Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Match score integration of iris and fingerprint in multibiometrics system

Unimodal biometric systems encounters variety of limitations such as noisy input data, universality of traits, inability to enroll, unacceptable error rates and spoofing. Multimodal biometric system aims to fuse output of multiple biometric classifiers to alleviate some of these limitations. This paper proposes a novel multibiometric system using two most used biometric traits fingerprint and iris. Feature vector of each of traits are extracted from texture pattern of biometric images, using discrete wavelet transform and principal component analysis technique. Classification of these feature vectors is carried out using Euclidean distance. The match score obtained are fused together using simple sum rule assigning equal weight to both the modalities. Experimental results on combining these two biometric shows that the proposed multimodal system provides significant improvement in performance over individual unimodal systems. Equal error rate of 0.354500 has been achieved for the proposed system.
Exploring the population genetic consequences of the colonization process with spatio‐temporally explicit models: insights from coupled ecological, demographic and genetic models in montane grasshoppers

Understanding the genetic consequences of shifting species distributions is critical for evaluating the impact of climate‐induced distributional changes. However, the demographic expansion associated with the colonization process typically takes place across a heterogeneous environment, with population sizes and migration rates varying across the landscape. Here we describe an approach for coupling ecological‐niche models (ENMs) with demographic and genetic models to explore the genetic consequences of distributional shifts across a heterogeneous landscape. Analyses of a flightless grasshopper from the sky islands of the Rocky Mountains of North America are used to show how biologically informed predictions can be generated about the genetic consequences of a colonization process across a spatially and temporally heterogeneous landscape (i.e. the suitability of habitats for the montane species differs across the landscape and is itself not static, with the displacement of contemporary populations into glacial refugia). By using (i) ENMs for current climatic conditions and the last glacial maximum to (ii) parameterize a demographic model of the colonization process, which then (iii) informs coalescent simulations, a set of models can be generated that capture different processes associated with distributional shifts. We discuss how the proposed approach for model generation can be integrated into a statistical framework for estimating key demographic parameters and testing hypotheses about the conditions for which distributional shifts may (or may not) enhance species divergence, including the importance of habitat stability, past gene‐flow among currently isolated populations, and maintenance of refugial populations in multiple geographic regions.
Tom 53 ( 67 ) , Fascicola 1-2 , 2008 On the Discrete Wavelet Transform Initialization Errors in Continuous-Time Applications

1 Facultatea de Electronică şi Telecomunicaţii, Departamentul Comunicaţii Bd. V. Pârvan Nr. 2, 300223 Timişoara, e-mail dorina.isar@etc.upt. ro Abstract – The discrete wavelet transform can be used to process continuous-time signals. To use it, the initialization errors must be minimized. This is the aim of this paper. The results are justified and are presented in a unitary manner. We give a strategy to accomplish this minimization. Some examples are presented. A superior bound of these errors is also presented.
Non-rigid Surface Tracking and Modeling Using Stereo Cameras

Advanced surgical robotics calls for an accurate, real-time model of live-tissue deformation under force. Two major di culties remain, non-rigid body deformation description, and object mechanical property estimation. We devised a computer vision based data aquization system for non-rigid body surface tracking via stereo video images. We also created a neural network based prediction and simulation model of the deformation process. We present the experiment details and preliminary results in this paper.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene polymorphisms: influence on treatment response phenotypes of major depressive disorder

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a member of the nerve growth factor family of neurotrophins, has pivotal roles in neuronal survival, proliferation, and synaptic plasticity in the brain. Both clinical and pharmacological studies have implicated the common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position 196, Val66Met in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD), and antidepressant response. However, inconsistent results were found between Val66Met (rs6265) polymorphism and treatment response phenotypes in genetic association studies. The functional Val66Met polymorphism and seven other tagging SNP markers selected to capture the major allelic variations across BDNF locus were analyzed in depressed patients, treated with antidepressants, and 76 control patients. Two hundred and six patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV MDD were recruited for this study and genotyped for eight BDNF tagging SNPs (rs11030096, rs925946, rs10501087, rs6265, rs12273363, rs908867, rs1491850, and rs1491851) to investigate the functional impact of genotypes/haplotypes in the susceptibility of depression and on treatment response. None of the eight SNPs, including the rs6265, were significantly associated with MDD after permutation correction. However, we found an association for rs10501087, rs6265 with nonresponse to antidepressant treatment (corrected permutation P: 0.03599; 0.0399 and power: 0.1420; 0.1492, respectively). Analysis of each two-marker, three-marker, and four-marker sliding window haplotypes showed significance in haplotype combinations. Especially rs10501087 (C), rs6265 (A), and rs1491850 (C) together or with the other SNP haplotypes showed a similar pattern in all treatment response phenotypes. Despite the limited power of analysis, our results suggest that these three SNPs may play a role in antidepressant treatment response phenotypes in MDD.
Automated classification between age-related macular degeneration and Diabetic macular edema in OCT image using image segmentation

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic macular edema (DME) are to lead causes to make a visual loss in people. People are suffered from the use of many time to diagnose and to wait for treatment both of diseases. This paper proposes a step of image segmentation to be divided the optical coherence tomography (OCT) to find the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer and to detect a shape of drusen in RPE layer. Then, the RPE layer is used for finding retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and for detecting a bubble of blood area in RNFL complex. Finally, this method uses a binary classification to classify two diseases characteristic between AMD and DME. We use 16 OCT images of a case study to segmentation and classify two diseases. In the experimental results, 10 images of AMD and 6 images of DME can be detected and classified to accuracy of 87.5%.
Reevaluation of the Effects of Brefeldin A on Plant Cells Using Tobacco Bright Yellow 2 Cells Expressing Golgi-Targeted Green Fluorescent Protein and COPI Antisera Online version contains Web-only data. Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.

Brefeldin A (BFA) causes a block in the secretory system of eukaryotic cells by inhibiting vesicle formation at the Golgi apparatus. Although this toxin has been used in many studies, its effects on plant cells are still shrouded in controversy. We have reinvestigated the early responses of plant cells to BFA with novel tools, namely, tobacco Bright Yellow 2 (BY-2) suspension-cultured cells expressing an in vivo green fluorescent protein–Golgi marker, electron microscopy of high-pressure frozen/freeze-substituted cells, and antisera against Atγ-COP, a component of COPI coats, and AtArf1, the GTPase necessary for COPI coat assembly. The first effect of 10 μg/mL BFA on BY-2 cells was to induce in <5 min the complete loss of vesicle-forming Atγ-COP from Golgi cisternae. During the subsequent 15 to 20 min, this block in Golgi-based vesicle formation led to a series of sequential changes in Golgi architecture, the loss of distinct Golgi stacks, and the formation of an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–Golgi hybrid compartment with stacked domains. These secondary effects appear to depend in part on stabilizing intercisternal filaments and include the continued maturation of cis- and medial cisternae into trans-Golgi cisternae, as predicted by the cisternal progression model, the shedding of trans-Golgi network cisternae, the fusion of individual Golgi cisternae with the ER, and the formation of large ER-Golgi hybrid stacks. Prolonged exposure of the BY-2 cells to BFA led to the transformation of the ER-Golgi hybrid compartment into a sponge-like structure that does not resemble normal ER. Thus, although the initial effects of BFA on plant cells are the same as those described for mammalian cells, the secondary and tertiary effects have drastically different morphological manifestations. These results indicate that, despite a number of similarities in the trafficking machinery with other eukaryotes, there are fundamental differences in the functional architecture and properties of the plant Golgi apparatus that are the cause for the unique responses of the plant secretory pathway to BFA.
Differential regulation of lipopolysaccharide‐induced interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor synthesis: effects of endogenous and exogenous glucocorticoids and the role of the pituitary‐adrenal axis

Intraperitoneal injection of a sublethal dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into mice resulted in the appearance of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the serum within 45 min. Maximal serum TNF was detected by 1 h, and by 3–4 h TNF levels were no longer significantly above baseline. Injection of mice with an additional dose of LPS at 4 h resulted in no further increase in serum TNF. The in vivo kinetics of TNF appearance correlated with in vitro studies in which TNF mRNA was detected in murine peritoneal macrophages 30 min after LPS stimulation. The increase in serum TNF was not detected in mice treated with dexamethasone, 3 mg/kg, prior to LPS stimulation. The decrease in TNF correlated with the appearance of significant amounts of endogenous serum corticosterone which were maximal by 3 h. Further evidence for the role of endogenous steroids in the modulation of serum TNF levels was obtained in studies with adrenalectomized or hypophysectomized mice. Compared to sham‐operated animals, serum TNF levels remain elevated 5 h post LPS stimulation in adrenalectomized or hypohysectomized mice. In contrast with the transient increase in TNF, serum IL 1 was maximal 4 h post LPS injection and remained elevated at 24 h. In vitro studies with primary cultures of human peripheral blood monocytes and human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells demonstrated that LPS‐induced mono‐cyte IL 1 levels were reduced approximately 5‐fold by 10‐1 M dexamethasone while dexamethasone had only minimal effects on endothelial cell IL 1. Therefore, the in vitro data would suggest that the maintenance of elevated IL 1 levels coincident with the appearance of endogenous corticosteroids during LPS shock is related to the synthesis of IL 1 by both monocyte‐macrophages and non‐myeloid cell populations including endothelial cells.
Multiscale Gas Transport in Shales With Local Kerogen Heterogeneities

On the basis of microand mesoscale investigations, a new mathematical formulation is introduced in detail to investigate multiscale gas-transport phenomena in organic-rich-shale core samples. The formulation includes dual-porosity continua, where shale permeability is associated with inorganic matrix with relatively large irregularly shaped pores and fractures, whereas molecular phenomena (diffusive transport and nonlinear sorption) are associated with the kerogen pores. Kerogen is considered a nanoporous organic material finely dispersed within the inorganic matrix. The formulation is used to model and history match gaspermeation measurements in the laboratory using shale core plugs under confining stress. The results indicate significance of molecular transport and strong transient effects caused by gas/solid interactions within the kerogen. In the second part of the paper, we present a novel multiscale perturbation approach to quantify the overall impact of local porosity fluctuations associated with a spatially nonuniform kerogen distribution on the adsorption and transport in shale gas reservoirs. Adopting weak-noise and meanfield approximation, the approach applies a stochastic upscaling technique to the mathematical formulation developed in the first part for the laboratory. It allows us to investigate local kerogenheterogeneity effects in spectral (Fourier-Laplace) domain and to obtain an upscaled “macroscopic” model, which consists of the local heterogeneity effects in the real time—space domain. The new upscaled formulation is compared numerically with the previous homogeneous case using finite-difference approximations to initial/boundary value problems simulating the matrix gas release. We show that macrotransport and macrokinetics effects of kerogen heterogeneity are nontrivial and affect cumulative gas recovery. The work is important and timely for development of newgeneration shale-gas reservoir-flow simulators, and it can be used in the laboratory for organic-rich gas-shale characterization.
Achieving Full Secrecy Rate With Energy-Efficient Transmission Control

Due to the dynamic arrival of data packets and time-varying channel states, secure transmission opportunities will be wasted when there is no confidential message to transmit, and data packet transmission can be delayed while waiting for the next available secure transmission opportunity. In order to seize every precious secure transmission opportunity and reduce the data packet waiting time, we propose a secure transmission protocol in which the under-utilized secure transmission opportunities can be exploited to transmit key packets, and these key packets will encrypt the confidential messages in the subsequent transmissions. Following the above-mentioned principle, we first apply this protocol to a single-input single-output network, and optimally allocate the secure transmission opportunities for the key and data transmissions, such that the secrecy rate is maximized under the constraints of the minimum energy efficiency and queue stability requirements. In addition, the packet delay for the proposed protocol is investigated using a generating function approach and a closed-form expression of the packet delay is derived. Then, we extend our work to the multiple-input single-output network and utilize the key queue as well as the artificial noise to protect the confidential messages. Similarly, we also optimally allocate the transmission opportunities for the key and data transmissions to maximize the secrecy rate and study the data packet delay performance. Since all secrecy transmission opportunities are utilized in the proposed protocol, the full secrecy rate is achieved. Numerical results are demonstrated to verify the performance superiority of the proposed protocols when compared with the other key encrypted schemes in terms of the data packet delay and the secrecy rate.
An oligosaccharide-based HIV-1 2G12 mimotope vaccine induces carbohydrate-specific antibodies that fail to neutralize HIV-1 virions

The conserved oligomannose epitope, Man9GlcNAc2, recognized by the broadly neutralizing human mAb 2G12 is an attractive prophylactic vaccine candidate for the prevention of HIV-1 infection. We recently reported total chemical synthesis of a series of glycopeptides incorporating one to three copies of Man9GlcNAc2 coupled to a cyclic peptide scaffold. Surface plasmon resonance studies showed that divalent and trivalent, but not monovalent, compounds were capable of binding 2G12. To test the efficacy of the divalent glycopeptide as an immunogen capable of inducing a 2G12-like neutralizing antibody response, we covalently coupled the molecule to a powerful immune-stimulating protein carrier and evaluated immunogenicity of the conjugate in two animal species. We used a differential immunoassay to demonstrate induction of high levels of carbohydrate-specific antibodies; however, these antibodies showed poor recognition of recombinant gp160 and failed to neutralize a panel of viral isolates in entry-based neutralization assays. To ascertain whether antibodies produced during natural infection could recognize the mimetics, we screened a panel of HIV-1-positive and -negative sera for binding to gp120 and the synthetic antigens. We present evidence from both direct and competitive binding assays that no significant recognition of the glycopeptides was observed, although certain sera did contain antibodies that could compete with 2G12 for binding to recombinant gp120.
The Impact of Female Employment on Male Salaries and Careers: Evidence from the English Banking Industry, 1890–1941

The late 19th and early 20th century British labour market experienced an influx of female clerical workers. Employers argued that female employment increased opportunities for men to advance; however, most male clerks regarded this expansion of the labour supply as a threat to their pay and status. This paper examines the effects of female employment on male clerks using data from Williams Deacon's Bank covering a period 25 years prior and 25 years subsequent to the initial employment of women. It is shown that within position women were substitutes for men, although the degree of substitutability was less for older men than for juniors. In addition, the employment of women in routine positions allowed the Bank to expand its branch network, creating new higher-level positions, which were almost always filled by men.
Evaluation of a Colorimetric Antifungal Susceptibility Test by Using 2,3-Diphenyl-5-Thienyl-(2)-Tetrazolium Chloride

ABSTRACT A colorimetric antifungal susceptibility test was performed using 2,3-diphenyl-5-thienyl-(2)-tetrazolium chloride. Among 24 strains of Candida species, no trailing growth was found. In 22 and 20 strains, the MICs obtained in the colorimetric assay were within two dilutions of those obtained by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards method for ketoconazole and itraconazole, respectively.
Fractal Koch Dipole antenna for digital TV application

This paper describes the design of Fractal Koch Dipole array (FKDA) using log periodic technique for a sample 3 elements and design to operate at UHF band frequencies. The planar fractal Koch has been investigated in a planar log periodic dipole array in order to miniaturize its size using fractal technique. The simulation process was carried out using 3D simulator software CST 2008. The antenna structure was fabricated using Fire Retardant-4 (FR4) board, using wet etching techniques. The antenna is designed to operate at UHF Band (470 MHz- 806 MHz). The design procedures are elaborated in this paper. Both simulated and measured return loss S11 result exhibit similar characteristic which have same frequency range with a return loss magnitude less than -10 dB. The comparisons in term of gain and radiation pattern at a single frequency for simulated and measured result are discussed in this paper.
A method for GNSS spoofing detection based on sequential probability ratio test

Nowadays, an increasing number of applications and services are based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). GNSS signals are vulnerable to interference, jamming and spoofing. Among them, spoofing attack is extremely deceitful and destructive, because it can result in misleading time and position error. Hence, reliable spoofing detection is of great importance for many critical applications and services. Since PN-code acquisition is the first step of baseband signal processing, successful spoofing detection at this stage is timely, and alarms can be raised as early as possible. Therefore, a new method for spoofing detection at the acquisition stage based on the sequential probability ratio test is proposed in this paper. And performance analysis and evaluation of the proposed method is presented as well. At last, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Conditional inactivation of nicastrin restricts amyloid deposition in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model

Production of Aβ by γ‐secretase is a key event in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The γ‐secretase complex consists of presenilin (PS) 1 or 2, nicastrin (ncstn), Pen‐2, and Aph‐1 and cleaves type I transmembrane proteins, including the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Although ncstn is widely accepted as an essential component of the complex required for γ‐secretase activity, recent in vitro studies have suggested that ncstn is dispensable for APP processing and Aβ production. The focus of this study was to answer this controversy and evaluate the role of ncstn in Aβ generation and the development of the amyloid‐related phenotype in the mouse brain. To eliminate ncstn expression in the mouse brain, we used a ncstn conditional knockout mouse that we mated with an established AD transgenic mouse model (5XFAD) and a neuronal Cre‐expressing transgenic mouse (CamKIIα‐iCre), to generate AD mice (5XFAD/CamKIIα‐iCre/ncstnf/f mice) where ncstn was conditionally inactivated in the brain. 5XFAD/CamKIIα‐iCre/ncstnf/f mice at 10 week of age developed a neurodegenerative phenotype with a significant reduction in Aβ production and formation of Aβ aggregates and the absence of amyloid plaques. Inactivation of nctsn resulted in substantial accumulation of APP‐CTFs and altered PS1 expression. These results reveal a key role for ncstn in modulating Aβ production and amyloid plaque formation in vivo and suggest ncstn as a target in AD therapeutics.
Use of non-invasive brain stimulation in stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability in the Western world (Kolominsky-Rabas et al., 2001). Clinically, stroke is defined as a neurological deficit of cerebrovascular cause that persists beyond 24 hours. The clinical outcome of a stroke depends on which part of the brain is injured and how severely it is affected. The most common symptom of a stroke is sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg, most often on one side of the body. Other symptoms include: confusion, difficulty in speech production or comprehension; visual deficits; difficulty walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; severe headache with no known cause; fainting or unconsciousness. The clinical presentation is closely associated with the affected artery, which is occluded by a clot or plaque (ischemic stroke), or ruptured (hemorrhagic stroke), and the extent of tissue infarct (Amarenco et al., 2009).