Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Effective method for Iris Recognition based on Discrete Cosine Transform

Iris is considered to be the most unique attribute possessed by an individual and is regarded as the most reliable form of biometric authentication. In this work we have implemented a simple but very effective method for iris recognition based on Discrete Cosine Transform. Here firstly the iris image is preprocessed and segmented. After preprocessing, the segmented image is then further processed for feature extraction. This is done by finding the two dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform of the segmented iris image. The transformed image contains the unique features of the iris embedded in it. This key feature is then matched using simple statistical measure such as correlation. The proposed approach has been tested on publicly available MMU-database which contains 384 iris images, i.e. 6 images each (i.e.3 left and 3 right) of 64 persons. The images are: 24 bit RGB, 576 x 768 pixels, file format: PNG. The irises were scanned by TOPCON TRC50IA optical device connected with SONY DXC-950P 3CCD camera. An accuracy of 82% with an EER of 18% has been achieved with this method. The proposed work is a part of an ongoing project and in future it is intended to implement the project using ANN.
Implications of combined ovariectomy and glucocorticoid (dexamethasone) treatment on mineral, microarchitectural, biomechanical and matrix properties of rat bone

Osteoporosis is one of the deleterious side effects of long‐term glucocorticoid therapy. Since the condition is particularly aggressive in postmenopausal women who are on steroid therapy, in this study we have attempted to analyse the combined effect of glucocorticoid (dexamethasone) treatment and cessation of oestrogen on rat bone. The dual aim was to generate osteoporotic bone status in a short time scale and to characterise the combination of glucocorticoid–postmenopausal osteoporotic conditions. Sprague Dawley rats (N = 42) were grouped randomly into three groups: untreated control, sham‐operated and ovariectomized–steroid (OVX‐Steroid) rats. Control animals were euthanized with no treatment [Month 0 (M0)], while sham and OVX‐Steroid rats were monitored up to 1 month (M1) and 3 months (M3) post laparotomy/post OVX‐Steroid treatment. Histology, dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT), and biomechanical and mRNA expression analysis of collagenous, non‐collagenous matrix proteins and osteoclast markers were examined. The study indicated enhanced osteoclastogenesis and significantly lower bone mineral density (BMD) in the OVX‐Steroid rats with Z‐scores below −2.5, reduced torsional strength, reduced bone volume (BV/TV%), significantly enhanced trabecular separation (Tb.S), and less trabecular number (Tb.N) compared with sham rats. Osteoclast markers, cathepsin K and MMP 9 were upregulated along with Col1α1 and biglycan with no significant expression variation in fibronectin, MMP 14, LRP‐5, Car II and TNC. These results show higher bone turnover with enhanced bone resorption accompanied with reduced torsional strength in OVX‐Steroid rats; and these changes were attained within a short timeframe. This could be a useful model which mimics human postmenopausal osteoporosis that is associated with steroid therapy and could prove of value both in disease diagnosis and for testing generating and testing biological agents which could be used in treatment.
Accuracy of physical and occupational therapists' early predictions of recovery after severe middle cerebral artery stroke

Methods: Within the second and fifth week after stroke onset, 364 predictions were made by 59 PTs and 47 OTs about walking ability, dexterity, activities of daily living (ADL), need for additional care in ADL, time required to achieve independent walking ability and maximal level of ADL, and destination of discharge at six months after stroke. The functional recovery patterns of stroke patients were assessed by an independent observer. The accuracy of the therapists' predictions was compared with that of derived prediction models. In addition, the influence of characteristics of patients and therapists on the accuracy of the predictions was investigated. Results: Compared to observed outcomes at six months after stroke, therapists' lowest accuracies of prediction were found for the moment at which maximal ADL score was achieved (rs = 0.07; p = NS), and highest accuracy was for level of dexterity of the hemiplegic arm (rs = 0.78; p <0.01). Therapists' predictions of functional outcome at six months tended to be too pessimistic. No significant differences were observed for dexterity and walking ability when the predictions by PTs and OTs were compared with those of regression models, whereas significant differences were found for the accuracies of OTs and PTs’ first prediction of destination of discharge and second predictions of outcome in ADL and need for additional care in ADL. No significant differences were found between the accuracy of PTs' and OTs' predictions, and their ability to predict functional outcome was not significantly influenced by the characteristics of patient and therapists. Conclusions: At two and five weeks after stroke, OTs and PTs can accurately predict level of walking ability and dexterity at six months. The prediction of time required for achieving maximal level of recovery, destination of discharge, outcome of ADL as well as need for additional care in ADL leaves room for improvement.
“PSYCHING‐UP” ENHANCES FORCE PRODUCTION DURING THE BENCH PRESS EXERCISE

We investigated the effect of “psyching-up‘’ on force production during the bench press. Twelve men (mean age ± SD: 27.4 ± 11.2 years) and 8 women (20.9 ± 2.5 years) with strength-training experience performed 5 bench press repetitions on a modified Biodex isokinetic dynamometer during 3 interventions. The interventions were counterbalanced and included a free-choice psych-up, a cognitive distraction, and an attention-placebo. Peak force recorded after psyching-up (mean ± SD: 764 ± 269 N·m) was significantly different from both distraction (703 ± 282 N·m, p = 0.003) and attention-placebo (708 ± 248 N·m, p = 0.01). The mean percentage increase in peak force from distraction to psyching-up was 11.8% (6 to 18%, 95% confidence interval [CI]) and 8.1% from placebo to psyching-up (3 to 13%, 95% CI). The results of the present study indicate that psychingup may increase force production during the bench press exercise in participants with at least 1 year strength-training experience.
Benchmarks for cell-based layout systems

Introduction Cell-based layout systems are widely used for automatic physical design of large digital systems. Standard cell and gate array layout systems are reaching a state of maturity: small differences in layout effectiveness are used to distinguish commercially available systems. General cell and mixed standard cell and general cell layout systems have moved from research projects to general availability. Even with this widespread use and the many publications of cell-based layout systems, no recognized benchmarks are available to form the basis of comparison and evaluation. In addition to the difficulty of comparing layout systems, algorithm research is hampered by the lack of recognized benchmark examples. It is very difficult to evaluate published algorithms because common examples are not used. Potentially promising algorithms have been denied publication because some researchers do not have access to real circuit descriptions. Random or contrived examples are, to a large number of reviewers, no longer acceptable for journal and conference publication. For some problems, publication of examples is sufficient to establish industry wide benchmarks; channel and switchbox routing are examples. However, cell-based layout problems are much too complex for such casual methods. Practical circuits may have several thousand cells, and circuits with over 10,000 cells are reported with some regularity. For such circuits, the parts list and the interconnection list may require a substantial fraction of a megabyte for storage. In addition to large size, the complexity of the cell libraries and the design rules inhibit sharing of layout examples. This panel wiH consider the benefits, problems and challenges of creating, distributing and maintaining a representative set of benchmarks for cell-based layout systems.
Modified selective medium for isolation of Campylobacter spp. from feces: comparison with Preston medium, a blood-free medium, and a filtration system

Our previously described (H. Goossens, M. De Boeck, and J. P. Butzler, Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2:389-393, 1983) selective medium, consisting of cefoperazone (15 mg/liter), rifampin (10 mg/liter), colistin (10,000 IU/liter), and amphotericin B (2 mg/liter) (medium M1), for the isolation of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from stool specimens was modified as follows: cefoperazone (30 mg/liter), rifampin (10 mg/liter), and amphotericin B (2 mg/liter) (medium M2). A comparative study of the isolation of Campylobacter spp. from stool specimens was carried out with medium M1; medium M2; a selective blood-free medium consisting (per liter) of charcoal (4 g), ferrous sulfate (0.25 g), sodium pyruvate (0.25 g), casein hydrolysate (3 g), sodium deoxycholate (1 g), nutrient broth no. 2 (25 g), agar (12 g), and cefoperazone (32 mg) (medium M3); and Preston medium containing (per liter) trimethoprim (10 mg), rifampin (10 mg), polymyxin B (5,000 IU), and cycloheximide (100 mg) (medium M4). We also included a filtration system in which membrane filters were applied directly to the surface of the nonselective blood-free medium distributed in small petri dishes. A total of 5,276 stool specimens were tested: 2,788 stool specimens were tested on M1 and M3 in study 1; 2,488 stool specimens were inoculated on the four selective media in study 2, and the last 986 specimens of the 2,488 were tested in parallel with the filtration system. In study 2, 128 Campylobacter strains were isolated from 126 different patients; 85.0, 88.3, 82.5, and 66.6% of these strains were isolated on M1, M2, M3, and M4, respectively. No contaminating fecal flora was found on 65.4, 70.7, 62.4, and 40.3% of the M1, M2, M3, and M4 plates, respectively. Furthermore, C. coli was found to be more susceptible to antibiotics present in the selective media, particularly colistin and polymyxin B, than was C. jejuni. We therefore recommend M2 for the isolation of Campylobacter spp. Finally, the filtration method was found to be easy and cheap; although the sensitivity was low, this method allowed the isolation of new Campylobacter spp. which seem to be associated with diarrhea.
The RK 1 GL 2 X 3 method for initial value problems in ordinary differential equations

The RK1GL2X3 method is a numerical method for solving initial value problems in ordinary differential equations, and is based on the RK1GL2 method which, in turn, is a particular case of the general RKrGLm method. The RK1GL2X3 method is a fourth-order method, even though its underlying Runge-Kutta method RK1 is the first-order Euler method, and hence, RK1GL2X3 is considerably more efficient than RK1. This enhancement is achieved through an implementation involving triple-nested two-point GaussLegendre quadrature. Keywords—RK1GL2X3, RK1GL2, RKrGLm, Runge-Kutta, Gauss-Legendre, initial value problem, local error, global error.
Fast-time STAP for clutter suppression between transmitter and receiver in bistatic radar

Detection and localization of ground targets in the region between the transmitter and the receiver in bistatic radar is difficult due to strong interference from surface clutter and the direct transmitter signal. We have simulated fast-time (using channels of an array antenna and range bins) and slow-time (antenna channels and radar pulses) STAP (Space Time Adaptive Processing) and find that fast-time gives better interference suppression in this region. We also see that fast-time STAP is useful for all four cases of stationary/moving radar and stationary/moving target and that slow-time STAP with moving radar is useful for both stationary and moving target.
Source Separation By Score Synthesis

A musical score provides a great deal of information about a piece of music. In this paper we consider the incorporation of a music score to guide source separation on a single channel recording. We propose a method based on synthesizing lines of music in the score. Dynamic time warping (DTW) is used to to fit the synthesized data to the recording. These are then used as prior distributions in a statistical model of the recorded sound mixture. Probabilistic Latent Component Analysis (PLCA) is then used for the source separation. Preliminary results on a Bach work for string orchestra saw good separation with few artifacts.
Latency reduction and load balancing in coded storage systems

Erasure coding has been used in storage systems to enhance data durability at a lower storage overhead. However, these systems suffer from long access latency tails due to a lack of flexible load balancing mechanisms and passively launched degraded reads when the original storage node of the requested data becomes a hotspot. We provide a new perspective to load balancing in coded storage systems by proactively and intelligently launching degraded reads and propose a variety of schemes to make optimal decisions either per request or across requests statistically. Experiments on a 98-machine cluster based on the request traces of 12 million objects collected from Windows Azure Storage (WAS) show that our schemes can reduce the median latency by 44.7% and the 95th-percentile tail latency by 77.8% in coded storage systems.
Intellectual Ability as a Predictor of Performance on the Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between intelligence and executive functioning in youth. More specifically, the authors hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition General Ability Index (GAI) and understanding of sorting principles as measured by percent conceptual-level responses on the Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test (WCST). One hundred eighty-five children and adolescents completed neuropsychological evaluations. Results revealed a curvilinear regression with bright youth (GAI = 115–129) and gifted youth (GAI ≥130) performing better than average youth (GAI = 90–114) and no difference in performance between bright and gifted youth. Additionally, post-hoc analyses revealed intelligence in children 5 to 8 years of age and 12 to 16 years of age did not significantly predict percent conceptual-level responses, while intelligence predicted more than 19% of the variance in percent conceptual-level responses for children ages 9 to 11 years old. Findings revealed new evidence about the role of intellectual ability in executive functioning among different age ranges and have important implications for psychologists, caregivers, educators, and other professionals working with this population.
A Low-Cost BIST Scheme for Test Vector Embedding in Accumulator-Generated Sequences

Test set embedding built-in self test (BIST) schemes are a class of pseudorandom BIST techniques where the test set is embedded into the sequence generated by the BIST pattern generator, and they displace common pseudorandom schemes in cases where reverse-order simulation cannot be applied. Single-seed embedding schemes embed the test set into a single sequence and demand extremely small hardware overhead since no additional control or memory to reconfigure the test pattern generator is required. The challenge in this class of schemes is to choose the best pattern generator among various candidate configurations. This, in turn, calls for a need to evaluate the location of each test pattern in the sequence as fast as possible, in order to try as many candidate configurations as possible for the test pattern generator. This problem is known as the test vector-embedding problem. In this paper we present a novel solution to the test vector-embedding problem for sequences generated by accumulators. The time overhead of the solution is of the order O(1). The applicability of the presented method for embedding test sets for the testing of real-world circuits is investigated through experimental results in some well-known benchmarks; comparisons with previously proposed schemes indicate that comparable test lengths are achieved, while the time required for the calculations is accelerated by more than 30 times.
Single‐cell‐based image analysis of high‐throughput cell array screens for quantification of viral infection

The identification of eukaryotic genes involved in virus entry and replication is important for understanding viral infection. Our goal is to develop a siRNA‐based screening system using cell arrays and high‐throughput (HT) fluorescence microscopy. A central issue is efficient, robust, and automated single‐cell‐based analysis of massive image datasets. We have developed an image analysis approach that comprises (i) a novel, gradient‐based thresholding scheme for cell nuclei segmentation which does not require subsequent postprocessing steps for separation of clustered nuclei, (ii) quantification of the virus signal in the neighborhood of cell nuclei, (iii) localization of regions with transfected cells by combining model‐based circle fitting and grid fitting, (iv) cell classification as infected or noninfected, and (v) image quality control (e.g., identification of out‐of‐focus images). We compared the results of our nucleus segmentation approach with a previously developed scheme of adaptive thresholding with subsequent separation of nuclear clusters. Our approach, which does not require a postprocessing step for the separation of nuclear clusters, correctly segmented 97.1% of the nuclei, whereas the previous scheme achieved 95.8%. Using our algorithm for the detection of out‐of‐focus images, we obtained a high discrimination power of 99.4%. Our overall approach has been applied to more than 55,000 images of cells infected by either hepatitis C or dengue virus. Reduced infection rates were correctly detected in positive siRNA controls, as well as for siRNAs targeting, for example, cellular genes involved in viral infection. Our image analysis approach allows for the automatic and accurate determination of changes in viral infection based on high‐throughput single‐cell‐based siRNA cell array imaging experiments. © 2008 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
On the Programmatic Generation of Reproducible Documents

Reproducible document standards, like R Markdown, facilitate the programmatic creation of documents whose content is itself programmatically generated. While these documents are generally not complete in the sense that they will not include prose content, generated by an author to provide context, a narrative, etc., programmatic generation can provide substantial efficiencies for structuring and constructing documents. This paper explores the programmatic generation of reproducible by distinguishing components than can be created by computational means from those requiring human-generated prose, providing guidelines for the generation of these documents, and identifying a use case in clinical trial reporting. These concepts and use case are illustrated through the listdown package for the R programming environment, which is is currently available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
Potent Anti-Influenza Activity of Cyanovirin-N and Interactions with Viral Hemagglutinin

ABSTRACT The novel antiviral protein cyanovirin-N (CV-N) was initially discovered based on its potent activity against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Subsequent studies identified the HIV envelope glycoproteins gp120 and gp41 as molecular targets of CV-N. More recently, mechanistic studies have shown that certain high-mannose oligosaccharides (oligomannose-8 and oligomannose-9) found on the HIV envelope glycoproteins comprise the specific sites to which CV-N binds. Such selective, carbohydrate-dependent interactions may account, at least in part, for the unusual and unexpected spectrum of antiviral activity of CV-N described herein. We screened CV-N against a broad range of respiratory and enteric viruses, as well as flaviviruses and herpesviruses. CV-N was inactive against rhinoviruses, human parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and enteric viruses but was moderately active against some herpesvirus and hepatitis virus (bovine viral diarrhea virus) strains (50% effective concentration [EC50] = ∼1 μg/ml) while inactive against others. Remarkably, however, CV-N and related homologs showed highly potent antiviral activity against almost all strains of influenza A and B virus, including clinical isolates and a neuraminidase inhibitor-resistant strain (EC50 = 0.004 to 0.04 μg/ml). When influenza virus particles were pretreated with CV-N, viral titers were lowered significantly (>1,000-fold). Further studies identified influenza virus hemagglutinin as a target for CV-N, showed that antiviral activity and hemagglutinin binding were correlated, and indicated that CV-N′s interactions with hemagglutinin involved oligosaccharides. These results further reveal new potential avenues for antiviral therapeutics and prophylaxis targeting specific oligosaccharide-comprised sites on certain enveloped viruses, including HIV, influenza virus, and possibly others.
Infection of a human hepatoma cell line by hepatitis B virus

Among numerous established human hepatoma cell lines, none has been shown susceptible to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We describe here a cell line, called HepaRG, which exhibits hepatocyte-like morphology, expresses specific hepatocyte functions, and supports HBV infection as well as primary cultures of normal human hepatocytes. Differentiation and infectability are maintained only when these cells are cultured in the presence of corticoids and dimethyl sulfoxide. The specificity of this HBV infection model was ascertained by both the neutralization capacity of HBV-envelope protein-specific antibodies and the competition with an envelope-derived peptide. HepaRG cells therefore represent a tool for deciphering the mechanism of HBV entry. Moreover, their close resemblance to normal human hepatocytes makes them suitable for many applications including drug metabolism studies.
Assessment of Iodine Deficiency Disorders in School Age Children in Jodhpur dictrict of Rajasthan

Abstract In the present paper magnitude of Iodine deficiency disorders(IDD), total goiter rate, nutritional deficiencies and their association with related factors have been studied. The sample of 105 school children (12-15 years) of Jodhpur district were assessed by clinical examination of thyroid gland using the standard method as recommended by the joint WHO / UNICEF / ICCIDD consultation, morbidities, Iodine in urine and salt using standard laboratory technique. Total goiter rate was 11.4 %, all of them had grade I goiter. The goiter prevalence in male and female was found to be 7.4 % and 15.7% respectively. The median urinary iodine excretion was 166.2 μg/l. Proportion of the children in severe grade (<20 μg/l) was 5.0 %. Overall high proportion of school children (81.5%) consumed salt having inadequate iodine content and proportion was significantly higher in females than males (P<0.05). The proportion of households consuming adequate iodized salt increased with decline of income. The proportion of households consuming adequate iodized salt increased with increase of housing conditions grades, found statistically significant. Sickness at the time of survey was 16.2 % and the overall morbidities observed were significantly higher in females (19.6 %) than males (P<0.05). Total goiter rate was high and only 18.5 percent of salt had adequate iodine content indicating that the consumption of iodized salt in desert area is extremely low in spite of the national programs in operation and needs more attention. In addition to iodization of salt, there is a strong need of formulating nutritional intervention packages for this region.