Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pedestrian Detection : A Survey of Methodologies , Techniques and Current Advancements

Detecting pedestrian in an image is a challenging task in the field of object detection. With the increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities in roads the significance of pedestrian detection is also increasing. In this paper we do a brief study on some of the existing pedestrian detection systems and also discuss in detail some of the benchmark data sets which are currently used in the field of pedestrian detection. Most data sets are also made publicly available so that it can also be used by other researchers in their survey/research. We also take a look at some of the state of the art techniques used by many pedestrian detection system and give a brief description on them. Furthermore we also demonstrate a typical working structure of pedestrian detection system. Hence we concluded that to be able to detect and track people plays a key role in the area of research, and machine vision plays a crucial role in this task.
Polycomb inhibits histone acetylation by CBP by binding directly to its catalytic domain

Significance The Polycomb protein (PC) is well known for its role in transcriptional silencing and binding to trimethylated histone H3 Lys27 (H3K27me3). We report here that PC inhibits the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity of CREB-binding protein (CBP). PC interacts directly with the CBP HAT domain, binding to its autoregulatory loop, whose autoacetylation greatly enhances enzyme activity. PC binding inhibits histone H3 acetylation. Interestingly, CBP autoacetylation impairs PC binding in vitro, and PC is preferentially associated with unacetylated CBP in vivo. Altering PC levels in vivo alters the acetylated H3K27 (H3K27ac) level in a predictable manner. PC inhibition of CBP HAT activity at enhancers and promoters with paused RNA polymerase II may affect regulation of both repressed and active genes. Drosophila Polycomb (PC), a subunit of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), is well known for its role in maintaining repression of the homeotic genes and many others and for its binding to trimethylated histone H3 on Lys 27 (H3K27me3) via its chromodomain. Here, we identify a novel activity of PC: inhibition of the histone acetylation activity of CREB-binding protein (CBP). We show that PC and its mammalian CBX orthologs interact directly with the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) domain of CBP, binding to the previously identified autoregulatory loop, whose autoacetylation greatly enhances HAT activity. We identify a conserved PC motif adjacent to the chromodomain required for CBP binding and show that PC binding inhibits acetylation of histone H3. CBP autoacetylation impairs PC binding in vitro, and PC is preferentially associated with unacetylated CBP in vivo. PC knockdown elevates the acetylated H3K27 (H3K27ac) level globally and at promoter regions of some genes that are bound by both PC and CBP. Conversely, PC overexpression decreases the H3K27ac level in vivo and also suppresses CBP-dependent Polycomb phenotypes caused by overexpression of Trithorax, an antagonist of Polycomb silencing. We find that PC is physically associated with the initiating form of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and that many promoters co-occupied by PC and CBP are associated with paused Pol II, suggesting that PC may play a role in Pol II pausing. These results suggest that PC/PRC1 inhibition of CBP HAT activity plays a role in regulating transcription of both repressed and active PC-regulated genes.
CLADISTIC ANALYSIS OF PALEO-ISLAND POPULATIONS OF THE FLORIDA HARVESTER ANT (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) BASED UPON DIVERGENCE OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA SEQUENCES

Abstract To examine the relationships of geographically isolated paleo-island populations of Pogonomyrmex badius (Latreille 1802) in Florida we generated a phylogeographic hypothesis based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. We found at least three distinct mtDNA lineages and a positive correlation between genetic and geographic distances. The relationships between nowadays isolated P. badius populations might resemble a long lasting separation due to either restricted gene flow caused by inbreeding, paleo-climatic events or the impact of novel invasive species. The current depletion of the only representative of the ant genus Pogonomyrmex in the south-eastern USA makes a more fine-scaled mapping of the remaining, small P. badius populations necessary to identify evolutionary distinct units for conservation purposes.
PHILIPPS-UNIVERSITÄT MARBURG Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften Bernd Hayo Happiness in Eastern Europe

This paper analyses the determinants of happiness in seven Eastern European transition countries during the early phase of economic transition. The analysis of representative survey data in an ordered logit model shows that those core socio-demographic and economic variables known to be relevant from studies on the US and Western European countries have a similar impact on happiness in Eastern Europe. In addition, rural dwellers and church goers experience greater life-satisfaction. Aggregate unemployment can explain more of the crosscountry variation in happiness than income per capita. JEL: D60, I31, P2
Parecoxib: an enhancer of radiation therapy for colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND To study the effect of parecoxib, a novel cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitor, on the radiation response of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and its underlying mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS Both in vitro colony formation and apoptosis assays as well as in vivo mouse xenograft experiments were used to explore the radiosensitizing effects of parecoxib in human HCT116 and HT29 CRC cells. RESULTS Parecoxib sensitized CRC cells to radiation in vitro with a sensitivity enhancement ratio of 1.32 for HCT116 cells and 1.15 for HT29 cells at a surviving fraction of 0.37. This effect was partially attributable to enhanced apoptosis induction by parecoxib combined with radiation, as illustrated using an in vitro apoptosis assays. Parecoxib augmented the tumor response of HCT116 xenografts to radiation, achieving growth delay more than 20 days and an enhancement factor of 1.53. In accordance with the in vitro results, parecoxib combined with radiation resulted in less proliferation and more apoptosis in tumors than radiation alone. Radiation monotherapy decreased microvessel density (MVD) and microvessel intensity (MVI), but increased the hypoxia level in xenografts. Parecoxib did not affect MVD, but it increased MVI and attenuated hypoxia. CONCLUSIONS Parecoxib can effectively enhance radiation sensitivity in CRC cells through direct effects on tumor cells and indirect effects on tumor vasculature.
POPULATION-LEVEL VARIATION IN PHOTOSYNTHETIC METABOLISM AND GROWTH IN SEDUM WRIGHTII'

Four populations of Sedum wrightii were studied with respect to their photosynthetic carbon metabolism. This leaf-succulent species exhibits crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Plants that possess CAM have the potential to vary their rates of transpirational water loss greatly in response to drought. Leaf thickness and biomass <513C values were measured in mid growing season for the populations in their native habitats. The populations exhibited significant differences in both leaf thickness and <513C value. The <513C values ranged from - 13.8%o to -22.9%o. In the field, populations differed in the proportion of day vs. night C02 uptake during growth. Three of the populations were compared in a controlled-environment study. It was found that there are both environmental and genetic determinants of the differences in photosynthetic carbon metabolism. We observed a significant correlation between plant growth and biomass 513C value. The largest plants exhibited the greatest proportion of day vs. night C02 uptake. These findings suggest that in this species there may be an inverse correlation between the ability to conserve water and the ability to gain carbon. The unusually wide range of photosynthetic phenotypes exhibited in this species may well explain its presence over a wide range of environments.
A Performance Model of Broadcast Communication in Wormhole-Routed Hypercubes

Many analytical models of wormhole-routed networks have been proposed over the past few years. Most of these models, however, have been developed for unicast (or point-to-point) communication. There has been comparatively little activity in the area of analytical models of collective communication, such as broadcast. As a result, most existing studies have relied on simulation to evaluate the performance merits of collective communication algorithms. This paper presents a new analytical model for predicting broadcast latency in the hypercube. Results obtained through simulation experiments show that the model exhibits a good degree of accuracy in predicting message latency under different working conditions.
An algorithm for extracting the network geometry of three‐dimensional collagen gels

The geometric structure of a biopolymer network impacts its mechanical and biological properties. In this paper, we develop an algorithm for extracting the network architecture of three‐dimensional (3d) fluorescently labeled collagen gels, building on the initial work of Wu et al., (2003) . Using artificially generated images, the network extraction algorithm is then validated for its ability to reconstruct the correct bulk properties of the network, including fiber length, persistence length, cross‐link density, and shear modulus.
Genetic Screen for Regulatory Mutations in Methanococcus maripaludis and Its Use in Identification of Induction-Deficient Mutants of the Euryarchaeal Repressor NrpR

ABSTRACT NrpR is an euryarchaeal transcriptional repressor of nitrogen assimilation genes. Previous studies with Methanococcus maripaludis demonstrated that NrpR binds to palindromic operator sequences, blocking transcription initiation. The metabolite 2-oxoglutarate, an indicator of cellular nitrogen deficiency, induces transcription by lowering the affinity of NrpR for operator DNA. In this report we build on existing genetic tools for M. maripaludis to develop a screen for change-of-function mutations in a transcriptional regulator and demonstrate the use of an X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-d-galactopyranoside) screen for strict anaerobes. We use the approach to address the primary structural requirements for the response of NrpR to 2-oxoglutarate. nrpR genes from the mesophilic M. maripaludis and the hyperthermophilic Methanopyrus kandleri were targeted for mutagenesis. M. maripaludis nrpR encodes a protein with two homologous NrpR domains while the M. kandleri nrpR homolog encodes a single NrpR domain. Random point mutagenesis and alanine replacement mutagenesis identified two amino acid residues of M. kandleri NrpR involved in induction of gene expression under nitrogen-deficient conditions and thus in the response to 2-oxoglutarate. Mutagenesis of the corresponding regions in either domain of M. maripaludis NrpR resulted in a similar effect, demonstrating a conserved structure-function relationship between the two repressors. The results indicate that in M. maripaludis, both NrpR domains participate in the 2-oxoglutarate response. The approach used here has wide adaptability to other regulatory systems in methanogenic Archaea and other strict anaerobes.
Desiccation, Flight, Glycogen, and Postponed Senescence in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster selected for postponed aging have increased resistance to desiccation and increased flight duration. These and other populations were tested for longevity, flight duration, glycogen content, and stress resistance under a variety of conditions. It was found that desiccation resistance was positively associated with flight duration and glycogen content, while glycogen was exhausted in the course of desiccation, as it is in flight Flies with postponed aging also have lower water-loss rates (WLRs) when dead, suggesting that factors other than glycogen content are partly responsible for their increased desiccation resistance. However, total epicuticular hydrocarbon does not appear to determine desiccation resistance. Starvation resistance does not vary in a manner that corresponds with desiccation resistance, under either selection or manipulation, but does vary in association with lipid level This suggests at least two physiological mechanisms by which aging has been postponed in these flies: increased lipid content and increased glycogen content. These mechanisms are at least somewhat independent, evolutionarily, genetically, and physiologically.
Evidence for global electron transportation into the jovian inner magnetosphere

Hot electron plasma moves in from Io Scientists have known that solar radiation ionizes the gases from Io's volcanoes to create a torus of plasma around Jupiter, but how that plasma moves is unclear. To investigate this, Yoshioka et al. monitored the temperature of the hot electron plasma as a function of distance from the planet with the Hisaki Earth-orbiting satellite. The fraction of hot electrons decreases only gradually with distance from Jupiter, which implies a rapid resupply of these electrons from outside Io's orbit. Science, this issue p. 1581 Near-Earth satellite measurements in the extreme ultraviolet examine a charged torus produced by volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io. Jupiter’s magnetosphere is a strong particle accelerator that contains ultrarelativistic electrons in its inner part. They are thought to be accelerated by whistler-mode waves excited by anisotropic hot electrons (>10 kiloelectron volts) injected from the outer magnetosphere. However, electron transportation in the inner magnetosphere is not well understood. By analyzing the extreme ultraviolet line emission from the inner magnetosphere, we show evidence for global inward transport of flux tubes containing hot plasma. High-spectral-resolution scanning observations of the Io plasma torus in the inner magnetosphere enable us to generate radial profiles of the hot electron fraction. It gradually decreases with decreasing radial distance, despite the short collisional time scale that should thermalize them rapidly. This indicates a fast and continuous resupply of hot electrons responsible for exciting the whistler-mode waves.
Master ’ s Degree Programme in Machine Automation ZIAEI , ZAHRA : Online markerless augmented reality for remote handling system in bad viewing conditions

TAMPERE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Master’s Degree Programme in Machine Automation ZIAEI, ZAHRA: Online markerless augmented reality for remote handling system in bad viewing conditions Master of Science Thesis, 55 pages, 9 appendix pages June 2010 Major: Mechatronics Examiner: Prof. Matti Vilenius and Dr. Jouni Mattila
Proteomic landscape of the human choroid-retinal pigment epithelial complex.

IMPORTANCE Differences in geographical protein expression in the human choroid-retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) complex may explain molecular predisposition of regions to ophthalmic diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. OBJECTIVE To characterize the proteome of the human choroid-RPE complex and to identify differentially expressed proteins in specific anatomic regions. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Experimental study of choroid-RPE tissue from 3 nondiseased eyes. The choroid-RPE complex underwent biopsy from beneath the foveal, macular, and peripheral retina. Protein fractions were isolated and subjected to multidimensional liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. A bioinformatic pipeline matched peptide spectra to the human proteome, assigned gene ontology classification, and identified protein signaling pathways unique to each of the choroid-RPE regions. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Mean number of mass spectra, statistically significant differentially expressed proteins, gene ontology classification, and pathway representation. RESULTS We identified a mean of 4403 unique proteins in each of the foveal, macular, and peripheral choroid-RPE tissues. Six hundred seventy-one differentially expressed proteins included previously known risk factors for retinal diseases related to oxidative stress, inflammation, and the complement cascade. Gene ontology analysis showed that unique categories in the foveal and macular regions included immune process proteins as well as protein complexes and plasma membrane proteins. The peripheral region contained unique antioxidant activity proteins. Many proteins had the highest expression in the foveal or macular regions, including inflammation-related proteins HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C antigens; intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1); S100; transcription factor ERG; antioxidant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1); chloride intracellular channel 6 ion (CLIC6); activators of the complement cascade C1q, C6, and C8; and complement factor H. Proteins with higher expression in the periphery included bestrophin 1 (BEST1), transcription factor RNA binding motif protein 39 (RBM39), inflammatory mediator macrophage migration inhibitory factor, antioxidant SOD3, ion channel voltage-dependent anion-selective channel protein 3 (VDAC3), and complement inhibitor CD55. The complement activation was among the highest represented pathways (P < 7.5e-13). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This proteomic data set identifies novel molecular signatures in anatomically sensitive regions of the choroid-RPE complex. The findings give mechanistic insight into choroid-RPE function, reveal important choroid-RPE processes, and prioritize new pathways for therapeutic targeting.
Age stereotypes in younger and older women: analyses of accommodative shifts with a sentence-priming task.

A sentence-priming technique was used to examine whether older women (N = 39) share a more positive view of aging than younger women (N = 35). Situationally specified statements about older and younger persons were presented, followed either by a semantically related word, an unrelated word of the same valence, or a nonword. The accessibility of target words was measured by reaction times in a lexical decision task. Whereas a semantic priming effect for negatively connoted materials emerged for both groups, a priming effect for positively connoted materials was found for older women only. Furthermore, an affective priming effect was found for the older group, i.e., older women tended to respond relatively faster (slower) to semantically unrelated positive (negative) words following a sentence about an older person. The results are discussed within a coping-theoretical framework.
Non-viral vectors in cancer gene therapy: principles and progress

This review focuses on the use of synthetic (non-viral) delivery systems for cancer gene therapy. Therapeutic strategies such as gene replacement/mutation correction, immune modulation and molecular therapy/‘suicide’ gene therapy type approaches potentially offer unique and novel ways of fighting cancer, some of which have already shown promise in early clinical trials. However, the specific and efficient delivery of the genetic material to remote tumors/metastases remains a challenge, which is being addressed using a variety of viral and non-viral systems. Each of these disparate systems has distinct advantages and disadvantages, which need to be taken into account when a specific therapeutic gene is being used. The review concentrates on particulate gene delivery systems, which are formed through non-covalent complexation of cationic carrier molecules (e.g. lipids or polymers) and the negatively charged plasmid DNA. Such systems tend to be comparatively less efficient than viral systems, but have the inherent advantage of flexibility and safety. The DNA-carrier complex acts as a protective package, and needs to be inert and stable while in circulation. Once the remote site has been reached the complex needs to efficiently transfect the targeted (tumor) cells. In order to improve overall transfection specificity and efficiency it is necessary to optimize intracellular trafficking of the DNA complex as well as the performance after systemic administration. Common principles and specific advantages or disadvantages of the individual synthetic gene delivery systems are discussed, and their interaction with tumor-specific and generic biological barriers are examined in order to identify potential strategies to overcome them
Facial expression recognition using graph-based features and artificial neural networks

Facial expression is significant for face-to-face communication since it is one of our body language that increases data information during the communication. In recent surveys, some of the existing methods extracting features from facial images as the regions of interest. Such regions cover eyes and nose, eyes with eyebrows, mouth, etc. Then global features are extracted from those regions afterwards. This feature extraction method can outperform if some irrelevant features are eliminated. Moreover, this causes lower time consumption in the process of normalization and recognition. In this paper, there are two main parts: locating the points in face region to form graph-based features and training the neural networks to recognize the emotion from the corresponding feature vector. For the first phase, fourteen points are manually located to create graph with edges connecting among such points. Subsequently, the Euclidean distances from those edges are calculated and defined as features for training in the next phase. The next phase is using Multilayer-perceptrons (MLPs), a kind of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), with back-propagation learning algorithm to recognize six basic emotions. In order to evaluate the performance, the proposed systems are applied to Cohn-Kanade AU-Coded facial expression database and perform 95.24% accuracy which is higher than the existing method.
Optimal transmitter beamforming with per-antenna power constraints

Optimal transmitter beamforming with per-antenna power constraints has been a long outstanding problem. In this paper, we derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for optimal single-stream and multi-stream transmitter beamforming with per-antenna power constraints. We also develop iterative algorithms for single-stream and multi-stream transmitter beamforming, and prove the algorithms converge to the optimal solutions.
Ichneumonidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) da Reserva do Boqueirão, Ingaí – MG

A riqueza e a sazonalidade das subfamilias de Ichneumonidae sao estudadas nas fisionomias vegetacionais de mata ciliar e de cerrado sensu stricto da Reserva do Boqueirao, Ingai - MG. As coletas foram realizadas utilizando-se duas armadilhas do tipo Malaise modelo Townes, instaladas em cada fisionomia, entre os meses de abril de 2005 a fevereiro de 2006. As coletas foram realizadas semanalmente no periodo de um mes na metade das quatro estacoes do ano amostradas. Foram coletados 1116 exemplares de icneumonideos, sendo 65,0% (n = 729) na fisionomia de mata ciliar e 35,0% (n = 387) na de cerrado. Os dados obtidos foram submetidos a analise de variância e constatou-se que existe diferenca entre as duas fisionomias quanto a abundância de icneumonideos. A estacao da primavera foi a que apresentou maior captura, com 48,0% do total de icneumonideos coletados (n = 533), sendo que 342 exemplares foram capturados na mata ciliar e 191 no cerrado. O verao foi a segunda estacao com maior abundância, com 270 individuos coletados (24% do total). As subfamilias mais abundantes foram: Cryptinae, com 31,0% dos individuos coletados (n = 343) e Campopleginae com 23,0% (n = 259). Representantes de 20 subfamilias foram capturados no cerrado, enquanto na mata ciliar 18 subfamilias foram observadas.