Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gait Quality Aware Network: Toward the Interpretability of Silhouette-Based Gait Recognition

Gait recognition receives increasing attention since it can be conducted at a long distance in a nonintrusive way and applied to the condition of changing clothes. Most existing methods take the silhouettes of gait sequences as the input and learn a unified representation from multiple silhouettes to match probe and gallery. However, these models are all faced with the lack of interpretability, e.g., it is not clear which silhouette in a gait sequence and which part in the human body are relatively more important for recognition. In this work, we propose a gait quality aware network (GQAN) for gait recognition which explicitly assesses the quality of each silhouette and each part via two blocks: frame quality block (FQBlock) and part quality block (PQBlock). Specifically, FQBlock works in a squeeze-and-excitation style to recalibrate the features for each silhouette, and the scores of all the channels are added as frame quality indicator. PQBlock predicts a score for each part which is used to compute the weighted distance between the probe and gallery. Particularly, we propose a part quality loss (PQLoss) which enables GQAN to be trained in an end-to-end manner with only sequence-level identity annotations. This work is meaningful by moving toward the interpretability of silhouette-based gait recognition, and our method also achieves very competitive performance on CASIA-B and OUMVLP.
CD38‐NADase is a new major contributor to Duchenne muscular dystrophic phenotype

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterized by progressive muscle degeneration. Two important deleterious features are a Ca2+ dysregulation linked to Ca2+ influxes associated with ryanodine receptor hyperactivation, and a muscular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) deficit. Here, we identified that deletion in mdx mice of CD38, a NAD+ glycohydrolase‐producing modulators of Ca2+ signaling, led to a fully restored heart function and structure, with skeletal muscle performance improvements, associated with a reduction in inflammation and senescence markers. Muscle NAD+ levels were also fully restored, while the levels of the two main products of CD38, nicotinamide and ADP‐ribose, were reduced, in heart, diaphragm, and limb. In cardiomyocytes from mdx/CD38−/− mice, the pathological spontaneous Ca2+ activity was reduced, as well as in myotubes from DMD patients treated with isatuximab (SARCLISA®) a monoclonal anti‐CD38 antibody. Finally, treatment of mdx and utrophin–dystrophin‐deficient (mdx/utr−/−) mice with CD38 inhibitors resulted in improved skeletal muscle performances. Thus, we demonstrate that CD38 actively contributes to DMD physiopathology. We propose that a selective anti‐CD38 therapeutic intervention could be highly relevant to develop for DMD patients.
The outward Shaker channel OsK5.2 improves plant salt tolerance by contributing to control of both leaf transpiration and K+ secretion into xylem sap.

Soil salinity constitutes a major environmental constraint to crop production worldwide. Leaf K+ /Na+ homeostasis, which involves regulation of transpiration, and thus of the xylem sap flow, and control of the ionic composition of the ascending sap, is a key determinant of plant salt tolerance. Here, we show, using a reverse genetics approach, that the outwardly-rectifying K+ -selective channel OsK5.2, which is involved in both K+ release from guard cells for stomatal closure in leaves and K+ secretion into the xylem sap in roots, is a strong determinant of rice salt tolerance (plant biomass production and shoot phenotype under saline constraint). OsK5.2 expression was up-regulated in shoots from the onset of the saline treatment, and OsK5.2 activity in guard cells led to fast decrease in transpirational water flow and therefore reduced Na+ translocation to shoots. In roots, upon saline treatment, OsK5.2 activity in xylem sap K+ loading was maintained, and even transiently increased, outperforming the negative effect on K+ translocation to shoots resulting from the reduction in xylem sap flow. Thus, the overall activity of OsK5.2 in shoots and roots, which both reduces Na+ translocation to shoots and benefits shoot K+ nutrition, strongly contributes to leaf K+ /Na+ homeostasis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
High glucose‐mediated VPS26a down‐regulation dysregulates neuronal amyloid precursor protein processing and tau phosphorylation

The relationship between hyperglycaemia‐induced retromer dysfunction impairing intracellular trafficking and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear, although diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered a risk factor for AD. Here, we investigated the effects of high glucose on the retromer and defined the dysregulation of mechanisms of amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing and tau phosphorylation.
CEST‐2.2 overexpression alters lipid metabolism and extends longevity of mitochondrial mutants

Mitochondrial dysfunction can either extend or decrease Caenorhabditis elegans lifespan, depending on whether transcriptionally regulated responses can elicit durable stress adaptation to otherwise detrimental lesions. Here, we test the hypothesis that enhanced metabolic flexibility is sufficient to circumvent bioenergetic abnormalities associated with the phenotypic threshold effect, thereby transforming short‐lived mitochondrial mutants into long‐lived ones. We find that CEST‐2.2, a carboxylesterase mainly localizes in the intestine, may stimulate the survival of mitochondrial deficient animals. We report that genetic manipulation of cest‐2.2 expression has a minor lifespan impact on wild‐type nematodes, whereas its overexpression markedly extends the lifespan of complex I‐deficient gas‐1(fc21) mutants. We profile the transcriptome and lipidome of cest‐2.2 overexpressing animals and show that CEST‐2.2 stimulates lipid metabolism and fatty acid beta‐oxidation, thereby enhancing mitochondrial respiratory capacity through complex II and LET‐721/ETFDH, despite the inherited genetic lesion of complex I. Together, our findings unveil a metabolic pathway that, through the tissue‐specific mobilization of lipid deposits, may influence the longevity of mitochondrial mutant C. elegans.
Investigating the moderators and mediators of an effective sleep intervention in the Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI) randomized controlled trial: Exploratory analyses

The Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI) sleep intervention halved obesity risk at 2 years of age. However, the intervention mechanisms are unclear. Consequently, the objective of the current work was to use exploratory analyses to investigate potential moderators and mediators of the sleep intervention on obesity outcomes at age 2 years. Data were collected between 2009 and 2012. The effect of demographic and study design variables on body mass index z‐score (BMI z‐score) and obesity was compared in moderator subgroups at 2 years of age (n = 683, 85%). Mediating effects of child and parent–household variables assessed whether the sleep intervention resulted in meaningful changes in the mediating variable (defined as changes which were statistically significant [p < .05] or where the effect size was ≥0.15 SD), followed by assessing relationships with obesity outcomes. The sleep intervention appeared most effective in children in higher deprivation areas (effect on BMI z‐score −0.25 [−0.53, 0.04], effect on obesity odds ratio [OR] 0.43 [0.16, 1.13]), and with mothers of non‐European, non‐Māori ethnicity (effect on BMI z‐score −0.27 [−0.73, 0.20], effect on obesity OR 0.13 [95% confidence interval 0.01, 1.11]). This suggested moderation by deprivation and ethnicity. Aspects of sleep improved meaningfully in children after intervention but did not significantly relate to obesity outcomes, and other outcomes were not meaningfully affected by the sleep intervention. Thus, mediation was not indicated. Overall, the POI sleep intervention improved obesity outcomes at 2 years, and the current work identified some potential moderators, but no mediators.
A comprehensive molecular genetic analysis of keratoconus patients from assam, a northeastern state of India

Introduction Keratoconus (KC, OMIM: 148300) is a progressive corneal ectatic disorder characterized by thinning and protrusion of cornea resulting in visual decrement. Materials and Methods In the current study, we recruited a total of 50 KC patients and 100 case-controls domiciles of Assam, based on preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the important and relevant signs and symptoms were recorded. Amsler-Krumeich's (AK) classification was followed to grade KC corneas. We screened for the novel as well as reported sequence variations in five candidate genes namely Lysyl oxidase (LOX), Visual system homeobox 1 (VSX1), MicroRNA 184 (MIR184), Superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), and exons 4 and 12 of Transforming growth factor beta-induced (TGFβ-I). Results We report a novel double variant p.(Pro32Arg) and p.(Gln67Glu) in the LOX gene in a sporadic male patient with Grade I (OD) and Grade II (OS) of KC. A recurrent variant p.(His244Arg) in the VSX1 gene was also observed in a sporadic female patient with Grade I of KC in both eyes. These variants were absent in 100 unrelated ethnically matched case controls. Discussion Ours is the first study on molecular genetic analysis of Keratoconus patients from Assam. The novel variants p.(Pro32Arg) and p.(Gln67Glu) observed further expand the mutational spectrum of the LOX gene associated with KC. We are also the first group to report the recurrent p.(His244Arg) variant in the VSX1 gene from India. The observed variant p.(His244Arg) in the VSX1 gene could be the result of a founder effect and may be investigated further.
Postharvest quality maintenance of wax apple and guava fruits by use of a fermented broth of an ε-poly-l-lysine-producing Streptomyces strain

ε-Poly-l-lysine (ε-PL) is a natural antimicrobial polymer with significant inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of microorganisms, and nowadays used widely as a preservative in the food industry. In the present study, ε-PL broth was obtained from Streptomyces ahygroscopicus GIM8 fermentation in a nutrient-limited liquid medium. The in vitro antifungal activity of the broth against fruit pathogens Penicillium expansum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was investigated, and its usage for postharvest storage of two highly perishable fruits wax apple and guava was evaluated. Results showed that ε-PL concentration in the broth reached 0.61 g/L, and the nutrition level of the broth was low. The antifungal activity of ε-PL broth was comparable to that of the aqueous solution of ε-PL under the same concentration. Immersion with the diluted broth (200 mg/L ε-PL) markedly delayed the decline in the quality of postharvest wax apple and guava fruits during storage, and the decay incidences were also greatly decreased as compared to their respective controls (distilled water immersion). A further investigation demonstrated that the ε-PL broth immersion induced an increase in the activity of defense-related enzymes peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase in the two fruits during storage. The present study proved that the fermentation broth of ε-PL could be used as a promising alternative to high purity ε-PL and synthetic fungicides for preserving fruits at postharvest stage.
Explicit and implicit timing in older adults: Dissociable associations with age and cognitive decline

This study aimed to test two common explanations for the general finding of age-related changes in the performance of timing tasks within the millisecond-to-second range intervals. The first explanation is that older adults have a real difficulty in temporal processing as compared to younger adults. The second explanation is that older adults perform poorly on timing tasks because of their reduced cognitive control functions. These explanations have been mostly contrasted in explicit timing tasks that overtly require participants to process interval durations. Fewer studies have instead focused on implicit timing tasks, where no explicit instructions to process time are provided. Moreover, the investigation of both explicit and implicit timing in older adults has been restricted so far to healthy older participants. Here, a large sample (N = 85) comprising not only healthy but also pathological older adults completed explicit (time bisection) and implicit (foreperiod) timing tasks within a single session. Participants’ age and cognitive decline, measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), were used as continuous variables to explain performance on explicit and implicit timing tasks. Results for the explicit timing task showed a flatter psychometric curve with increasing age or decreasing MMSE scores, pointing to a deficit at the level of cognitive control functions rather than of temporal processing. By contrast, for the implicit timing task, a decrease in the MMSE scores was associated with a reduced foreperiod effect, an index of implicit time processing. Overall, these findings extend previous studies on explicit and implicit timing in healthy aged samples by dissociating between age and cognitive decline (in the normal-to-pathological continuum) in older adults.
Effect of cocoa flavanol supplementation for the prevention of cardiovascular disease events: the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS) randomized clinical trial

ABSTRACT Background Cocoa extract is a source of flavanols that favorably influence vascular risk factors in small and short-term trials, yet effects on clinical cardiovascular events are untested. Objectives We examined whether cocoa extract supplementation decreases total cardiovascular disease (CVD) among older adults. Methods We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-by-2 factorial trial of cocoa extract supplementation and multivitamins for prevention of CVD and cancer among 21,442 US adults (12,666 women aged ≥65 y and 8776 men aged ≥60 y), free of major CVD and recently diagnosed cancer. The intervention phase was June 2015 through December 2020. This article reports on the cocoa extract intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to a cocoa extract supplement [500 mg flavanols/d, including 80 mg (–)-epicatechin] or placebo. The primary outcome was a composite of confirmed incident total cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, coronary revascularization, cardiovascular death, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery surgery, and unstable angina. Results During a median follow-up of 3.6 y, 410 participants taking cocoa extract and 456 taking placebo had confirmed total cardiovascular events (HR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.78, 1.02; P = 0.11). For secondary endpoints, HRs were 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.98) for CVD death, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.66, 1.16) for MI, 0.91 (95% CI: 0.70, 1.17) for stroke, 0.95 (95% CI: 0.77, 1.17) for coronary revascularization, neutral for other individual cardiovascular endpoints, and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.77, 1.03) for all-cause mortality. Per-protocol analyses censoring follow-up at nonadherence supported a lower risk of total cardiovascular events (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.99). There were no safety concerns. Conclusions Cocoa extract supplementation did not significantly reduce total cardiovascular events among older adults but reduced CVD death by 27%. Potential reductions in total cardiovascular events were supported in per-protocol analyses. Additional research is warranted to clarify whether cocoa extract may reduce clinical cardiovascular events. This trial is registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov as NCT02422745.
USP10 Inhibits Aberrant Cytoplasmic Aggregation of TDP-43 by Promoting Stress Granule Clearance

TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a causative factor of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cytoplasmic TDP-43 aggregates in neurons are a hallmark pathology of ALS. ABSTRACT TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a causative factor of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cytoplasmic TDP-43 aggregates in neurons are a hallmark pathology of ALS. Under various stress conditions, TDP-43 localizes sequentially to two cytoplasmic protein aggregates, namely, stress granules (SGs) first and then aggresomes. Accumulating evidence suggests that delayed clearance of TDP-43-positive SGs is associated with pathological TDP-43 aggregates in ALS. We found that ubiquitin-specific protease 10 (USP10) promotes the clearance of TDP-43-positive SGs in cells treated with proteasome inhibitor, thereby promoting the formation of TDP-43-positive aggresomes, and the depletion of USP10 increases the amount of insoluble TDP-35, a cleaved product of TDP-43, in the cytoplasm. TDP-35 interacted with USP10 in an RNA-binding-dependent manner; however, impaired RNA binding of TDP-35 reduced the localization in SGs and aggresomes and induced USP10-negative TDP-35 aggregates. Immunohistochemistry showed that most of the cytoplasmic TDP-43/TDP-35 aggregates in the neurons of ALS patients were USP10 negative. Our findings suggest that USP10 inhibits aberrant aggregation of TDP-43/TDP-35 in the cytoplasm of neuronal cells by promoting the clearance of TDP-43/TDP-35-positive SGs and facilitating the formation of TDP-43/TDP-35-positive aggresomes.
Optic Flow Target Tracking Method Based on Corner Detection

In order to solve target lost shortcomings of the traditional target tracking system because of target's rotation,transformation etc, a kind of new tracking method is proposed.This method uses Harris corner detection algorithm to draw several typical target corner features and then uses optic flow algorithm to match the corresponding corner point.In the end,the target displacement is computed by bary centre algorithm.The proposed method uses the property of corner extracting algorithm's high speed and representing target's shape and optic flow match's high resolution.It is proved by test that this method arrives at high tracking precision and has the robust feature to target's rotation,transformation,shelter,etc.
Transient analysis of unequal length nonuniform lossy multiconductor transmission lines based on FDTD

Based on the finite difference time domain(FDTD),the analyzes the equal length uniform and lossless multiconductor transmission lines(MTLs),and presents the unequal length nonuniform multiconductor transmission lines with considering the lossy of transmission line.Firstly,considering the lossy transmission line,iteration formulas are given about the voltage and current on the conductors.Secondly,the formulas are used to calculate and analyze the models of unequal length nonuniform lossy multiconductor transmission line.Finally,simulation results show that the presented method is effective,which provides a theoretical support for the study of unequal length nonuniform lossy multiconductor transmission line.
The politics of budgetary capture in rentier states: who gets what, when and how in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT The literature of fiscal federalism suggests two approaches to explaining the allocation of intergovernmental transfers. First, a normative approach that considers governments as benevolent social planners pursuing normative criteria of efficiency and equity; and second, a public choice approach assuming governments as self-maximizing actors who use intergovernmental transfers to purchase political capital, enhancing their chances of re-election. This paper seeks to test the hypotheses of these two approaches to explain the allocation of discretionary development budget among Afghan provinces during three fiscal years of 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19. Findings indicate Afghanistan’s central government’s approach does not focus to achieve normative criteria of improved participation, predictability, transparency, and equity. Instead, Its central government considers certain political criteria such as political affiliation – ethnic affiliation and alignment with central government policies – political importance, and strength and weakness of local actors. This paper relies on both quantitative and qualitative data to support its arguments.
Adaptive Switching for Multimodal Underwater Acoustic Communications Based on Reinforcement Learning

The underwater acoustic (UWA) channel is a complex and stochastic process with large spatial and temporal dynamics. This work studies the adaptation of the communication strategy to the channel dynamics. Specifically, a set of communication strategies are considered, including frequency shift keying (FSK), single-carrier communication, and multicarrier communication. Based on the channel condition, a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm, the Depth Determined Strategy Gradient (DDPG) method along with a Gumbel-softmax scheme is employed for intelligent and adaptive switching among those communication strategies. The adaptive switching is performed on a transmission block-by-block basis, with the goal of maximizing a long-term system performance. The reward function is defined based on the energy efficiency and the spectral efficiency of the communication strategies. Simulation results reveal that the proposed method outperforms a random selection method in time-varying channels.
Revisiting Bjontegaard delta bitrate (BD-BR) computation for codec compression efficiency comparison

Bjontegaard Delta Bitrate (BD-BR), proposed in 2001, remains one of the most widely and also misunderstood tools for the computation and comparison of codec compression efficiency of two or more video codecs. This paper presents three different studies evaluating different open-source implementations, extensions and alternatives on two different datasets, considering three objective quality metrics (PSNR, SSIM and VMAF) and subjective quality ratings.
Acoustic Intelligent Surface System for Reliable and Efficient Underwater Communications 

While acoustic-based underwater communication systems have been widely used for many decades, existing systems still suffer from the low reliability problem due to the severe multipath fading, especially in shallow water environments. It is well known that MIMO and beamforming techniques are among the most effective solutions to address fading challenges. However, not all underwater devices can carry the multiple-transducer system due to cost and size limitations, especially small AUVs and sensors. In this paper, we design and characterize the novel acoustic intelligent surfaces in the underwater environment, which enables the beamforming capability to address the multipath fading problem, without requiring the end-users to equip MIMO components. To the best of our knowledge, although electromagnetic (EM) intelligent surfaces have been intensively investigated for terrestrial communications recently, acoustic intelligent surface has not been explored since it has completely different physical mechanism and hardware structure than that of EM surfaces. Therefore, in this paper, we design a new reconfigurable piezoelectric reflector array that performs as an underwater intelligent surface. Rigorous analytical model is developed to characterize how the designed underwater intelligent surface controls the propagation of acoustic waves in the underwater multipath channel. Based on the new design and model, the underwater intelligent surface-enabled beamforming protocol is provided. Through a hybrid underwater communication simulator based on COMSOL Multiphysics and Bellhop toolbox, we demonstrate the proposed acoustic intelligent surface can effectively form and steer acoustic beams and significantly mitigate the multipath fading in shallow underwater environments.