, Japan

Early Cretaceous bryozoans are key to understanding the evolutionary radiation of order Cheilostomata, the dominant modern group. Prior to the current study, there were few records of any Cretaceous cheilostomes from eastern Asia, and no pre-Cenomanian records. We found bryozoan fossils to be common in brackish-water to marine deposits representing estuary–tidal-flat and shoreface–inner-shelf habitats in the late Albian–early Cenomanian Goshoura Group, Goshoura Island, Kyushu, Japan. Bryozoans from the Goshoura Group were poorly preserved; for identification, we made silicone casts of colony moulds and studied them by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We detected six cheilostome and one cyclostome species (Berenicea sp. 1), all forming multiserial encrusting colonies. We erect the new genus Haplostoechios for two new Conopeum-like malacostegans (H. hayamiae and H. clusum), and describe another new malacostegan as Charixa goshouraensis. Additionally, we briefly describe three species detected from a single specimen each: the malacostegan Incertae sedis sp. 1 and neocheilostomes Incertae sedis sp. 2 and sp. 3. The Goshoura fauna is dominated by cheilostomes rather than cyclostomes, with malacostegans marginally outnumbering neocheilostomes. Bryozoans were a common component of the shell-rubble community, encrusting shells of one brachiopod and a broad variety of molluscan species, including 15 bivalves, two gastropods, an ammonite, a nautiloid and wood fragments containing Teredolites. Bryozoans were less diverse in estuary–tidal-flat deposits (three cheilostomes) than in shoreface–inner-shelf deposits (four cheilostomes and Berenicea sp. 1. Cheilostome average zooid length differed between the estuary–tidal-flat deposits (≤0.38 mm) and the shoreface–inner-shelf deposits (most specimens ≥0.49 mm). This study demonstrates that bryozoan assemblages worldwide were not of similar composition at the onset of cheilostome radiation, and underscores the need for further work in less studied regions. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F1B0D7FC-5E0B-4E9E-8098-CD1E6DBE47B8
Patterns of movement of Dark-rumped Petrels and Newell's shearwaters on Kauai

We used ornithological radar and night-vision scopes to study movement patterns of Dark-rumped Petrels (Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis) and Newell's Shearwaters (Puffinus auricularis newelli) on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, from 1992 to 1994. Movement rates on radar (targets/hr) for both species peaked for ∼2 hr around sunset and sunrise and were low in the middle of the night. Dark-rumped Petrels generally moved during crepuscular periods, whereas Newell's Shearwaters were strongly nocturnal. Movement rates were much higher in fall 1993 than in fall 1992, probably because of effects of Hurricane Iniki in 1992, and were higher in summer than in fall, probably because of the presence of nonbreeding birds in summer. Movement rates increased through time in summer, probably because numbers of nonbreeding birds visiting colonies increased through time, but declined through time in fall because fewer adults returned to the colony as fledging progressed. Effects of the moon on movement rates appeared to be small. Movement rates varied geographically, generally being much higher on eastern and northern Kauai than on southern Kauai. Movements were predominantly inland in the evening, predominantly seaward in the morning, and both directions in the middle of the night. Birds flew between 8 and 800 m above ground level (agl) and averaged 142 m agl for all procellariid species combined. There was no relationship between elevation of a site and flight altitude of birds at that site. Flight altitudes at a site generally were highest during the evening peak of movement and lowest during the morning peak in summer but were not different among three periods of the night in fall. Dark-rumped Petrels flew at significantly higher altitudes than did Newell's Shearwaters in fall 1993 and summer 1994 but not in summer 1993.
Impact of Plug In Electric Vehicle on Uniformly Distributed System Model

Rising price and decreasing reserves of fossil fuels make electric vehicles a future transportation choice. In addition, awareness to reduce CO2 emissions also encourages the use of public and private electric cars. The increasing need for private electric vehicles will definitely be followed by the addition of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), especially in residential areas. The PEV penetration in the residential area will directly impact power quality of the secondary distribution networks. Uniformly distributed distribution model using real recorded daily load profile and EV charging model are conducted and designed in power system analysis software to understand the impact of PEV penetration in residential areas. The simulation result shows that voltage drop and line loading increase significantly due to PEV overnight charging and relative to the percentage of penetration and location of PEV installation. Peak shifting is possibly happening during the PEV charging process. The line loading could reach more than 100% loading as the impact of increasing PEV penetration. The overloading condition will overheat the conductor and possibly impact the distribution equipment lifetime.
Food Resource Partitioning by Nine Sympatric Darter Species

Abstract We compared the diets among members of the diverse darter community of French Creek, Pennsylvania, in relation to seasonal prey availability, feeding ontogeny, and sex. Prey taxa and size attributes were characterized for nine syntopic darter species; taxon, size, and availability of macroinvertebrate prey were also analyzed from Surber samples. In general, darters fed opportunistically on immature insects; few taxa were consumed in greater proportions than they were found in the environment. Some variation in diet composition was expressed, however, among different life stages and species. Juvenile darters consumed smaller prey and more chironomids than did adults. Etheostoma blennioides and E. zonale consumed the fewest taxa (2–3), whereas E. maculatum, E. variatum, and Percina evides had the most diverse diets (7–10 taxa). Etheostoma maculatum, E. flabellare, E. variatum, and P. evides consumed larger prey (1–13 mm in standard length), whereas E. blennioides, E. caeruleum, E. camurum, E. tippe.
Effect of Different Levels of Palm Olein Oil in Laying Hen's Performance and Yolk Cholesterol

Ninety-six 26-week-old white leghorn layers (w-36) were fed commercial diets containing 0, 1.5, 3, 4.5% Palm Olein Oil (PO) and the diets were iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. Hens randomly assigned to 4 treatment diets, with 3 replicates and 8 layers in each replicate. The experiment was conducted over a period of 12 week in order to study the effects of feeding palm olein oil on hen performance (egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and weight gain) and egg quality parameters (Hough unit score, yolk colour index, yolk index, egg shape, shell weight, shell thickness and density). The yolk of eggs extracted and cholesterol content were determined in each period. Blood samples were collected in non-heparin zed tubes from 6 hens in each treatment by puncturing the bronchial vein at end of experiment and serum was collected after 8-10 h as per standard procedures and was stored for subsequent analysis. Hen performance (egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed intake and FCR) and egg quality parameters (Haugh unit score, yolk colour index, yolk index, egg shape, shell weight, shell thickness and density) were not significantly (p>0.05) different among treatments except in body weight. The highest and lowest gain body weight was observed on 10% (170 g) and 0% (90 g) PO treatment, respectively (p<0.05). The yolk and blood cholesterol content were increased in 4.5% palm olein oil and the different among palm olein oil levels and control were statistically significant (p<0.05).
Introduced predators and cavity-nesting seabirds: unexpected low level of interaction at breeding sites

The mechanisms by which introduced predators and long-lived seabirds interact and even coexist are still poorly known. Here, the interactions between the widely introduced black rat (Rattus rattus (L., 1758)) and an endemic Mediterranean cavity-nesting seabird, the yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan (Acerbi, 1827)), were for the first time investigated for a set of 60 suitable breeding cavities throughout the entire breeding cycle of this seabird. Our results pointed out that rat visits to cavities were significantly higher when shearwaters had left the colony for their interbreeding exodus. Among the set of suitable breeding cavities, yelkouan shearwaters preferentially selected the deepest and the most winding cavities for breeding. Very few rat visits were recorded at the shearwater-occupied cavities and no predation event was recorded. These intriguing results reveal a low level of interaction between introduced black rats and yelkouan shearwaters, which may have facilitated their long-term coexis.
Auditory influences on the flight behaviour of moths in a Nearctic site. II. Flight times, heights, and erraticism

While moths that possess ears protect themselves from bats by listening for their echolocation calls, earless species presumably use different defences. Tent-caterpillar moths (Lasiocampidae) are earless and emerge in very large numbers at our Nearctic site. One species, Malacosoma americanum, has a nightly peak emergence time mismatched to the peak activity times of certain sympatric bats, while that of another, M. disstria, is more coincident with that of the bats. These data suggest that while both species swamp bats with their large numbers, M. americanum gains additional protection by temporally separating itself from bats. Empirical flight observations and sticky-trap captures indicate that earless moths fly closer to the ground and more erratically than eared moths, although exceptions exist (e.g., high-flying sphingids and erratic geometrids). The foraging habits of most sympatric bats predict that small moths, in particular, will benefit from this behaviour. We suggest that low-altitude erratic f.
Field Reaction to Sclerotinia Blight among Transgenic Peanut Lines Containing Antifungal Genes

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is susceptible to many diseases. In the southwestern USA and other regions where peanut is grown, diseases caused by fungi are a major threat to profitable production. Transgenic peanut lines possessing fungal resistance genes offer an alternative to traditional resistance and fungicide application in managing fungal diseases. Thirty-two transgenic peanut lines containing antifungal genes (a rice chitinase andlor an alfalfa glucanase) were evaluated for their reaction to Sclerotinia blight caused by Sclerotinia minor Jagger in small field plots (6.1 by 7.6 m) for 3 yr. Peanut lines were arranged in a complete randomized block design with three replications. Disease incidence was recorded throughout the growing season and data were analyzed for statistical significance. Over the 3-yr period, average disease incidence for the most resistant lines-188, Southwest Runner, 416, 540, and 654-was 0.0, 1.0, 10.0, 14.0, and 16.0%, respectively. The cultivar Okrun was most susceptible with an average disease incidence of 58.0%. All other lines had varying degrees of resistance but averaged at least 15.5% less disease than Okrun over the 3-yr period. Transgenic peanut lines with partial resistance to Sclerotinia blight were identified which may be useful in traditional breeding programs for fungal resistance.