Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Lighting Insensitive Face Detection Method on Color Images

In this paper we proposed a lighting insensitive face detection method depending upon the skin color and edge of the input color image. First, image enhancement is performed, especially if the image is acquired from an unconstrained illumination condition. Next, the skin segmentation in YCbCr and RGB space is conducted and the result is combined with edges of the input image. Candidate verification using primitive shape features of face is applied to decide which of the candidate regions corresponds to a face. The proposed face detection method is invariant to size, pose, expression and illumination conditions.
Simian virus 40 large T antigen host range domain functions in virion assembly

The simian virus 40 (SV40) T antigen host range mutants dl1066 and dl1140 display a postreplicative block to plaque formation which suggests a novel role for T antigen late in the viral life cycle. The host range mutants dl1066 and dl1140 are able to grow in and plaque on BSC but not on CV1 monkey kidney cells, a normally permissive host. Previous work showed that in CV1 cells infected with dl1066 and dl1140, levels of viral DNA replication and of late capsid protein accumulation were only slightly reduced and the failure to accumulate agnoprotein was not likely to be the major factor responsible for the mutants' growth defect. Here we show that the host range mutants are defective in the assembly of viral particles. SV40 assembly proceeds as the progressive conversion of 75S viral chromatin complexes to 200S-240S assembled virions. When virus-infected cell extracts are separated on 5 to 40% sucrose gradients, wild-type extracts show the greatest accumulation of viral late protein in the 200S-240S fractions corresponding to the assembled virus peak and lesser amounts in the 75S-150S fractions corresponding to immature assembly intermediates. The host range mutants dl1066 and dl1140 grown in nonpermissive CV1 cells, however, failed to assemble any appreciable amounts of mature 200S-240S virions and accumulate 75S intermediates, whereas in permissive BSC cells, levels of assembly were more slightly reduced than those of the wild type. Analysis of the protein composition of gradient fractions suggests that SV40 assembly proceeds by a mechanism similar to that proposed for polyomavirus and suggests that the host range blockage may result from a failure of such mutants to add VP1 to 75S assembly intermediates.
Human intermediate reticular zone: A cyto and chemoarchitectonic study

The primary aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive account of the morpholo topography, and frequency of tyrosine hydroxylase‐ and substance P‐like (TH‐LI, SP‐LI) immunoreactive neurons of the human intermediate reticular zone (IRt), the putative autonomic zone of the medullary reticular formation. A further aim is to examine the IRt from a three‐dimensional perspective using computer reconstruction techniques and compare its relationship with other structures in the rest of the medullary reticular formation.
ON-THE-JOB LEISURE AND ASYMMETRIC OBSERVED-EFFORT DISTRIBUTIONS *

When employers observe imperfect measures of worker effort, theorists typically assume that observed effort is unimodal and symmetrically distributed. Though observable effort may be distributed in different ways within a work day, for example, available field data on these effort distributions are rare. The symmetry assumption is largely untestable as a result. This paper presents empirical data from two experimental work environments that question the validity of such assumptions. For these piece-rate work environments the author finds that observed effort is significantly negatively-skew (i.e., modal>mean effort). The author’s hypothesis is that on-the-job leisure causes this skewness in observed effort distributions. There are both theoretical and practical implications of this asymmetry. Some implications from the theoretical agency literature that we discuss include: self-selection into rank-order tournaments, optimal wage spreads in rank-order tournaments, and optimal wage contracts with asymmetric information. *The author thanks Ron Oaxaca, Takao Kato, Jill Tiefenthaler, Jyoti Khanna, Gerald Sohan, and participants in the Economic Science Association meetings for valuable comments on this paper.
A Substance Use Cost Calculator for US Employers With an Emphasis on Prescription Pain Medication Misuse

Objective: Substance use disorders are among the most common and costly health conditions affecting Americans. Despite estimates of national costs exceeding $400 billion annually, individual companies may not see how substance use impacts their bottom lines through lost productivity and absenteeism, turnover, health care expenses, disability, and workers’ compensation. Methods: Data on employed adults (18 years and older) from 3 years (2012 to 2014) of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Public Use Data Files were analyzed. Results: The results offer employers an authoritative, free, epidemiologically grounded, and easy-to-use tool that gives specific information about how alcohol, prescription pain medication misuse, and illicit drug use is likely impacting workplaces like theirs. Conclusion: Employers have detailed reports of the cost of substance use that can be used to improve workplace policies and health benefits.
Drug‐induced ototoxicity: Mechanisms, Pharmacogenetics, and protective strategies

Drug ototoxicity limits the quality of life of patients after treatment, having serious consequences, especially for psychosocial development of children. Although the ototoxicity of many drugs resolves after treatment discontinuation, the use of platinum derivatives and aminoglycosides is associated with permanent hearing loss. In this review, we have listed ototoxic drugs and the mechanisms by which they damage the ears. Moreover, possible protective strategies and important methods for early detection of ototoxic effects are discussed.
Clinical heterogeneity of alpha-synuclein gene duplication in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE Recently, genomic multiplications of alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA) have been reported to cause hereditary early-onset parkinsonism. The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of SNCA multiplications among autosomal dominant hereditary Parkinson's disease (ADPD). METHODS We screened 113 ADPD probands and 200 sporadic PD cases by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and confirmed SNCA multiplications by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and comparative genomic hybridization array. RESULTS Two families (two patients from Family A and one from Family B) with SNCA duplication were identified among ADPD patients. Even though they had the same SNCA duplication, one patient had dementia. Because there was exactly the same difference between the regions originated from each patient, the finding suggests that the phenotype of SNCA multiplication may be also influenced by the range of duplication region. We also detected asymptomatic carriers in the families of both patients. Interestingly, the penetrance ratio was 33.3% (2/6) in one kindred, indicating that the ratio was very much lower than expected. INTERPRETATION These two newly identified Japanese patients with SNCA duplication and the five previously identified American and European families with SNCA triplication or duplication mutations indicate that the incidence of SNCA multiplication may be more frequent than previously estimated.
Locomotor Experience: A Facilitator of Spatial Cognitive Development,

2 studies were designed to test the prediction that spatial search strategies (i.e., "object permanence") may be influenced by locomotor experience. Infants were assigned to 3 groups based on locomotor history: prelocomotor, prelocomotor with walker-assisted experience, and hands-and-knees creeping. Infants in all groups were 8.5 months of age. Results showed that hands-and-knees and walker-assisted locomotor experience facilitated spatial search performance. The longer that infants had been moving, the higher their scores. Furthermore, there were no differences between the hands-and-knees and prelocomotor/walker-assisted groups, suggesting that the relation between locomotor experience and spatial search performance was not merely a function of the maturation of prone progression. A third study found that the quality of locomotion affected object permanence performance: Belly crawlers performed differently than infants with hands-and-knees or walker experience, insofar as they performed at prelocomotor levels regardless of weeks of locomotor experience. Taken together, the pattern of findings suggests that infants with more efficient modes of locomotion are more likely to profit from the experiences generated by locomotion.
Generation of omni-directional HDR light probe images based on the intensity distribution model around the sun

When synthesizing CG images with real image as a background, it is necessary to estimate the lighting environment such as intensities and directions of light sources from real images. In previous study [Baba et al. 2016], except for the high intensity area such as the sun, light source information was estimated by concerning pixels of the captured image as light sources having corresponding intensities[Debevec 1998]. For a high intensity area, the intensity of the light source was estimated from the ratio of the intensity of the shadow area and the sunshine area[Sato et al. 2003]. However, since the sun is used as one parallel light source, there is a problem that it can express only a sharp shadow and it can not be reproduced as an HDR light probe images. Figure 2(a) shows a real image. Figure 2(b) shows a rendering result by the conventional method. In the Figure 2(b), the penumbra of the upper part of the shadow can not be expressed and the shadow boundary is clear comparing with the real image.
Postnatal development of functional properties of visual cortical cells in rats with excitotoxic lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons

Abstract In the rat, visual cortical cells develop their functional properties during a period termed as critical period, which is included between eye opening, i.e.˘postnatal day (PD) 15, and PD40. The present investigation was aimed at studying the influence of cortical cholinergic afferents from the basal forebrain (BF) on the development of functional properties of visual cortical neurons. At PD15, rats were unilaterally deprived of the cholinergic input to the visual cortex by stereotaxic injections of quisqualic acid in BF cholinergic nuclei projecting to the visual cortex. Cortical cell functional properties, such as ocular dominance, orientation selectivity, receptive-field size, and cell responsiveness were then assessed by extracellular recordings in the visual cortex ipsilateral to the lesioned BF both during the critical period (PD30) and after its end (PD45). After the recording session, the rats were sacrificed and the extent of both cholinergic lesion in BF and cholinergic depletion in the visual cortex was determined. Our results show that lesion of BF cholinergic nuclei transiently alters the ocular dominance of visual cortical cells while it does not affect the other functional properties tested. In particular, in lesioned animals recorded during the critical period, a higher percentage of visual cortical cells was driven by the contralateral eye with respect to normal animals. After the end of the critical period, the ocular dominance distribution of animals with cholinergic deafferentation was not significantly different from that of controls. Our results suggest the possibility that lesions of BF cholinergic neurons performed during postnatal development only transiently interfere with cortical competitive processes.
Improved Spine Surgery and Intervention with Virtual Training and Augmented Reality

Computer-aided diagnostic and therapy systems are increasingly becoming established tools for several medical procedures. In this paper, we introduce a case-based surgical training system prototype for imparting anatomical knowledge, cognitive strategies of treatment and interaction techniques for computer-aided therapy planning of spinal disorders. Patient data, image data, image analysis results and 3D models as well as annotated surgery videos and diagnostic information underlay the SpineSurgeryTrainer. Neurosurgeons or orthopedic surgeons who want to specialize in spine surgery can, in a realistic workflow, train therapeutic decisions and surgical planning. Expert opinions and their case-specific approaches support the learning process. In addition, we integrate a prototypic add-on for enhancing the intraoperative visualization within a navigated spine surgery utilizing an augmented reality approach. In essence, operation-specific important anatomical structures are segmented from preoperative patient data and superimposed on the video stream of the operation field. In addition, slices of the anatomy data, as well as shape and depth information of targeted structures, like spinal nerves or herniated discs, can be blended, which allows for a better protection of risk anatomy and accurate identification of the structures under consideration, and thus raises the safety and accuracy factors of the intervention.
Methanol Masers as Tracers of Circumstellar Disks

We show that in many methanol maser sources the masers are located in lines, with a velocity gradient along them which suggests that the masers are situated in edge-on circumstellar, or protoplanetary, disks. We present VLBI observations of the methanol maser source G309.92+0.48, in the 12.2 GHz (20-3-1 E) transition, which confirm previous observations that the masers in this source lie along a line. We show that such sources are not only linear in space but, in many cases, also have a linear velocity gradient. We then model these and other data in both the 6.7 GHz (51-60 A+) and the 12.2 GHz (20-3-1 E) transition from a number of star formation regions and show that the observed spatial and velocity distribution of methanol masers, and the derived Keplerian masses, are consistent with a circumstellar disk rotating around an OB star. We consider this and other hypotheses and conclude that about half of these methanol masers are probably located in edge-on circumstellar disks around young stars. This is of particular significance for studies of circumstellar disks because of the detailed velocity information available from the masers.
An Analysis of T Cell Intrinsic Roles of E2A by Conditional Gene Disruption in the Thymus1

The importance of E2A transcription factors in T cell development has been demonstrated in studies of E2A-deficient mice, which display abnormal T cell development and a high frequency of T cell lymphomas. Because E2A expression is not restricted to the T cell lineage, the primary cause of the T cell phenotype in E2A-deficient mice was not fully determined. To further investigate the role of E2A in T cell lineage, we generated mice with the E2A gene disrupted exclusively during thymocyte development using the Cre-lox system. We show that this system allows E2A gene disruption to occur throughout the double-negative stage of thymocyte development. E2A deletion appears to be completed before development reaches the double-positive stage. Consistent with the gene disruption, these mice reveal a T cell intrinsic role for E2A during the transition from the double-negative stage to the double-positive stage of thymocyte development. In contrast to germline E2A knockout mice, conditional E2A knockout mice do not develop T cell lymphoma. This work establishes a new model for further investigating E2A function in T cell development and leukemiogenesis.
Direct Torque Control of permanent magnet motors using a single current sensor

This paper describes a Speed Sensorless Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) Direct Torque Control (DTC) using single dc-link voltage and current sensors. The phase currents are estimated in a two-stage process: prediction and adjustment. Prediction is based on the dynamic motor model, whereas adjustment relies on the inverter switches states and the measured dc-link current. This system is then incorporated into a speed sensorless DTC scheme. The rotor speed is estimated from the instantaneous stator flux linkage position and load angle value.
Modified EKF-based nonlinear filtering over wireless channels with transmission failure and fading

This paper addresses the stochastic stability problem of a modified extended Kalman filter (MEKF), targeted at the state estimation of the nonlinear system through wireless channel, where both transmission failure and channel fading are practically under consideration. For a class of nonlinear systems whose observation's Jacobi Matrix is always invertible, the sufficient conditions of the error covariance matrices are accordingly established. Moreover, the conditions for the stochastic stability of the estimation error are also derived, which is tighter than the conditions of boundedness of the error covariance. Furthermore, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.
Differential Regulation of the Let-7 Family of MicroRNAs in CD4+ T Cells Alters IL-10 Expression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼22-nt small RNAs that are important regulators of mRNA turnover and translation. Recent studies have shown the importance of the miRNA pathway in HIV-1 infection, particularly in maintaining latency. Our initial in vitro studies demonstrated that HIV-1–infected HUT78 cells expressed significantly higher IL-10 levels compared with uninfected cultures. IL-10 plays an important role in the dysregulated cytotoxic T cell response to HIV-1, and in silico algorithms suggested that let-7 miRNAs target IL10 mRNA. In a time course experiment, we demonstrated that let-7 miRNAs fall rapidly following HIV-1 infection in HUT78 cells with concomitant rises in IL-10. To show a direct link between let-7 and IL-10, forced overexpression of let-7 miRNAs resulted in significantly reduced IL-10 levels, whereas inhibition of the function of these miRNAs increased IL-10. To demonstrate the relevance of these results, we focused our attention on CD4+ T cells from uninfected healthy controls, chronic HIV-1–infected patients, and long-term nonprogressors. We characterized miRNA changes in CD4+ T cells from these three groups and demonstrated that let-7 miRNAs were highly expressed in CD4+ T cells from healthy controls and let-7 miRNAs were significantly decreased in chronic HIV-1 infected compared with both healthy controls and long-term nonprogressors. We describe a novel mechanism whereby IL-10 levels can be potentially modulated by changes to let-7 miRNAs. In HIV-1 infection, the decrease in let-7 miRNAs may result in an increase in IL-10 from CD4+ T cells and provide the virus with an important survival advantage by manipulating the host immune response.
OntoTrack: Fast Browsing and Easy Editing of Large Ontologie

OntoTrack is a new browsing and editing " in-one-view " on-tology authoring tool. It combines a sophisticated graphical layout with mouse enabled editing features optimized for efficient navigation and manipulation of large ontologies. The system is based on SpaceTree [PGB02] and implemented in Java2D. OntoTrack provides animated expansion and de-expansion of class descendants, zooming, paning and uses elaborated layout techniques like click-able miniature branches or selective detail views. At the same time OntoTrack allows for quite a number of editing features using mouse-over anchor buttons and graphical selections without switching into a special editing layout. In addition, every single editing step is synchronized with an external reasoner in order to provide instant feedback about relevant modeling consequences.
A vector space group signature scheme based on ECC

As Internet technologies advance, the problem of Internet security has become increasingly urgent. This study integrates the identity authentication scheme with the vector space scheme and applies the elliptic curve cryptosystem, to construct a group signature authentication cryptosystem. The application environment is required to transmit data through the Internet, so the proposed method uses the elliptic curve cryptosystem which has a low computational cost and small key size, which can be used in an Internet environment with limited hardware resources.
Adoption of Constrained Application Protocol: A Techno-Economic Perspective

Among billions of Internet enabled devices that are expected to surround us in the near future, many will be resource constrained, i.e., will have limited power supply, processing power and memory. To cope with these limitations, the Constrained Application Protocol CoAP has been recently introduced as a lightweight alternative to HTTP for connecting the resource limited devices to the Web. Although the new protocol offers solid technical advantages, it remains uncertain whether a successful uptake will follow, as it depends also on its economic feasibility for the involved stakeholders. Therefore, this paper studies the techno-economic feasibility of CoAP using a systematic methodological framework. Based on eleven expert interviews complemented with a literature survey, the paper identifies potential deployment challenges for CoAP, both technical and business-related, and suggests approaches to overcome them. The findings should facilitate the uptake of CoAP by supporting the potential adopters of the protocol in their decision-making.
Emergence and Evolution of the Circadian Rhythm of Melatonin in Children

Objective: To assess the age at which the circadian rhythm of melatonin begins. Methods: 55 children, divided into groups from the neonatal period to 24 months of life, were studied. Urine samples were taken from 28 newborn babies to measure 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s). Salivary samples were collected from infants (27 cases), to measure melatonin (aMT). aMT was measured by RIA and aMT6s by ELISA using commercial kits. Changes in the levels of aMT6s and aMT were evaluated using the Friedman test and Wilcoxon matched pair test. Results: The group aged 27–41 days showed statistically significant differences in daily aMT6s and aMT concentrations. The highest values were always found between 24.00 and 8.00 h. This day/night difference persisted from 2–3 to 13–24 months of age. Conclusion: The data indicate that the circadian melatonin rhythm appears at the end of the neonatal period and persists thereafter.