Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic 3D facial expression recognition using geometric and textured feature fusion

3D facial expression recognition has gained more and more interests from affective computing society due to issues such as pose variations and illumination changes caused by 2D imaging having been eliminated. There are many applications that can benefit from this research, such as medical applications involving the detection of pain and psychological effects in patients, in human-computer interaction tasks that intelligent systems use in today's world. In this paper, we look into 3D Facial Expression Recognition, by investigating many feature extraction methods used on the 2D textured images and 3D geometric data, fusing the 2 domains to increase the overall performance. A One Vs All Multi-class SVM Classifier has been adopted to recognize the expressions Angry, Disgust, Fear, Happy, Neutral, Sad and Surprise from the BU-3DFE and Bosphorus databases. The proposed approach displays an increase in performance when the features are fused together.
A framework for impact analysis of post-implementation enterprise resource planning modifications

Competitive environments cause an inevitable change in business requirements, which encourages postimplementation modifications of ERP systems. Understanding and managing the impact of these changes on implemented ERP systems is a challenging task for most enterprises. Change impact analysis is a strategic approach to analyzing modifications in large and complex software systems, such as ERP. In this paper, we present an impact analysis framework for ERP post-implementation modifications. Our framework builds an analogy with Engineering Change Requests in product lifecycle management. It defines a conceptual model of ERP system entities and their dependencies to support change specification, a set of mechanisms to evaluate the impact of modifications, and an analysis of strategies to implement the change. Our method serves as an aid to business analysts and practitioners to assess the feasibility and impact of post-implementation requirements in ERP systems.
Towards enabling hyper-responsive mobile apps through network edge assistance

Poor Internet performance currently undermines the efficiency of hyper-responsive mobile apps such as augmented reality clients and online games, which require low-latency access to real-time backend services. While edge-assisted execution, i.e. moving entire services to the edge of an access network, helps eliminate part of the communication overhead involved, this does not scale to the number of users that share an edge infrastructure. This is due to a mismatch between the scarce availability of resources in access networks and the aggregate demand for computational power from client applications. Instead, this paper proposes a hybrid edge-assisted deployment model in which only part of a service executes on LTE edge servers. We provide insights about the conditions that must hold for such a model to be effective by investigating in simulation different deployment and application scenarios. In particular, we show that using LTE edge servers with modest capabilities, performance can improve significantly as long as at most 50% of client requests are processed at the edge. Moreover, we argue that edge servers should be installed at the core of a mobile network, rather than the mobile base station: the difference in performance is negligible, whereas the latter choice entails high deployment costs. Finally, we verify that, for the proposed model, the impact of user mobility on TCP performance is low.
Correlated Long-Term Optical and X-Ray Variations in NGC 5548

We combine the long-term optical light curve of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 with the X-ray light curve measured by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer over 6 years, to determine the relationship between the optical and X-ray continua. The X-ray light curve is strongly correlated with the optical light curve on long (~1 yr) timescales. The amplitude of the long-term optical variability in NGC 5548 is larger than that of the X-ray variability (after accounting for the host galaxy contribution), implying that X-ray reprocessing is not the main source of the optical/X-ray correlation. The correlated X-ray and optical variations in NGC 5548 may be caused by instabilities in the inner part of the accretion flow, where both the X-ray and the optical emission regions may be located.
Motion Estimation Using the Single-row Superposition-type Planar Compound-like Eye

How can the compound eye of insects capture the prey so accurately and quickly? This interesting issue is explored from the perspective of computer vision instead of from the viewpoint of biology. The focus is on performance evaluation of noise immunity for motion recovery using the single-row superposition-type planar compound like eye (SPCE). The SPCE owns a special symmetrical framework with tremendous amount of ommatidia inspired by compound eye of insects. The noise simulates possible ambiguity of image patterns caused by either environmental uncertainty or low resolution of CCD devices. Results of extensive simulations indicate that this special visual configuration provides excellent motion estimation performance regardless of the magnitude of the noise. Even when the noise interference is serious, the SPCE is able to dramatically reduce errors of motion recovery of the ego-translation without any type of filters. In other words, symmetrical, regular, and multiple vision sensing devices of the compound-like eye have statistical averaging advantage to suppress possible noises. This discovery lays the basic foundation in terms of engineering approaches for the secret of the compound eye of insects.
Traffic Shaping System Calls Using Threading by Appointment

Threading by Appointment (TAP) is a concurrent programming model that combines automatic stack management (thread-based) with system call queueing (event-driven). However, unlike conventional threads, TAP threads invoke system calls by appointment only, and, unlike events, appointments have a duration, which is determined by the TAP runtime system transparently through a POSIX-compliant interface. The TAP mechanism essentially implements system call queueing using a given TAP policy that consists of a strategy to make appointments, i.e., enqueue system calls, and a logical clock to begin and end appointments, i.e., dequeue system calls. We propose a TAP policy that resembles traffic shaping in network routers, where system calls are treated as network packets. The policy distinguishes system calls for network and disk I/O, and gives priority to system calls invoked by short-running, interactive threads rather than long-running, bulk threads. We have implemented a high-performance, user-space TAP library and benchmarked the library using a multi-threaded, POSIX-compliant web server.
The Role of GTL Technology as an Option to Exploit Natural Gas Resources

Large amounts of global sources of remote natural reserves gas are identified along with the main objective to allow energy contained in to be moved economically to the market. The current options that are adopted to export natural gas are basically two:- 1. To liquefy the gas and ship it as LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). 2. To convert it to bulk petrochemicals in particular methanol or ammonia and other down-stream products. The last approach represents relatively small usage of the gas with limited markets. Chemical conversion before transpor- tation of natural gas to liquid (GTL), using Fisher-Tropsch process offers an attractive alternative to unlock remote sources of natural gas. It is reported to be most promising on the basis of its current level of development and its potential future improvements. The two main components of Fisher-Tropsch process are carefully examined: synthesis gas generation and its subsequent conversion to clean petroleum fuel. Different methods of producing synthesis gas are described. These include: steam re- forming, non catalytic partial oxidation (NCPO), auto thermal reforming (ATR) and combined reforming. Chemical reac- tions underlying the Fisher-Tropsch process are presented with trends of developments in the GTL technology. Commercial applications of GTL technology worldwide are cited, especially in some Arab countries. The positive impact of GTL on the environment is emphasized because of two reasons: 1 st the clean-burning properties of the produced diesel fuels, 2 nd converting natural gas to liquid allows oil producers to utilize the natural gas that would otherwise be flared and pollute the atmosphere.
Identifying Literary Texts with Bigrams

We study perceptions of literariness in a set of contemporary Dutch novels. Experiments with machine learning models show that it is possible to automatically distinguish novels that are seen as highly literary from those that are seen as less literary, using surprisingly simple textual features. The most discriminating features of our classification model indicate that genre might be a confounding factor, but a regression model shows that we can also explain variation between highly literary novels from less literary ones within genre.
The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of the Sahastara Remedy versus Diclofenac in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Double-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

Introduction. The Sahastara (SHT) remedy is a Thai traditional medicine that has been acknowledged in the Thai National List of Essential Medicine and has been used as an alternative medicine to treat knee osteoarthritis. Although SHT remedies have been used in Thai traditional medical practices for a long period of time, there are few reports on their clinical trials. Aim of the Study. To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of the SHT remedy in treating OA of the knee when compared to diclofenac. Methods. A phase 2, double-blind, randomized, and controlled trial study with a purpose to determine the clinical efficacy and safety of SHT in comparison with diclofenac for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Sixty-six patients, ages between 45 and 80 years of age, were randomly allocated into 2 groups. The SHT group received 1,000 mg of SHT powdered capsules 3 times per day, orally before meals, while another group received 25 mg of diclofenac sodium capsules 3 times a day, orally after meals for 28 days. All patients were followed up at 14 and 28 days for the evaluation of the efficacy and safety by using clinical examinations, blood tests, a visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and the 100-meter walktime test. Improvement on the quality of life was also assessed by the WOMAC index. Results. There were 31 and 30 patients in SHT and diclofenac groups, respectively, who had completed the study. Both medications have shown to significantly reduce the VAS for pain, and significantly improve the 100-meter walktime test and the WOMAC index score. However, there were no differences in the efficacy between the two groups. The blood chemistry showed no toxicity on renal and/or liver functions after taking SHT for 28 days but the patients who took diclofenac showed significant increases in their AST, ALT, and ALP. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure slightly increased in the diclofenac group but the SHT group did not effect on blood pressure. Conclusions. The SHT remedy is similar to diclofenac in all evaluating symptoms of OA knee. However, the SHT remedy has shown to be a good alternative treatment for OA knee with less systemic side effects when it was compared with diclofenac.
A Memory Built-In Self-Repair Scheme Based on Configurable Spares

There is growing need for embedded memory built-in self-repair (MBISR) due to the introduction of more and more system-on-chip (SoC) and other highly integrated products, for which the chip yield is being dominated by the yield of on-chip memories, and repairing embedded memories by conventional off-chip schemes is expensive. Therefore, we propose an MBISR generator called BRAINS+, which automatically generates register transfer level MBISR circuits for SoC designers. The MBISR circuit is based on a redundancy analysis (RA) algorithm that enhances the essential spare pivoting algorithm, with a more flexible spare architecture, which can configure the same spare to a row, a column, or a rectangle to fit failure patterns more efficiently. The proposed MBISR circuit is small, and it supports at-speed test without timing-penalty during normal operation, e.g., with a typical 0.13 μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, it can run at 333 MHz for a 512 Kb memory with four spare elements (rows and/or columns), and the MBISR area overhead is only 0.36%. With its low area overhead and zero test-time penalty, the MBISR can easily be applied to multiple memories with a distributed RA scheme. Compared with recent studies, the proposed scheme is better in not only test-time but also area overhead.
Does supramolecular ordering influence exciton transport in conjugated systems? Insight from atomistic simulations

We have developed a theoretical platform for modelling temperature-dependent exciton transport in organic materials, using indenofluorene trimers as a case study. Our atomistic molecular dynamics simulations confirm the experimentally observed occurrence of a liquid crystalline smectic phase at room temperature and predict a phase transition to the isotropic phase between 375 and 400 K. Strikingly, the increased orientational disorder at elevated temperatures barely affects the ability of excitons to be transported over large distances, though disorder influences the directionality of the energy diffusion process. Detailed quantum-chemical calculations show that this result arises from a trade-off between reduced excitonic couplings and increased spectral overlap at high temperatures. Our results suggest that liquid crystalline oligomeric materials could be promising candidates for engineering optoelectronic devices that require stable and controlled electronic properties over a wide range of temperatures and supramolecular arrangements.
Less-Developed Countries , 1975 to 2000 Cross-National Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Organic Water Pollution in Does Foreign Investment Harm the Air We Breathe and the Water We Drink ?

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Bmc Complementary and Alternative Medicine Evaluation of Toxicity after One-months Treatment with Bauhinia Forficata Decoction in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats

Background: Previous experiments have shown that a decoction of Bauhinia forficata leaves reduces the changes in carbohydrate and protein metabolism that occur in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. In the present investigation, the serum activities of enzymes known to be reliable toxicity markers were monitored in normal and streptozotocin-diabetic rats to discover whether the use of B. forficata decoction has toxic effects on liver, muscle or pancreas tissue or on renal microcirculation.
Dual-Array Based MPPT for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

—A novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm for three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) generation systems is presented in this paper. Reference is made to a conversion scheme consisting in two balanced arrays of PV modules, each one feeding a standard 2-level three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI). The dc-link voltages of each VSI are regulated according with the requirement of the proposed MPPT algorithm, based on the comparison of the operating points of the two PV arrays. Inverters are connected to grid by a three-phase transformer with open-end windings configuration on inverters side. The resulting conversion structure performs as a power active filter, doubling the power capability of a single VSI, with the additional benefit of multilevel voltage waveforms. The proposed MPPT algorithm has been successfully verified by experimental tests.
Adaptive and Flexible SDN-based Multicast for Efficient Data Center Networking

Data center networks (DCNs) rely heavily on the use of group communications for various tasks. For example, data center management utilities (e.g., software update/upgrade, log management, resource monitoring, scaling up or down of resources, access control etc.), collaborative applications (e.g., social media, project management tools, version control systems, etc.), multimedia applications and multi-player on-line games are few examples of tasks that require efficient group communications. Although multicast is useful for efficient group communications, IP multicast has seen very low deployment in the data center networks due to its shortcomings, such as inefficient switchmemory, inability to adapt to network load, and initial receiver latency due to the creation of multicast routing tree. Even with the advent of Software-defined Networking (SDN), which makes it easier to implement multicast in the SDN controller, this approach too faces many challenges. In this paper we propose a novel approach to using SDN-based multicast (SDMC) for flexible, network-load aware, and switchmemory efficient group communication, suitable particularly to data center networks. Our SDN-based multicast adaptively uses a combination of unicast and software-defined multicast by switching between the two at run-time while ensuring that the application remains agnostic to this adaptation and to find a better trade-off to retain the benefits of group communication while avoiding its disadvantages. We describe the design and implementation of SDN-enabled Multicast using SDN controllers and OpenFlow-enabled switches, and evaluate it along a number of metrics, such as initial receiver latency, network loadawareness, and switch-memory utilization efficiency.
Computational biology in the study of cardiac ion channels and cell electrophysiology

1. Prologue 58 2. The Hodgkin–Huxley formalism for computing the action potential 59 2.1 The axon action potential model 59 2.2 Cardiac action potential models 62 3. Ion-channel based formulation of the action potential 65 3.1 Ion-channel structure 65 3.2 Markov models of ion-channel kinetics 66 3.3 Role of selected ion channels in rate dependence of the cardiac action potential 71 3.4 Physiological implications of IKs subunit interaction 77 3.5 Mechanism of cardiac action potential rate-adaptation is species dependent 78 4. Simulating ion-channel mutations and their electrophysiological consequences 81 4.1 Mutations in SCN5A, the gene that encodes the cardiac sodium channel 82 4.1. 1 The ΔKPQ mutation and LQT3 82 4.1. 2 SCN5A mutation that underlies a dual phenotype 87 4.2 Mutations in HERG, the gene that encodes IKr: re-examination of the ‘gain of function/loss of function’ concept 94 4.3 Role of IKs as ‘repolarization reserve’ 100 5. Modeling cell signaling in electrophysiology 102 5.1 CaMKII regulation of the Ca2+ transient 102 5.2 The β-adrenergic signaling cascade 105 6. Epilogue 107 7. Acknowledgments 108 8. References 109 The cardiac cell is a complex biological system where various processes interact to generate electrical excitation (the action potential, AP) and contraction. During AP generation, membrane ion channels interact nonlinearly with dynamically changing ionic concentrations and varying transmembrane voltage, and are subject to regulatory processes. In recent years, a large body of knowledge has accumulated on the molecular structure of cardiac ion channels, their function, and their modification by genetic mutations that are associated with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. However, ion channels are typically studied in isolation (in expression systems or isolated membrane patches), away from the physiological environment of the cell where they interact to generate the AP. A major challenge remains the integration of ion-channel properties into the functioning, complex and highly interactive cell system, with the objective to relate molecular-level processes and their modification by disease to whole-cell function and clinical phenotype. In this article we describe how computational biology can be used to achieve such integration. We explain how mathematical (Markov) models of ion-channel kinetics are incorporated into integrated models of cardiac cells to compute the AP. We provide examples of mathematical (computer) simulations of physiological and pathological phenomena, including AP adaptation to changes in heart rate, genetic mutations in SCN5A and HERG genes that are associated with fatal cardiac arrhythmias, and effects of the CaMKII regulatory pathway and β-adrenergic cascade on the cell electrophysiological function.
Under Consideration for Publication in J. Functional Programming Cufp'13 Scribe's Report

1 Overview The Commercial Users of Functional Programming workshop (CUFP) is an annual workshop held in association with the International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP). The aim of the CUFP workshops is to publicize the use of functional programming in commercial ventures. Its motto is " functional programming as a means, not an end. " This paper summarizes the presentation of the 2013 event, which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, continuing the tradition of the Journal to report on the presentations on a yearly basis (Sperber & Madhavapeddy, 2013; Madhavapeddy et al., 2012). It sketches the essence of each of the presentations. Curious readers may wish to peruse the recorded videos from the workshop. 1 The 2013 version of CUFP present a record number of talks, a reflection of the growing popularity of functional programming. The talks also covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from implementing systems for serving advertisement in Erlang to medical device automation in Scheme. 2 Keynote Dave Thomas delivered the 2013 keynote, entitled " 21s Century Crusades of Knights of the Lambda Calculus—Lessons from Past Language Crusades. " As former CEO of OTI, the company responsible for the creation of the Eclipse IDE, he talked about his experiences with the " language wars " of decades past, dealing mostly with the introduction of object-oriented programming into the mainstream as well as the advocacy of logic programming and expert systems. Thomas sprinkled his talk with anecdotes and history lessons, mixing personal opinions with history-based advice to the the functional programming community. Thomas joked that his qualifications included his proclivity to " infect " organizations with new technology which they had no intention of actually using. The only reason he
Personalized Vehicle Insurance Rates A Case for Client-Side Personalization in Ubiquitous Computing

In the foreseeable future, miniature sensor and networking technology will allow insurers to offer personalized insurance rates based not only on demographic data, but on actual customer behavior. Behavior-based personalized rates can significantly lessen the traditional information asymmetry between insurers and insured, and thus prompt significant cost savings both on a personal and societal level. However, initial prototypes have so far required consumers to disclose their entire data set in order to enjoy personalized cost savings. We have opted to follow a more privacyfriendly approach, by performing the entire personalization on a trusted platform on the client-side and only reporting gross rates to the insurer. This article describes our system and a set of requirements we derived for client-side personalized insurance rates. Author