Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of blob objects in microscopic zebrafish images based on gradient vector diffusion

The zebrafish has become an important vertebrate animal model for the study of developmental biology, functional genomics, and disease mechanisms. It is also being used for drug discovery. Computerized detection of blob objects has been one of the important tasks in quantitative phenotyping of zebrafish. We present a new automated method that is able to detect blob objects, such as nuclei or cells in microscopic zebrafish images. This method is composed of three key steps. The first step is to produce a diffused gradient vector field by a physical elastic deformable model. In the second step, the flux image is computed on the diffused gradient vector field. The third step performs thresholding and nonmaximum suppression based on the flux image. We report the validation and experimental results of this method using zebrafish image datasets from three independent research labs. Both sensitivity and specificity of this method are over 90%. This method is able to differentiate closely juxtaposed or connected blob objects, with high sensitivity and specificity in different situations. It is characterized by a good, consistent performance in blob object detection. © 2007 International Society for Analytical Cytology
LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE XXI CENTURY: THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED THE SCENARIO OF LEARNING PROCESSES OR ONLY GAVE THE APPEARANCE OF MODERNITY?

It is considered in the context of this article the growing scientific development, fast and complex contemporary society, the profile of the students of the 21st century and, consequently, the demands of Higher Education arising from this reality. The objective of this study is to identify and analyze whether the use of ICT and the resources derived from them have resulted in effective changes in the formal scenario of the teaching and learning processes of Higher Education or only offer an appearance of updating. The research carried out is a systematic review of the literature, in which key words were searched in journals indexed with scientific databases relevant to the scientific community, which allowed the identification of practices related to the requirements prioritized in the analysis proposed from published articles in scientific. 62 articles were selected from a primary sample of 450 located from a systematic search process. We present the public that compose the main sample groups of the revised works, the percentage of intentional and occasional learning in them, the types of practices and resources most used and the resources most used for the formal learning processes in Higher Education. It is highlighted if the existence of practices related to the informational construction of knowledge is still present but demonstrating a strong tendency towards more formative practices of knowledge construction. The results showed a complex scenario of apparent transition, in which most of the research is quantitative, focused on the protagonism of the students (learning processes) and highlights the heterogeneity and update of technological resources to promote the teaching and learning processes of different contents, methodologies and strategies. Although informative practices and occasional learning outcomes are still present, the emphasis is placed on the predominance, on an ascending scale, of formative, intentional, and propositional practices. Also on a growing scale it is observed that the methodologies and strategies used, which use ICT, are promoting changes in the teaching and learning processes, since the traditional contents appear permeated or accompanied by several skills and competences identified as closer to the student of the 21st century.
Verification of on-vehicle media applicability of a metamaterial antenna

Antennas for vehicles are experiencing great demand for miniaturization and integration from the point of space-savings and improved flexibility. The dipole antenna of a left-handed transmission line using metamaterial technology for miniaturization has been reported[1][2]. Since a metamaterial antenna has two or more resonance modes, its use is also expected for antenna integration. However, verification of applicability of on-vehicle media has been very rare.
The association between quitting smoking and weight gain: a systemic review and meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies

This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to quantify weight gain after smoking cessation and the difference in weight gain between quitters and continuing smokers. Five electronic databases were searched before January 2015. Population‐based prospective cohort studies were included if they recorded the weight change of adult smokers from baseline (before smoking cessation) to follow‐up (at least 3 months after cessation). Thirty‐five cohort studies were identified, including 63,403 quitters and 388,432 continuing smokers. The mean weight gain was 4.10 kg (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.69, 5.51) and body mass index (BMI) gain was 1.14 kg m−2 (95% CI: 0.50, 1.79) among quitters. Compared with continuing smoking, quitting smoking was significantly associated with absolute weight (adjusted mean difference [MD]: 2.61 kg; 95% CI: 1.61, 3.60) and BMI gain (adjusted MD: 0.63 kg m−2; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.80). Subgroup analyses using geographic region found that the difference in weight gain was considerably greater in studies from North America than from Asia. Follow‐up length was identified as a source of heterogeneity, such that studies with longer follow‐up showed greater difference in weight gain. Effective strategies are needed to encourage smokers to quit irrespective of potential weight gain and to help quitters avoid excess weight gain.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , China

The objective of voice conversion is to transform the voice of one speaker to make it sound like another. The GMM-based statistical mapping technique has been proved to be an efficient method for converting voices [1, 2]. In a recent work [3], we generalized this technique to Mixture of Probabilistic Linear Regressions (MPLR) by using general mixture model of source vectors. In this paper, we improve MPLR by considering a prior for the transformation parameters of linear regressions, which leads to Bayesian Mixture of Probabilistic Linear Regressions (BMPLR). BMPLR has the effectiveness and robustness of Bayesian inference. Especially when the number of training data is limited and the mixture number is larger, BMPLR can largely relieve the overfitting problem. This paper presents two formulations for BMPLR, depending on how to model noise in probabilistic regression function. In addition, we derive equations for MAP estimation of transformation parameters. We examine the proposed method on voice conversion of Japanese utterances. The experimental results exhibit that BMPLR achieves better performance than MPLR.
Evidence of a circadian fluctuation in neurotransmitter enzyme activities measured in autopsy human brain

WE HAVE observed a circadian variation in the activities of two enzymes synthesizing neurotransmitters in the human brain. The enzymes which synthesize the putative central transmitters acetylcholine and y-aminobutyric acid undergo a 24 h periodicity which differs in amplitude and phase. Activities of choline acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.6., ChAT) and glutamate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.15., GAD), measured in autopsy samples of frontal cerebral cortex, were significantly raised in, respectively, the early and middle periods of the day. These fluctuations may per se be useful parameters in the investigation of mental disorders, and they certainly represent a considerable variable in post mortem brain biochemistry. In recent years, human brain autopsy tissue has been examined for the activities of a number of enzymes involved in neurotransmitter metabolism in various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Levels of neurotransmitter enzymes have been measured in the postmortem brains of subjects with Parkinson's disease (MCGEER et al., 1971; LLOYD et al., 1975; MCGEER & MCGEER, 1976), Huntington's chorea syndrome (BIRD & IVERSEN, 1974; URQUHART et al., 1975; MCGEER & MCGEER, 1976), senile dementia (BOWEN et al., 1974), schizophrenia (DOMINO et al., 1973; WISE et al., 1974; MURPHY &WYATT, 1975), and depression (GROTE et al., 1974; GOTTFRIES et al., 1975). A number of these reports refer to a wide variation in enzyme activities. Attempts have been made to relate this variation to such factors as unequal delays in tissue sampling after death, differences in age and to variations in terminal illness and drug treatments. Some of these factors are now known to influence the levels of certain brain transmitter enzymes. We have observed (unpublished work) a progressive post mortem decay of ChAT and GAD activities in normal aged brains, and MCGEER & MCGEER (1976) have reported significant effects of age and terminal coma on several enzymes, including ChAT and GAD. The activities of brain ChAT and GAD were examined in relation to the times of death in 37 subjects. Samples of grey matter from the left frontal cortex (Brodmann area 10) were removed at autopsy from subjects with no recorded neurological or psychiatric illness. The majority (78%) of the subjects died between the months of May and August. All were over the age of 60 years (range 60-93 years), none had terminal coma and all were sampled within 65 (range 2-65) h of death with an interval of 1-11 h between death and refrigeration of the body. Enzyme estimations were performed on tissue which had been stored ' up to 3 months in liquid nitrogen, homogenised in 15 vol of 0.32 M-sucrose and treated with 1% (final concentration) Triton X-100. GAD was determined by measuring the evo-
Prevention of Rh-haemolytic Disease: Final Results of the “High-risk” Clinical Trial: A COMBINED STUDY FROM CENTRES IN ENGLAND AND BALTIMORE*

The final results are reported of a trial of about 1,000 μg of anti-D gammaglobulin given intramuscularly to a selected high-risk group of Rh-negative primiparae just delivered of an ABO-compatible Rh-positive baby, the aim being to prevent them becoming immunized to Rh. Six months after delivery only 1 out of 173 treated mothers had been immunized as against 38 out of 176 controls. The crucial test of the prophylactic therapy depends on the presence or otherwise of anti-D at the end of a second Rh-positive pregnancy. Of 86 treated mothers two had antibodies at this time compared with 20 out of 65 controls. The results show a high degree of protection in this group of mothers.
Fetal fibronectin and amnion 1 Fetal Fibronectin Signaling Induces Matrix Metalloproteases and COX-2 in Amnion Cells and Preterm Birth in Mice

To whom correspondence should be addressed: R. Ann Word, The Cecil H. and Ida Green Cener for Reproductive Biology Sciences, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Urogynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9032, USA Tel: (214) 688-3825; Fax: (214) 214-648-9242; E-mail: ruth.word@utsouthwestern.edu.
Cache coherence directories for scalable multiprocessors

Directory-based protocols have been proposed as an efficient means of implementing cache coherence in large-scale shared-memory multiprocessors. This thesis explores the tradeoffs in the design of cache coherence directories by examining the organization of the directory information, the options in the design of the coherency protocol, and the implementation of the directory and protocol. The traditional directory organization that maintains a full valid bit vector per directory entry is unsuitable for large-scale machines due to high storage overhead. This thesis proposes several alternate organizations. Limited pointers directories replace the bit vector with several pointers that indicate those caches containing the data. Although this scheme performs well across a wide range of workloads, its performance does not improve as the read/write ratio becomes very large. To address this drawback, a dynamic pointer allocation directory is proposed. This directory allocates pointers from a pool to particular memory blocks as they are needed. Since the pointers may be allocated to any block on the memory module, the probability of running short of pointers is very small. Among the set of possible organizations, dynamic pointer allocation lies at an attractive cost/performance point. Measuring the performance impact of three coherency protocol features makes the virtues of simplicity clear. Adding a clean/exclusive state to reduce the time required to write a clean block results in only modest performance improvement. Using request forwarding to transfer a dirty block directly to another cache that has requested it yields similar results. For small cache block sizes, write hits to clean blocks can be simply treated as write misses without incurring significant extra network traffic. Protocol features designed to improve performance must be examined carefully, for they often complicate the protocol without offering substantial benefit. Implementing directory-based coherency presents several challenges. Methods are described for preventing deadlock, maintaining a model of parallel execution, handling subtle situations caused by temporary inconsistencies between cache and directory state, and tolerating out-of-order message delivery. Using these techniques, cache coherence can be added to large-scale multiprocessors in an inexpensive yet effective manner.
On embedding theorems for weighted spaces of holomorphic functions in tubular domains

We introduce new mixed norm analytic spaces in products of tubular domains over symmetric cones and provide new sharp embedding theorems for them extending previously known assertions in tubular domain over symmetric cone and polydisk simultaniously. Our results extend some recent theorems of Sehba, Nana and Shamoyan in tube domain and polydisk simul-taneously.
Association between pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections disease and tumor necrosis factor-α gene−308 g/a, −850 c/t polymorphisms in 4-12-year-old children in Adana/Turkey

OBJECTIVES: Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) is a newly defined disease in neuropsychiatry and occurs with an autoimmune mechanism after Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS) infection. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), encoded by TNF-α gene has an important role in the apoptotic mechanisms of autoimmune diseases. Recently, TNF-α polymorphisms and autoimmune/psychiatric disorders have been reported to be related. In this regard, we focused on to investigate a possible relation between the TNF-α gene promoter region−308 G/A and − 850 C/T polymorphisms and PANDAS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, ages of PANDAS patient and control groups were ranging from 4 years to 12-year-old. Patient group includes childhood onset PANDAS patients (n = 42) and control group includes healthy children (n = 58). Diagnoses have been carried out according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-IV) criteria with Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime (KSAD-S-PL) and Children Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Moreover, PANDAS criteria established by the American National Psychiatry Institute have been employed for diagnoses. For identifying polymorphisms; Polymerase Chain Reaction, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Polyacrylamid Gel Electrophoresis were used. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: For −308 polymorphism, 37 of 42 PANDAS patients’ results and for −850 C/T polymorphism, 38 of 42 PANDAS patients’ results were obtained. According to our statistical analysis there is a positive relationship between PANDAS patients for −308 G/A polymorphism but not for −850 C/T polymorphism. There is no positive relationship between −308 G/A polymorphism and antistrep-tolysin O (ASO) titers and no relationship between −850 C/T polymorphism and ASO titers. We found, however, positive relationship between genders of patients (boys) and the disease. According to our results, we propose that the AA polymorphism of −308 G/A polymorphism can be used as a molecular indicator for PANDAS.
Femtosecond Pump-Probe Reflectivity Study of Silicon Carrier Dynamics

We have studied the ultrafast optical response of native-oxide terminated Si(001) with pump-probe reflectivity using 800 nm, 28 fs pulses at an excitation density of (5.5′0.3)×10 1 8 cm - 3 . Time-dependent reflectivity changes comprise third-order-response coherent-transient variations arising from anisotropic state filling and linear-response variations arising from excited free carriers, state filling, and lattice heating. A time constant of 32′5 fs associated with momentum relaxation is extracted from the coherent-transient variations. The state-filling and free-carrier responses are sensitive to carrier temperature, allowing an electron-phonon energy relaxation time of 260′30 fs to be measured. The recovery of the reflectivity signal back towards its initial value is largely governed surface recombination: a surface recombination velocity of (3′1) X 10 4 cm s - 1 is deduced for native-oxide terminated Si(001).
Development and Implementation of Technologies for Recycling Phosphorus in Secondary Resources in Japan

The recovery of phosphorus (P) from secondary resources is critical to closing the anthropogenic P loop. The recovered P should be recycled effectively for agricultural and industrial purposes without jeopardizing human health and the environment. Although various technologies are potentially applicable to P recovery and recycling, their implementation remains hindered by socioeconomic factors such as insufficient policy support, an immature market for recovered P and a lack of public awareness. Recently, Japan has experienced good practices in recycling P in secondary resources despite these hindrances. Japan’s experience may provide a clue on how to develop and implement technologies for P recovery and recycling, even if the legal, social and economic structures are not fully developed for the security of future P supplies.
The role of point of care ultrasonography

The evaluation of renal failure often starts with the classical pre-renal, renal and post renal causalities delineating a practical workable approach in its differential diagnosis. Accordingly the history, physical exam, urinalysis and kidney-bladder sonography are standard resources in the initial approach of renal diseases. Indeed, ultrasonography have very well established role as an important adjuvant for post renal diagnosis of renal failure. Nevertheless, in the clinical setting most of the causes of kidney failure are pre-renal and renal. In addition some renal causes of kidney failure are manifestations of systemic diseases in which sonography can be diagnostically analogous to the history and physical examination. In this paper we explore the point of care (POC) sonographic contributory signs in the evaluation and management of renal failure extending beyond the traditional kidney biopsy, placement of central lines or screening of hydronephrosis.
ABDOMINAL PIGMENTATION VARIATION IN DROSOPHILA POLYMORPHA: GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN THE TRAIT, AND UNDERLYING PHYLOGEOGRAPHY

Abstract Drosophila polymorpha is a widespread species that exhibits abdominal pigmentation variation throughout its range. To gain insight into this variation we combined phenotypic and genotypic data to test a series of nested hypotheses. First, we tested the null hypothesis that geographic variation in pigmentation is due to neutral factors. We used nested clade analysis to examine the distribution of haplotypes from a nuclear and a mitochrondrial locus. Restricted gene flow via isolation by distance, the primary inference of this phylogeographic analysis, was then used to generate and test the hypothesis of increasing average abdominal pigmentation difference with increasing geographic distance. We found no correlation between geographic distance and phenotypic distance. We then tested the hypothesis that pigmentation is affected by environmental differences among localities. We found a significant effect of habitat type on the average abdominal pigmentation phenotype of different localities. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that pigmentation in D. polymorpha is associated with desiccation resistance. We found that dark individuals of both sexes survived significantly longer in a desiccating environment than light individuals. These patterns combined lead us to hypothesize that abdominal pigmentation variation in D. polymorpha is important in mediating the organism's interactions with local ecological factors.
A Review of Network Intrusion Detection and Countermeasure Selection in Virtual Network Systems

Nowadays every industry and even some parts of the public sector are using cloud computing , either as a provider or as a consumer. But there are many security issues present in cloud computing environment. There are many possible attacks in cloud computing environment , One such attack is the DoS or its version DDoS attack. Generally, attackers can explore vulnerabilities of a cloud system and compromise virtual machines to deploy further large-scale Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS). DDoS attacks usually involve early stage actions such as low frequency vulnerability scanning, multi-step exploitation and compromising identified vulnerable virtual machines as zombies and finally DDoS attacks using the compromised zombies. Inside the cloud system, especially the Infrastructure-as-a-Service clouds, the detection of zombie exploration attacks is very difficult. To prevent vulnerable virtual machines from being compromised in the cloud, we propose a multi-phase distributed vulnerability detection, measurement, and countermeasure selection mechanism called NICE, which is built on attack graph based systematic models and reconfigurable virtual network-based countermeasures. This paper provides a short Reveiw on the techniques to network intrusion detection and countermeasure selection in virtual network system.
Higher risk of zinc deficiency in New Zealand Pacific school children compared with their Māori and European counterparts: a New Zealand national survey

Few multi-ethnic national surveys have examined Zn nutriture, despite its importance for optimal growth and development during childhood. We assessed the Zn status of urban and semi-urban children aged 5–15 years from three ethnic groups in New Zealand (NZ) in the 2002 Children's National Nutrition Survey and investigated the factors predisposing them to Zn deficiency. In a 10-month cross-sectional survey, Pacific and Māori children were over-sampled permitting ethnic-specific analyses. Anthropometry, serum Zn and Zn intakes via 24 h recalls were measured. Anthropometric z scores were highest in Pacific children. Overall, mean adjusted serum Zn at 11 years was for males and females, respectively: 11·9 (95 % CI 11·5, 12·3) and 12·5 (95 % CI 12·0, 12·9) μmol/l in NZ European and Other (NZEO) children (n 395); 11·9 (95 % CI 11·4, 12·4) and 12·0 (95 % CI 11·4, 12·5) μmol/l in Māori children (n 379); and 11·5 (95 % CI 11·1, 11·9) and 11·4 (95 % CI 11·1, 11·8) μmol/l in Pacific children (n 589). The predictors of serum Zn were age, serum Se and sex for NZEO children; serum Se and age for Pacific children; and none for Māori children. Pacific children had the highest prevalence of low serum Zn (21 (95 % CI 11, 30) %), followed by Māori children (16 (95 % CI 12, 20) %) and NZEO children (15 (95 % CI 9, 21) %). Prevalence of inadequate Zn intakes, although low, reached 8 % for Pacific children who had the lowest Zn intake/kg body weight. Pacific boys but not girls with low serum Zn had a lower mean height-for-age z-score (P < 0·007) than those with normal serum Zn. We conclude that the biochemical risk of Zn deficiency in Pacific children indicates a public health problem. However, a lack of concordance with the risk of dietary Zn inadequacy suggests the need for better defined cut-offs in children.