Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Touchless Palmprint Verification using Shock Filter, SIFT, I-RANSAC, and LPD

Palmprint have some basic features. These basic features are unique and unchangeable in one's life. It is constant and not easy to fake. A palmprint contains three major lines that are called principal line, secondary line, and wrinkles. These lines give rich information for personal verification and have robust discernment. In this paper a new method proposed for palmprint verification. Shock filter is used in the proposed method for preprocessing. SIFT feature matching using I-RANSAC and LPD refinement are used for feature matching. The results of the preprocessed and without preprocessed palmprint images are displayed, compared, and discussed in this paper. The experiment is carried out using IITD palmprint database and CASIA palmprint database.
Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography and Applications for Biological Imaging

Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) technique has recently attracted significant interest because of its better detection sensitivity and faster image acquisition rates compared with the traditional time-domain optical coherence tomography (TD-OCT) technique. In this paper we introduce the basic principle, experimental setup and the post processing program of a SD-OCT system constructed at our laboratory. The SD-OCT system has an axial resolution of 10 mum in air and 1000 axial scans per second at 3648 pixels per axial scan. It is then demonstrated that the SD-OCT image of onion skin and rat eye, verifying the capability for biological imaging of our system.
Scalable video coding using compressive sensing

Video coding using compressive video sensing exhibits many characteristics that are desirable for transmission in a video network. In particular, the coded video is inherently scalable with channel capacity, decoding complexity, display resolution, and quality. In this paper, we present compressive video sensing methods and demonstrate video scalability with such properties as graceful degradation, multi-resolution decoding. © 2012 Alcatel-Lucent.
Inter-channel coherence reduction method for stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation

A novel perceptually transparent decorrelation method for stereo (and multichannel) echo cancellation (SAEC, MAEC) systems is described in this paper. It is based on combining a previously known phase modulation technique with a magnitude modulation component. The new method is more effective at decreasing correlation for frequencies below 1 kHz, a region where it is most important to have stable echo cancellation performance in a speech communication system.
Atomic-scale observation of parallel development of super elasticity and reversible plasticity in GaAs nanowires

We report the atomic-scale observation of parallel development of super elasticity and reversible dislocation-based plasticity from an early stage of bending deformation until fracture in GaAs nanowires. While this phenomenon is in sharp contrast to the textbook knowledge, it is expected to occur widely in nanostructures. This work indicates that the super recoverable deformation in nanomaterials is not simple elastic or reversible plastic deformation in nature, but the coupling of both.
A Comparative Study of Unsupervised Anomaly Detection Techniques Using Honeypot Data

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) have been received considerable attention among the network security researchers as one of the most promising countermeasures to defend our crucial computer systems or networks against attackers on the Internet. Over the past few years, many machine learning techniques have been applied to IDSs so as to improve their performance and to construct them with low cost and effort. Especially, unsupervised anomaly detection techniques have a significant advantage in their capability to identify unforeseen attacks, i.e., 0-day attacks, and to build intrusion detection models without any labeled (i.e., pre-classified) training data in an automated manner. In this paper, we conduct a set of experiments to evaluate and analyze performance of the major unsupervised anomaly detection techniques using real traffic data which are obtained at our honeypots deployed inside and outside of the campus network of Kyoto University, and using various evaluation criteria, i.e., performance evaluation by similarity measurements and the size of training data, overall performance, detection ability for unknown attacks, and time complexity. Our experimental results give some practical and useful guidelines to IDS researchers and operators, so that they can acquire insight to apply these techniques to the area of intrusion detection, and devise more effective intrusion detection models.
Dons de terres et de villes : l'Asie mineure dans le contexte Achéménide

L'objectif de l'etude est de reaborder le probleme si controverse de la propriete privee dans les societes «asiatiques» - en l'occurrence les societes de l'Empire achemenide - a partir des documents portant sur les dons de villes et de terres. Dans une premiere partie sont presentes sous forme analytique les textes classiques portant temoignage de ces dons (particulierement en Asie Mineure). Dans une deuxieme partie, ces sources classiques sont confrontees aux sources elamites (tablettes de Persepolis), aux sources accadiennes et aux sources arameennes (correspondance du satrape Arshama). Dans la majorite des cas, il semble s'agir plus du don precaire des revenus que de l'abandon de territoires en pleine propriete ; dans tous les cas, terres et villes sont concedees en echange de services dus au Roi.
Closing the energy gap to prevent weight gain in China

To estimate the energy gap (i.e. degree of positive energy balance) that is causing weight gain in the population of China in order to provide a quantitative goal for how much behaviour change is required to prevent excess weight gain in the population. This is based on data collected in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. 2288 adults (20–45 years) who took part in both the 1989 and 2000 surveys were selected. Results: from 1989 to 2000, the average weight of this population increased from 55.4 kg to 59.1 kg. The medium increasing rate was 0.33 kg year−1. During this time, the prevalence of overweight in the population increased dramatically from 9.0% to 23.2%. By assuming that each kilogram of body weight gained represents 7700 kcal, the estimated medium energy accumulation in the sample was 7.0 kcal day−1 and the 90th percentile was 22.5 kcal d−1. Further, assuming that the energy derived from mixed composition diets is stored with an average efficiency of 50%, the estimated energy gap for the population was 45 kcal day−1. This is the degree of positive energy balance that is causing weight gain in 90% of the population. The estimate suggests that the behaviour change needed to close the energy gap is small and achievable without dramatically altering current lifestyle in China. For example, reducing energy intake by just 2–3% less each day or walking an extra 10–15 minutes each day could offset weight gain in roughly 90% of the population in China. By providing an estimate of the energy gap it can be predicted that weight gain in most of the population of China could be prevented with small lifestyle changes. It is critical that these lifestyle changes be implemented in order to prevent acceleration of the obesity epidemic in China.
Bone Histomorphometry of Transiliac Paired Bone Biopsies After 6 or 12 Months of Treatment With Oral Strontium Ranelate in 387 Osteoporotic Women: Randomized Comparison to Alendronate

Preclinical studies indicate that strontium ranelate (SrRan) induces opposite effects on bone osteoblasts and osteoclasts, suggesting that SrRan may have a dual action on both formation and resorption. By contrast, alendronate (ALN) is a potent antiresorptive agent. In this multicenter, international, double‐blind, controlled study conducted in 387 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, transiliac bone biopsies were performed at baseline and after 6 or 12 months of treatment with either SrRan 2 g per day (n = 256) or alendronate 70 mg per week (n = 131). No deleterious effect on mineralization of SrRan or ALN was observed. In the intention‐to‐treat (ITT) population (268 patients with paired biopsy specimens), changes in static and dynamic bone formation parameters were always significantly higher with ALN compared with SrRan at month 6 (M6) and month 12 (M12). Static parameters of formation were maintained between baseline and the last value with SrRan, except for osteoblast surfaces, which decreased at M6. Significant decreases in the dynamic parameters of formation (mineralizing surface, bone formation rate, adjusted apposition rate, activation frequency) were noted at M6 and M12 in SrRan. Compared with ALN, the bone formation parameters at M6 and M12 were always significantly higher (p < 0.001) with SrRan. ALN, but not SrRan, decreased resorption parameters. Compared with the baseline paired biopsy specimens, wall thickness was significantly decreased at M6 but not at M12 and cancellous bone structure parameters (trabecular bone volume, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, number of nodes/tissue volume) were significantly decreased at M12 with SrRan; none of these changes were significantly different from ALN. In conclusion, this large controlled paired biopsy study over 1 year shows that the bone formation remains higher with a lower diminution of the bone remodeling with SrRan versus ALN. From these results, SrRan did not show a significant anabolic action on bone remodeling. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Transplacental Transmission of Bluetongue Virus 8 in Cattle, UK

To determine whether transplacental transmission could explain overwintering of bluetongue virus in the United Kingdom, we studied calves born to dams naturally infected during pregnancy in 2007–08. Approximately 33% were infected transplacentally; some had compromised health. In all infected calves, viral load decreased after birth; no evidence of persistent infection was found.
Reduced number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in hypogonadal men.

CONTEXT Endothelial dysfunction seems to be the first step of the atherosclerotic process. In the past few years, it has been demonstrated that injured endothelial monolayer is restored by a premature pool of circulating progenitor cells (PCs) and a more mature one of circulating endothelial PCs (EPCs). Even though there is increasing evidence that estrogens play a beneficial role on EPCs and, even if debated, on the cardiovascular system, less is known about androgens. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to evaluate the levels of circulating PCs and EPCs in men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) and the effect of prolonged testosterone (T) replacement therapy on these cells. DESIGN AND SETTING We conducted a prospective study on males with HH at a university andrological center. PATIENTS The study included 10 young HH patients (28.6 +/- 3.1 yr) and 25 age-matched controls. INTERVENTIONS Idiopathic HH patients were treated with T gel therapy, 50 mg/d for 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We assessed circulating PC and EPC concentrations and immunocytochemistry for androgen receptor expression on cultured EPCs. RESULTS At baseline, HH patients showed a significant reduction of both PCs and EPCs with respect to controls. T replacement therapy induced a significant increase of these cells with respect to baseline. Immunocytochemistry on cultured EPCs showed strong expression of the androgen receptor. CONCLUSIONS Hypotestosteronemia is associated with a low number of circulating PCs and EPCs in young HH subjects. T treatment is able to induce an increase in these cells through a possible direct effect on the bone marrow.
Dental hygienist and patient comparisons of fluoride varnishes to fluoride gels.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate a fluoride varnish and compare it to fluoride gels in categories including taste, comfort, efficiency, discoloration, moisture control, safety, and ease of application. METHODS Methods. Twenty-five licensed dental hygienists and 148 patients completed questionnaires comparing fluoride varnish to fluoride gel for the following categories: taste, comfort, efficiency, discoloration, moisture control, and safety. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a chi-square test. RESULTS The 25 dental hygienists rated fluoride varnish (Duraphat) superior to fluoride gels in all categories. Eighty-three (56.5%) of the 148 patients reported the varnish application to be more comfortable than gel while 29 (20%) found it the same. In taste comparison, 90 (71.4%) preferred the varnish, while 16 (12.7%) rated it the same. The time required was reported as better for the varnish technique by 59 (50.4%) and equal to the gels by 32 (20.3%). Discoloration of the teeth by the varnish was found not noticeable or not objectionable by 66 (49.3%) and somewhat objectionable or too noticeable for comfort in public by 68 (50.7%). However, 85 (64.3%) reported that they would choose to have the varnish treatment while 33 (25%) would not. Dental hygienist responses on questions 1-4 relative to the number of years in practice were not found to be significantly different. CONCLUSION The patients and dental hygienists in this study preferred fluoride varnishes to gels. However, since some patients objected to the temporary discoloration, varnishes may not be suitable for everyone.
A 2.5GHz 32nm 0.35mm2 3.5dB NF −5dBm P1dB fully differential CMOS push-pull LNA with integrated 34dBm T/R switch and ESD protection

Process scaling enables SoC integration of radio and large digital systems at reduced cost and area. Furthermore, the crowded spectrum requires high linearity receivers to enable co-existence in the 2.4GHz ISM band. Inductorless LNA designs have been studied to make use of the excess fT in advanced CMOS technologies to lower cost [1]. However, an inductively tuned LNA has the advantage of improved out-of-band rejection, and can be readily integrated with a transmit/receive (T/R) switch to provide isolation in the TX mode without the need for additional inductors [2]. In this paper, a 2.5GHz fully differential tuned LNA with integrated T/R switch is designed in a High-K metal gate 32nm digital CMOS process, and packaged in an SoC-compatible flip-chip package. Reliability constraints of the package severely limit the ability to depopulate soldering bumps, and RF components must be designed taking the bump location into account. The LNA achieves a 3.5dB NF, −5dBm P1dB at 2.5GHz while drawing 11mA from a 1.8V supply. LNA performance is enabled by (1) use of a push-pull topology that exploits the equal strength of p and n transistors to improve linearity, (2) use of nested coupled inductors (NCI) for low-noise input matching and to reduce area. The T/R switch handles 34dBm of power with an insertion loss of 1.1dB at 2.5GHz. T/R switch performance is enabled by (1) reuse of LNA gate inductor to enable low RX mode loss [2], (2) use of remote body-contacted TX switch with high power handling and ESD protection for a transformer-coupled PA.
RGB-D camera-based quadrotor navigation in GPS-denied and low light environments using known 3D markers

This paper presents an original approach for autonomous navigation based on RGB-D data and known 3D markers, where the basic concept is to detect and recognize the markers and then to use them for a straightforward pose estimation solution. The developed algorithms can allow a quadrotor to autonomously fly in (cooperative) GPS denied environments and/or when there is no natural or artificial illumination of the scene, by following a predetermined path consisting of successive targets having a well defined shape and/or color. Algorithms for target detection and recognition based on depth data are described which are optimized for real time use, paying particular attention to the on-board computational load. Experimental tests have been carried out by integrating a RGB-Depth sensor (ASUS Xtion Pro Live) on-board a custom-built quadrotor. First results confirm the potential of the proposed approach. The technique can be applied to different types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).
Chemokines and chemokine receptors in inflammation of the nervous system: manifold roles and exquisite regulation

This article focuses on the production of chemokines by resident glial cells of the nervous system. We describe studies in two distinct categories of inflammation within the nervous system: immune-mediated inflammation as seen in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) or multiple sclerosis (MS) and post-traumatic inflammation. We provide evidence that chemokines play a role in amplifying the inflammatory reaction in EAE (and, probably, MS). In the context of neural trauma, chemokines appear to be primary stimuli for leukocyte recruitment. Strikingly, expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) are largely restricted to astrocytes or other glial cells in these diverse pathological states. The remainder of the review focuses on studies that address the molecular mechanisms which underlie transcriptional regulation of three astrocyte-derived chemokines: MCP-1, IP-10 and beta-R1/interferon-gamma-inducible T-cell chemoattractant (I-TAC). Based on these studies, we propose that the complex promoters of these genes are marvelously organized for flexible and efficient response to challenge. In the case of MCP-1, several different stimuli can elicit gene transcription, acting through a conserved mechanism that includes binding of inducible transcription factors and recruitment of the constitutive factor Sp1. For IP-10 and beta-R1/I-TAC, it appears that efficient gene transcription occurs only in highly inflammatory circumstances that produce aggregates of simultaneous stimuli. These characteristics, in turn, mirror the expression patterns of the endogenous genes: MCP-1 is expressed under a variety of circumstances, while IP-10 appears primarily during immune-mediated processes that feature exposure of resident neuroglia to high levels of inflammatory cytokines.
Determination of apparent ileal amino acid digestibility in pigs: effect of dietary amino acid level.

Studies were carried out to investigate the effect of dietary amino acid level on apparent ileal amino acid digestibility. Six barrows, average initial BW 35 kg, were fitted with a simple T-cannula at the distal ileum and fed six diets according to a 6 x 6 Latin square design. Six cornstarch-based diets containing six levels of CP from SBM (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24% CP, respectively) were formulated. Chronic oxide was included as a digestibility marker. Each experimental period consisted of 8 d. After a 6-d adaptation period, ileal digesta were collected for 24 h during d 7 and 9 at 2-h intervals. The pigs were fed twice daily, equal amounts, at 0800 and 2000. The dietary allowance was 1,600 g/d during the first period and increased by 100 g each following period. There was a quadratic increase (P < .05) in apparent ileal amino acid digestibility as the dietary CP content was increased from 4 to 24%. Initially, the apparent ileal amino acid digestibilities increased sharply then gradually reached their plateaus, after which there were no further increases and the digestibility values became independent of the dietary amino acid levels. The lower end points of 95% confidence intervals of the plateau ileal digestibility values were defined to be the initial plateau digestibilities. The dietary CP and amino acid contents, corresponding to the initial plateau digestibility values, represent the dietary threshold levels. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Three-dimensional hyaluronic acid grafts promote healing and reduce scar formation in skin incision wounds.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has been found to play important roles in tissue regeneration and wound-healing processes. Fetal tissue with a high concentration of HA heals rapidly without scarring. The present study employed HA formed into three-dimensional strands with or without keratinocytes to treat full-thickness skin incision wounds in rats. Wound closure rates of HA strand grafts both with and without keratinocytes were substantially enhanced. The closure times of both HA grafts were less than 1 day (average 16 h), about 1/7 that of the contralateral control incisions (114 h, p <.01). Average wound areas after 10 days were HA-only graft: 0.151 mm2 +/- 0.035; HA + cell grafts: 0.143 mm2 +/- 0.036 and controls: 14.434 mm2 +/- 1.175, experimental areas were 1% of the controls (p < 0.01). Transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 measured by immunostaining was remarkably reduced in HA-treated wounds compared to the controls. In conclusion, HA grafts appeared to produce a fetal-like environment with reduced TGF-beta1, which is known to be elevated in incipient scars. The HA strands with or without cultured cells may potentially improve clinical wound healing as well as reduce scar formation.
Hash Ranking With Weighted Asymmetric Distance for Image Search

Image search can be viewed as a problem of large-scale approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search in image feature space. Hash ranking methods have been widely used for ANN search because of their two benefits: less memory usage and high search efficiency. Generally, the hash ranking methods face two problems: binary encoding and binary code ranking. This paper focuses on the latter. In existing work, the ranking of binary hash codes is usually implemented based on Hamming distance or asymmetric distance. Hamming distance easily leads to confusing ranking when different candidate points share the same Hamming distance to the query point. Therefore, recent work prefers the asymmetric distance to Hamming distance. When computing asymmetric distance, it is necessary to give reasonable query-independent values. These values are usually approximated by average values of sample candidate points in existing methods. However, when the distribution of candidate points is not uniform, average values are meaningless, leading to wrong ranking results. To address this problem, we propose two kinds of weighted asymmetric distance algorithms, namely, the Otsu threshold based algorithm (WoRank) and the score calculation based algorithm (WsRank) in this paper. The processes of these two proposed algorithms are similar, consisting of two steps. In the first step, we compute the query-independent values on each bit in accordance with corresponding distribution of candidate points to reduce the approximation error. In the second step, we compute bitwise weights in consideration of each bit's discriminative power to further improve the retrieval accuracy. The differences between WoRank and WsRank are the computation methods of query-independent values and bitwise weights. To evaluate the proposed algorithms, we conduct a large number of experiments on four well-known datasets, namely, SIFT, CIFAR-10, MNIST, and NUS-WIDE. The results show that the proposed algorithms can achieve up to 22% performance gains over Hamming distance based ranking and 13% over the existing asymmetric distance based ranking. We also find WoRank is suitable for feature dataset (SIFT), while WsRank is suitable for image datasets.
A 10-bit area-efficient SAR ADC with re-usable capacitive array

In this paper, an area-efficient successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a dithering Vref is proposed. It reuses the capacitive array with the reconfiguration of Vref to Vref ± ΔV for reducing dramatically the ADC's area. The 2n resolution is achieved by the n bit SAR-ADC. To verify the proposed scheme, the proposed SAR ADC is implemented in a TSMC 0.18 μm 1P6M CMOS process with a supply voltage of 1.8V. The simulation results show that the capacitor area is reduced by 96% compared with the conventional 10-bit SAR-ADC. The ENOB of the proposed architecture is 9.767 bit when operating at 14MS/s.