Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Facial feature extraction using improved deformable templates

This paper proposes a method to extract facial features using improved deformable templates. Our method include two steps, first locating features using rectangle templates designed by myself; then, extracting features using deformable templates. In the first step, we get rectangle block including facial feature from facial images, the rectangle block is our template to locate feature. In the second step extracting feature, we describe the feature of interest by a parameterized template, we design energy function which links with edges, weighted grads, weighted variance and etc, when the energy function gets its minimum, the parameter values can be a good description for facial feature. The experiment results show that this arithmetic can extract facial feature better and more quickly
Moving Mesh Strategy Based on a Gradient Flow Equation for Two-Dimensional Problems

In this paper we introduce a moving mesh method for solving PDEs in two dimensions. It can be viewed as a higher-dimensional generalization of the moving mesh PDE (MMPDE) strategy developed in our previous work for one-dimensional problems [W. Huang, Y. Ren, and R. D. Russell, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. , 31 (1994), pp. 709--730]. The MMPDE is derived from a gradient flow equation which arises using a mesh adaptation functional in turn motivated from the theory of harmonic maps. Geometrical interpretations are given for the gradient equation and functional, and basic properties of this MMPDE are discussed. Numerical examples are presented where the method is used both for mesh generation and for solving time-dependent PDEs. The results demonstrate the potential of the mesh movement strategy to concentrate the mesh points so as to adapt to special problem features and to also preserve a suitable level of mesh orthogonality.
Antihypertensive drug class use and differential risk of urinary incontinence in community-dwelling older women.

BACKGROUND Medication use is a potentially reversible cause of urinary incontinence (UI). The objective of this longitudinal cohort study was to evaluate whether self-reported UI in community-dwelling older women is associated with the use of different classes of antihypertensive agents. METHODS The sample consisted of 959 black and white women aged 72-81 years without baseline (Year 1) UI from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. Use of any antihypertensive from 10 drug classes (ie, alpha blockers [central], alpha blockers [peripheral], angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-II receptor blockers, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics [loop], diuretics [potassium-sparing], diuretics [thiazide], and vasodilators) was determined during Year 3 in-person interviews. The number of unique antihypertensive agents used and the standardized daily dosage were also examined. Self-reported UI, operationally defined as leaking urine at least weekly during the previous 12 months, was assessed at Year 4 visits. RESULTS A total of 197 women (20.5%) reported UI at Year 4. Although any antihypertensive use, number of agents used, and standardized daily dosage at Year 3 were not associated with UI at Year 4, use of one particular drug class-peripheral alpha blockers (ie, doxazosin, prazosin, and terazosin)-was associated with fourfold greater odds of UI (adjusted odds ratio = 4.47; 95% confidence interval = 1.79-11.21; p = .0014). Further, in post hoc analyses, these odds nearly doubled in those also taking loop diuretics (adjusted odds ratio = 8.81; 95% confidence interval = 1.78-43.53; p = .0076). CONCLUSION In community-dwelling older women, peripheral alpha blocker use was associated with UI, and the odds nearly doubled when used with loop diuretics.
The Merozoite Surface Protein 1 Complex Is a Platform for Binding to Human Erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum*

Background: Plasmodium falciparum invades red blood cells. Results: We show that the merozoite surface proteins MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2 are part of the large MSP1 complex. Conclusion: The MSP1 complex acts as a platform for display of MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2 on the merozoite surface. Significance: This provides important information on the structure of the merozoite surface. Plasmodium falciparum is the causative agent of the most severe form of malaria in humans. The merozoite, an extracellular stage of the parasite lifecycle, invades erythrocytes in which they develop. The most abundant protein on the surface of merozoites is merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), which consists of four processed fragments. Studies indicate that MSP1 interacts with other peripheral merozoite surface proteins to form a large complex. Successful invasion of merozoites into host erythrocytes is dependent on this protein complex; however, the identity of all components and its function remain largely unknown. We have shown that the peripheral merozoite surface proteins MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2 are part of the large MSP1 complex. Using surface plasmon resonance, we determined the binding affinities of MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2 to MSP1 to be in the range of 2–4 × 10−7 m. Both proteins bound to three of the four proteolytically cleaved fragments of MSP1 (p42, p38, and p83). In addition, MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2, but not MSP1, bound directly to human erythrocytes. This demonstrates that the MSP1 complex acts as a platform for display of MSPDBL1 and MSPDBL2 on the merozoite surface for binding to receptors on the erythrocyte and invasion.
Decomposed pairwise regression analysis of genetic and geographic distances reveals a metapopulation structure of stream‐dwelling Dolly Varden charr

Isolation by distance is usually tested by the correlation of genetic and geographic distances separating all pairwise populations’ combinations. However, this method can be significantly biased by only a few highly diverged populations and lose the information of individual population. To detect outlier populations and investigate the relative strengths of gene flow and genetic drift for each population, we propose a decomposed pairwise regression analysis. This analysis was applied to the well‐described one‐dimensional stepping‐stone system of stream‐dwelling Dolly Varden charr (Salvelinus malma). When genetic and geographic distances were plotted for all pairs of 17 tributary populations, the correlation was significant but weak (r2 = 0.184). Seven outlier populations were determined based on the systematic bias of the regression residuals, followed by Akaike's information criteria. The best model, 10 populations included, showed a strong pattern of isolation by distance (r2 = 0.758), suggesting equilibrium between gene flow and genetic drift in these populations. Each outlier population was also analysed by plotting pairwise genetic and geographic distances against the 10 nonoutlier populations, and categorized into one of the three patterns: strong genetic drift, genetic drift with a limited gene flow and a high level of gene flow. These classifications were generally consistent with a priori predictions for each population (physical barrier, population size, anthropogenic impacts). Combined the genetic analysis with field observations, Dolly Varden in this river appeared to form a mainland‐island or source‐sink metapopulation structure. The generality of the method will merit many types of spatial genetic analyses.
A global perspective on microbial diversity in the terrestrial deep subsurface

While recent efforts to catalogue Earth’s microbial diversity have focused upon surface and marine habitats, 12% to 20% of Earth’s bacterial and archaeal biomass is suggested to inhabit the terrestrial deep subsurface, compared to ∼1.8% in the deep subseafloor 1–3. Metagenomic studies of the terrestrial deep subsurface have yielded a trove of divergent and functionally important microbiomes from a range of localities 4–6. However, a wider perspective of microbial diversity and its relationship to environmental conditions within the terrestrial deep subsurface is still required. Here, we show the diversity of bacterial communities in deep subsurface groundwater is controlled by aquifer lithology globally, by using 16S rRNA gene datasets collected across five countries on two continents and from fifteen rock types over the past decade. Furthermore, our meta-analysis reveals that terrestrial deep subsurface microbiota are dominated by Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Firmicutes, likely as a function of the diverse metabolic strategies of these taxa. Despite this similarity, evidence was found not only for aquifer-specific microbial communities, but also for a common small consortium of prevalent Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacterial OTUs across the localities. This finding implies a core terrestrial deep subsurface community, irrespective of aquifer lithology, that may play an important role in colonising and sustaining microbial habitats in the deep terrestrial subsurface. An in-silico contamination-aware approach to analysing this dataset underscores the importance of downstream methods for assuring that robust conclusions can be reached from deep subsurface-derived sequencing data. Understanding the global panorama of microbial diversity and ecological dynamics in the deep terrestrial subsurface provides a first step towards understanding the role of microbes in global subsurface element and nutrient cycling.
Vitronectin binds to Pneumocystis carinii and mediates organism attachment to cultured lung epithelial cells

Pneumocystis carinii attaches to alveolar epithelial cells during the development of pneumonia. Adhesive proteins found within the alveolar space have been proposed to mediate P. carinii adherence to lung cells. Vitronectin (Vn), a 75-kDa glycoprotein present in the lower respiratory tract, has substantial cell-adhesive properties and might participate in the host-parasite interaction during P. carinii pneumonia. To address whether Vn binds to P. carinii, we studied the interaction of radiolabeled Vn with purified P. carinii organisms. Vn bound to P. carinii, occupying an estimated 5.47 x 10(5) binding sites per organism, with an affinity constant, Kd, of 4.24 x 10(-7) M. Interestingly, the interaction of Vn with P. carinii was not mediated through the Arg-Gly-Asp cell-adhesive domain of Vn. Addition of Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (RGDS) peptides did not inhibit binding. In contrast, Vn binding to P. carinii was substantially inhibited by the addition of heparin or by digesting the organisms with heparitinase, suggesting that P. carinii may interact with the glycosaminoglycan-binding domain of Vn. To determine whether Vn might enhance P. carinii attachment to lung epithelial cells, we studied the binding of 51Cr-labeled P. carinii to cultured A549 lung cells. Addition of Vn resulted in significantly increased binding of P. carinii to A549 cells, whereas a neutralizing anti-Vn serum substantially reduced the binding of P. carinii to A549 cells. These data suggest that Vn binds to P. carinii and that Vn might provide an additional means by which P. carinii attaches to respiratory epithelial cells.
Activation of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signaling by Epidermal Growth Factor Mediates c-Jun Activation and p300 Recruitment in Keratin 16 Gene Expression

In studies of gene regulation of keratin 16, we reported previously that simian virus 40 promoter factor 1 shows a functional cooperation with c-Jun and coactivators p300/CBP in driving the transcriptional regulation of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced keratin 16 gene expression. In the present study, we found that the stimulated expression of keratin 16 by EGF was mediated mainly through the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase–extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway. Ser63 and Ser73 on the c-Jun NH2-terminal transactivation domain could be phosphorylated in cells treated with EGF; nevertheless, we found that the c-Jun COOH terminus played a pivotal role in EGF-induced expression of keratin 16. The activation of keratin 16 by EGF treatment could not gbe enhanced by the overexpression of myc-c-JunK3R, in which three putative acetylation lysine residues on the c-Jun COOH terminus were all mutated into arginines, suggesting that c-Jun acetylation on the COOH terminus might partially play a functional role in this system. In addition, by using a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and a DNA affinity precipitation assay, EGF treatment up-regulated the p300 recruitment through ERK signaling to the promoter region in regulating keratin 16 transcriptional activity. Furthermore, the enhancement of acetyl-histone H3 to the keratin 16 chromatin promoter induced by EGF was also mediated via ERK activation. In conclusion, these results strongly suggest that both c-Jun induction and p300 recruitment to gene promoter, mediated through ERK activation, played an essential role in regulating keratin 16 gene expression by EGF. p300 mediated and regulated EGF-induced keratin 16 gene expression, at least in part, through multiple mechanisms, including a selective acetylation of c-Jun and histone H3.
Comparison of the Canadian CT Head Rule and the New Orleans Criteria in patients with minor head injury.

CONTEXT Current use of cranial computed tomography (CT) for minor head injury is increasing rapidly, highly variable, and inefficient. The Canadian CT Head Rule (CCHR) and New Orleans Criteria (NOC) are previously developed clinical decision rules to guide CT use for patients with minor head injury and with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 13 to 15 for the CCHR and a score of 15 for the NOC. However, uncertainty about the clinical performance of these rules exists. OBJECTIVE To compare the clinical performance of these 2 decision rules for detecting the need for neurosurgical intervention and clinically important brain injury. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS In a prospective cohort study (June 2000-December 2002) that included 9 emergency departments in large Canadian community and university hospitals, the CCHR was evaluated in a convenience sample of 2707 adults who presented to the emergency department with blunt head trauma resulting in witnessed loss of consciousness, disorientation, or definite amnesia and a GCS score of 13 to 15. The CCHR and NOC were compared in a subgroup of 1822 adults with minor head injury and GCS score of 15. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Neurosurgical intervention and clinically important brain injury evaluated by CT and a structured follow-up telephone interview. RESULTS Among 1822 patients with GCS score of 15, 8 (0.4%) required neurosurgical intervention and 97 (5.3%) had clinically important brain injury. The NOC and the CCHR both had 100% sensitivity but the CCHR was more specific (76.3% vs 12.1%, P<.001) for predicting need for neurosurgical intervention. For clinically important brain injury, the CCHR and the NOC had similar sensitivity (100% vs 100%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 96%-100%) but the CCHR was more specific (50.6% vs 12.7%, P<.001), and would result in lower CT rates (52.1% vs 88.0%, P<.001). The kappa values for physician interpretation of the rules, CCHR vs NOC, were 0.85 vs 0.47. Physicians misinterpreted the rules as not requiring imaging for 4.0% of patients according to CCHR and 5.5% according to NOC (P = .04). Among all 2707 patients with a GCS score of 13 to 15, the CCHR had sensitivities of 100% (95% CI, 91%-100%) for 41 patients requiring neurosurgical intervention and 100% (95% CI, 98%-100%) for 231 patients with clinically important brain injury. CONCLUSION For patients with minor head injury and GCS score of 15, the CCHR and the NOC have equivalent high sensitivities for need for neurosurgical intervention and clinically important brain injury, but the CCHR has higher specificity for important clinical outcomes than does the NOC, and its use may result in reduced imaging rates.
The impact of noise on switching rates in dual selection combining diversity

Transients generated by the switching in selection diversity combining cause receiver “dead time” and therefore increase the system outage. For this reason, the switching rate is an important parameter in selection diversity system design. Yet, there are few published results regarding the switching rates of selection diversity combining. All published work considers noiseless diversity systems; no results for switching rates of selection diversity in systems with noise exist. The switching rates of dual selection diversity combining in Rayleigh and Rician fading are examined in a noisy environment. Analytical expressions are derived for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) and independent and non-identically distributed (i.n.d.) fading channels. The switching rates in the presence of noise are compared to those in noise-free cases. It is seen that, in the presence of noise, the receiver filtering can greatly influence the switching rate.
Gaze-Contingent Music Reward Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE Patients with social anxiety disorder exhibit increased attentional dwelling on social threats, providing a viable target for therapeutics. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a novel gaze-contingent music reward therapy for social anxiety disorder designed to reduce attention dwelling on threats. METHOD Forty patients with social anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to eight sessions of either gaze-contingent music reward therapy, designed to divert patients' gaze toward neutral stimuli rather than threat stimuli, or to a control condition. Clinician and self-report measures of social anxiety were acquired pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 3-month follow-up. Dwell time on socially threatening faces was assessed during the training sessions and at pre- and posttreatment. RESULTS Gaze-contingent music reward therapy yielded greater reductions of symptoms of social anxiety disorder than the control condition on both clinician-rated and self-reported measures. Therapeutic effects were maintained at follow-up. Gaze-contingent music reward therapy, but not the control condition, also reduced dwell time on threat, which partially mediated clinical effects. Finally, gaze-contingent music reward therapy, but not the control condition, also altered dwell time on socially threatening faces not used in training, reflecting near-transfer training generalization. CONCLUSIONS This is the first randomized controlled trial to examine a gaze-contingent intervention in social anxiety disorder. The results demonstrate target engagement and clinical effects. This study sets the stage for larger randomized controlled trials and testing in other emotional disorders.
An Efficient Ellipsoid-OBB Intersection Test

An efficient algorithm to determine the intersection status between arbitrarily oriented ellipsoids and boxes (OBBs) is presented. By choosing a proper representation of the geometric objects and by utilizing an affine transformation of space, the problem is converted into a corresponding sphere-parallelepiped intersection test. Thereby, the evaluation of more costly mathematical operations other than a constant number of simple arithmetic operations and comparisons can be avoided. Further efficiency is also gained by exploiting the regularity of the involved geometric shapes, as well as early rejection tests. Practical experiments show a four-times speed-up on average when these techniques are used.
MOVE: An End-to-End Solution to Network Denial of Service

We present a solution to the denial of service (DoS) problem that does not rely on network infrastructure support, conforming to the end-to-end (e2e) design principle. Our approach is to combine an overlay network, which allows us to treat authorized traffic preferentially, with a lightweight process-migration environment that allows us to move services easily between different parts of a distributed system. Functionality residing on a part of the system that is subjected to a DoS attack migrates to an unaffected location. The overlay network ensures that traffic from legitimate users, who are authenticated before they are allowed to access the service, is routed to the new location. We demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our approach by measuring the performance of an experimental prototype against a series of attacks using PlanetLab, a distributed experimental testbed. Our preliminary results show that the end-toend latency remains at acceptable levels during regular operation, increasing only by a factor of 2 to 3, even for large overlays. When a process migrates due to a DoS attack, the disruption of service for the end user is in the order of a few seconds, depending on the network proximity of the servers involved in the migration.
Surveillance in Virtual Reality: System Design and Multi-Camera Control

This paper advocates a virtual vision paradigm and demonstrates its usefulness in camera sensor network research. Virtual vision prescribes the use of a visually and behaviorally realistic virtual environment simulator in the design and evaluation of surveillance systems. Impediments to deploying and experimenting with appropriately complex camera networks makes virtual vision an attractive alternative for many vision researchers who are motivated to investigate high level multi-camera control issues within such networks. In particular, we present two prototype surveillance systems comprising passive and active pan/tilt/zoom cameras. We deploy these systems in a virtual train station environment populated by autonomous, lifelike virtual pedestrians. The easily reconfigurable virtual cameras situated throughout this environment generate synthetic video feeds that emulate those acquired by real surveillance cameras monitoring extensive public spaces. Our novel multi-camera control strategies enable the cameras to collaborate in persistently observing pedestrians of interest that move across their fields of view and in capturing close-up videos of pedestrians as they travel through designated areas. The sensor networks support task-dependent camera node selection and aggregation through local decision-making and inter-node communication. Our approach to multi-camera control is robust to node failures and message loss.
Unique insights into maternal mitochondrial inheritance in mice

In animals, mtDNA is always transmitted through the female and this is termed “maternal inheritance. ” Recently, autophagy was reported to be involved in maternal inheritance by elimination of paternal mitochondria and mtDNA in Caenorhabditis elegans; moreover, by immunofluorescence, P62 and LC3 proteins were also found to colocalize to sperm mitochondria after fertilization in mice. Thus, it has been speculated that autophagy may be an evolutionary conserved mechanism for paternal mitochondrial elimination. However, by using two transgenic mouse strains, one bearing GFP-labeled autophagosomes and the other bearing red fluorescent protein-labeled mitochondria, we demonstrated that autophagy did not participate in the postfertilization elimination of sperm mitochondria in mice. Although P62 and LC3 proteins congregated to sperm mitochondria immediately after fertilization, sperm mitochondria were not engulfed and ultimately degraded in lysosomes until P62 and LC3 proteins disengaged from sperm mitochondria. Instead, sperm mitochondria unevenly distributed in blastomeres during cleavage and persisted in several cells until the morula stages. Furthermore, by using single sperm mtDNA PCR, we observed that most motile sperm that had reached the oviduct for fertilization had eliminated their mtDNA, leaving only vacuolar mitochondria. However, if sperm with remaining mtDNA entered the zygote, mtDNA was not eliminated and could be detected in newborn mice. Based on these results, we conclude that, in mice, maternal inheritance of mtDNA is not an active process of sperm mitochondrial and mtDNA elimination achieved through autophagy in early embryos, but may be a passive process as a result of prefertilization sperm mtDNA elimination and uneven mitochondrial distribution in embryos.