Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bottom sediment classification method from seabed image for automatic counting system of scallop

Each related organization conducts various fishery investigations and collects data required for estimation of resource state. In the scallop culture industry in Tokoro, Japan, the fish resources are investigated by analyzing seabed images. The seabed images are now obtainable from catamaran technology. However, there is no automatic technology to measure data from these images, and so the current investigation technique is the manual measurement by experts. The scallop is looked different from each environment. Therefore, a suitable algorithm to extract the scallop area depends on the bottom sediments of the seabed image. In this paper, we propose a method to classify the bottom sediments of the seabed image. For bottom sediment classification, we forge a strong classifier from weak classifiers using AdaBoost using the various texture features. This paper describes a method to classify the bottom sediments, presents the comparison of the effectiveness of the texture features and the results. Moreover, we presents the experiments results of the scallop counting based on the proposed method, and evaluate the method's effectiveness.
Web Application Security, Attacks and Mitigation

— Today’s technology is heavily dependent on web applications. Web applications are being accepted by users at a very rapid pace. These have made our work efficient. These include webmail, online retail sale, online gaming, wikis, departure and arrival of trains and flights and list is very long. These are developed in different languages like PHP, Python, C#, ASP.NET and many more by using scripts such as HTML and JavaScript. Attackers develop tools and techniques to exploit web applications and legitimate websites. This has led to rise of web application security; which can be broadly classified into Declarative Security and Program Security. The most common attacks on the applications are by SQL Injection and XSS which give access to unauthorized users who totally damage or destroy the system. This paper presents a detailed literature description and analysis on Web Application Security, examples of attacks and steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities.
Modeling and testing transistor faults in content-addressable memories

A behavioral analysis of transistor faults and cell-stuck-at faults in a n-word by l-bit static CMOS CAM array is presented. First, a CAM cell is analyzed at the transistor-network, event-sequence and finite-state machine level. Then, a transistor stuck-(on/open) and cell-stuck-at fault model for a CAM is defined. We show that two out of eighteen possible CAM cell's transistor faults cannot be tested reliably by functional tests; however among faults that are testable, are all those which comprise data-retention faults. We also show that a test, originally designed to detect input stuck-at faults, also detects all reliably testable transistor faults and all cell-stuck-at faults in the model.
LOPHOSCOPIC PCA : A NOVEL METHOD FOR FACE RECOGNITION

In this paper, a new technique called Lophoscopic PCA is developed for recognition of partially occluded faces and faces with strong facial expression variations. As opposed to the PCA or the Eigenfeatures approaches, this method does not try to solve the face recognition problem neither from a holistic, nor a feature perspective; in fact it studies the problem from a near or pseudo-holistic perspective. The main idea is to “eliminate” some features which may cause a reduction of the recognition accuracy under special conditions (facial expression variations or appearance of disguises). To test and evaluate the performance of the new technique, a series of experiments are carried out on the UPC face database. The experimental results have shown that using Lophoscopic PCA the recognition accuracy can increase in comparison with the classical PCA method and be more robust against exaggerated changes in the facial expression or the appearance of objects like sun glasses.
Removal of Surface Contamination and Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) from Silver (Ag) Nanorod Substrates by Plasma Cleaning with Argon

Surface contamination of surface-enhanced Raman (SERS)-active metallic substrates has been a limitation to the utility of SERS as an analytical technique, potentially affecting surface coverage, spectral reproducibility, and analytical limits of detection. We have developed a simple and versatile cleaning method for SERS-active Ag nanorod arrays that consists of a short (4 min) exposure of the substrate to an Ar+ plasma in a low-pressure environment. The findings presented here demonstrate that this cleaning procedure essentially eliminates organic background contamination. This procedure works equally well for self-assembled monolayers of thiolates that strongly adsorb onto Au and Ag surfaces. For SERS-active surfaces composed of arrays of Ag nanorods prepared by oblique-angle vapor deposition, we investigated the (1) Raman band intensities, (2) nanorod morphology via scanning electron microscopy, and (3) surface hydrophobicity via static contact angle measurements, as a function of exposure time of the Ag nanorods to the Ar+ plasma. Short (4 min) exposure to Ar+ plasma eliminated background contamination but decreased the observed SERS intensity for re-adsorbed analytes by approximately a factor of 2 while leaving the nanorod morphology essentially unchanged. Prolonged exposure to Ar+ plasma (>10 min) resulted in substantial morphological changes of the Ag nanorod lattice and led to a decrease in the observed SERS intensities by a factor of 10. The results presented here suggest that Ar+ plasma cleaning is an efficient process for removing carbonaceous and organic contamination as well as thiolate monolayers from SERS-active Ag surfaces, as long as the plasma conditions and exposure times are carefully monitored.
Parameters estimation method for photovoltaic modules

This paper proposes an accurate parameter estimation method for the single-diode electrical model of PV modules. Based on the single-diode model, the aim of the proposed method is to find the five unknown parameters that guarantee the minimum absolute error between the P-V curves generated by the electrical model and provided by the manufacturers' data sheets for different external conditions. The proposed method presents the following advantages: (a) it estimates the parameters based on the P-V curves provided by the manufacturers data sheets (does not depend on experimental curves); (b) some restrictions are imposed on each parameter of the model to preserve their physical meaning; (c) the stop criterion of the method is based on the minimization of the error between P-V curves instead of I-V curves. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method, a comparison with some popular methods in the literature is carried out using both types of P-V curves: those obtained by manufacturers' data sheets and those extracted experimentally in laboratory.
Reconfigurable radiation pattern antenna based on a new active frequency selective surface

In this paper, a reconfigurable antenna beam switching based on a new frequency selective surface is presented. The new unit cell used for this antenna is a combination of strip and six typical square loops. The simulation results show that the antenna produces a gain of 9.8 dBi at an operating frequency of 2.4 GHz. The antenna can scan the entire azimuth plane with 36° wide beam radiation in ten steps.
Catheter exchange technique for the Wingspan stent: technical note

Background and purpose The only Food and Drug Administration-approved implant for managing intracranial stenosis is the Wingspan stent. Modification of the standard Wingspan stent delivery procedure has not been previously reported. Material and methods Retrospective, single-patient, technical report. Results Following uneventful balloon angioplasty, a symptomatic intracranial vertebral artery stenosis was inaccessible to Wingspan stent delivery using standard procedural protocol because of poor proximal guide catheter purchase. After placing a Renegade Hi-Flo microcatheter across the stenosis, the Wingspan stent was transferred to this catheter and advanced to the lesion using a Neuroform stabilizer. Unsheathing of the stent yielded uncomplicated, precise placement of the stent with a good clinical result. Conclusion The Wingspan stent transfer technique can be used successfully in the management of intracranial stenotic disease.
Neutrophil extracellular traps promote differentiation and function of fibroblasts

Neutrophil activation by inflammatory stimuli and the release of extracellular chromatin structures (neutrophil extracellular traps – NETs) have been implicated in inflammatory disorders. Herein, we demonstrate that NETs released by neutrophils treated either with fibrosis‐related agents, such as cigarette smoke, magnesium silicate, bleomycin, or with generic NET inducers, such as phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate, induced activation of lung fibroblasts (LFs) and differentiation into myofibroblast (MF) phenotype. Interestingly, the aforementioned agents or IL‐17 (a primary initiator of inflammation/fibrosis) had no direct effect on LF activation and differentiation. MFs treated with NETs demonstrated increased connective tissue growth factor expression, collagen production, and proliferation/migration. These fibrotic effects were significantly decreased after degradation of NETs with DNase1, heparin or myeloperoxidase inhibitor, indicating the key role of NET‐derived components in LF differentiation and function. Furthermore, IL‐17 was expressed in NETs and promoted the fibrotic activity of differentiated LFs but not their differentiation, suggesting that priming by DNA and histones is essential for IL‐17‐driven fibrosis. Additionally, autophagy was identified as the orchestrator of NET formation, as shown by inhibition studies using bafilomycin A1 or wortmannin. The above findings were further supported by the detection of NETs in close proximity to alpha‐smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA)‐expressing fibroblasts in biopsies from patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease or from skin scar tissue. Together, these data suggest that both autophagy and NETs are involved not only in inflammation but also in the ensuing fibrosis and thus may represent potential therapeutic targets in human fibrotic diseases. Copyright © 2014 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Relay node placement based on balancing power consumption in wireless sensor networks

To alleviate the traffic burden of sensor nodes and extend the network lifetime in wireless sensor networks, one approach is to deploy a large number of low-cost micro-relay nodes for routing data. The question is how to deploy a minimum number of relay nodes in the sensing field with network lifetime constraint. If relay nodes are uniformly placed, the issue of uneven power consumption arises as relay nodes closer to the sink are required to relay more data and thus will deplete their energy more quickly. Here, the authors study the relay node deployment problem under the assumption that the relay node has the same energy supply as the sensor node. Based on balancing power consumption among all sensor nodes and relay nodes, the authors deduce a relay node density function according to which relay nodes are placed in the sensing field. Simulation results show that the approach can achieve high energy utilisation and the network lifetime is significantly extended compared with uniformly placing relay nodes.
RESPONSES TO A DRUG AND ALCOHOL PROBLEM ASSESSMENT FOR PRIMARY CARE BY ETHNICITY

Differences in responses by ethnic group to The Drug Abuse Problem Assessment for Primary Care (DAPA-PC) were examined. The DAPA-PC is a self-administered (via computer), internet-based screening instrument with automatic scoring, patient profile for medical reference, and unique motivational messages. Results indicate differences between blacks and whites on responses to several items in these instruments. Differences in drug use were also found between the two ethnic groups in hair/urine results. The screening criteria for the DAPA-PC instrument appear to work for both the groups in this study. Differences in responses to alcohol and drug screening instruments by ethnic group should be taken into consideration when designing screening instruments for alcohol and/or other drug use and these instruments should be adapted for different ethnic groups, when necessary. The results of this study suggest that the DAPA-PC instrument is a useful alcohol and drug abuse screening instrument for both the blacks and whites in a primary care population.
Chronic Anterior Thalamus Stimulation for Intractable Epilepsy

Summary: Purpose: A significant number of patients with epilepsy remain poorly controlled despite antiepileptic medication (AED) treatment and are not eligible for resective surgery. Novel therapeutic methods are required to decrease seizure burden in this population. Several observations have indicated that the anterior thalamic region plays an important role in the maintenance and propagation of seizures. We investigated neuromodulation of the anterior thalamus by using deep‐brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with intractable seizures.
Growth Hormone: Its Measurement and the Need for Assay Harmonization

Serum human growth hormone (hGH) assays show a wide range in bias and in cut-off values for provocative tests, which vary from 13·5 to 35–40 mU/L when they have been established. Studies using novel hGH assays show that methods that are absolutely specific for 22-kDa hGH may not identify bioactive hGH peaks and that 20:22-kDa hGH ratios are increased in acromegaly. Greater harmonization of serum hGH methods can be achieved by: changing from IS 80/505 to IS 98/574, which is calibrated in mass units of recombinant 22-kDa hGH; using monoclonal/polyclonal or polyclonal/polyclonal antibody combinations that measure both 20-kDa and 22-kDa hGH; the development of assays such as the immunofunctional hGH assay which has the convenience of an immunometric assay but gives results that correlate better with bioassays; collaboration between manufacturers and laboratories to establish method-related cut-off limits for provocative tests of hGH status.
Fro x vivo blood vessel imaging using ultrasound-odulated optical microscopy

ri-Rajasekhar Kothapalli ihong V. Wang ashington University in St. Louis epartment of Biomedical Engineering ptical Imaging Laboratory t. Louis, Missouri 63130 Abstract. Recently we developed ultrasound-modulated optical microscopy UOM based on a long-cavity confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer CFPI . This interferometer is used for real-time detection of multiply scattered light modulated by high frequency 30 to 75 MHz ultrasound pulses propagating in an optically, strongly scattering medium. In this work, we use this microscope to study the dependence of ultrasound-modulated optical signals on the optical absorption and scattering properties of objects embedded about 3 mm deep in tissue mimicking phantoms. These results demonstrate that UOM has the potential to map both optical absorption and scattering contrast. Most importantly, for the first time in the field of ultrasound-modulated optical imaging, we image blood vasculature in highly scattering tissue samples from a mouse and a rat. Therefore, UOM could be a promising tool to study the morphology of blood vasculature and bloodassociated functional parameters, such as oxygen saturation. © 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI: 10.1117/1.3076191
Stratigraphic and microfossil evidence for a 4500-year history of Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes and tsunamis at Yaquina River estuary, Oregon, USA

We infer that each buried soil represents a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake because the soils are laterally extensive and abruptly overlain by sandy deposits and mud. Preservation of coseismically buried soils occurred from 4500 yr ago until ~500–600 yr ago, after which preservation was compromised by cessation of gradual relative sea-level rise, which in turn precluded drowning of marsh soils during instances of coseismic subsidence. Based on grain-size and microfossil data, sandy deposits overlying buried soils accumulated immediately after a subduction zone earthquake, during tsunami incursion into Sallys Bend. The possibility that the sandy deposits were sourced directly from landslides triggered upstream in the Yaquina River basin by seismic shaking was discounted based on sedimentologic, microfossil, and depositional site characteristics of the sandy deposits, which were inconsistent with a fluvial origin. Biostratigraphic analyses of sediment above two buried soils—in the case of two earthquakes, one occurring shortly before 1541–1708 cal. yr B.P. and the other occurring shortly before 3227–3444 cal. yr B.P.—provide estimates that coseismic subsidence was a minimum of 0.4 m. The average recurrence interval of subduction zone earthquakes is 420–580 yr, based on an ~3750–4050-yr-long record and seven to nine interearthquake intervals.
Association of symptoms and convergence and accommodative insufficiency in school-age children.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this article was to investigate the association between convergence insufficiency (CI) and accommodative insufficiency (AI) and symptoms in a group of school-aged children. METHODS Children ages 8 to 15 years were recruited from two public and 2 private elementary schools in Southern California. The CI Symptom Survey (CISS) was administered to all children before a Modified Clinical Technique vision screening. Children with normal visual acuity, minimal uncorrected refractive error, and no strabismus were tested for CI and Al. RESULTS Four hundred sixty nine children were initially screened and 392 participated in testing for CI and AI. Fifty-five percent of the children (218) were classified as having normal binocular vision (NBV), 4.6% (18) had three signs of CI, 12.7% (50) had two signs of CI, 10.5% (41) were classified as AI (with no signs of CI), and 16.6% (65) were classified as other. The symptom score was 3.78 for the NBV group, 4.6 for the two-sign CI group, 6.67 for the three-sign CI group, and 6.37 for the Al group. The three-sign CI and the Al groups scored significantly higher than the NBV group on the CISS (p < or = 0.001). CONCLUSION CI and AI are common conditions in school-age children and are associated with increased symptoms.
Pelvic Floor Symptoms and Spinal Curvature in Women

Objectives To characterize the association between thoracic (T) and lumbar (L) spinal curvature and pelvic floor (PF) symptoms (pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence [UI], fecal incontinence [FI]). Methods Of women undergoing a bone mineral density scan from January 2007 to October 2010, patients who completed PF symptom questionnaires and had T and/or L spine radiographs or computed tomography examinations within 3 years of questionnaire completion were included in this study. The spine angles were measured using the Cobb angle method. The T and L curvatures were categorized as hypokyphosis (<20°), normal T kyphosis (20–40°), hyperkyphosis (>40°), hypolordosis (<40°), normal L lordosis (40–70°), and hyperlordosis (>70°). The presence and type of UI were identified with the 3 Incontinence Questionnaire and FI with the Modified Manchester Questionnaire. Pelvic organ prolapse was defined as a positive response to the presence of a bulge question from the PF Distress Inventory-20. Results Of 1665 eligible women, 824 and 302 (mean age 64 ± 10 for both) had T and L spine images, respectively. No differences in PF symptoms were observed in the T or L spine groups categorized by hypo-, normal, and hyperkyphosis/lordosis except for urgency UI being more prevalent in the hypolordosis group (P = 0.01). However, upon further characterization using logistic regression, no association was noted between PF symptoms and T or L spine angles; no differences in the mean angles were found between women with versus without PF symptoms (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions The current study shows that the T and L spinal curvatures are not associated with the presence of PF symptoms.
Identification, Characterization, and Expression of a Second, Bicistronic, Operon Involved in the Production of Lactocin S in Lactobacillus sakei L45

ABSTRACT Through the analysis of spontaneous insertion mutants of Lactobacillus sakei L45, a second operon involved in lactocin S production was identified and characterized. The new, bicistronic unit, termed lasXY, is situated immediately upstream of the previously characterized nine-open reading frame (ORF) lactocin S operon (lasA-W) and is transcribed in the opposite direction. The proximal of the two newly identified genes, lasX, specifies a 285-residue protein that is similar to a group of proteins with reported gene regulation functions in gram-positive bacteria. It was demonstrated that the lasX mutants have a strongly reduced level of lasA and lasA-W mRNA, thus indicating the likely cause of the Bac− phenotype of these mutants. The second ORF in the operon, lasY, specifies a 300-residue ABC transporter homolog, the function of which is currently obscure. Transcription initiation mapping of the lasXY operon demonstrates that the two lactocin S promoters overlap such that both transcripts initiate within the −35 region of the oppositely oriented promoter. This organization of promoters is unique among this group of regulons and may constitute a modulatory site in the proposed LasX-dependent expression of lasA and downstream genes.
Soil properties as indicators of treeline dynamics in relation to anthropogenic pressure and climate change

Soil properties as indicators of treeline dynamics in relation to anthropogenic pressure and climate change / Moscatelli, M. C. ; Bonifacio, E. ; Chiti, T. ; Cudlín, P.; Dinca, L. ; Gömöryova, E. ; Grego, S. ; Porta, N. L. ; Karlinski, L. ; Pellis, G. ; Rudawska, M. ; Squartini, A. ; Zhiyanski, M. ; Broll, G. In: CLIMATE RESEARCH. ISSN 0936-577X. 73:1-2(2017), pp. 73-84. Original Citation: Soil properties as indicators of treeline dynamics in relation to anthropogenic pressure and climate change
DNS Zone Transfer Protocol (AXFR)

The Domain Name System standard mechanisms for maintaining coherent servers for a zone consist of three elements. One mechanism is the Authoritative Transfer (AXFR) defined in RFC 1034 and RFC 1035. The definition of AXFR has proven insufficient in detail, thereby forcing implementations intended to be compliant to make assumptions, impeding interoperability. Yet today we have a satisfactory set of implementations that do interoperate. This document is a new definition of AXFR -- new in the sense that it records an accurate definition of an interoperable AXFR mechanism.