Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generic object recognition based on the fusion of 2D and 3D SIFT descriptors

This paper proposes a new generic object recognition (GOR) method based on the multiple feature fusion of 2D and 3D SIFT (scale invariant feature transform) descriptors drawn from 2D images and 3D point clouds. We also use trained Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers to recognize the objects from the result of the multiple feature fusion. We analyze and evaluate different strategies for making this multiple feature fusion applied to real open-datasets. Our results show that this new GOR method has higher recognition rates than classical methods, even if one has large intra-class variations, or high inter-class similarities of the objects to recognize, which demonstrates the potential interest of this new approach.
A routing enhanced localisation algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Node self–localisation is an essential requirement for most wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Although many localisation algorithms have been developed in literature, the optimisation method is still lacking and leaves much room for further research. In this paper we integrate routing strategy into sensor positioning to propose a more accurate, more stable and faster localisation algorithm called RAAFL. In particular, by setting up a next hop binding table at each sensor node, highly refined transformation routes are formed in the system initialisation step. The optimal path is subsequently adopted in the global position computation step to enhance our previously proposed anchor–free localisation algorithm UAFL. The route discovery process not only supports localisation but also provides a candidate routing protocol for data communication. Simulation results reveal that the performance of RAAFL is optimised in terms of localisation error and localisation time.
Soil Effects on the Underground-to-Aboveground Communication Link in Ultrawideband Wireless Underground Sensor Networks

Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) is an emerging area of research. They are used in many applications from intelligent irrigation to security and assisted navigation. WUSNs mainly use narrowband systems working in the frequency range below 1 GHz and, therefore, suffer from a poor localization capability and large-sized antennas. The use of impulse radio ultrawideband (UWB) technique allows alleviating these drawbacks. In this letter, the impact of soil on UWB underground-to-aboveground communication link is studied experimentally. More specifically, the effects of the orientation of the buried antenna and burial depth and soil moisture are investigated. The experimental results show that, at 7 GHz, additional attenuations of 10, 34, and 40 dB are noted for depointing the underground antenna by 90°, increasing the depth from 0 to 30 cm and raising the soil moisture from 0% to 20%, respectively. Burial depth lower than 30 cm or soil moisture lower than 20% allow getting acceptable received signal strength (superior to –100 dBm) for communication and localization, particularly in the UWB low band (3.1–5 GHz). The obtained results bring out the feasibility of UWB WUSN.
A contextual attribute based access control model based on T-JClassicδ∊

Recently, people spend plenty of times daily in social network activities, hence a large amount of information is created by people which move up a number of privacy and security issues. While online social networks allow users to configure their privacy settings by specifying who may access to their own shared data, they do not enable them to define the context under which their shared data should be accessed. In order to make the access control mechanism more dynamic and flexible in online social networks, we propose a contextual attributed based access control based on T-JClassicδϵ to express much more fine grained access control policies than the existing models, so using our model, users can specify their privacy settings based on temporal context.
Bcl-2 Prevents CD95 (Fas/APO-1)-induced Degradation of Lamin B and Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase and Restores the NF-κB Signaling Pathway*

In the study presented here, we investigated the possible interactions between CD95 (Fas/APO-1) and Bcl-2 by studying the effects of Bcl-2 on the modulation of cellular pathways activated by CD95 using HeLa cells as a model system. We report that stable expression of Bcl-2 in HeLa cells is associated with multiple phenotypic changes. Treatment of HeLa cells with anti-CD95 monoclonal antibody (mAb) resulted in preferential degradation of lamin B compared with lamins A and C. Significant lamin B degradation was detected as early as 1 h after anti-CD95 mAb treatment. In contrast, lamins A and C as well as actin remained unchanged until 4 h after treatment with anti-CD95 mAb, a time point that correlated with the period of DNA fragmentation. These results indicate that selective degradation of lamin B is an early cellular event in response to activation of the CD95 pathway and that it precedes DNA fragmentation. Overexpression of Bcl-2 resulted in prevention of lamin B degradation and DNA fragmentation into oligonucleosome fragments in response to the apoptotic signal by anti-CD95 mAb. In addition, in Bcl-2-overexpressing cells that were protected against apoptosis, anti-CD95 mAb-induced cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase was completely blocked. Overexpression of Bcl-2 also resulted in restoration of the CD95-mediated signaling pathway involving activation of the transcription factor NF-κB (p50/RelA). These findings suggest that Bcl-2 prevents apoptosis in part by preventing the degradation of major nuclear polypeptides such as lamin B and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. In addition, our results demonstrate that CD95-mediated signaling involves activation of NF-κB (p50/RelA).
Impact of the Farakka Dam on Thresholds of the Hydrologic Flow Regime in the Lower Ganges River Basin (Bangladesh)

The variation of river flow within a natural range plays an important role in promoting the social-ecological sustainability of a river basin. In order to determine the extent of the natural range of variation, this study assesses hydrologic flow thresholds for the Lower Ganges River Basin. The flow threshold was calculated using twenty-two “Range of Variability (RVA)” parameters. The impact of Farakka Dam on the Lower Ganges River flow was calculated by comparing threshold parameters for the pre-Farakka period (from 1934 to 1974) and the post-Farakka period (1975–2005). The results demonstrate that due to water diversion by the Farakka Dam, various threshold parameters, including the monthly mean of the dry season (December–May) and yearly minimum flows, have been altered significantly. The ecological consequences of such hydrologic alterations include the destruction of the breeding and raising grounds for a number of Gangetic species, the increase of salinity in the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh and a reduction of fish and agricultural diversity. The major findings in this paper have a number of policy-level implications to aid water sharing mechanisms and agreements between the government of Bangladesh and India. The methodological approach presented in this study is applicable to other river basins.
Excepts from a Set of Technical Leadership Patterns

The Technical Lead needs to have a thorough understanding of the quality of the software and control over destabilising forces that can effect the delivery. Systems are large, the Lead cannot know everything and there is tendency for lots of small incremental changes to sum to large requirements. This paper presents set of three patterns and their relationships (Code Surfing, Core Sampling and Take Care of the Small Change). The patterns capture practices for helping Technical Leads manage quality and scope in the face of finite management bandwidth and increasing complexity and function. The patterns also discuss problems with over application and identify related practices and patterns that may also be of use.
Computers in the clinical encounter: a scoping review and thematic analysis

OBJECTIVE Patient-clinician communication has been associated with increased patient satisfaction, trust in the clinician, adherence to prescribed therapy, and various health outcomes. The impact of health information technology (HIT) on the clinical encounter in general and patient-clinician communication in particular is a growing concern. The purpose of this study was to review the current literature on HIT use during the clinical encounter to update best practices and inform the continuous development of HIT policies and educational interventions. METHODS We conducted a literature search of four databases. After removing duplicates, reviewing titles and abstracts, performing a full-text review, and snowballing from references and citations, 51 articles were included in the analysis. We employed a qualitative thematic analysis to compare and contrast the findings across studies. RESULTS Our analysis revealed that the use of HIT affects consultations in complex ways, impacting eye contact and gaze, information sharing, building relationships, and pauses in the conversation. Whether these impacts are positive or negative largely depends on the combination of consultation room layout, patient and clinician styles of interaction with HIT as well as each other, and the strategies and techniques employed by clinicians to integrate HIT into consultations. DISCUSSION The in-depth insights into the impact of HIT on the clinical encounter, especially the strategies and techniques employed by clinicians to adapt to using HIT in consultations, can inform policies, educational interventions, and research. CONCLUSION In contrast to the common negative views of HIT, it affects the clinical encounter in multiple ways. By applying identified strategies and best practices, HIT can support patient-clinician interactions rather than interfering with them.
The VRE volume rendering engine

We present the extendable volume rendering engine VRE which provides an open and flexible environment for both experimental and production level implementation of a wide range of volume visualisation algorithms, including various CPU and GPU based ones. We identify parts of renderer functionality suitable for isolation in logical units and propose various types of plugins. As the support for various volume data file formats, internal data representation and rendering algorithms is realised by the plugins, the engine can be easily extended by new functionality. We define a general application interface which enables to develop arbitrary visualisation applications, being it command line, batch ones or applications with a graphical user interface. The proposed architecture provides for multiple concurrent renderings which can be with advantage utilised in the client/server version of the engine. In this setup the server side component of the engine allows access of multiple peers to a single instance of the engine, which makes sharing of the visualised data by multiple clients possible. The VRE software is released under the GPL licence, opening the potential of the environment to all interested parties.
An outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in patients of a pediatric intensive care unit and high carriage rate among health care workers.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been the leading cause of nosocomial infections in many hospitals. To investigate the impact of carriage by health care workers (HCWs) on patient transmission, surveillance culture was performed following an outbreak of MRSA in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS Isolates from 61 HCWs and 10 environmental sites were collected. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and antibiogram analysis were performed to determine the clonal relationship between isolates and potential routes of transmission. RESULTS The overall carriage rate of HCWs was 67.2% (41/61) for S. aureus and 26.2% (16/61) for MRSA. One MRSA was isolated from the 10 environmental sites sampled. Two major MRSA clusters were identified based on the PFGE patterns. Isolates with indistinguishable PFGE patterns (pulsotype A) were found in all patient isolates from the outbreak, from several HCWs plus the environmental isolate; all were resistant to ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Interestingly, the isolate from a patient who had prolonged hospitalization in PICU had PFGE patterns (pulsotype B) distinct from the strains involved in the outbreak. This strain was susceptible to ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and was also found in several HCWs. Thus, there appeared to be 2 main MRSA clones circulating in the PICU of our hospital. CONCLUSIONS Person-to-person and environment-to-person (or vice versa) transmissions are documented in this study. Strict hand washing before and after patient contact must be enforced and closely monitored, as it is the principal preventive measure in containing the spread of MRSA. To prevent the emergence of vancomycin-resistant MRSA and the further transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms, implementation of periodic and routine active surveillance cultures as part of infection control measures may also be evaluated.
DNA Topoisomerase I Affects Polycomb Group Protein-Mediated Epigenetic Regulation and Plant Development by Altering Nucleosome Distribution in Arabidopsis[W]

Given the role of topoisomerases in relieving torsional stresses in DNA during replication or transcription, it is surprising that the topoisomerase TOP1α plays a role in specific developmental processes. This study uncovers a connection between TOP1α and the deposition of the histone H3K27me3 mark at Polycomb Group target genes, which regulates target gene expression and, hence, developmental events. It has been perplexing that DNA topoisomerases, enzymes that release DNA supercoils, play specific roles in development. In this study, using a floral stem cell model in Arabidopsis thaliana, we uncovered a role for TOPOISOMERASE1α (TOP1α) in Polycomb Group (PcG) protein-mediated histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) at, and transcriptional repression of, the stem cell maintenance gene WUSCHEL (WUS). We demonstrated that H3K27me3 deposition at other PcG targets also requires TOP1α. Intriguingly, the repression of some, as well as the expression of many, PcG target genes requires TOP1α. The mechanism that unifies the opposing effects of TOP1α appears to lie in its role in decreasing nucleosome density, which probably allows the binding of factors that either recruit PcG, as we demonstrated for AGAMOUS at the WUS locus, or counteract PcG-mediated regulation. Although TOP1α reduces nucleosome density at all genes, the lack of a 5′ nucleosome-free region is a feature that distinguishes PcG targets from nontargets and may condition the requirement for TOP1α for their expression. This study uncovers a connection between TOP1α and PcG, which explains the specific developmental functions of TOP1α.
Sequence Ontology Annotation Guide

This Sequence Ontology (SO) [13] aims to unify the way in which we describe sequence annotations, by providing a controlled vocabulary of terms and the relationships between them. Using SO terms to label the parts of sequence annotations greatly facilitates downstream analyses of their contents, as it ensures that annotations produced by different groups conform to a single standard. This greatly facilitates analyses of annotation contents and characteristics, e.g. comparisons of UTRs, alternative splicing, etc. Because SO also specifies the relationships between features, e.g. part_of, kind_of, annotations described with SO terms are also better substrates for validation and visualization software. This document provides a step-by-step guide to producing a SO compliant file describing a sequence annotation. We illustrate this by using an annotated gene as an example. First we show where the terms needed to describe the gene's features are located in SO and their relationships to one another. We then show line by line how to format the file to construct a SO compliant annotation of this gene.
Multiple event localization in a sparse acoustic sensor network using UAVs as data mules

We report on a field demonstration of autonomous detection, localization, and verification of multiple acoustic events using sparsely deployed unattended ground sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as data mules, and a ground control interface. A novel algorithm is demonstrated to address the problem of multiple event acoustic source localization in the presence of false and missed detections. We also demonstrate an algorithm to route a UAV equipped with a radio to collect data from sparsely deployed ground sensors that takes advantage of the communication range of the aircraft while adhering to kinematic constraints of the UAV. A second UAV was utilized to provide video verification of localized events to a human operator at a ground control station.
Building Light-Weight Wrappers for Legacy Web Data-Sources Using W4F

The Web has become a major conduit to information repositories of all kinds. Today, more than 80% of information published on the Web is generated by underlying databases (however access is granted through a Web gateway using forms as a query language and HTML as a display vehicle) and this proportion keeps increasing. But Web data sources also consist of standalone HTML pages hand-coded by individuals, that provide very useful information such as reviews, digests, links, etc. As for the information that also exists in underlying databases, the HTML interface is often the only one available for many would-be clients.
General purpose bivariate quality-metrics for fingerprint-image assessment revisited

We evaluate a set of general purpose bivariate image quality measures with respect to their ability to assess fingerprint-image quality. Our evaluation approach is able to identify specific weaknesses or strengths of quality indices with respect to certain types of quality impairments. To systematically generate corresponding test data, we apply StirMark image manipulations (as being developed in the context of watermarking robustness assessment) which are able to simulate a wide class of acquisition conditions and qualities, applicable to any given dataset and also of potential interest in forensic analysis. Experimental results document the competitiveness of the general purpose image quality measures in a comparison with dedicated univariate fingerprint-image quality measures.
Modulating the Voltage-sensitivity of a Genetically Encoded Voltage Indicator

Saturation mutagenesis was performed on a single position in the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) of a genetically encoded voltage indicator (GEVI). The VSD consists of four transmembrane helixes designated S1-S4. The V220 position located near the plasma membrane/extracellular interface had previously been shown to affect the voltage range of the optical signal. Introduction of polar amino acids at this position reduced the voltage-dependent optical signal of the GEVI. Negatively charged amino acids slightly reduced the optical signal by 33 percent while positively charge amino acids at this position reduced the optical signal by 80%. Surprisingly, the range of V220D was similar to that of V220K with shifted optical responses towards negative potentials. In contrast, the V220E mutant mirrored the responses of the V220R mutation suggesting that the length of the side chain plays in role in determining the voltage range of the GEVI. Charged mutations at the 219 position all behaved similarly slightly shifting the optical response to more negative potentials. Charged mutations to the 221 position behaved erratically suggesting interactions with the plasma membrane and/or other amino acids in the VSD. Introduction of bulky amino acids at the V220 position increased the range of the optical response to include hyperpolarizing signals. Combining The V220W mutant with the R217Q mutation resulted in a probe that reduced the depolarizing signal and enhanced the hyperpolarizing signal which may lead to GEVIs that only report neuronal inhibition.
Detecting Illumination in Images

In this paper we present a surprisingly simple yet powerful method for detecting illumination determining which pixels are lit by different lights in images. Our method is based on the chromagenic camera, which takes two pictures of each scene: one is captured as normal and the other through a coloured filter. Previous research has shown that the relationship between the colours, the RGBs, in the filtered and unfiltered images depends strongly on the colour of the light and this can be used to estimate the colour of the illuminant. While chromagenic illuminant estimation often works well it can and does fail and so is not itself a direct solution to the illuminant detection problem. In this paper we dispense with the goal of illumination estimation and seek only to use the chromagenic effect to find out which parts of a scene are illuminated by the same lights. The simplest implementation of our idea involves a combinatorial search. We precompute a dictionary of possible illuminant relations that might map RGBs to filtered counterparts from which we select a small number m corresponding to the number of distinct lights we think might be present. Each pixel, or region, is assigned the relation from this m-set that best maps filtered to unfiltered RGB. All m-sets are tried in turn and the one that has the minimum prediction error over all is found. At the end of this search process each pixel or region is assigned an integer between 1 and m indicating which of the m lights are thought to have illuminated the region. Our simple search algorithm is possible when m = 2 (and m = 3) and for this case we present experiments that show our method does a remarkable job in detecting illumination in images: if the 2 lights are shadow and non- shadow, we find the shadows almost effortlessly. Compared to ground truth data, our method delivers close to optimal performance.
Biofilm formation and binding specificities of CFA / I , CFA / II and CS 2 adhesions of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Cfae-R 181 A mutant

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains are leading causes of childhood diarrhea in developing countries. Adhesion is the first step in pathogenesis of ETEC infections and ETEC pili designated colonization factor antigens (CFAs) are believed to be important in the biofim formation, colonization and host cell adhesions. As a first step, we have determined the biofilm capability of ETEC expressing various types of pili (CFA/I, CfaE-R181A mutant/ CfaE tip mutant, CFA/II and CS2). Further, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay were developed to compare the binding specificity of CFA/I, CFA/II (CS1 CS3) and CS2 of ETEC, using extracted pili and piliated bacteria. CFA/II strain (E24377a) as well as extracted pili exhibited significantly higher binding both in biofilm and ELISA assays compared to non piliated wild type E24377a, CFA/I and CS2 strains. This indicates that co-expression of two or more CS2 in same strain is more efficient in increasing adherence. Significant decrease in binding specificity of DH5αF’lacI/∆cotD (CS2) strain and MC4100/pEU2124 (CfaE-R181A) mutant strain indicated the important contribution of tip proteins in adherence assays. However, CS2 tip mutant strain (DH5αF’lacI/pEU5881) showed that this specific residue may not be important as adhesions in these strains. In summary, our data suggest that pili, their minor subunits are important for biofilm formation and adherence mechanisms. Overall, the functional reactivity of strains co expressing various antigens, particularly minor subunit antigen observed in this study suggest that fewer antibodies may be required to elicit immunity to ETEC expressing a wider array of related pili.