Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Machine Learning Approach for Ethnic Classification: The British Pakistani Face

Ethnicity is one of the most salient clues to face identity. Analysis of ethnicity-specific facial data is a challenging problem and predominantly carried out using computer-based algorithms. Current published literature focusses on the use of frontal face images. We addressed the challenge of binary (British Pakistani or other ethnicity) ethnicity classification using profile facial images. The proposed framework is based on the extraction of geometric features using 10 anthropometric facial landmarks, within a purpose-built, novel database of 135 multi-ethnic and multi-racial subjects and a total of 675 face images. Image dimensionality was reduced using Principle Component Analysis and Partial Least Square Regression. Classification was performed using Linear Support Vector Machine. The results of this framework are promising with 71.11% ethnic classification accuracy using a PCA algorithm + SVM as a classifier, and 76.03% using PLS algorithm + SVM as a classifier.
A Prospective Study of Cerebral Ischemia in the Young: Analysis of Pathogenic Determinants

Background and Purpose The etiology of stroke in the young is different from that in older patients and remains unknown in almost one third of the cases. To gain further insight into both pathogenic and etiologic determinants, we prospectively studied a large number of consecutive young adults with focal cerebral ischemia. Methods Three hundred thirty-three patients aged 15–44 years with transient ischemic attack or ischemic stroke within the 8 weeks before hospital admission were recruited and investigated by using a standardized protocol of clinical evaluation, blood tests, electrocardiography, echocardiography, chest roentgenography, and brain computed tomography. Presumed etiology was diagnosed by prospectively applied criteria. Results Women predominated (61%) among patients under 35 years of age, mainly due to the frequency of cerebral ischemia related to oral contraceptive use, while men outnumbered women (60%) among patients over that age because of a higher prevalence of atherothrombotic disease. Potential cerebral embolism of cardiac origin was the presumed cause of stroke in 23.7%, but conventional sources of emboli were found only in 7.5% of cases. There was a low prevalence of atrial fibrillation among young patients with cerebral ischemia. Mitral valve prolapse was found in 8.4%, as expected, predominantly (71.4%) among the younger patients. The prevalence of stroke over transient ischemic attack was proportional to the likelihood of cardiac embolism. Acute alcohol intoxication was considered a precipitating factor in only three patients. The percentages of cerebral ischemia attributed to arterial dissection (0.3%), oral contraceptive use in women (8.1%), migraine (1.2%), and other associated medical diseases (1.5%) were lower than reported in recent clinical series. Conclusions Two different groups of pathogenic determinants predominate in younger women and in older men, supporting public health measures aimed at strict medical control of the recognized cerebrovascular risk factors.
InN and In-rich InGaN Nanocolumns by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The focus of this thesis is on InN and InGaN semiconductor-nanowires. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the electronic properties of InN nanowires and the growth mechanisms of InN and InGaN nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on silicon. The chemical, structural and electrical properties of InN nanowires were analyzed. The combination of optical and electrical measurements resulted in a consistent picture of electron concentration and distribution. The cores of the wires showed a for InN low electron concentration in the range of 3.5x10^(17) cm^(-3) to 2x10^(18) cm^(-3) and high electron mobility of about 2400-4800 cm^2 /(Vs). This is comparable to layers with the lowest carrier concentration reported in literature. An electron accumulation was found at the interface of an oxide outer shell and the InN core. The electron surface density was about 1 to 2x10^(13) cm^(-2) and the corresponding volume mobility is considerably lowered with about 600 cm^2 /(Vs) compared to the core. Furthermore, In-rich InGaN nanowires were successfully synthesized. The Ga:In ratio of the wires was significantly lower than the ratio of the impinging fluxes. The distributions of In and Ga on the samples were explained by a diffusion growth model assuming a diffusion length which is considerably larger than the next-neighbor-distance of the wires for In and close to zero for Ga. In addition, InGaN markers were introduced into InN nanowires to monitor their growth rates which were found to be nearly equal for all wires on a sample and stepwise constant in time. The changes in growth rates were assigned to nucleation of new nanowires. Furthermore, first steps towards position- and size-controlled growth of single InN nanowires on silicon were presented using a mask approach.
Association between genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A2, arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 and 2 and susceptibility to cholangiocarcinoma

Human CYP1A2 and arylamine N-acetyltransferases, which are encoded by the polymorphic CYP1A2 and NAT genes respectively, have been shown to have wide interindividual variations in metabolic capacity and may be potential modifiers of an individual's susceptibility to certain types of cancers. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between CYP1A2, NAT1 and NAT2 polymorphisms and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), the most prevalent cancer in the north-east of Thailand. A total of 216 CCA patients and 233 control subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction with restriction fragment length polymorphism based assays. Two CYP1A2 alleles (CYP1A2*1A wild-type and *1F), six NAT1 alleles (NAT1*4 wild-type, *3, *10, *11, *14A and *14B) and seven NAT2 alleles (NAT2*4 wild-type, *5, *6A, *6B, *7A, *7B and *13), which are the major alleles found in most populations, were analysed. Although CYP1A2*1A allele, NAT1*10 allele, and the NAT2 slow acetylator alleles were not associated with CCA risk, among the male subjects, the genotype CYP1A2*1A/*1A conferred a decreased risk of the cancer (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08–0.94) compared with CYP1A2*1F/1*F. Frequency distributions of rapid NAT2*13 and two slow alleles (*6B and *7A), but not the other major alleles, were associated with lower CCA risk. Adjusted OR of the genotypes consisting of at least one of these alleles significantly decreased the cancer risk compared with none of them (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.15–0.44). This study suggests that the NAT2 polymorphism may be a modifier of individual risk to CCA.
ROS Production via P2Y1-PKC-NOX2 Is Triggered by Extracellular ATP after Electrical Stimulation of Skeletal Muscle Cells

During exercise, skeletal muscle produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) via NADPH oxidase (NOX2) while inducing cellular adaptations associated with contractile activity. The signals involved in this mechanism are still a matter of study. ATP is released from skeletal muscle during electrical stimulation and can autocrinely signal through purinergic receptors; we searched for an influence of this signal in ROS production. The aim of this work was to characterize ROS production induced by electrical stimulation and extracellular ATP. ROS production was measured using two alternative probes; chloromethyl-2,7- dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate or electroporation to express the hydrogen peroxide-sensitive protein Hyper. Electrical stimulation (ES) triggered a transient ROS increase in muscle fibers which was mimicked by extracellular ATP and was prevented by both carbenoxolone and suramin; antagonists of pannexin channel and purinergic receptors respectively. In addition, transient ROS increase was prevented by apyrase, an ecto-nucleotidase. MRS2365, a P2Y1 receptor agonist, induced a large signal while UTPyS (P2Y2 agonist) elicited a much smaller signal, similar to the one seen when using ATP plus MRS2179, an antagonist of P2Y1. Protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors also blocked ES-induced ROS production. Our results indicate that physiological levels of electrical stimulation induce ROS production in skeletal muscle cells through release of extracellular ATP and activation of P2Y1 receptors. Use of selective NOX2 and PKC inhibitors suggests that ROS production induced by ES or extracellular ATP is mediated by NOX2 activated by PKC.
A New Initialization Method to Originate Initial Cluster Centers for K-Means Algorithm

K means algorithm is most popular partition based algorithm that is widely used in data clustering. A Lot of algorithms have been proposed for data clustering using K-Means algorithm due to its simplicity, efficiency and ease convergence. In spite this K-Means algorithm has some drawbacks like initial cluster centers, stuck in local optima etc. In this study, a new method is proposed to address the initial cluster centers problem in K-Means algorithm based on binary search technique. Binary search technique is a popular searching method that is used to find an item in given list of array. So in proposed method, the initial cluster centers have obtained using binary search property and after that K-Means algorithm is applied to gain optimal cluster centers in dataset. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested on the two benchmark dataset which are downloaded from the UCI machine learning repository and compared with Random, Hartigan and Wang, Ward, Build, Astrhan and Minkowaski ward methods. The proposed method is also applied on the Minkowaski weighted K-Means algorithm to prove its significance and effectiveness.
Radio Polarization of the Young High-Magnetic-Field Pulsar PSR J1119–6127

We have investigated the radio polarization properties of PSR J1119-6127, a recently discovered young radio pulsar with a large magnetic field. Using pulsar-gated radio imaging data taken at a center frequency of 2496 MHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, we have determined a rotation measure for the pulsar of +842 ± 23 rad m-2. These data, combined with archival polarimetry data taken at a center frequency of 1366 MHz with the Parkes telescope, were used to determine the polarization characteristics of PSR J1119-6127 at both frequencies. The pulsar has a fractional linear polarization of ~75% and ~55% at 1366 and 2496 MHz, respectively, and the profile consists of a single, wide component. This pulse morphology and high degree of linear polarization are in agreement with previously noticed trends for young pulsars (e.g., PSR J1513-5908). A rotating vector (RV) model fit of the position angle of linear polarization over pulse phase using the Parkes data suggests that the radio emission comes from the leading edge of a conal beam. We discuss PSR J1119-6127 in the context of a recent theoretical model of pulsar spin-down, which can in principle be tested with polarization and timing data from this pulsar. Geometric constraints from the RV fit are currently insufficient to test this model with statistical significance, but additional data may allow such a test in the future.
Carbon isotope composition and water-use efficiency in plants with crassulacean acid metabolism.

The relationship between water-use efficiency, measured as the transpiration ratio (g H2O transpired g-1 above- plus below-ground dry mass accumulated), and 13C / 12C ratio (expressed as δ13C value) of bulk biomass carbon was compared in 15 plant species growing under tropical conditions at two field sites in the Republic of Panama. The species included five constitutive crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) species [Aloe vera (L.) Webb & Berth. , Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. , Euphorbia tirucalli L. , Kalanchoë daigremontiana Hamet et Perr. , Kalanchoë pinnata (Lam.) Pers. ], two species of tropical C3 trees (Tectona grandis Linn. f. and Swietenia macrophylla King), one C4 species (Zea mays L.), and seven arborescent species of the neotropical genus Clusia, of which two exhibited pronounced CAM. The transpiration ratios of the C3 and CAM species, which ranged between 496 g H2O g-1 dry mass in the C3-CAM species Clusia pratensis Seeman to 54 g H2O g-1 dry mass in the constitutive CAM species Aloe vera, correlated strongly with δ13C values and nocturnal CO2 gain suggesting that δ13C value can be used to estimate both water-use efficiency and the proportion of CO2 gained by CAM species during the light and the dark integrated over the lifetime of the tissues.
Association Between Oxytocin Receptor Genotype, Maternal Care, and Eating Disorder Behaviours in a Community Sample of Women

Abstract This study aimed to investigate associations between oxytocin receptor gene (OXT‐R) polymorphisms (rs53576 and rs2254298), their interaction with maternal care (GxE), and ED behaviours in a community sample. We studied 3698 women from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) who participated in a two‐phase prevalence study of lifetime ED and had genotype data. The GG rs53576 genotype was associated with binge eating and purging, and the rs2254298 AG/AA genotype with restrictive eating lifetime. In addition, the rs2254298 AG/AA genotype interacted with poor maternal care to increase the odds of binge eating and purging (odds ratio = 4.40 (95% confidence intervals: 1.11–17.4)). This study replicates previous findings of an association between OXT‐R polymorphisms and ED, and it is the first to show an interaction between OXT‐R genotype and poor maternal care. As such, these findings highlight the important role of oxytocin in understanding the pathophysiology of ED. © 2016 The Authors European Eating Disorders Review published by Eating Disorders Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Carotid artery segmentation for extraction of its features for evaluation of cardiovascular diseases and its pathologies

The segmentation is recognized as one of the major tasks in Image Processing. Usually, segmentation is an essential process to identify structures within an image that can be made in a manual, semiautomatic or automatic way. The segmentation can also be made by using either a single image or a set of image sequences. It constitutes the first step to solve many complex tasks of image processing and analysis, particularly in medical applications. In addition, features extracted from image processing techniques contain important information for identification and evaluation of risk of diseases either by statistical analysis or intelligent algorithms. The named decisionmaking systems represent an important advance in clinical diagnosis due to its capacity in aiding the experts in evaluating possible risks in a fast and efficient way. The 3D reconstruction of structures in medical images is an important procedure for aiding the clinical diagnostic. Often, the reconstruction of structures from a set of images is accomplished by segmenting them in each 2D image to obtain their 3D geometry. Other solutions deal with the segmentation of 3D images or adjust pre-defined 3D geometries to the structures to be reconstructed. Thus, the segmentation and 3D reconstruction tasks appear combined with many Computational Vision applications. Computational modeling methods are often applied in 2D and 3D geometric models to simulate the behavior of structures. In particular, the computational simulations of the cardiovascular system allow hemodynamic analysis that can support the diagnosis of pathologies such as aneurysms, stenosis and atherosclerosis. The main aim of this project is the research and development of computational methodologies for the segmentation and 3D reconstruction of the structures of the cardiovascular system in images acquired by different imaging systems, such as computerized tomography, magnetic resonance, angiography and ultrasound images. In addition, techniques for generating the meshes of these structures suitable to be used in computational hemodynamic simulations are also to be investigated.
Aerodynamic Modeling and Simulation of Flexible Wing Active Deformation based on Piezoelectric Material

Flexible wing aircraft with the function of active deformation can improve the aerodynamic characteristics by the adaptive deformation of the airfoil, to maintain its own flight stability. In this paper, the active deformation of the flexible wing is realized by the piezoelectric material actuator, instead of the traditional servo control surface. This driving method can solve the issues about the continuous deformation of the airfoil and the timeliness of response well. The mechanical model of the piezoelectric composite flexible wing and the static aeroelasticity model of each wing panel are built in this paper. Based on the models, the coupling relationship among the piezoelectric force, the aerodynamic lift and the airfoil torsional deformation is obtained. According to the simulation results of the aerodynamic iteration optimization program AeroBeamSaw, the effect of the size and location of the active deformation on the aerodynamic lift is researched.
Exploiting XML Technologies in Medical Information Systems

Integration of clinical research data and routine care data, in order to streamline the process of conducting clinical studies, has been a problem for quite a while now. The Single Source project at the University of Munster aims at contributing to this area. The approach is based on a vast usage of XML technology together with a novel integration architecture. The emphasis in this paper is on the former: The seamless usage of XML technology throughout the entire application is presented, and mismatches of programming paradigms are averted by exploiting the features of XML, XQuery and XForms. In particular, this is demonstrated by the example of a component used for handling forms, by how it is built and used in the entire scenario.
Enhancing TCP Performance over Wireless Networks

TCP flow control algorithms have been designed for wireline networks where congestion is measured by packet loss due to buffer overflow. However, wireless networks also suffer from significant packet losses due to bit errors and handoffs. TCP responds to all the packet losses by invoking congestion control and avoidance algorithms and this results in degraded end-to-end performance in wireless networks. In this paper, we describe a Wireless Random Exponential Marking (WREM) scheme which effectively improves TCP performance over wireless networks by decoupling loss recovery from congestion control. Moreover, WREM is capable of handling the coexistence of both ECN-Capable and Non-ECN-Capable routers. We present simulation results to show its effectiveness and compatibility.
Mixed probabilistic and deterministic dependency parsing

This work describes a new multi-stage dependency parsing framework that relies on stochastic probabilistic models, such as the Maximum-Entropy Markov Model. It proposes an original compromise between locally optimal parsers with global features, and globally optimal models with local features. The main advantage of this framework is its ability to choose the desired compromise over the full range between both extreme models, by modifying the topology of the underlying automaton. Thanks to its probabilistic definition, it further gives access to several powerful classical probabilistic algorithms, and in particular to marginalization and Bayesian inference of, for instance, missing or corrupted observations. The rank-1 model has been evaluated on a French broadcast news parsing task, and has obtained comparable performance to state-of-the-art transition-based parsers.
Development of metal matrix composite gridlines for space photovoltaics

Space vehicles today are primarily powered by multi-junction photovoltaic cells due to their high efficiency and high radiation hardness in the space environment. While multi-junction solar cells provide high efficiency, microcracks develop in the crystalline semiconductor due to a variety of reasons, including: growth defects, film stress due to lattice constant mismatch, and external mechanical stresses introduced during shipping, installation, and operation. These microcracks have the tendency to propagate through the different layers of the semiconductor reaching the metal gridlines of the cell, resulting in electrically isolated areas from the busbar region, ultimately lowering the power output of the cell and potentially reducing the lifetime of the space mission. Pre-launch inspection are often expensive and difficult to perform, in which individual cells and entire modules must be replaced. In many cases, such microcracks are difficult to examine even with a thorough inspection. While repairs are possible pre-launch of the space vehicle, and even to some extent in low-to-earth missions, they are virtually impossible for deep space missions, therefore, efforts to mitigate the effects of these microcracks have substantial
CdSe/CdS Semiconductor Quantum Rods as Robust Fluorescent Probes for Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Imaging

Immunofluorescence techniques on formalin fixed paraffin-embedded sections allow for the evaluation of the expression and spatial distribution of specific markers in patient tissue specimens or for monitoring the fate of labeled cells after in vivo injection. This technique suffers however from the auto-fluorescence background signal of the embedded tissue that eventually confounds the analysis. Here we show that rod-like semiconductor nanocrystals (QRs), intramuscularly injected in living mice, could be clearly detected by confocal microscopy in formalin fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections. Despite the low amount of QRs amount injected (25 picomoles), these were clearly visible after 24 h in the muscle sections and their fluorescence signal was stronger than that of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) similarly functionalized and in the case of QRs only, the signal lasted even after 21 days after the injection.
Selective Cochlear Degeneration in Mice Lacking the F-Box Protein, Fbx2, a Glycoprotein-Specific Ubiquitin Ligase Subunit

Little is known about the role of protein quality control in the inner ear. We now report selective cochlear degeneration in mice deficient in Fbx2, a ubiquitin ligase F-box protein with specificity for high-mannose glycoproteins (Yoshida et al., 2002). Originally described as a brain-enriched protein (Erhardt et al., 1998), Fbx2 is also highly expressed in the organ of Corti, in which it has been called organ of Corti protein 1 (Thalmann et al., 1997). Mice with targeted deletion of Fbxo2 develop age-related hearing loss beginning at 2 months. Cellular degeneration begins in the epithelial support cells of the organ of Corti and is accompanied by changes in cellular membrane integrity and early increases in connexin 26, a cochlear gap junction protein previously shown to interact with Fbx2 (Henzl et al., 2004). Progressive degeneration includes hair cells and the spiral ganglion, but the brain itself is spared despite widespread CNS expression of Fbx2. Cochlear Fbx2 binds Skp1, the common binding partner for F-box proteins, and is an unusually abundant inner ear protein. Whereas cochlear Skp1 levels fall in parallel with the loss of Fbx2, other components of the canonical SCF (Skp1, Cullin1, F-box, Rbx1) ubiquitin ligase complex remain unchanged and show little if any complex formation with Fbx2/Skp1, suggesting that cochlear Fbx2 and Skp1 form a novel, heterodimeric complex. Our findings demonstrate that components of protein quality control are essential for inner ear homeostasis and implicate Fbx2 and Skp1 as potential genetic modifiers in age-related hearing loss.