Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic image assessment from facial attributes

Personal consumer photography collections often contain photos captured by numerous devices stored both locally and via online services. The task of gathering, organizing, and assembling still and video assets in preparation for sharing with others can be quite challenging. Current commercial photobook applications are mostly manual-based requiring significant user interactions. To assist the consumer in organizing these assets, we propose an automatic method to assign a fitness score to each asset, whereby the top scoring assets are used for product creation. Our method uses cues extracted from analyzing pixel data, metadata embedded in the file, as well as ancillary tags or online comments. When a face occurs in an image, its features have a dominating influence on both aesthetic and compositional properties of the displayed image. As such, this paper will emphasize the contributions faces have on affecting the overall fitness score of an image. To understand consumer preference, we conducted a psychophysical study that spanned 27 judges, 5,598 faces, and 2,550 images. Preferences on a per-face and per-image basis were independently gathered to train our classifiers. We describe how to use machine learning techniques to merge differing facial attributes into a single classifier. Our novel methods of facial weighting, fusion of facial attributes, and dimensionality reduction produce stateof- the-art results suitable for commercial applications.
Adaptive Representation Selection in Contextual Bandit with Unlabeled History

We consider an extension of the contextual bandit setting, motivated by several practical applications, where an unlabeled history of contexts can become available for pre-training before the online decision-making begins. We propose an approach for improving the performance of contextual bandit in such setting, via adaptive, dynamic representation learning, which combines offline pre-training on unlabeled history of contexts with online selection and modification of embedding functions. Our experiments on a variety of datasets and in different nonstationary environments demonstrate clear advantages of our approach over the standard contextual bandit.
The antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Ehretia cymosa

Ehretia cymosa Thon. (Family Boraginaceae) is a shrub used by inhabitants of several communities in Ghana to treat diabetes mellitus and treatment of diarrhoea in indigenous poultry species including Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris). In this study, the antihyperglycaemic, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Ehretia cymosa was investigated. A 70% ethanolic extract of the whole plant of Ehretia cymosa was assessed for its in vitro anti-oxidant and antimicrobial activities by antioxidant and agar diffusion assays respectively. Antihyperglycaemic activity was investigated in vivo in Sprague Dawley rats while modulatory effects on intestinal absorption of glucose were also determined ex vivo. The extract showed a significant dose independent reduction of the fasting blood glucose level and the rat intestinal sacs had a significant decrease in glucose absorption. The extract showed strong antioxidant activity and also exhibited inhibitory activity against P. aeruginosa, E. coli, B. subtilis and S. aureus. These findings justify the folkloric use of the extract of E. cymosa as an antidiabetic medicine and as well as antibacterial agents for susceptible species.
13Carbon-Isotope Decrease in Annual-Rings of Twentieth-Century Trees

The steadily increasing global carbon dioxide concentra­tion is further recognized through the decreasing trend of ¹³C/¹²C isotopic ratio in the annual rings of twentieth-cen­tury trees. The decrease is averaged to about 0.012 per mil per year which is attributed not only as due to anthropogen­ic fossil-fuel burning but also to the man’s impact on the land pattern.
Stromal expression of fibroblast activation protein/seprase, a cell membrane serine proteinase and gelatinase, is associated with longer survival in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of breast

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP)/seprase is a serine integral membrane proteinase with gelatinase activity, which is expressed by activated fibroblasts in the stroma of various epithelial cancers, mesenchymal tumors and breast‐cancer cells, as well as during wound repair. However, the pathophysiologic significance of its expression remains poorly understood. The present study was designed to reveal the impact of stromal expression of FAP/seprase on survival in human breast cancer. Immunohistochemical expression of FAP/seprase was restricted to stromal fibroblasts adjacent to tumor‐cell nests but not cancer cells, which was confirmed by double‐labeling immunohistochemistry. Clinicopathologic analysis revealed that more abundant FAP/seprase expression in 112 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma is associated with longer overall and disease‐free survival. Multivariate analysis with other clinicopathologic factors demonstrated that FAP/seprase expression is an independent prognostic factor. The effect on the survival rate of FAP/seprase was also apparent in cases with lymph node metastasis. FAP/seprase expression is one of the manifestations of the stromal reaction (i.e., matrix turnover); thus, invasive ductal carcinomas with fewer stromal reactions expressing FAP/seprase may be more aggressive. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prognosis or “Curabo Effect?”: Physician Prediction and Patient Outcome of Surgery for Low Back Pain and Sciatica

Study Design. Prospective study with patient and physician questionnaires, clinical records, and imaging. Objective. To compare physician expectations of surgery for sciatica and patient outcome. Summary of Background Data. Physician accuracy in identifying individual patient prognosis is important for therapeutic decisions. Methods. A total of 197 consecutive patients with low back pain and/or sciatica who underwent low back surgery in the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland. Results. Physicians predicted “a great improvement” of quality of life after surgery for 79% and “moderate improvement” for 20% (1% others); 39% of patients had no “minimal clinically important difference” in back pain after surgery, despite physician prediction of “great improvement. ” Correlations between physician expectation and various dimensions of patient outcome were not significant, and agreement with patient global judgment of 1-year outcome was poor (kappa = 0.03). However, in a subgroup where the indication for treatment was not considered appropriate, physician prediction of “great improvement” was followed by greater improvement outcome on SF-36 mental component score (P = 0.05), mental health (0.02), and general health (0.03) compared with patients where the physician did not predict “great improvement. ” Conclusion. Despite clear average improvement, surgeons tended to give overly optimistic predictions that were not correlated with patient outcome. For patients receiving a treatment not meeting explicit criteria of appropriateness, more optimistic physician expectation was associated with better improvement of psychological dimensions. Besides prognostic ability, the influence of physician expectation on patient outcome is discussed and the concept of “curabo effect” (differentiated from “placebo effect”) proposed.
Fate of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis under Simulated Field Conditions

The fate of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis in a natural aquatic habitat was studied in a model system by using laboratory-simulated field waters and a mutant of the bacterium resistant to three antibiotics. Contact with mud of a sporal culture of the mutant resulted in an immediate disappearance of the larvicidal activity but had no influence on viability. The cessation of toxicity was caused by bacterial adsorption on soil particles, since 99.8% of the bacteria was found in the mud fraction within 45 min, with concurrent disappearance from the supernatant. When the mud was stirred, the bacteria could be redetected. The viability count of the mud suspension remained practically constant for at least 22 days, indicating that the spores were still fully viable but were incapable of germinating and multiplying in the mud under our experimental conditions. Approximately 8% of the colony forming ability of the bacteria could be separated from the mud by vigorous mixing followed by immediate filtration. The filtrated spores retained their toxicity, killing 90% of the larval populations even after 22 days incubation in the soil. The inactivation of the toxic activity of B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis in the mud was therefore a reversible process and was probably due to masking of the bacteria, thus making the bacteria and their toxin inaccessible to the larvae. In the simulated field waters without mud, we observed only a very slow inhibition of the larvicidal activity. In contrast to the activity in the mud suspension, this activity could not be restored.
A Multimethod Approach to Evaluating Critical Care Information Systems

There is increasing awareness of the importance of evaluating and measuring the impacts of a critical care information system (CCIS). Recent evaluation studies provide little information useful to a healthcare team in evaluating a CCIS in practice. A CCIS is expected to have many direct benefits, such as increased user job satisfaction and increased documentation efficiency, accuracy, and quality. This paper reviews a rigorous longitudinal evaluation methodology being employed by a freestanding tertiary care pediatric hospital as they implement a CCIS. The metrics are being used to document the impact, strengths, and limitations of the CCIS they are installing. The main phase of the implementation is currently under way, and results will be released when the evaluation is complete. This article serves to provide an overview of the evaluation methodology for others to consider as they embark on similar endeavors.
Ultrastructural study of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in organ culture

The ultrastructure of Mycoplasma pneumoniae M129 was studied by using specialized staining methods for thin-section transmission electron microscopy. Nucleic acid was shown in the cytoplasmic granules and fibrillar material in the nuclear region. The central filament of the highly structured tip contained basic protein. With one method of fixation, parallel filaments were seen in the central core. M. pneumoniae was enveloped in an extracellular mucoprotein layer that was especially concentrated around its terminal structure.
Grain Size—Dependent Alteration and the Magnetization of Oceanic Basalts

Unblocking temperatures of natural remanent magnetization were found to extend well above the dominant Curie points in samples of oceanic basalts from the axis of the East Pacific Rise. This phenomenon is attributed to the natural presence in the basalts of three related magnetic phases: an abundant fine-grained and preferentially oxidized titanomagnetite that carries most of the natural remanent magnetism, a few coarser and less oxidized grains of titanomagnetite that account for most of the high-field magnetic properties, and a small contribution to both the natural remanent magnetism and high-field magnetic properties from magnetite that may be due to the disproportionation of the oxidized titanomagnetite under sea-floor conditions. This model is consistent with evidence from the Central Anomaly magnetic high that the original magnetization acquired by oceanic basalts upon cooling is rapidly altered and accounts for the lack of sensitivity of bulk rock magnetic parameters to the degree of alteration of the remanence carrier in oceanic basalts.
Characterization of an early intermediate in the folding of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase by hydrogen exchange measurement.

The development of the hydrogen bonding network in the early stages of the folding of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase was monitored with a hydrogen exchange technique. The orders of magnitude difference between the rapid conversions of the unfolded forms to two stable intermediates (milliseconds) and the subsequent slow conversions of the intermediates to the native form (greater than 100 s) was used to selectively label with tritium the hydrogen bonds that form in the first 30 s of folding at 0 degree C. Rapid removal of the tritiated solvent by gel filtration ensured that hydrogen bonds formed in subsequent folding reactions would be unlabeled. Limited proteolysis and separation of peptides by high-pressure liquid chromatography permitted the determination of the amount of label retained in individual peptides by scintillation counting. Peptides 1-70 and 71-188, which when covalently linked comprise the stable amino domain in the native conformation, retain 91% and 93%, respectively, of the label retained when the protein is allowed to completely refold in tritiated solvent. Peptide 189-268, the marginally stable carboxyl domain, only retains 43% of the label. The striking difference in retention of label confirms the independent folding of these two domains and shows that the kinetic intermediates that appear in the folding of alpha subunit correspond to structural domains in the native conformation. The near-equality of the labeling of the two peptides comprising the amino domain shows that this domain folds as a single entity and that subdomain folding is unlikely. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Effects of Fluid Status and Fluid Therapy on the Dying: A Systematic Review

There are many possible sources for the suffering that may be experienced by the dying (1). The role of fluid volume status in causing or alleviating this suffering is poorly understood and remains controversial. Polarized views exist regarding the effects of fluid therapy, even among clinicians working in palliative care (2,3,4). Moderate to severe fluid depletion in non-terminally ill patients can result in symptoms of lethargy, weakness, confusion, or obtundation. If electrolyte abnormalities are present, hyperexcitability can occur as well, manifested by muscular twitching, irritability, and seizures (5). Other symptoms associated with fluid deficiency include thirst, dry mouth, dysphagia, apathy, depression, headache, nausea, vomiting, and muscle cramps (4). Poor fluid intake may also be a risk factor for the development of presSure ulcers of the skin (6). The use of intravenous (IV) fluids for dying persons appears to be common in hospitals. In a retrospective study of 106 patients who died of cancer in hospital, 81% received IV fluids within the last 30 days of life and 69% died with an IV in place (7). The decision by physicians to discontinue such therapy, once instituted for a critically ill individual, seems to be unlikely, even when the decision to withdraw life support has been made. In one survey of hospital physicians, intravenous fluids were the least likely form of life support to be withdrawn out of eight treatments (8).
THE ROUNDNESS DEVIATION MEASUREMENT WITH COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINES

In the article, the form deviation (roundness) measurement with the Coordinate Measuring Machine has been discussed. The influence of the measuring points number and the type of the roundness deviation on the result (since different fitting elements are used) has been presented. The obtained investigation results prove that a minimal number of points is not enough for measurement, while too large of a number does not improve the measurement, as well. A recommendation on the measuring points number has been given.
Discriminative Analysis for Symmetric Positive Definite Matrices on Lie Groups

In this paper, we study discriminative analysis of symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrices on Lie groups (LGs), namely, transforming an LG into a dimension-reduced one by optimizing data separability. In particular, we take the space of SPD matrices, e.g., covariance matrices, as a concrete example of LGs, which has proved to be a powerful tool for high-order image feature representation. The discriminative transformation of an LG is achieved by optimizing the within-class compactness as well as the between-class separability based on the popular graph embedding framework. A new kernel based on the geodesic distance between two samples in the dimension-reduced LG is then defined and fed into classical kernel-based classifiers, e.g., support vector machine, for various visual classification tasks. Extensive experiments on five public datasets, i.e., Scene-15, Caltech101, UIUC-Sport, MIT-Indoor, and VOC07, well demonstrate the effectiveness of discriminative analysis for SPD matrices on LGs, and the state-of-the-art performances are reported.
Measuring the Complexity of Consciousness

The grand quest for a scientific understanding of consciousness has given rise to many new theoretical and empirical paradigms for investigating the phenomenology of consciousness as well as clinical disorders associated to it. A major challenge in this field is to formalize computational measures that can reliably quantify global brain states from data. In particular, information-theoretic complexity measures such as integrated information have been proposed as measures of conscious awareness. This suggests a new framework to quantitatively classify states of consciousness. However, it has proven increasingly difficult to apply these complexity measures to realistic brain networks. In part, this is due to high computational costs incurred when implementing these measures on realistically large network dimensions. Nonetheless, complexity measures for quantifying states of consciousness are important for assisting clinical diagnosis and therapy. This article is meant to serve as a lookup table of measures of consciousness, with particular emphasis on clinical applicability. We consider both, principle-based complexity measures as well as empirical measures tested on patients. We address challenges facing these measures with regard to realistic brain networks, and where necessary, suggest possible resolutions.
Multi-speaker voice cryptographic key generation

Summary form only given. In this work we present a procedure for generating binary vectors, which can be used as keys for cryptographic purposes. This research is based on automatic speech recognition technology and support vector machines. Keys bits are produced by making a distinction among the phoneme features of the users employing hyperplanes. The implementation of the method is described and the statistics are computed for several numbers of users. The results obtained show that the proposed method is sufficiently robust to reliably regenerate the key.
Automatic motion correction for in vivo human skin optical coherence tomography angiography through combined rigid and nonrigid registration

Abstract. When using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), the development of artifacts due to involuntary movements can severely compromise the visualization and subsequent quantitation of tissue microvasculatures. To correct such an occurrence, we propose a motion compensation method to eliminate artifacts from human skin OCTA by means of step-by-step rigid affine registration, rigid subpixel registration, and nonrigid B-spline registration. To accommodate this remedial process, OCTA is conducted using two matching all-depth volume scans. Affine transformation is first performed on the large vessels of the deep reticular dermis, and then the resulting affine parameters are applied to all-depth vasculatures with a further subpixel registration to refine the alignment between superficial smaller vessels. Finally, the coregistration of both volumes is carried out to result in the final artifact-free composite image via an algorithm based upon cubic B-spline free-form deformation. We demonstrate that the proposed method can provide a considerable improvement to the final en face OCTA images with substantial artifact removal. In addition, the correlation coefficients and peak signal-to-noise ratios of the corrected images are evaluated and compared with those of the original images, further validating the effectiveness of the proposed method. We expect that the proposed method can be useful in improving qualitative and quantitative assessment of the OCTA images of scanned tissue beds.
Asymptotic Behavior of k-Word Matches Between two Uniformly Distributed Sequences

Given two sequences of length n over a finite alphabet A of size |A| = d, the D 2 statistic is the number of k-letter word matches between the two sequences. This statistic is used in bioinformatics for EST sequence database searches. Under the assumption of independent and identically distributed letters in the sequences, Lippert, Huang and Waterman (2002) raised questions about the asymptotic behavior of D 2 when the alphabet is uniformly distributed. They expressed a concern that the commonly assumed normality may create errors in estimating significance. In this paper we answer those questions. Using Stein's method, we show that, for large enough k, the D 2 statistic is approximately normal as n gets large. When k = 1, we prove that, for large enough d, the D 2 statistic is approximately normal as n gets large. We also give a formula for the variance of D 2 in the uniform case.
Megakaryocytes from chronic myeloproliferative disorders show enhanced nuclear bFGF expression.

Chronic myeloproliferative disorders (CMPDs) comprising chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF) differ in their potential for resulting in bone marrow fibrosis. In IMF, fibrosis usually starts developing in
In vitro activities of nine current antibiotics against culprit bacteria in nosocomial infections in an institution in Northern Taiwan.

BACKGROUND In recent years, there has been a rapid worldwide emergence of multidrugresistant (MDR) pathogens, especially in cases of nosocomial infections. This study assesses the in vitro activities of ampicillin/sulbactam, cefpirome, colistin, daptomycin, ertapenem, meropenem, teicoplanin, tigecycline and vancomycin against 208 aerobic bacterial pathogens that caused 197 nosocomial infections in 184 patients. METHODS Antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated by Etest. Broth dilution method was utilized in tigecycline susceptibility testing. RESULTS Most (140/208, 67%) of the isolates were facultative Gram-negative bacilli. Of the 31 oxacillin-resistant S. aureus (ORSA) isolates, 16 were susceptible to daptomycin (16/31, 51.6%) according to the breakpoint ≤ 1 μg/ml. All 31 ORSA isolates were susceptible to teicoplanin, and vancomycin but MICs of vancomycin for all 31 ORSA isolates were ≥ 1 μg/ml. Of the 21 isolates of A. baumannii that were multiple-drug-resistant, 19 isolates (19/21, 90%) were susceptible to colistin and 18 isolates (18/21, 86%) sensitive to tigecycline. Of the 22 isolates of E. coli with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), the most susceptible antimicrobial agent were colistin (20/22, 91%), ertapenem (21/22, 96%), meropenem and tigecycline (22/22, 100%). Of the 11 isolates of P. aeruginosa, 6 isolates were susceptible to colistin (6/11, 55%) and all isolates were susceptible to meropenem (11/11, 100%). CONCLUSION For nosocomial infections caused by MDR-Acinetobacter baumannii, colistin and tigecycline are usually susceptible according to the result of this study. For nosocomial infections caused by ORSA, ORSA has reduced susceptibility to vancomycin, teicoplanin and daptomycin. For MDR-P. aeruginosa, further study is needed.