Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RGB-D & SVM action recognition for security improvement

The current state of art 1 allows achieving high action recognition accuracy but only after processing the entire video sequence, however for security issues, it is primordial to detect dangerous behaviors occurrence as soon as possible allowing early warnings. In this paper, we present a human activity recognition method using skeleton information provided by an RGB-D sensor by proposing a new descriptor modelling dynamic relation between 3D locations of skeleton joints, expressed in distance and spherical coordinates between the 20 available joints. First, we perform preprocessing step to recover missing skeleton information over frames, so, we normalize skeleton joints and apply a PCA dimension reduction to remove noisy information and enhance recognition accuracy while improving calculation and decision time. We also study the accuracy of the proposed descriptor calculated over limited few first frames to perform early action detection by specifying multiclass SVM classifier. We test this approach on two datasets, MSR Daily Activity 3D and our own dataset called INDACT; experimental evaluation shows that proposed approach can robustly classify actions outperforming state-of-art and maintain good accuracy score even using limited frame number.
Swallow: Building an energy-transparent many-core embedded real-time system

Swallow is a many-core platform of interconnected embedded real time processors with time-deterministic execution and a cache-less memory subsystem. Its largest current configuration is 480 × 32-bit processors. It is open-source, designed from the ground up to allow the exploration of flexibility, scalability and energy efficiency in large systems of embedded processors. Further, it enables the behavior of various structures of parallel programs to be explored. It is a proof of concept and design example for other potential systems of this kind. We present the energy transparency features and proportional energy scaling of the system that allows it to be expanded beyond hundreds of cores. We discuss the design choices, construction and novel network implementation of Swallow. Currently, the system provides up to 240 GIPS, with each core consuming 71-193mW, dependent on workload. Its power per instruction is lower than almost all systems of comparable scale. We discuss the challenges associated with efficiently utilizing this system, particularly communication/computation ratios, and give recommendations for future systems and their software.
A prototype of an autonomous controller for a quadrotor UAV

The paper proposes a complete real-time control algorithm for autonomous collision-free operations of the quadrotor UAV. As opposed to fixed wing vehicles the quadrotor is a small agile vehicle which might be more suitable for the variety of specific applications including search and rescue, surveillance and remote inspection. The developed control system incorporates both trajectory planning and path following. Using a differential flatness property the trajectory planning is posed as a constrained optimization problem in the output space (as opposed to the control space), which simplifies the problem. The trajectory and speed profile are parameterized to reduce the problem to a finite dimensional problem. To optimize the speed profile independently of the trajectory a virtual argument is used as opposed to time. A path following portion of the proposed algorithm uses a standard linear multi-variable control technique. The paper presents the results of simulations to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed control algorithm.
Endotoxin inhalation alters lung development in neonatal mice.

BACKGROUND Childhood asthma is a significant public health problem. Epidemiologic evidence suggests an association between childhood asthma exacerbations and early life exposure to environmental endotoxin. Although the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced adult asthma is well studied, questions remain about the impact of environmental endotoxin on pulmonary responsiveness in early life. METHODS We developed a murine model of neonatal/juvenile endotoxin exposures approximating those in young children and evaluated the lungs inflammatory and remodeling responses. RESULTS Persistent lung inflammation induced by the inhalation of endotoxin in early life was demonstrated by the influx of inflammatory cells and pro-inflammatory mediators to the airways and resulted in abnormal alveolarization. CONCLUSIONS Results of this study advance the understanding of the impact early life endotoxin inhalation has on the lower airways, and demonstrates the importance of an experimental design that approximates environmental exposures as they occur in young children.
The usefulness of respiratory ultrasound assessment for modifying the physiotherapeutic algorithm in children after congenital heart defect surgeries

Abstract Background: The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness and the possible use of diagnostic transthoracic ultrasound of the respiratory tract to qualify patients for therapy and to monitor the effectiveness of physiotherapy in children after cardiac surgeries. Materials and methods: A total of 103 patients aged between 1 and 12 months who underwent a series of congenital heart surgeries using cardiopulmonary bypass were qualified for the prospective analysis. Point-of-care respiratory ultrasound imaging was performed according to a tailored protocol during the patient’s stay in the intensive care unit. In order to evaluate the method, the obtained findings were subject to comparative analysis against the available radiographic findings with a division into sectors. Results: The comparative analysis of ultrasonographic and radiographic findings with a division into sectors showed the highest concordance rate (89.6%) for S1L (the apex of the left lung) and the lowest concordance rate (57.0%) for S2L (pericardial region). The highest discordance rate, i.e. when a lesion was detected in radiography (X-ray = 1), but was not confirmed by ultrasound (US = 0), was reported for sectors S1P (right lung apex) – 26.1%, and S2L – 40.0%, whereas the lowest discordance rate was reported for S1L – 7.0%. The highest discordance rate, i.e. when a lesion was shown in ultrasound (US = 1), but was not confirmed by radiography (X-ray = 0) was reported for S3P (the base of the right lung) and S3L (base of the right lung) – 28.3% and 26.1%, respectively. Conclusions: The author’s protocol for ultrasonographic assessment of the respiratory tract is an optimal tool for determining therapeutic goals, as well as for the assessment of the efficacy of pulmonary physiotherapy. The diagnostic value of ultrasonographic assessment of the respiratory tract and standard radiography in the study group depends on the location of the investigated lung segment.
DCA: a distributed control architecture for robotics

Many control applications are by nature distributed, not only over different processes but also over several processors. Managing such a system with respect to the startup of processes, internal communications and state changes quickly becomes a very complex task. The paper presents a distributed control architecture which supports a formal model of computation as described by Lyons and Arib (1989). The architecture is primarily intended for robot control but has a wide range of potential applications. We motivate the design and implementation of the architecture by discussing the desired properties of a robot system capable of doing real-time tasks like manipulation. This leads to functionality such as a process algebra controlling the life-cycle of the processes, grouping and distribution of processes and internal communication transparent to location. Our implementation does not in itself introduce any bottlenecks due to a tree structure with local control over processes which gives an efficient and scalable architecture. At the end, an example scenario in which a fairly advanced problem like opening a door using a mobile robot with a manipulator arm is demonstrated in the presented framework.
Transcriptional Co-activators CREB-binding Protein and p300 Regulate Chondrocyte-specific Gene Expression via Association with Sox9*

Chondrocytes are critical components for the precise patterning of a developing skeletal framework and articular joint formation. Sox9 is a key transcription factor that is essential for chondrocyte differentiation and chondrocyte-specific gene expressions; however, the precise transcriptional activation mechanism of Sox9 is not fully understood. Here we demonstrate that Sox9 utilizes a cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB)-binding protein (CBP)/p300 to exert its effects. Sox9 associates with CBP/p300 in the chondrosarcoma cell line SW1353 via its carboxyl termini activation domain in a cell type-specific manner. In promoter assays, CBP/p300 enhances Col2a1, which encodes cartilage-specific type II collagen gene promoter activity via Sox9. Chromatin immunoprecipitation shows that p300 is bound to the Col2a1 promoter region. Furthermore, the CBP/Sox9 complex disrupter peptide suppresses Col2a1 gene expression and chondrogenesis from mesenchymal stem cells. These data demonstrate that CBP and p300 function as co-activators of Sox9 for cartilage tissue-specific gene expression and chondrocyte differentiation.
Fission Yeast Myosin-I, Myo1p, Stimulates Actin Assembly by Arp2/3 Complex and Shares Functions with Wasp

Fission yeast myo1 + encodes a myosin-I with all three tail homology domains (TH1, 2, 3) found in typical long-tailed myosin-Is. Myo1p tail also contains a COOH-terminal acidic region similar to the A-domain of WASp/Scar proteins and other fungal myosin-Is. Our analysis shows that Myo1p and Wsp1p, the fission yeast WASp-like protein, share functions and cooperate in controlling actin assembly. First, Myo1p localizes to cortical patches enriched at tips of growing cells and at sites of cell division. Myo1p patches partially colocalize with actin patches and are dependent on an intact actin cytoskeleton. Second, although deletion of myo1 + is not lethal, Δmyo1 cells have actin cytoskeletal defects, including loss of polarized cell growth, delocalized actin patches, and mating defects. Third, additional disruption of wsp1 + is synthetically lethal, suggesting that these genes may share functions. In mapping the domains of Myo1p tail that share function with Wsp1p, we discovered that a Myo1p construct with just the head and TH1 domains is sufficient for cortical localization and to rescue all Δmyo1 defects. However, it fails to rescue the Δmyo1 Δwsp1 lethality. Additional tail domains, TH2 and TH3, are required to complement the double mutant. Fourth, we show that a recombinant Myo1p tail binds to Arp2/3 complex and activates its actin nucleation activity.
Effect of Dietary Processed Sulfur on the Meat Quality in Pork under Aging

The present study was performed to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with processed sulfur on the quality and stability of vacuum packaged pork during aging time. All groups were designated into two groups; NP, a group fed basal diet and SP, a group fed basal diet and processed sulfur, 3 g/kg feed. Following vacuum packaging, Longissimus dorsi muscles were vacuum-packaged and stored under refrigerated condition (1-2℃) for 21 d. Weight loss of the SP group was lower (p<0.05) than that of the NP group. Interaction effect of shear force and cooking loss was observed (p<0.05). Redness values of the SP group at 14 and 21 d after storage were higher than those of the NP group (p<0.05). Lipid oxidation and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) levels in the SP group were retarded (p<0.05) compared to that of the NP group during storage. Aspartic and glutamic acid in SP were higher than in NP (p<0.1). There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in TPC between the both groups during storage. Therefore, vacuum packaged pork from pigs fed processed sulfur had better aging yield and storage stability than pork from pigs fed basal diet.
Embedding Physical Augmentation and Wavelet Scattering Transform to Generative Adversarial Networks for Audio Classification with Limited Training Resources

This paper addresses audio classification with limited training resources. We first investigate different types of data augmentation including physical modeling, wavelet scattering transform and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN). We than propose a novel GAN method to embed physical augmentation and wavelet scattering transform in processing. The experimental results on Google Speech Command show significant improvements of the proposed method when training with limited resources. It could lift up classification accuracy from the best baselines of 62.06% and 77.29% on ResNet, to as far as 91.96% and 93.38%, when training with 10% and 25% training data, respectively.
Antisense suppression of LOX3 gene expression in rice endosperm enhances seed longevity.

Lipid peroxidation plays a major role in seed longevity and viability. In rice grains, lipid peroxidation is catalyzed by the enzyme lipoxygenase 3 (LOX3). Previous reports showed that grain from the rice variety DawDam in which the LOX3 gene was deleted had less stale flavour after grain storage than normal rice. The molecular mechanism by which LOX3 expression is regulated during endosperm development remains unclear. In this study, we expressed a LOX3 antisense construct in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants to down-regulate LOX3 expression in rice endosperm. The transgenic plants exhibited a marked decrease in LOX mRNA levels, normal phenotypes and a normal life cycle. We showed that LOX3 activity and its ability to produce 9-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acid (9-HPOD) from linoleic acid were significantly lower in transgenic seeds than in wild-type seeds by measuring the ultraviolet absorption of 9-HPOD at 234 nm and by high-performance liquid chromatography. The suppression of LOX3 expression in rice endosperm increased grain storability. The germination rate of TS-91 (antisense LOX3 transgenic line) was much higher than the WT (29% higher after artificial ageing for 21 days, and 40% higher after natural ageing for 12 months). To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate that decreased LOX3 expression can preserve rice grain quality during storage with no impact on grain yield, suggesting potential applications in agricultural production.
Convergence of Data Sources in the Analysis of Complex Learning Environments

Learning in technology mediated learning environments is a complex process that varies across individual and group contexts. Complex learning environments that are mediated by technology require distinct concurrent methodologies that reveal when and where learning may occur. This paper describes the analysis of two technology-mediated problem-solving environments, one that uses concurrent methods to identify expertise, and the other that examines the influence of technology in a collaborative learning situation. The first example examines individual problem solving in the context of a stand-alone environment, BioWorld, whereas the second example examines the joint production of medical decisions with traditional and interactive whiteboard technology in a medical classroom. These examples demonstrate how concurrent methods add to our understanding of individual learning as well as the co-construction of knowledge in the context of clinical reasoning using technology.
Program Analysis and Transformation: From the Polytope Model to Formal Languages. (Analyse et transformation de programmes: du modèle polyédrique aux langages formels)

Compilation for todays microprocessor and multi-processor architectures is facing new challenges. Dealing with parallel execution, optimizations become overly specific and complex to be left to the programmer. Traditionally devoted to numerical applications, automatic parallelization addresses new program models, including non-affine nests of loops, recursive calls and pointer-based data structures. Parallelism detection is based on precise analyses, gathering compile-time information about run-time program properties. This information enables transformations useful to parallelism extraction and parallel code generation. This thesis focuses on aggressive analysis and transformation techniques from an instancewise point of view, that is from individual properties of each run-time instance of a program statement. Thanks to a novel formal language framework, we first investigate instancewise dependence and reaching definition analysis for recursive programs. This analysis is applied to memory expansion and parallelization of recursive programs, and promising results are exposed. The second part of this work addresses nests of loops with unrestricted conditionals, bounds and array subscripts. Parallelization via memory expansion is revisited in this context and solutions to challenging optimization problems are proposed.
Müller cell‐mediated neurite outgrowth of the retinal ganglion cells via P2Y6 receptor signals

Müller cells, the primary macroglia of the retina, support various functions of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Here, we demonstrate a nucleotide‐mediated communication between these two types of cells, by which Müller cells control neurite outgrowth of RGCs by activation of P2 receptors such as P2Y6. Cultured mouse RGCs had significantly enhanced neurite outgrowth when cultured with either cultured mouse Müller cells or conditioned medium derived from Müller cells, and this was completely inhibited by the nucleotide‐degrading enzyme, apyrase. This increase in outgrowth was mimicked by exogenously applied nucleotides such as ATP, uridine triphosphate, and uridine diphosphate. Pharmacological and genetic analysis revealed that P2Y6 receptor in RGCs was responsible for the increased neurite outgrowth. P2Y6 receptor was expressed in the ganglion cell layer of the retina and in RGC primary cultures. High performance liquid chromatography has revealed that Müller cells constitutively release uridine triphosphate, which is immediately metabolized into uridine diphosphate, an endogenous agonist for P2Y6 receptor. In the in vitro ocular hypertension model (i.e., glaucoma model), neurite outgrowth in RGCs was significantly reduced, which was associated with a decrease in P2Y6 receptors. Taken together, Müller cells control neurite outgrowth of RGCs by activating P2 receptors such as P2Y6 receptor, and the receptor expression level might be down‐regulated in glaucoma.
The Effects of Vitamin D on Gentamicin-Induced Acute Kidney Injury in Experimental Rat Model

Introduction. Acute kidney injury (AKI) pathogenesis is complex. Findings of gentamicin nephrotoxicity are seen in 30% of the AKI patients. Vitamin D has proven to be effective on renin expression, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and atherosclerosis. We aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D in an experimental rat model of gentamicin-induced AKI. Methods. Thirty nonuremic Wistar albino rats were divided into 3 groups: Control group, 1 mL saline intramuscular (im) daily; Genta group, gentamicin 100 mg/kg/day (im); Genta + vitamin D, gentamicin 100 mg/kg/day (im) in addition to 1α, 25 (OH)2D3 0.4 mcg/kg/day subcutaneously for 8 days. Blood pressures and 24-hour urine were measured. Blood urea and creatinine levels and urine tubular injury markers were measured. Renal histology was semiquantitatively assessed. Results. Urea, creatinine and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, and kidney injury molecule-1 were all increased in Genta group indicating AKI model. Systolic blood pressure decreased, but urine volume and glutathione increased in Genta + Vit D group compared to Control group. Histological scores indicating tubular injury increased in Genta and Genta + Vit D groups. Conclusions. Vitamin D does not seem to be effective on histological findings although it has some beneficial effects via RAS system and a promising effect on antioxidant system.
Cross-genre Event Extraction with Knowledge Enrichment

The goal of Event extraction is to extract structured information of events that are of interest from unstructured documents. Existing event extractors for social media suffer from two major problems: lack of context and informal nature. In this paper, instead of conducting event extraction solely on each social media message, we incorporate cross-genre knowledge to boost the event extractor performance. Experiment results demonstrate that without any additional annotations, our proposed approach is able to provide 15% absolute F-score improvement over the state-of-the-art.
Dose‐dependence of promotion of 2‐amino‐3,8‐dimethylimidazo[4,5‐f]quinoxaline‐induced rat hepatocarcinogenesis by ethanol: Evidence for a threshold

Although ethanol is thought to be a tumor‐promoter, there are conflicting results concerning its effects on experimental hepatocarcinogenesis. Furthermore, the relationship between the amount of ethanol consumed and tumor promoting effects has hitherto not been investigated in detail. In the present study, 21‐day‐old F344/DuCrj rats were fed 200 p.p.m. 2‐amino‐3,8‐dimethylimidazo[4,5‐f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) in their diet for 8 weeks and thereafter received ethanol at doses of 0, 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10 and 20% in drinking water ad libitum for 16 weeks. The incidences of hepatocellular adenoma and total tumors increased dose‐dependently with statistical significance at doses of 10% and 20%, compared to the initiated control value. Similarly, dose dependence was observed for the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma, which was elevated significantly at the dose of 20%. No alteration in development of preneoplastic glutathione‐S‐transferase placental form positive foci or tumors was observed with 0.1–1%. Cell proliferation also increased dose‐dependently and CYP2E1 protein induction was recognized in centrilobular regions without alteration in mRNA levels, but no effects were evident on formation of 8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine, an oxidative DNA damage marker, or lipid peroxidation in any of the initiated groups. The mRNA expression of cyclin D1 increased dose dependently. The results demonstrated that ethanol dose‐dependently promotes hepatocarcinogenesis induced by MeIQx, but with no adverse influence at doses of 1% or less, comparable to sensible drinking levels in humans. (Cancer Sci 2005; 96: 747–757)
Application Specific Buffer Allocation for Wormhole Routing Networks-on-Chip

A buffer allocation algorithm for wormhole routing networks-on-chip was proposed. When the total budget of the available buffering space is fixed, the proposed algorithm automatically assigns the buffer depth for each input channel, in different routers across the chip, according to the traffic characteristics of the target application. The simulation results show that the buffer allocation result is more reasonable and lower average packet latency can be achieved compared to the uniform buffer allocation.