Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical activity, heart rate variability–based stress and recovery, and subjective stress during a 9‐month study period

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA) and objective heart rate variability (HRV)‐based stress and recovery with subjective stress in a longitudinal setting. Working‐age participants (n = 221; 185 women, 36 men) were overweight (body mass index, 25.3–40.1 kg/m2) and psychologically distressed (≥3/12 points on the General Health Questionnaire). Objective stress and recovery were based on HRV recordings over 1–3 work days. Subjective stress was assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale and PA level with a questionnaire. Data were collected at three time points: baseline, 10 weeks post intervention, and at the 36‐week follow‐up. We adopted a latent growth model to investigate the initial level and change in PA, objective stress and recovery, and subjective stress at the three measurement time points. The results showed that initial levels of PA (P < 0.001) and objective stress (P = 0.001) and recovery (P < 0.01) were associated with the change in subjective stress. The results persisted after adjustment for intervention group. The present results suggest that high PA and objectively assessed low stress and good recovery have positive effects on changes in subjective stress in the long‐term.
One-Time Templates for Face Authentication

This paper proposes a novel scheme for one-time templates for face authentication. The suggested method changes templates after each completion of authentication like one-time passwords, thus the snapped templates cannot be reused. Matching between a gallery and a probe is performed by Euclidean distance and cosine function as in their primal form without recovering their original templates even though the templates are transformed. The suggested method does not require much modification of conventional face recognition methods and can be built on established systems as an add-on.
Cosmetovigilance in India: Need of the day

In India, cosmetics are regulated as per Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules 1945. Part-XIII (regulates import and registration of cosmetics), part-XIV (manufacture of cosmetic for sale or for distribution) and part-XV (regulates labelling, packing and standards of cosmetics). Rule 145 and 135 prohibits the use and import of arsenic and lead containing compounds. Cosmetics containing mercury are prohibited as per provisions of rules 135A and 145 D. Rule 134-A prohibits import of hexachlorophene containing cosmetic. Rule 134 specifies that cosmetic products should contain color, dye or pigment as per specified by schedule Q and Bureau of Indian Standards. Gazette notification G.S. R 426(E) divides cosmetics into 4 gross categories: skin products (it is further subdivided into 10 subcategories: products for skin care, cleansing, removal of body hair, body hair bleach, body odor corrective products, products for shaving (pre or after shave), products for makeup, perfume, products for sun, and self-tanning and others), hair and scalp products (4 subcategories: cleansing and care products, products for hair coloring, hair styling products, and other products for hair and scalp care), nail and cuticle products (nail varnish and remover, products for nail care and nail hardening, product for nail glue removing and other products for nail and cuticle care), and products for oral hygiene (tooth care, tooth whiteners, mouth wash and breath spray and other products for oral hygiene). [2]
High‐Throughput Screening of Vascular Endothelium‐Destructive or Protective Microenvironments: Cooperative Actions of Extracellular Matrix Composition, Stiffness, and Structure

Pathological modification of the subendothelial extracellular matrix (ECM) has closely been associated with endothelial activation and subsequent cardiovascular disease progression. To understand regulatory mechanisms of these matrix modifications, the majority of previous efforts have focused on the modulation of either chemical composition or matrix stiffness on 2D smooth surfaces without simultaneously probing their cooperative effects on endothelium function on in vivo like 3D fibrous matrices. To this end, a high‐throughput, combinatorial microarray platform on 2D and 3D hydrogel settings to resemble the compositions, stiffness, and structure of healthy and diseased subendothelial ECM has been established, and further their respective and combined effects on endothelial attachment, proliferation, inflammation, and junctional integrity have been investigated. For the first time, the results demonstrate that 3D fibrous structure resembling native ECM is a critical endothelium‐protective microenvironmental factor by maintaining the stable, quiescent endothelium with strong resistance to proinflammatory stimuli. It is also revealed that matrix stiffening, in concert with chemical compositions resembling diseased ECM, particularly collagen III, could aggravate activation of nuclear factor kappa B, disruption of endothelium integrity, and susceptibility to proinflammatory stimuli. This study elucidates cooperative effects of various microenvironmental factors on endothelial activation and sheds light on new in vitro model for cardiovascular diseases.
GC-MS Analysis of the Composition of the Essential Oil from Dendranthema indicum Var. Aromaticum Using Three Extraction Methods and Two Columns

Dendranthema indicum var. aromaticum, which is an aromatic plant with a strong and special fragrance throughout the whole plant, is used for the treatment of colds and headaches, and as a mosquito repellant in Shennongjia, Hubei province, China. To analyze the composition of the essential oil from this medicinal herb, we developed a gas chromatography-mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) method including microwave-assisted extraction, hydrodistillation and direct headspace analysis in two different stationary phase columns. In total, 115 volatile compounds were identified, of which 90 compounds were identified using Rxi-5MS and 78 using HP-INNOWAX. Our results revealed that the oil was mainly composed of five categories of compound: oxygenated monoterpenes (28.76–78.10%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (4.27–38.06%), sesquiterpenes (3.22–11.57%), fatty hydrocarbons (1.65–9.81%) and monoterpenes (0–3.32%). The major constituents are α-thujone, β-thujone, cis-sabinol, sabinyl acetate and (-)-neointermedeol.However, the essential oil composition in the published literature differs significantly. Therefore, a cluster analysis was carried out using the top ten compositions in the reported literature as well as this study, using Minitab software. To provide detailed information on plant origin, the ITS1-5.8s-ITS2 region was amplified and sequenced (Accession No. MF668250). Besides, in order to provide a macroscopic view of the chemical composition, the biosynthetic pathway of the main components was summarized according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database and the published literatures.
A multi-modal system for road detection and segmentation

Reliable road detection is a key issue for modern Intelligent Vehicles, since it can help to identify the driv-able area as well as boosting other perception functions like object detection. However, real environments present several challenges like illumination changes and varying weather conditions. We propose a multi-modal road detection and segmentation method based on monocular images and HD multi-layer LIDAR data (3D point cloud). This algorithm consists of three stages: extraction of ground points from multilayer LIDAR, transformation of color camera information to an illumination-invariant representation, and lastly the segmentation of the road area. For the first module, the core function is to extract the ground points from LIDAR data. To this end a road boundary detection is performed based on histogram analysis, then a plane estimation using RANSAC, and a ground point extraction according to the point-to-plane distance. In the second module, an image representation of illumination-invariant features is computed simultaneously. Ground points are projected to image plane and then used to compute a road probability map using a Gaussian model. The combination of these modalities improves the robustness of the whole system and reduces the overall computational time, since the first two modules can be run in parallel. Quantitative experiments carried on the public KITTI dataset enhanced by road annotations confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Evolutionary Insight into the Functional Amyloids of the Pseudomonads

Functional bacterial amyloids (FuBA) are important components in many environmental biofilms where they provide structural integrity to the biofilm, mediate bacterial aggregation and may function as virulence factor by binding specifically to host cell molecules. A novel FuBA system, the Fap system, was previously characterized in the genus Pseudomonas, however, very little is known about the phylogenetic diversity of bacteria with the genetic capacity to apply this system. Studies of genomes and public metagenomes from a diverse range of habitats showed that the Fap system is restricted to only three classes in the phylum Proteobacteria, the Beta-, Gamma- and Deltaproteobacteria. The structural organization of the fap genes into a single fapABCDEF operon is well conserved with minor variations such as a frequent deletion of fapA. A high degree of variation was seen within the primary structure of the major Fap fibril monomers, FapC, whereas the minor monomers, FapB, showed less sequence variation. Comparison of phylogenetic trees based on Fap proteins and the 16S rRNA gene of the corresponding bacteria showed remarkably similar overall topology. This indicates, that horizontal gene transfer is an infrequent event in the evolution of the Fap system.
Robotic metamorphosis by origami exoskeletons

The shape and the functionality of a robot can be changed by using interchangeable self-folding origami exoskeletons. Changing the inherent physical capabilities of robots by metamorphosis has been a long-standing goal of engineers. However, this task is challenging because of physical constraints in the robot body, each component of which has a defined functionality. To date, self-reconfiguring robots have limitations in their on-site extensibility because of the large scale of today’s unit modules and the complex administration of their coordination, which relies heavily on on-board electronic components. We present an approach to extending and changing the capabilities of a robot by enabling metamorphosis using self-folding origami “exoskeletons. ” We show how a cubical magnet “robot” can be remotely moved using a controllable magnetic field and hierarchically develop different morphologies by interfacing with different origami exoskeletons. Activated by heat, each exoskeleton is self-folded from a rectangular sheet, extending the capabilities of the initial robot, such as enabling the manipulation of objects or locomotion on the ground, water, or air. Activated by water, the exoskeletons can be removed and are interchangeable. Thus, the system represents an end-to-end (re)cycle. We also present several robot and exoskeleton designs, devices, and experiments with robot metamorphosis using exoskeletons.
Acoustic modeling for Chinese speech recognition: a comparative study of Mandarin and Cantonese

This paper presents a comparative study on automatic speech recognition for two different Chinese dialects, namely Mandarin and Cantonese. It focuses on decision-tree based context-dependent acoustic modeling for large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition. Extensive phonological and phonetic knowledge are incorporated to design questions concerning the left and right context of sub-syllable units, namely INITIALs and FINALs. This results in a set of class-triphone models for each dialect. Syllable recognition accuracy of 81.7% and 75.5% are attained for Mandarin and Cantonese respectively. Such a performance gap is accountable by various linguistic and practical reasons, including: 1) phonological and phonetic discrepancies between the two dialects; 2) design of training databases; and 3) design of phonetic questions in decision-tree clustering.
Improving the quality of point-of-care testing

Background It is suggested that new models of primary care should have better access to test results through the use of point-of-care testing (POCT). Objective To determine whether quality management of POCT leads to better results. Methods A comprehensive search of the literature on quality management of POCT in primary care, where the impact of participation in quality management programmes had been investigated with relevant outcome measures. Results Three databases were systematically searched using key words relevant to POCT and quality management, covering from 1945 to January 2017. Titles and abstracts were reviewed for relevance and papers selected for review and data extraction. Five observational studies were found in which the performance of POCT for specific analytes in external quality assurance (EQA) programmes was used to assess improvement over a period of time, varying from 3.5 to 15 years. The tests monitored were HbA1c, urine albumin, C-reactive protein, glucose and haemoglobin. In each case, the performance of the test against defined analytical criteria was used to judge improvement in performance. Different summary performance criteria were used, including the imprecision of results over a period of time (two studies) and meeting defined target values for bias and imprecision of measurement (three studies). Performance improved with time and was associated with regular participation in EQA schemes and with the use of internal quality control (IQC) procedures. Conclusions These findings indicate that adoption of quality management for POCT, including participation in IQC and EQA, with the support of laboratory medicine professionals, will improve the quality of the results 'produced'.
A Single-Cell View of the BtsSR/YpdAB Pyruvate Sensing Network in Escherichia coli and Its Biological Relevance

ABSTRACT Fluctuating environments and individual physiological diversity force bacteria to constantly adapt and optimize the uptake of substrates. We focus here on two very similar two-component systems (TCSs) of Escherichia coli belonging to the LytS/LytTR family: BtsS/BtsR (formerly YehU/YehT) and YpdA/YpdB. Both TCSs respond to extracellular pyruvate, albeit with different affinities, typically during postexponential growth, and each system regulates expression of a single transporter gene, yjiY and yhjX, respectively. To obtain insights into the biological significance of these TCSs, we analyzed the activation of the target promoters at the single-cell level. We found unimodal cell-to-cell variability; however, the degree of variance was strongly influenced by the available nutrients and differed between the two TCSs. We hypothesized that activation of either of the TCSs helps individual cells to replenish carbon resources. To test this hypothesis, we compared wild-type cells with the btsSR ypdAB mutant under two metabolically modulated conditions: protein overproduction and persister formation. Although all wild-type cells were able to overproduce green fluorescent protein (GFP), about half of the btsSR ypdAB population was unable to overexpress GFP. Moreover, the percentage of persister cells, which tolerate antibiotic stress, was significantly lower in the wild-type cells than in the btsSR ypdAB population. Hence, we suggest that the BtsS/BtsR and YpdA/YpdB network contributes to a balancing of the physiological state of all cells within a population. IMPORTANCE Histidine kinase/response regulator (HK/RR) systems enable bacteria to respond to environmental and physiological fluctuations. Escherichia coli and other members of the Enterobacteriaceae possess two similar LytS/LytTR-type HK/RRs, BtsS/BtsR (formerly YehU/YehT) and YpdA/YpdB, which form a functional network. Both systems are activated in response to external pyruvate, typically when cells face overflow metabolism during post-exponential growth. Single-cell analysis of the activation of their respective target genes yjiY and yhjX revealed cell-to-cell variability, and the range of variation was strongly influenced by externally available nutrients. Based on the phenotypic characterization of a btsSR ypdAB mutant compared to the parental strain, we suggest that this TCS network supports an optimization of the physiological state of the individuals within the population.
Feasibility study of physical-layer network coding in 802.11p VANETs

Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) is expected to play a major role in improving road safety and traffic efficiency in people's daily life. However, the main issue in VANETs remains to be intermittent node connectivity and relatively short contact duration due to the high mobility of vehicles. Physical-layer Network Coding (PNC) that enables data exchange within a much shorter airtime (e.g., twice faster than traditional scheduling) favors the highly-dynamic link condition in vehicular environments and hence appears to be a powerful tool in VANETs. One of the most important challenges in applying PNC to VANETs comes from the Doppler shift due to high-speed vehicle motion, which leads to carrier frequency offset (CFO) and hence introduces inter-carrier interference (ICI) that degrades the bit error rate performance. In this paper, we investigate the impact of motion-induced CFO/ICI on the overall signal detection. In particular, we study whether PNC in VANETs can be made feasible with conventional equalization techniques that suppress the effect of CFO. We found that PNC suffers only a 3 dB SINR penalty in the worst case compared with generic point-to-point (P2P) communications, and generally PNC is feasible in vehicular environments even if the transmission powers of source nodes cannot be finely controlled.
Assessing Preparatory Grief in Advanced Cancer Patients as an Independent Predictor of Distress in an American Population.

BACKGROUND Grief is a universal experience for patients living with a terminal illness, but it is not routinely measured. The Preparatory Grief in Advanced Cancer (PGAC) instrument has been used in Greece, but this is its first use in an American population with advanced cancer. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to use the PGAC instrument in an American population of advanced cancer patients to explore demographic, clinical, and psychological factors that may predict higher preparatory grief. DESIGN Subjects completed a single cross-sectional time point evaluation. SETTING/SUBJECTS Fifty-three adult outpatients and inpatients with incurable solid malignancies from Chicago, IL. MEASUREMENTS Demographic and clinical information, the PGAC instrument, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the distress thermometer (DT), the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), and a quality-of-life (QOL) 2-question scale. RESULTS The mean PGAC score was 26.9 (range 0-70) and was only correlated with DT in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Preparatory grief was a common experience, and one-fourth of our sample participants had significant grief. Distress was the only independent factor (including psychological, physical, clinical, or demographic factors) correlated with higher preparatory grief scores.
Use of In Vivo Imaging System Technology in Leishmania major BALB/c Mouse Ear Infection Studies

Abstract Novel treatments for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) are needed, due to current lack of effective universal treatments, increasing resistance among the parasite, and toxic effects or impracticality of the current therapeutics. Models of direct infection with high number of Leishmania parasites in the current research of CL involving the BALB/c mouse or Golden Syrian Hamster are considered not suitable for the assessment of antileishmanial drug efficacy because of the lack of disease similarities with humans. The saliva of the sand fly vector is known to affect the host response to infection by the Leishmania parasite. Here, we build upon a previous BALB/c model infected with luciferase-expressing Leishmania major parasites. In the present study, we infect the ear dermis instead of the foot pad or base of the tail, and compare multiple methods of infection, using parasites alone or mixed with either bites from uninfected sand flies (Phlebotomus duboscqi Diptera Psychodidae:Neveu-Lemaire) or salivary gland sonicate from sand flies. Our data show a dose–response of bioluminescent signal (which represents the parasite load at the infection site), dermal lesion development, and Leishmania Donovan Units in liver and spleen. This in vivo L. major ear infection model, once optimized, can be used for assessing the efficacy of drug compounds that have been determined as very effective in the other, high inoculum CL models.
HDL Based Illumination Invariant High Performance Face Detection System for Mobile Applications

Illumination variation is a big problem in face detection which usually requires a costly compensation prior to classification. To avoid this problem we are proposing a method for face detection irrespective of illumination variations. In this context the contribution of the work is twofold. First we introduce illumination invariant Local Structure Features for face detection. For an efficient computation we propose a Modified Census Transform which enhances the original work of Zabih and Wood [11]. Secondly we introduceanefficient face detection classifier for rapid detection to render high performance face detection rate.The Classifier structure is much simpler because we use only single stage classifier than multi-stage approaches, while having similar capabilities. The combination of illumination invariant features togetherwith a simple classifier leads to a real-time Detection results are presented on two commonlyused databases namely Bio ID set of 1526images and Yale face data base set of 15 people with 11 images for each . We are achieving detection rates of about 99.76% witha very low false positive rate of 0.18%In this paper, we are also proposing a novel hardware architecture of face-detection engine for mobile applications[1]. Here MCT (Modified Census Transform) and Adaboost learning technique as basic algorithms of face-detection engine. The face-detection chip is developed by verifying and implementing through FPGA and ASIC. The developed ASIC chip has advantage in real-time processing, low power consumption, high performance and low cost. So we expect this chip can be easily used in mobile applications.
Current classification and introduction of Watermarking Techniques in Digital Images Mr

This paper surveys recent advances in watermarking techniques in digital images. The aim of digital watermarking is to include subliminal information in multimedia information to ensure a security service or simply a labelling application. It would be then possible to recover the embedded message at any time, even if the information was altered by one or more non-destructive attacks, whether malicious or not. Its commercial applications range from copyright protection to digital right management. This paper then classifies the different watermarking techniques into several categories depending upon the domain in which the hidden data is inserted; the size of the hidden data and the requirement of which the hidden data is to be extracted, An experiment is conducted to further tests the robustness of some of these techniques. At the end, this paper analyses challenges that have not been met in current watermarking techniques here . In my major work describes a watermark embedding technique for images using discrete fractional Fourier transform.