Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pixel selection in a face image based on discriminant features for face recognition

We propose a pixel selection method in a face image based on discriminant features for face recognition. By analyzing the relationship between the pixels in a face image and features extracted from face images, pixels that contain a large amount of discriminative information are selected, while pixels with less discriminative information are discarded. The proposed method orders the pixels based on the discriminative information in face recognition, instead of selecting salient a priori regions. Comparative experiments are performed using the FERET, CMU-PIE and Yale B databases. The experimental results show that the pixel selection results in improved recognition performance, especially under illumination variation.
Turnover in the transportable pool of auxin.

If we wish to understand the mechanisms of auxin transport, it becomes increasingly important to have some knowledge of transport at the cellular level. At the present time, we can recognize four principal parameters of transport at the tissue level: the velocity of the transport, the capacity (the upper limit of auxin which can be processed by the transport system), the intensity (the total amount delivered through the tissue per unit time), and finally the density (the amount of auxin present in the tissue through which transport is taking place). These parameters have been described and defined by Kaldewey (3, 4). An effort has been made by dela Fuente and Leopold (1) to
Cloud-Centric and Logically Isolated Virtual Network Environment Based on Software-Defined Wide Area Network

Recent development of distributed cloud environments requires advanced network infrastructure in order to facilitate network automation, virtualization, high performance data transfer, and secured access of end-to-end resources across regional boundaries. In order to meet these innovative cloud networking requirements, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is primarily demanded to converge distributed cloud resources (e.g., virtual machines (VMs)) in a programmable and intelligent manner over distant networks. Therefore, this paper proposes a logically isolated networking scheme designed to integrate distributed cloud resources to dynamic and on-demand virtual networking over SD-WAN. The performance evaluation and experimental results of the proposed scheme indicate that virtual network convergence time is minimized in two different network models such as: (1) an operating OpenFlow-oriented SD-WAN infrastructure (KREONET-S) which is deployed on the advanced national research network in Korea, and (2) Mininet-based experimental and emulated networks.
Design and simulation of robust filter for tracking control of quadcopter system

In this paper, a robust attitude and position controller is proposed for trajectory tracking of quadrotors. A robust filter is added to restrain the effect of parameter variations and external disturbances in the rotational and translational dynamics. A specific design criterion is used in the design of robust filter. To study the robustness properties of the filter a nominal PD controller is designed as the nominal position and attitude controller. Simulation of the proposed controller was carried out in Simulink Matlab and performance of the closed loop system was analyzed with and without the compensator. It was found that by the proposed robust control method, the effect of uncertainties can be reduced to certain extent by selecting proper robust filter parameters. It also provides more frequency range of operation.
Narrative writing in children and adolescents: examining the literate lexicon.

PURPOSE This study was designed primarily to examine the use of abstract nouns and metacognitive verbs in the narrative writing of school-age children and adolescents. METHOD Three groups of typically developing students ages 11, 14, and 17 years (n = 40 per group) were asked to write a story about something funny, sad, or scary that had happened to them and a friend. Each student's narrative essay was examined for the use of abstract nouns (e.g., accomplishment, loneliness, mystery) and metacognitive verbs (e.g., assume, discover, realize) and for the production of complex syntax as measured by mean length of T-unit (MLTU) and clausal density (CD). RESULTS Age-related growth in narrative writing was documented for both types of words. Additionally, the use of abstract nouns and metacognitive verbs was associated with the production of complex syntax, reflecting the lexicon-syntax interface. CONCLUSION The narrative writing task employed in this study was effective in eliciting literate words and complex syntax in school-age children and adolescents.
Methods to study PAMP-triggered immunity using tomato and Nicotiana benthamiana.

Understanding the molecular basis of plant responses to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) is an active area of research in the field of plant-microbe interactions. A growing number of plant genes involved in various steps of PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) pathways and microbial factors involved in the elicitation or suppression of PTI have been identified. These studies have largely relied on Arabidopsis thaliana and, therefore, most of the PTI assays have been developed and optimized for that model plant system. Although PTI is a conserved feature among plants, the response spectra vary across different species. Thus, there is a need for robust PTI assays in other pathosystems, such as those involving Solanaceae plant-pathogen interactions, which include many economically important plants and their diseases. We have optimized molecular, cellular, and whole-plant methods to measure PTI responses in two widely studied solanaceous species, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and Nicotiana benthamiana. Here, we provide detailed protocols for measuring various PTI-associated phenotypes, including bacterial populations after pretreatment of leaves with PAMPs, induction of reporter genes, callose deposition, activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases, and a luciferase-based reporter system. These methods will facilitate limited genetic screens and detailed characterization of potential PTI-related genes in model and economically important Solanaceae spp. -pathogen interactions.
Observational Study of the Oceanic Surface Parameters in the Eastern Indian Ocean During Two Contrasting Dipole Years 2005 and 2006

The Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) is one of the major interannual climate variation signals in this region through the coupled air-sea interactions. In this letter, the oceanic surface parameters in the eastern Indian Ocean during two consecutive contrasting dipole years 2005 (negative) and 2006 (positive) are examined exclusively from satellite and in situ observations. Results showed that there was sea surface temperature anomaly up to ±2°C in the south eastern equatorial Indian Ocean (EEIO) during the mature phase (September-November) of the dipole. Except for the south EEIO, the south of the equator showed very high positive sea level anomaly (up to 45 cm) during the boreal fall (September-November) in 2006 under the influence of the strong positive IOD event. Similar coherent differences were observed in freshwater flux and sea surface salinity anomalies which show the large impact of these dipole events in the south EEIO box. Also, the seasonal rainfall during the northeast Indian monsoon for these two years shows substantial difference over southern India which reveals the paramount impact of IOD on the northeast monsoon rainfall.
Baclofen Pump Implantation and Spinal Fusion in Children: Techniques and Complications

Study Design. Retrospective clinical and radiographic review of complications related to intrathecal baclofen therapy (ITB) and posterior spine fusion (PSF) in patients with cerebral palsy. Objective. To report the technical considerations and complications associated with ITB in patients undergoing PSF. Summary of Background Data. A common treatment for spasticity in children with cerebral palsy is ITB. This population also has a high incidence of severe spinal deformities requiring PSF. Methods. There were 4 groups: A, 26 patients with PSF before ITB; B, 11 patients who underwent PSF and ITB concurrently; C, 25 patients with PSF after ITB; and D, the control group: 103 patients with ITB only. Complications and infections were tabulated from a retrospective chart review and ongoing surveillance data. Multiple &khgr;2 analyses were used to compare the number of patients who experienced complications and infections among the groups. The operative sequence and catheter management techniques for the various scenarios are described in detail in the text. Results. The outcome by group was as follows: group A had 5 catheter malfunctions and 2 infections at the pump site, group B had 2 catheter malfunctions, 1 hypermobile pump and 1 infection at the spinal site, group C had 3 catheter malfunctions, 1 infection at the pump site and 1 infection at the spinal site. The control group had 23 catheter malfunctions, 5 pump failures, 8 infections at the pump site, and 1 infection at the spinal site. Multiple &khgr;2 analyses showed no difference in the number of infection or device/catheter complications among any of the groups. Conclusion. The rate of ITB therapy complications is not increased despite PSF in any order of the procedures. There are technical details in each situation that require attention. With understanding of the appropriate techniques of catheter management, ITB pumps can be implanted and managed without an increased complication rate before, during or after spinal fusion surgery.
A combination of baseline plasma immune markers can predict therapeutic response in multidrug resistant tuberculosis

Objective To identify plasma markers predictive of therapeutic response in patients with multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Methods Fifty HIV-negative patients with active pulmonary MDR-TB were analysed for six soluble analytes in plasma at the time of initiating treatment (baseline) and over six months thereafter. Patients were identified as sputum culture positive or negative at baseline. Culture positive patients were further stratified by the median time to sputum culture conversion (SCC) as fast responders (< 76 days) or slow responders (≥ 76 days). Chest X-ray scores, body mass index, and sputum smear microscopy results were obtained at baseline. Results Unsupervised hierarchical clustering revealed that baseline plasma levels of IP-10/CXCL10, VEGF-A, SAA and CRP could distinguish sputum culture and cavitation status of patients. Among patients who were culture positive at baseline, there were significant positive correlations between plasma levels of CRP, SAA, VEGF-A, sIL-2Rα/CD40, and IP-10 and delayed SCC. Using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and Receiver Operating Curves (ROC), we showed that a combination of MCP-1/CCL2, IP-10, sIL-2Rα, SAA, CRP and AFB smear could distinguish fast from slow responders and were predictive of delayed SCC with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion Plasma levels of specific chemokines and inflammatory markers measured before MDR-TB treatment are candidate predictive markers of delayed SCC. These findings require validation in a larger study.
Interaction of polysaccharides with the N-terminal cellulose-binding domain of Cellulomonas fimi CenC. 1. Binding specificity and calorimetric analysis.

The carbohydrate-binding specificity of the N-terminal cellulose-binding domain (CBDN1) from Cellulomonas fimi beta-1,4-glucanase C (CenC) was investigated using affinity electrophoresis, binding assays and microcalorimetry in parallel with NMR and difference ultraviolet absorbance spectroscopy [Johnson, P.E. , Tomme, P., Joshi, M.D., & McIntosh, I. , P. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 13895-13906]. Binding of CBDN1 on insoluble cellulose is distinctly different from other cellulose-binding domains. CBDN1 binds amorphous cellulose (phosphoric acid-swollen) with high affinity (Kr = 5.1 L g-1), binds Avicel weakly and does not bind highly crystalline bacterial or tunicin cellulose. Moreover, CBDN1 binds soluble cellooligosaccharides and beta-1,4-linked oligomers of glucose such as hydroxyethycellulose, soluble beta-1,3-1,4-glucans from barley and oat, but has no affinity for alpha-1,4-, beta-1,3-, or beta-1,6-polymers of glucose. This is the first report of a cellulose-binding domain with strong and specific affinity for soluble glycans. The thermodynamics for binding of CBDN1 to oligosaccharides, soluble glycans, and phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose were investigated by titration microcalorimetry. At least four beta-1,4-linked glucopyranosides are required to detect binding. For larger glucans, with five or more glucopyranoside units, the binding constants and standard free energy changes are virtually independent of the glucan chain length, indicating that cellopentaose completely fills the binding site. Binding is moderately strong with binding constants ranging from 3,200 +/- 500 M-1 for cellotetraose, to 25,000 +/- 3,000 M-1 for the larger sugars. The reactions are controlled by favorable standard free enthalpy changes which are compensated in a linear fashion by a significant decrease in entropy. A predominance of polar interactions such as hydrogen bonding together with van der Waals interactions provide the major driving forces for the binding event.
25.2 A 210-to-305GHz CMOS receiver for rotational spectroscopy

Electromagnetic waves in the millimeter- and sub-millimeter-wave frequency ranges are used in fast-scan rotational spectroscopy to detect gas molecules and measure their concentrations [1]. This technique can be used for indoor air quality monitoring, detection of toxic gas leaks, breath analyses for monitoring bodily conditions and many others. This paper reports a 210-to-305GHz receiver (RX) front-end for a rotational spectrometer that achieves SSB noise figure (NF) of 13.9 to 19dB by incorporating an on-chip antenna with a reflector formed using a phase-compensated artificial magnetic conductor (PC-AMC) instead a metal reflector to improve the bandwidth of the antenna, a single balanced subharmonic mixer using a pair of floating-body NMOS anti-parallel diode pairs (FB-APDPs), a hybrid-based broadband port-isolation structure, and a 20-GHz low-noise intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier (Fig. 25.2.1). The front-end is fabricated in a 65nm CMOS process that supports isolated p-wells and 10 copper layers with a ~3μm thick 10th metal layer.
Pho85 Phosphorylates the Glc7 Protein Phosphatase Regulator Glc8 in Vivo *

The budding yeast Glc7 serine/threonine protein phosphatase-1 is regulated by Glc8, the yeast ortholog of mammalian phosphatase inhibitor-2. In this work, we demonstrated that similarly to inhibitor-2, Glc8 function is regulated by phosphorylation. The cyclin-dependent protein kinase, Pho85, in conjunction with the related cyclins Pcl6 and Pcl7 comprise the major Glc8 kinasein vivo and in vitro. Several glc7mutations are dependent on the presence of Glc8 for viability. For example, glc7 alleles R121K, R142H, and R198D are lethal in combination with a glc8deletion. We found that glc7-R121K is lethal in combination with a pho85 deletion. This finding indicates that Pho85 is the sole Glc8 kinase in vivo. Furthermore,glc7-R121K is also lethal when combined with deletions ofpcl6, plc7, pcl8, andpcl10, indicating that these related cyclins redundantly activate Pho85 for Glc8 phosphorylation in vivo. In vitro kinase assays and genetic results indicate that Pho85 cyclins Pcl6 and Pcl7 comprise the predominant Glc8 kinase.
An Information System Design for Organizational Creativity Support

The aim of this paper is to explore the issue of organizational creativity support and to propose a conceptual framework for the design of an organizational creativity support system. In order to achieve the research goal, the logic of the discourse is as follows. At the start, a critical review of the relevant literature is conducted to identify the issue of computer organizational creativity support. Next, a multi-agent approach is described as a foundation for the design of the organizational creativity support system. Then, a comprehensive framework for the design of information systems to support organizational creativity is proposed. Finally, the idea of organizational creativity support system based on different intelligent agents is discussed. In conclusion, theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study are presented.
Multi-agent supporting systems (MASS): control with centralized estimator of disturbance

A new type of a swarm, named multi-agent supporting system (MASS), is introduced for supporting structures where the configuration formed by many agents must be maintained even though there exist unknown disturbances. A control system for a MASS is also proposed on the basis of a new estimator of disturbance. The proposed disturbance estimator is described by inverting the stable digital inverse system. With this disturbance estimator, the unknown disturbance acting on each agent in the MASS is cancelled by the input, and influences less the output of the system. A computer simulation has been executed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison with the control method without the disturbance estimator. <<ETX>>
Ant colony search-based loss minimum for reconfiguration of distribution systems

This paper presents one of applications of the ant colony search method to reduce the minimum losses of distribution network. The configuration of distribution network is defined by the tie switches and sectionalized switches. The configuration optimization problem of distribution network is a combination optimization with a large search space involved the operational constraints of the distribution. The results of the ACS are compared to the ones obtained from other heuristic methods (heuristic, simulated annealing, genetic). All of the algorithms are programmed on Matlab applied to the typical distribution system 3 feeders, 17 buses, 16 switches and one feeder of Hochiminh Utility, 55 buses, 13 switches. This ant colony search algorithms obtains computation time faster and more reliability than other ones
Utility of galactomannan antigen detection in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in immunocompromised patients

Diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a challenging process in immunocompromised patients. Galactomannan (GM) antigen detection in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is a method to detect IPA with improved sensitivity over conventional studies. We sought to determine the diagnostic yield of BAL GM assay in a diverse population of immunocompromised patients. A retrospective review of 150 fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) with BAL for newly diagnosed pulmonary infiltrate in immunocompromised patients was performed. Patient information, procedural details and laboratory studies were collected. BAL and serum samples were evaluated for GM using enzyme‐linked immunoassay. Of 150 separate FOB with BAL, BAL GM was obtained in 143 samples. There were 31 positive BAL GM assays. In those 31 positive tests, 13 were confirmed as IPA, giving a positive predictive value of 41.9%. There was one false negative BAL GM. Of the 18 false positive BAL GM, 4 were receiving piperacillin–tazobactam and 11 were receiving an alternative beta‐lactam antibiotic. BAL GM assay shows excellent sensitivity for diagnosing IPA. There was a significant number of false positive BAL GM assays and several of those patients were receiving beta‐lactam antibiotics at the time of bronchoscopy.
Filter helix implementation into an S-band TWT design

The performance of an S-band traveling wave tube (TWT) is enhanced by introducing a filter consisting of periodic transmission line discontinuities into its delay line. The filter is designed to suppress the second harmonic which is particularly strong in this tube especially at low frequencies. The main goal, i.e. to improve the electron velocity spectrum at the lower operating band and, thus, to extend the bandwidth of the tube, is demonstrated.
Soccer Ball Detection in Occluded Situations for Single Static Camera Systems

The interest on acquiring player and ball data during soccer games is increasing in several domains such as media. Consequently, tracking systems are becoming widely used for live data gathering. Due to costs, stadium infrastructure, media rights etc. there is a trend for stand-alone mobile low-cost soccer tracking systems. The drawback of such systems is that generally only low-resolution images of the players are available which strongly exacerbates the problem of detection and tracking the soccer ball. Besides difficulties that arise from the appearance of the ball by itself, the detection of the ball in situations where it is occluded by the players is very challenging. This paper presents a tracking framework for the reconstruction of the ball trajectory from monocular low-resolution soccer image sequences. The focus of this paper is the detection of the ball in occluded situations. The approach is tested and evaluated on Bundesliga data sets.
Multi-Agent Team Formation: Solving Complex Problems by Aggregating Opinions

It is known that we can aggregate the opinions of different agents to find high-quality solutions to complex problems. However, choosing agents to form a team is still a great challenge. Moreover, it is essential to use a good aggregation methodology in order to unleash the potential of a given team in solving complex problems. In my thesis, I present two different novel models to aid in the team formation process. Moreover, I propose a new methodology for extracting rankings from existing agents. I show experimental results both in the Computer Go domain and in the building design domain.
Lifetime validation of digital systems via fault modeling and test generation

LIFETIME VALIDATION OF DIGITAL SYSTEMS VIA FAULT MODELING AND TEST GENERATION by Hussain Said Al-Asaad Chair: John P. Hayes The steady growth in the complexity of digital systems demands more efficient algorithms and tools for design verification and testing. Design verification is becoming increasingly important due to shorter design cycles and the high cost of system failures. During normal operation, digital systems are subject to operational faults, which require regular on-line testing in the field, especially for high-availability and safety-critical applications. Fabrication fault testing has a well-developed methodology that can, in principle, be adapted for efficient design validation and on-line testing. This thesis investigates a comprehensive “lifetime” validation approach that uses fabrication fault testing and simulation techniques, and accounts for design errors, fabrication faults, and operational faults. The validation is achieved by the following sequence of steps: (1) explicit error and fault modeling, (2) model-directed test generation, and (3) test application. We first present a hardware design validation methodology that follows the foregoing validation approach. We analyze the gate-level design error models used in prior research and show how to map them into single stuck-line (SSL) faults. We then describe an extensive set of experiments, which demonstrate that high coverage of the modeled gate-level errors can be achieved with small test sets obtained with standard test generation and simulation tools for fabrication faults. Due to the absence of published error data, we have systematically collected design errors from a number of microprocessor design projects, and used them to construct high-level error models suitable for design validation. Experimental results indicate that very high coverage of actual design errors can be obtained with test sets that are complete for a small number of design error models. We further present a new error model for control errors in microprocessors and a validation approach