Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gesture3D

Artists routinely use gesture drawings to communicate ideated character poses for storyboarding and other digital media. During subsequent posing of the 3D character models, they use these drawing as a reference, and perform the posing itself using 3D interfaces which require time and expert 3D knowledge to operate. We propose the first method for automatically posing 3D characters directly using gesture drawings as an input, sidestepping the manual 3D posing step. We observe that artists are skilled at quickly and effectively conveying poses using such drawings, and design them to facilitate a single perceptually consistent pose interpretation by viewers. Our algorithm leverages perceptual cues to parse the drawings and recover the artist-intended poses. It takes as input a vector-format rough gesture drawing and a rigged 3D character model, and plausibly poses the character to conform to the depicted pose. No other input is required. Our contribution is two-fold: we first analyze and formulate the pose cues encoded in gesture drawings; we then employ these cues to compute a plausible image space projection of the conveyed pose and to imbue it with depth. Our framework is designed to robustly overcome errors and inaccuracies frequent in typical gesture drawings. We exhibit a wide variety of character models posed by our method created from gesture drawings of complex poses, including poses with occlusions and foreshortening. We validate our approach via result comparisons to artist-posed models generated from the same reference drawings, via studies that confirm that our results agree with viewer perception, and via comparison to algorithmic alternatives.
Protective Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor Superfamily 15 (TNFSF15) Polymorphic Haplotype with Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease in an Indian Population

Background Tumor necrosis factor superfamily (TNFSF) proteins are involved in the genesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We examined the association of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the TNFSF15 gene with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in the Indian population. Methods Seven SNPs in the TNFSF15 gene (rs10114470, rs3810936, rs6478108, rs4263839, rs6478109, rs7848647 and rs7869487) were genotyped in 309 CD patients, 330 UC patients and 437 healthy controls using the Sequenom iPLEX MassArray platform. Disease associations were evaluated for allelotypes and for genotypes. Results The minor T alleles and the TT genotypes of rs10114470 and rs3810936 were significantly protectively associated with both CD and UC. The CC genotype of rs6478108, AA genotype of rs4263839, the AA genotype of rs6478109, the TT genotype of rs7848647 and the CC genotype of rs7869487 were all protectively associated with CD but not with UC. Two haplotype blocks could be discerned, one where SNPs rs10114470 and rs3810936 were in tight LD (D′ = 0.8) and the other where rs6478108, rs4263839, rs6478109, rs7848647 and rs7869487 were in tight LD (D′ 0.92–1.00). The second block of haplotypes were not associated with CD or with UC. The first block of haplotypes was very significantly associated with both CD and UC. Conclusions Strong associations exist between TNFSF15 gene polymorphisms and IBD (both CD and UC) in the Indian population.
Face Recognition Based on SFLBP

Face recognition under variable illumination conditions is an unsolved problem. In this paper, we propose a novel face recognition method based on steerable filters and local binary pattern. First, the normalized face image is convoluted by a multiple orientation steerable filters to extract their corresponding steerable magnitude maps (SMM). Then, the features of face image is extracted by linked all the LBP features which are computed on each item in the SMM separately. Finally, SVM (Support Vector Machine) is used for classification. Experiments show that our method is some invariant face position, pose, illumination and expression variations. Recognition results on ORL and YALE face database show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Genetic and Environmental Factors Associated with Laboratory Rearing Affect Survival and Assortative Mating but Not Overall Mating Success in Anopheles gambiae Sensu Stricto

Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto, the main vector of malaria in Africa, is characterized by its vast geographical range and complex population structure. Assortative mating amongst the reproductively isolated cryptic forms that co-occur in many areas poses unique challenges for programs aiming to decrease malaria incidence via the release of sterile or genetically-modified mosquitoes. Importantly, whether laboratory-rearing affects the ability of An. gambiae individuals of a given cryptic taxa to successfully mate with individuals of their own form in field conditions is still unknown and yet crucial for mosquito-releases. Here, the independent effects of genetic and environmental factors associated with laboratory rearing on male and female survival, mating success and assortative mating were evaluated in the Mopti form of An. gambiae over 2010 and 2011. In semi-field enclosures experiments and despite strong variation between years, the overall survival and mating success of male and female progeny from a laboratory strain was not found to be significantly lower than those of the progeny of field females from the same population. Adult progeny from field-caught females reared at the larval stage in the laboratory and from laboratory females reared outdoors exhibited a significant decrease in survival but not in mating success. Importantly, laboratory individuals reared as larvae indoors were unable to mate assortatively as adults, whilst field progeny reared either outdoors or in the laboratory, as well as laboratory progeny reared outdoors all mated significantly assortatively. These results highlight the importance of genetic and environment interactions for the development of An. gambiae's full mating behavioral repertoire and the challenges this creates for mosquito rearing and release-based control strategies.
Are vehicular networks small world?

Daily, vehicles in transit in a city and during their trajectories encounter other vehicles. The regularity of these encounters is influenced by several elements, such as: vehicle's speed, destinations, traffic conditions, and the period of the day. It is possible to justify these elements by road conditions and the driver's behavior. People have routines and similar behaviors, which strongly impact the daily traffic evolution. An alternative to understand this evolution is to look to the vehicles' mobility under a social perspective. Thus, we present a social analysis of real and realistic traces that describe the mobility of a set of vehicles. Social metrics are computed and the obtained results are compared to random graphs. Initial results showed the presence of social characteristics in the vehicular mobility.
The Effect of Balance-Based Torso-Weighting on Mobility, Gait, Balance, Postural Control, and Falls Efficacy in Mobility Limited Older Adults

Exercise is a known intervention to prevent fall risk among older adults; however, adherence is poor. Therefore, it is of interest to determine if other interventions improve function and decrease fall risk among older adults. Balance-Based Torso-Weighting (BBTW) is a non-exercise intervention that improves functional measures among adults with multiple sclerosis, yet the effectiveness of BBTW has not been assessed among older adults without progressive neurological disorders. We conducted a double-blind, randomized study to analyze the effect of BBTW on functional measures and falls efficacy among community-dwelling, mobility limited older adults after 5 days of wearing BalanceWear® for 4 hours per day. Participants were aged 86.00 (6.05) years. Individuals were randomized into a weighted group (WG, n =17) or a sham weighted group (SWG, n = 16). Repeated-measures analyses of variance indicated a significant group x time interaction on mobility variables (p = .096). The WG improved in Short Physical Performance Battery scores (1.25 points, p < .05) compared to the SWG, who was unchanged. There was a significant effect of time for the Five-Times Sit-to-Stand Test (p = .01), with greater mean improvements in the WG (23%) compared to the SWG (17%). There was a not a significant interaction for the gait variables (p = .45), but there was a moderate effect size (η = .06) as well as a significant main effect of time (p = .02). A significant effect of time was observed for the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA, p = .01) with the WG demonstrating greater mean improvements in the FGA (WG 14%, SWG 6%). Gait speed trended towards a significant effect of time (p = .06), with the WG improving by 0.06 m/s compared to the SWG by 0.04 m/s. There were no interactions or main effects between groups for the Timed Up and Go, tandem stance, the Functional Reach Test, the instrumented modified Clinical Test on Sensory Interaction and Balance, or falls efficacy. This study indicates that wearing BalanceWear® for 4 hours a day over 5 days decreases potential fall risk by improvements in mobility, gait, and chair stands in mobility impaired older adults.
A QoS Enhanced Routing Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

QoS is a key factor to the utility of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) especially in the case of multiple sources data detecting with different time property. For environment detecting, there are not only same sensors just for one element but also heterogeneous sensors for multiple elements. Sometimes a single sensor has multiple functions to get several elements, which could be indicated to send the elements with different fashion. For example, temperature and humidity need been reported every one hour, but precipitation and wind speed/direction need been reported every half an hour in special situation. A High Available Sensor network protocol for Differentiated Services (HADS) was proposed, which combined the features of Directed Diffusion protocol (DD) and Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy routing protocol (LEACH). HADS computes the routing gradient with different metrics, and then constructs two types of routing gradient table for best-effort service and real-time service. A gateway node was introduced, which can connect two cluster heads and support both single route and multiple routes to achieve an alternate path via other cluster head to sink node. The simulation results shows that HADS protocol may provide a good services for two types of data transmission, and achieve the efficient power utilization and delay improvement within the whole network.
Use of Transition Studies in Continuous Cultures of Lipomyces starkeyi, an oleaginous yeast, to Investigate the Physiology of Lipid Accumulation

Summary: The physiological changes that occurred in chemostat cultures of an oleaginous yeast, Lipomyces starkeyi CBS 1809 undergoing transitions from steady-state carbon-limiting to steady-state nitrogen-limiting conditions have been investigated. A sequence of events has been identified initiated by the presentation of excess glucose to the culture and culminating in the accumulation of substantial quantities of intracellular lipid. The intracellular concentrations of adenine nucleotides and citrate have been determined and their possible regulatory significance in the control of catabolic and anabolic pathways is discussed.
A QoE-driven FEC rate adaptation scheme for scalable video transmissions over MIMO systems

We propose a forward error correction (FEC) coding rate adaptation scheme which maximizes the quality of experience (QoE), for scalable video coding (SVC) based video transmissions over multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems. The proposed scheme adaptively selects the best set of spatial channels, number of video layers and their corresponding FEC coding rate according to channel state information (CSI) from the receiver. Unlike previous work, our proposed scheme distributes the FEC encoded bit streams to multiple spatial channels so that additional diversity gains can be obtained. Due to the complexity of the optimization, we decompose the original problem into several sub-problems, which can then be solved by a heuristic algorithm. The optimal solution can be found by choosing the best among all the candidate solutions obtained from the sub-problems. The effectiveness and superb performance of our proposed scheme can be demonstrated by many simulations with different videos and channel conditions.
Novel and De Novo Mutations Extend Association of POU3F4 with Distinct Clinical and Radiological Phenotype of Hearing Loss

POU3F4 mutations (DFNX2) are the most prevalent among non-syndromic X-linked hearing loss (HL) identified to date. Clinical manifestations of DFNX2 usually comprise congenital HL either sensorineural or mixed, a tendency towards perilymphatic gusher during otologic surgery and temporal bone malformations. The aim of the present study was to screen for POU3F4 mutations in a group of 30 subjects with a suggestive clinical phenotype as well as a group (N = 1671–2018) of unselected hearing loss patients. We also planned to analyze audiological and radiological features in patients with HL caused by POU3F4 defects. The molecular techniques used to detect POU3F4 mutations included whole exome sequencing (WES), Sanger sequencing and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Hearing status was assessed with pure-tone audiometry and auditory brainstem response. Computer tomography scans were evaluated to define the pattern of structural changes in the temporal bones. Six novel (p.Gln27*, p.Glu187*, p.Leu217*, p.Gln275*, p.Gln306*, p.Val324Asp) and two known (p.Ala116fs141*, p.Leu208*) POU3F4 mutations were detected in the studied cohort. All probands with POU3F4 defects suffered from bilateral, prelingual, severe to profound HL. Morphological changes of the temporal bone in these patients presented a similar pattern, including malformations of the internal auditory canal, vestibular aqueduct, modiolus and vestibule. Despite different localization in the POU3F4 gene all mutations severely impair the protein structure affecting at least one functional POU3F4 domain, and results in similar and severe clinical manifestations. Sequencing of the entire POU3F4 gene is recommended in patients with characteristic temporal bone malformations. Results of POU3F4 mutation testing are important not only for a proper genetic counseling, but also for adequate preparation and conduction of a surgical procedure.
Advances in Brief Protease Pretreatment Increases the Efficacy of Adenovirus-mediated Gene Therapy for the Treatment of an Experimental Glioblastoma Model 1

Effective virus-mediated gene therapy for cancer will be facilitated by procedures that enhance the low level of gene transfer mediated by replication-deficient, recombinant viral vectors. We found recently that protease pretreatment of solid tumors is a useful strategy for enhancing virus-mediated gene transductionin vivo. In this study, we examined the potential of protease pretreatment to improve the efficacy of a gene therapy strategy for prodrug activation that depends on infection with a recombinant adenovirus encoding herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (Ad-HSV-tk). Trypsin or a dissolved mixture of collagenase/dispase was inoculated into xenografts derived from the human glioblastoma multiforme-derived cell lines, U87 or U251. Ad-HSV-tk was administered 24 h after protease pretreatment, and animals were then treated for 10 days with ganciclovir (GCV). We found that protease pretreatment increased the efficacy of adenovirus mediated HSV-tk/GCV gene therapy in these experimental tumor models. Mice receiving Ad-HSV-tk/GCV after protease pretreatment demonstrated a significantly greater regression of tumors compared with those treated with Ad-HSV-tk/GCV alone. No adverse effects of protease pretreatment were observed. No signs of metastasis were seen either by histological inspection of lymph nodes or by a PCR-based analysis of selected mouse tissues to detect human tumor cells. Our findings indicate that protease pretreatment may be a useful strategy to enhance the efficacy of virus-mediated cancer gene therapy.
Making Similarity Versus Difference Comparison Affects Perceptions After Bicultural Exposure and Consumer Reactions to Culturally Mixed Products

This research examines the effect of making similarity or difference comparisons on perceptions after bicultural exposure and consumer reactions to culture mixing. Results indicate that after bicultural exposure, focusing on differences bolstered ingroup cultural stereotyping (Study 1) and enhanced perceived differences between cultures (Study 2), whereas focusing on similarity comparison reduced perceived differences between cultures (Study 2). Moreover, a similarity focus reduced positive reactions to a culturally mixed product, and this effect was mediated by reduced creativity perception of the product (Studies 1 and 3). These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the boundary conditions of the bicultural exposure effect and suggest a new mechanism of integrative consumer reactions to culturally mixed products.
“ Compute Process Allocator ( CPA ) ” 1

The Computational Plant or Cplant is a commoditybased supercomputer under development at Sandia National Laboratories. This paper describes resourceallocation strategies to achieve processor locality for parallel jobs in Cplant and other supercomputers. Users of Cplant and other Sandia supercomputers submit parallel jobs to a job queue. When a job is scheduled to run, it is assigned to a set of processors. To obtain maximum throughput, jobs should be allocated to localized clusters of processors to minimize communication costs and to avoid bandwidth contention caused by overlapping jobs. This paper introduces new allocation strategies and performance metrics based on space-filling curves and one dimensional allocation strategies. These algorithms are general and simple. Preliminary simulations and Cplant experiments indicate that both space-filling curves and onedimensional packing improve processor locality compared to the sorted freelist strategy previously used on Cplant. These new allocation strategies are implemented in the new release of the Cplant System Software, Version 2.0. This version was phased into the Cplant systems at Sandia by May 2002. ∗MS 1110, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 871851110. {vjleung , jjohnst , caphill@mp.sandia. gov . †Dept. of Appl. Math. and Statistics, SUNY Stony Brook, NY 117943600. {estie , jsbm }@ams.sunysb. edu . ‡Dept. of Computer Science, SUNY Stony Brook, NY 11794-4400. bender@cs.sunysb. edu . §Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. bunde@uiuc.edu . ¶Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155. a lal@eecs.tufts. edu. ‖Dept. of Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. sseiden@acm.org .
Trait-Based Hypothesis Selection For Machine Translation

In the area of machine translation (MT) system combination, previous work on generating input hypotheses has focused on varying a core aspect of the MT system, such as the decoding algorithm or alignment algorithm. In this paper, we propose a new method for generating diverse hypotheses from a single MT system using traits. These traits are simple properties of the MT output such as "average output length" and "average rule length. " Our method is designed to select hypotheses which vary in trait value but do not significantly degrade in BLEU score. These hypotheses can be combined using standard system combination techniques to produce a 1.2-1.5 BLEU gain on the Arabic-English NIST MT06/MT08 translation task.
Analysis of the microtubule-binding domain of MAP-2

We examined the microtubule-binding domain of the microtubule- associated protein (MAP), MAP-2, using rabbit antibodies that specifically bind to the microtubule-binding region ("stub") and the projection portion ("arm") of MAP-2. We found that (a) microtubules decorated with arm antibody look similar to those labeled with whole unfractionated MAP antibody, though microtubules are not labeled with stub antibody; (b) incubation of depolymerized microtubule protein with stub antibody prior to assembly partially inhibits the rate of microtubule elongation, presumably because MAPs that are complexed with antibody cannot bind to microtubules and stabilize elongating polymers; (c) the rate of appearance and amounts of 36- and 40-kD microtubule- binding peptides produced by digestion with chymotrypsin are distinct for MAPs associated with microtubules vs. MAPs free in solution. The enhanced stability of the 40-kD peptide when associated with microtubules suggests that this domain of the protein is closely associated with, or partially buried in, the microtubule surface; (d) MAP-2 is a slender, elongate molecule as determined by unidirectional platinum shadowing (90 +/- 30 nm), which is in approximate agreement with previous observations. Stub antibody labels MAP-2 in the terminal one-quarter of the extended protein, indicating an intrinsic asymmetry in the molecule.
Study of the effects of a stepped doping profile in short-channel MOSFETs

The performance of a stepped doping profile for improving the short-channel behavior of a submicrometer MOSFET has been analyzed in detail by using a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2-D) MOSFET simulator including inversion-layer quantization coupled with a one-electron Monte Carlo simulation. Several second-order effects, such as mobility degradation both by bulk-impurity and interface traps, carrier-velocity saturation, and channel-length modulation, have been included in the simulator. Very good agreement between experimental and simulated results is obtained for short-channel transistors. It has been shown that including a low-doped zone of convenient thickness next to the interface over a high doping substrate improves both the electron mobility and the threshold voltage of the device, while avoiding short-channel effects. The use of simulation has allowed us to study certain kinds of devices without needing to make them.
A Review: Wireless Body Area Networks forHealth Care

In wireless body area networks various sensors are attached on clothing or on the body or even implanted under the skin. The wireless nature of the network and the wide variety of sensors offer numerous new, practical and innovative applications to improve health care and the Quality of Life. Using a WBAN, the patient experiences a greater physical mobility and is no longer compelled to stay in the hospital. In this paper, we present an overview of wireless body area network and we also provide the differences between Wireless Body Area Network and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that is inadequate to apply in WBAN. We also present an idea to improve healthcare systems in India with the help of telecommunication and information technology by using wearable and implantable body sensor nodes which does not affect the mobility of the patients. We discuss how the wireless body area networks are used for healthcare monitoring by using multiple sensor nodes. In this paper we present various innovations and discuss promising new trends of wireless body area networks for ubiquitous health monitoring applications.