Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eigen Evolution Pooling for Human Action Recognition

We introduce Eigen Evolution Pooling, an efficient method to aggregate a sequence of feature vectors. Eigen evolution pooling is designed to produce compact feature representations for a sequence of feature vectors, while maximally preserving as much information about the sequence as possible, especially the temporal evolution of the features over time. Eigen evolution pooling is a general pooling method that can be applied to any sequence of feature vectors, from low-level RGB values to high-level Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) feature vectors. We show that eigen evolution pooling is more effective than average, max, and rank pooling for encoding the dynamics of human actions in video. We demonstrate the power of eigen evolution pooling on UCF101 and Hollywood2 datasets, two human action recognition benchmarks, and achieve state-of-the-art performance.
Long-Term Cardiovascular and Noncardiovascular Mortality of 1023 Patients With Confirmed Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Background— There are currently no guidelines advising long-term surveillance of patients following an acute pulmonary embolism (PE), because long-term outcome studies are rare. We investigated the long-term cardiovascular and all-cause mortality of a large patient cohort with confirmed PE in relation to baseline cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods and Results— Clinical details of all patients presenting with acute PE to a tertiary hospital were retrieved from medical records, and their survival tracked from a statewide death registry. There were 1023 (45% males) patients admitted with confirmed PE from 2000 to 2007. During a mean follow-up of 3.8±2.6 years, 363 patients died (35.5%), of whom only 31 (3.0%) died in-hospital during the index PE admission. The 3-month, 6-month, 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year cumulative mortality rates were 8.3%, 11.1%, 16.3%, 26.7%, and 31.6% respectively. Annual mortality did not improve over the 7-year period. The postdischarge mortality of 8.5%/patient-year was 2.5-fold that of an age- and sex-matched general population, being 12.6-fold in the youngest quintile (<55 years) and 1.9-fold in the oldest quintile (≥83 years). Patients with known CVD at baseline had 2.2-fold greater all-cause mortality than those without CVD, and this effect, although at a lower level of risk, remained significant after multivariate analysis. Of the 332 deaths occurring postdischarge, 40% were attributed to cardiovascular causes. Conclusions— In a contemporary adult population, PE is associated with a substantially increased long-term mortality, of which nearly half is cardiovascular. Our study highlights the urgent need to develop long-term surveillance strategies in this population.
Automatic license plate detection using vertical edge detection method

This paper proposes a faster mechanism for license plate detection. Usually license plate has more vertical edges compared to horizontal edge. By focusing on this concept an algorithm called VEDA is used here. First convert the color image into gray image. Then for binarizing the image a technique called adaptive thresholding (AT) is used. The noise in the image is removed by using ULEA algorithm. Then the proposed VEDA is used to extract the vertical edges. Then HDD algorithm is used for highlighting the license plate area. Compared to other edge detection mechanisms such as SOBEL and CANNY, VEDA has lesser complexity. Also the computation time is also less for VEDA when compared against SOBEL.
straightjacket is required for the synaptic stabilization of cacophony, a voltage-gated calcium channel α1 subunit

In a screen to identify genes involved in synaptic function, we isolated mutations in Drosophila melanogaster straightjacket (stj), an α2δ subunit of the voltage-gated calcium channel. stj mutant photoreceptors develop normal synaptic connections but display reduced “on–off” transients in electroretinogram recordings, indicating a failure to evoke postsynaptic responses and, thus, a defect in neurotransmission. stj is expressed in neurons but excluded from glia. Mutants exhibit endogenous seizure-like activity, indicating altered neuronal excitability. However, at the synaptic level, stj larval neuromuscular junctions exhibit approximately fourfold reduction in synaptic release compared with controls stemming from a reduced release probability at these synapses. These defects likely stem from destabilization of Cacophony (Cac), the primary presynaptic α1 subunit in D. melanogaster. Interestingly, neuronal overexpression of cac partially rescues the viability and physiological defects in stj mutants, indicating a role for the α2δ Ca2+ channel subunit in mediating the proper localization of an α1 subunit at synapses.
Based on HMM and SVM multilayer architecture classifier for Chinese sign language recognition with large vocabulary

This paper has put forward a new architecture classifier method for Chinese sign language recognition (CSLR) to improve the performance of recognition. It is a signer-independent method, to recognize Chinese sign language with large vocabulary using multilayer architecture classifier and making use of the advantages both of HMM (hidden Markov model) and SVM (support vector machines). Because HMM is good at dealing with sequential inputs, while SVM shows superior performance in classifying with good generalization properties especially for limited samples. Therefore, they can be combined to yield a better and effective multilayer architecture classifier. We apply SVMs to resolve the uncertainties of the remaining which are in confusable sets after the first-stage HMM-based recognizer. And the confusable sets would be updated dynamically according to the results of a recognition performance to optimize the discernment performance next time. Experimental results proved that it is an effective method for CSLR with large vocabulary keywords sign language recognition, HMM, SVM, multilayer architecture classifier.
Diagnosing architectural run-time failures

Self-diagnosis is a fundamental capability of self-adaptive systems. In order to recover from faults, systems need to know which part is responsible for the incorrect behavior. In previous work we showed how to apply a design-time diagnosis technique at run time to identify faults at the architectural level of a system. Our contributions address three major shortcomings of our previous work: 1) we present an expressive, hierarchical language to describe system behavior that can be used to diagnose when a system is behaving different to expectation; the hierarchical language facilitates mapping low level system events to architecture level events; 2) we provide an automatic way to determine how much data to collect before an accurate diagnosis can be produced; and 3) we develop a technique that allows the detection of correlated faults between components. Our results are validated experimentally by injecting several failures in a system and accurately diagnosing them using our algorithm.
IMPROVED CONSTRAINTS ON COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND SECONDARY ANISOTROPIES FROM THE COMPLETE 2008 SOUTH POLE TELESCOPE DATA

We report measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum from the complete 2008 South Pole Telescope (SPT) data set. We analyze twice as much data as the first SPT power spectrum analysis, using an improved cosmological parameter estimator which fits multi-frequency models to the SPT 150 and 220 GHz bandpowers. We find an excellent fit to the measured bandpowers with a model that includes lensed primary CMB anisotropy, secondary thermal (tSZ) and kinetic (kSZ) Sunyaev–Zel'dovich anisotropies, unclustered synchrotron point sources, and clustered dusty point sources. In addition to measuring the power spectrum of dusty galaxies at high signal-to-noise, the data primarily constrain a linear combination of the kSZ and tSZ anisotropy contributions at 150 GHz and ℓ = 3000: DtSZ3000 + 0.5 DkSZ3000 = 4.5 ± 1.0 μK2. The 95% confidence upper limits on secondary anisotropy power are DtSZ3000 < 5.3 μK2 and DkSZ3000 < 6.5 μK2. We also consider the potential correlation of dusty and tSZ sources and find it incapable of relaxing the tSZ upper limit. These results increase the significance of the lower than expected tSZ amplitude previously determined from SPT power spectrum measurements. We find that models including non-thermal pressure support in groups and clusters predict tSZ power in better agreement with the SPT data. Combining the tSZ power measurement with primary CMB data halves the statistical uncertainty on σ8. However, the preferred value of σ8 varies significantly between tSZ models. Improved constraints on cosmological parameters from tSZ power spectrum measurements require continued progress in the modeling of the tSZ power.
BK β1 subunit‐dependent facilitation of ethanol inhibition of BK current and cerebral artery constriction is mediated by the β1 transmembrane domain 2

Ethanol at concentrations obtained in the circulation during moderate‐heavy episodic drinking (30–60 mM) causes cerebral artery constriction in several species, including humans. In rodents, ethanol‐induced cerebral artery constriction results from ethanol inhibition of large conductance voltage/Ca2+i‐gated K+ (BK) channels in cerebral artery myocytes. Moreover, the smooth muscle‐abundant BK β1 accessory subunit is required for ethanol to inhibit cerebral artery myocyte BK channels under physiological Ca2+i and voltages and thus constrict cerebral arteries. The molecular bases of these ethanol actions remain unknown. Here, we set to identify the BK β1 region(s) that mediates ethanol‐induced inhibition of cerebral artery myocyte BK channels and eventual arterial constriction.
Multiple imputation: review of theory, implementation and software

Missing data is a common complication in data analysis. In many medical settings missing data can cause difficulties in estimation, precision and inference. Multiple imputation (MI) (Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. Wiley: New York, 1987) is a simulation‐based approach to deal with incomplete data. Although there are many different methods to deal with incomplete data, MI has become one of the leading methods. Since the late 1980s we observed a constant increase in the use and publication of MI‐related research. This tutorial does not attempt to cover all the material concerning MI, but rather provides an overview and combines together the theory behind MI, the implementation of MI, and discusses increasing possibilities of the use of MI using commercial and free software. We illustrate some of the major points using an example from an Alzheimer disease (AD) study. In this AD study, while clinical data are available for all subjects, postmortem data are only available for the subset of those who died and underwent an autopsy. Analysis of incomplete data requires making unverifiable assumptions. These assumptions are discussed in detail in the text. Relevant S‐Plus code is provided. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electrical conductivity and permittivity of ceramics and other composites

Determining the properties of composites and how these relate to those of the components and the microstructure is extremely useful as it enables the understanding of existing materials and the design of new materials with a variety of applications. However, the link between the ac conductivity data and the microstructure and composition of the composite is not a simple one. Simulations of binary composites are presented which show that from relatively simple component properties arise complex composite properties. Accurate identification of the components of composites, using characteristic frequencies, is demonstrated for simulated and actual experimental data. The Maxwell-Wagner and Brick Layer Models, which are often applied beyond the range of their original derivation, are found to consistently fit the data of yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics measured at various temperatures. The results from fitting single crystal and polycrystalline sample data indicate that accurate modeling of the properties of the polycrystalline samples requires more theoretical work on the conduction mechanisms in single crystals and the grains of the ceramics. Data from a polyester-resin/silicon system is found to be best fitted using the Single Exponent Phenomenological Percolation Equation (SEPPE) with experimentally measured component properties as input. The percolation threshold obtained suggests a system where the insulator tends coat the conductor. The results show that, with the actual component properties as input, the SEPPE can be used to qualitatively and semi-quantitatively model and fit composite ac conductivity data. Analysis of the ac conductivity of liquid-phase-sintered silicon carbide ceramics showed that for this system, the features often observed in the impedance spectra are all due to a multi-component grain bondary/binder phase and not the SiC grains. This multi-component grain boundary phase can be fitted accurately to the Brick Layer Model, indicating a microstructure where an insulating component coats a more conducting component. ii Kuna amai na baba, Mike, Musafare, Tambudzai, Loveness na Dorothy uye mudiwa wangu Gloria, ndichitenda kuzvipira nekushingirira kwenyu. To mom, dad, Mike, Musafare, Tambudzai, Loveness, Dorothy and the love of my life, Gloria, thanking you all for all the sacrifices you make.
Institutional Repository A framework for understanding user requirements for an information service : defining the needs of informal carers

The aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework that would help to collect and understand the information needs of a target community. Many information behaviour frameworks already exist, however; although they share some features, they tend to focus on different aspects of the person and their interaction with information. It was proposed that a synthesis of these frameworks could lead to a comprehensive framework. Previous research was analysed and an initial framework defined. This was piloted and adapted and then applied to data on informal carers. This led to further adaptation. Informal carers are people who care for another person, generally a relative, for more than fourteen hours per week and are not paid for this. The data stemmed from
A Novel Micro-Dissection Method Using Ultrasonic Vibration for Molecular Analysis

Molecular techniques are transforming our understanding of cellular function and disease. However, accurate molecular analysis methods will be limited if the input DNA, RNA, or protein is not derived from pure population of cells or is contaminated by the wrong cells. A novel Ultrasonic Vibration Microdissection (UVM) method was proposed to procure pure population of targeted cells from tissue sections for subsequent analysis. The principle of the Ultrasonic Vibration Cutting is analyzed, and a novel microknife is designed. A multilayer piezoelectric actuator is used to actuate a sharp needle vibrating with high frequency and low amplitude (Approx. 16–50 kHz, and 0-3μm) to cut the tissue. Contrast experiment was done to test the feasibility of UVM method. Experimental results show that the embedded tissue can be quickly and precisely cut with the ultrasonic vibration micro-dissection method.
The Membrane Protein of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Acts as a Dominant Immunogen Revealed by a Clustering Region of Novel Functionally and Structurally Defined Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Epitopes

Abstract Background. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which emerged with highly contagious and life-threatening characteristics in 2002, remains a potential risk for future outbreaks. Membrane (M) and envelope (E) proteins are major structural proteins of the SARS-CoV. The M protein has been determined as a protective antigen in humoral responses. However, its potential roles in stimulating cellular immunity remain elusive. Methods. In this study, a panel of peptides derived from M and E proteins were tested by in vitro refolding, T2 cell-binding assays, and responses stimulated by cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes in HLA-A2.1/Kb transgenic mice and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Results. A nonameric epitope Mn2 and a decameric epitope Md3 derived from the M protein were identified and used for the evaluation of M protein-specific immunity. Responses stimulated by M protein-specific CTL epitopes have been found in the PBMCs of donors who had recovered from SARS infection. Additionally, the transmembrane domain of the M protein may contain a T cell epitope cluster revealed by the immunogenic and structural analysis of a panel of truncated peptides overlapping with Mn2 and Md3. Conclusions. The M protein of SARS-CoV holds dominant cellular immunogenicity. This, together with previous reports of a strong humoral response against the M protein, may help to further explain the immunogenicity of SARS and serves as potential targets for SARS-CoV vaccine design.
Design and Implementation of an Intrusion-Tolerant Tuple Space

The tuple space coordination model is one of the most interesting communication models for open distributed systems due to its space and time decoupling and its synchronization power. Several works have tried to improve the dependability of tuple spaces. Some have made tuple spaces fault-tolerant while others have focused on security. However, many practical applications in the Internet require both these dimensions. This paper describes the design and implementation of DEPSPACE, a dependable communication infrastructure based on the tuple space coordination model. DEPSPACE is dependable in a strong sense of the word: it is secure, fault-tolerant and intrusion-tolerant, i.e. it behaves as expected even if some of the machines that implement it are successfully attacked. Moreover, it is a policy-enforced augmented tuple space, a shared memory object that we have recently proven to be universal, i.e., capable of implementing any other shared memory object.
Analysis And Finite Element Simulation Of Mhd Flows, With An Application To Seawater Drag Reduction

Much research effort has recently been devoted to the electromagnetic control of saltwater flows, exploiting the macroscopic interaction of saltwater with electric currents and magnetic fields. This interaction is governed by the equations of viscous incompressible MHD, essentially, the Navier-Stokes equations coupled to Maxwell’s equations. A major problem in the analysis and numerical solution of these equations is the fact that while the Navier-Stokes equations are posed in the fluid domain, Maxwell’s equations are generally posed on all of space. Consequently, electric and magnetic fields do not satisfy standard boundary conditions, but jump or continuity relations on the surface of the fluid domain (and other interfaces). Frequently the resulting difficulties are circumvented by prescribing more or less artificial boundary conditions. In this paper we present a novel formulation of the MHD equations that avoids some inherent difficulties of more traditional approaches by employing the electric current density rather than the magnetic field as the primary electromagnetic variable. This formulation leads to initialboundary value problems for a system of integro-differential equations in the fluid domain and lends itself naturally to the use of finite-element based discretization techniques. As a first application we describe a mixed finite-element method for the numerical solution of a class of stationary MHD flow problems and report on the computational simulation of a simple drag reduction experiment.
New Strategy for a Suitable Fast Stabilization of the Biomethanization Performance

The start-up strategies for thermophilic anaerobic reactors usually consist of an initial mesophilic stage (35°C), with an approximate duration of 185 days, and a subsequent thermophilic stage (55°C), which normally requires around 60 days to achieve the system stabilizatio. During the first 8–10 days of the mesophilic stage, the reactor is not fed so that the inoculum, which is generally a mesophilic anaerobic sludge, may be adapted to the organic solid waste. Between mesophilic and thermophilic conditions the reactor is still not fed in an effort to prevent possible imbalances in the proces. As a consequence, the start-up and stabilization of the biomethanization performance described in the literature require, at least, around 245 days. In this sense, a new strategy for the start-up and stabilization phases is presented in this study. This approach allows an important reduction in the overall time necessary for these stages in an anaerobic continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) operated at thermophilic-dry conditions for treating the organic fraction of the municipal solid waste (OFMSW): 60 days versus 245 days of conventional strategies. The new strategy uses modified SEBAC technology to adapt an inoculum to the OFMSW and the operational conditions prior to seeding the CSTR.
Grazing incidence synchrotron x-ray diffraction method for analyzing thin films

A method using synchrotron radiation parallel beam x-ray optics with a small incidence angle α on the specimen and 2Θ-detector scanning is described for depth profiling analysis of thin films. The instrumentation is the same as used for Θ:2Θ synchrotron parallel beam powder diffractometry, except that the specimen is uncoupled from the detector. There is no profile distortion. Below the critical angle for total reflection α_c, the top tens of Angstroms are sampled. Depth profiling is controlled to a few Angstroms using a small α and 0.005° steps. The penetration depth increases to several hundred Angstroms as α approaches α_c. Above α_c there is a rapid increase in penetration depth to a thousand Angstroms or more and the profiling cannot be sensitively controlled. At grazing incidence the peaks are shifted several tenths of a degree by the x-ray refraction and an experimental procedure for calculating the shifts is described. The method is illustrated with an analysis of iron oxide films.
An Examination of the Heterosexism Scale

Researchers explored the factor structure of Park’s Heterosexism Scale (2001) with heterosexual parents of lesbian, gay, or bisexual sons or daughters. Results suggested a two-factor solution, but results varied from Park’s two-factor model. Additionally, relations between the Heterosexism Scale subscales and measures of cognitive flexibility, religious commitment, and general family functioning were examined. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.
Producing More Readable Extracts by Revising Them

In this paper, we first experimentally investigated the factors that make extracts hard to read. We did this by having human subjects try to revise extracts to produce more readable ones. We then classified the factors into five, most of which are related to cohesion, after which we devised revision rules for each factor, and partially implemented a system that revises extracts.