Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SIFT-type descriptors for sparse-representation-based classification

Sparse representation based classification (SRC) as an efficient method has high recognition rate in many pattern recognition applications. Unfortunately, the original SRC method generally requires rigid alignment in classification. In this paper, the feature-based SRC method is addressed by using the PCA-SIFT and SPP-SIFT descriptors, respectively. The presented methods are not only efficient for alignment-free in face and vehicle recognition, but also robust for the image illumination variation, rescaling and affine transform, when the image processing is moved from pixel-domain into the feature-domain and sparse-domain, i.e. PCA-SIFT and SPP-SIFT descriptors. Experimental results show the presented methods in this paper have higher recognition rate, more robustness. In addition, PCA-SIFT-SRC has lower computational complexity than MKD-SRC and SRC in the above scenarios.
Nanosilver particles in medical applications: synthesis, performance, and toxicity

Nanosilver particles (NSPs), are among the most attractive nanomaterials, and have been widely used in a range of biomedical applications, including diagnosis, treatment, drug delivery, medical device coating, and for personal health care. With the increasing application of NSPs in medical contexts, it is becoming necessary for a better understanding of the mechanisms of NSPs’ biological interactions and their potential toxicity. In this review, we first introduce the synthesis routes of NSPs, including physical, chemical, and biological or green synthesis. Then the unique physiochemical properties of NSPs, such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activity, are discussed in detail. Further, some recent applications of NSPs in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in medical fields are described. Finally, potential toxicology considerations of NSPs, both in vitro and in vivo, are also addressed.
COPI is essential for Golgi cisternal maturation and dynamics

ABSTRACT Proteins synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are transported to the Golgi and then sorted to their destinations. For their passage through the Golgi, one widely accepted mechanism is cisternal maturation. Cisternal maturation is fulfilled by the retrograde transport of Golgi-resident proteins from later to earlier cisternae, and candidate carriers for this retrograde transport are coat protein complex I (COPI)-coated vesicles. We examined the COPI function in cisternal maturation directly by 4D observation of the transmembrane Golgi-resident proteins in living yeast cells. COPI temperature-sensitive mutants and induced degradation of COPI proteins were used to knockdown COPI function. For both methods, inactivation of COPI subunits Ret1 and Sec21 markedly impaired the transition from cis to medial and to trans cisternae. Furthermore, the movement of cisternae within the cytoplasm was severely restricted when COPI subunits were depleted. Our results demonstrate the essential roles of COPI proteins in retrograde trafficking of the Golgi-resident proteins and dynamics of the Golgi cisternae. Highlighted Article: Knockdown of COPI function restricts retrograde recycling of Golgi-resident proteins and markedly impairs the transition from cis to medial and to trans cisternae, as demonstrated in living yeast cells.
Paleomagnetism of the Upper Cretaceous Mount Somers Volcanics, Canterbury, New Zealand

The Mount Somers Volcanics of mid Canterbury in eastern South Island are a high-K calcalkaline andesite–dacite–rhyolite suite erupted subaerially approximately 95 Ma ago during the long Late Cretaceous episode of normal geomagnetic field. Thermoremanent magnetic directions at 46 sites, corrected for post–eruption tectonic tilt, are stable and group well (a95= 3·8°, K = 31·7) with a very steep mean inclination (I = –85°, D = 354°). The resulting paleomagnetic South Pole position is at 52° S 174° E, indicating that Canterbury was within 10° of the South Pole 95 Ma ago, and that little finite rotation of Canterbury relative to the South Pole has occurred since. The Mount Somers Volcanics were erupted prior to the separation of eastern New Zealand from West Antarctica along the Pacific–Antarctic ridge. They provide a mid–Cretaceous pole position that can be compared with pole positions of similar age from Australia and with the polar–wander path previously reported for the Chatham Islands over the past 75 Ma.
Brooding fathers, not siblings, take up nutrients from embryos

It is well known that many animals with placenta-like structures provide their embryos with nutrients and oxygen. However, we demonstrate here that nutrients can pass the other way, from embryos to the parent. The study was done on a pipefish, Syngnathus typhle, in which males brood fertilized eggs in a brood pouch for several weeks. Earlier research has found a reduction of embryo numbers during the brooding period, but the fate of the nutrients from these ‘reduced’ embryos has been unknown. In this study, we considered whether (i) the brooding male absorbs the nutrients, (ii) siblings absorb them, or (iii) a combination of both. Males were mated to two sets of females, one of which had radioactively labelled eggs (using 14C-labelled amino acids), such that approximately half the eggs in the brood pouch were labelled. This allowed us to trace nutrient uptake from these embryos. We detected that 14C-labelled amino acids were transferred to the male brood pouch, liver and muscle tissue. However, we did not detect any significant 14C-labelled amino-acid absorption by the non-labelled half-siblings in the brood pouch. Thus, we show, to our knowledge, for the first time, that males absorb nutrients derived from embryos through their paternal brood pouch.
Long-term survival of a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab and vemurafenib, with the development of vitiligo

The therapeutic strategies for metastatic melanoma have dramatically changed. Nivolumab, a human monoclonal antibody against programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and vemurafenib, a selective BRAF inhibitor, have shown clinical efficacy [1, 2]. Although new therapies exist, no consensus on their optimal combination yet exists. Brain metastasis is frequent in patients with advanced melanoma, resulting in poor prognosis, and the median overall survival of these patients is approximately four months [3]. [. ]
Improving Field-Programmable Gate Array Scaling Through Wire Emulation

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are excellent devices for high-performance computing, system-on-chip realization, and rapid system prototyping. While FPGAs offer flexibility and performance, they continue to lag behind application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) performance and power consumption. As manufacturing technology improves and IC feature size decreases, FPGAs may further lag behind ASICs due to interconnection scalability issues. To improve FPGA scalability, this thesis proposes an architectural enhancement to improve global communications in large FPGAs, where chip-length programmable interconnects are slow. It is expected that this architectural enhancement, based on wire emulation techniques, can reduce chip-length communication latency and routing congestion. A prototype wire emulation system that uses FPGA self-reconfiguration as a non-traditional means of intra-FPGA communication is implemented and verified on a Xilinx Virtex-II XC2V1000 FPGA. Wire emulation benefits and impact to FPGA architecture are examined with quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Trihalomethanes and Viruses in a Water Supply

In June 1975, a program was established for monitoring viruses and volatile organics in the Occoquan Reservoir and water service area supplying approximately 600,000 residents of northern Virginia. Of interest were: (1)The magnitude of and variations in total trihalomethanes (TTHM) during the year; and (2)whether viruses could be recovered. Discharges of chlorinated sewage did not appreciably alter TTHM concentrations in one of the reservoir tributaries, but, as others have shown, chlorination of water from the reservoir during routine treatment produced high TTHM concentrations, principally chloroform, in finished water. The highest concentrations, up to 459 μ\Ng/l chloroform, were observed in summer when the raw water chlorine demand was high. The yearly mean concentrations of chloroform in finished water was approximately 275 μ\Ng/l. Polio 1 was recovered on seven occasions, four times from finished water. This report has stimulated much interest and has resulted in further monitoring to try to verify the reported findings and in a joint experimental project to test methods of virus sampling and analysis.
Highly Specific Separation of Heterogeneous Cell Populations by Lectin-Coated Beads: Application for the Isolation of Inner Medullary Collecting Duct Cells

Conditions for the highly specific selection of a cell type by the use of lectin-coated magnetic beads are reported for the isolation of inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells from a heterogeneous inner medullary cell suspension, containing both single cells and tubular fragments of variable size. The lectin Dolichos Biflorus Agglutinin (DBA), which binds in rat inner medulla exclusively to IMCD cells, was coupled via the avidin-biotin system to beads. By isolating DBA-bead-IMCD cells in a magnetic field (positive selection) from a suspension containing about 50% IMCD, a fraction of 98 ± 1% purity was obtained; recovery of cells was up to 90%. Suspensions negative on reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for vimentin as a marker of contaminating interstitial and vascular cells could be received by repeating this procedure and additional trypsinization. On the other hand, it was possible to reduce the portion of IMCD cells in the suspension by one isolation step to 1.5 ± 0.9% (negative selection). Performing this step twice resulted in virtually pure suspensions. No significant effects of this isolation technique on cell viability, growth characteristics, and biochemical parameters were observed. Therefore, this method appears to be a powerful tool for the highly specific separation of heterogeneous cell populations.
Contribution of lymphocyte function-associated-1/intercellular adhesion molecule-1 binding to the adhesion/signaling cascade of cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation

A rapid induction of adhesion to immobilized intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 occurs when cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are stimulated with either soluble anti-T cell receptor (TCR) monoclonal antibodies (mAb) or with immobilized alloantigen, and this binding is blocked by the addition of anti-lymphocyte function-associated (LFA)-1 mAbs. Requirements for activating LFA-1 adhesion to ICAM-1 are similar to those found for induction of binding to immobilized fibronectin (FN), but distinct from those for activating CD8-mediated adhesion to class I major histocompatibility complex. A distinct role for LFA-1 in co-signaling for TCR-dependent degranulation could not be demonstrated. In contrast, both CD8 and the FN-binding integrin provide costimulatory signals for this response. Thus, if co-signaling via LFA-1 occurs, it clearly differs from that provided by CD8 or the FN-binding integrin. On the basis of antibody blocking effects, alloantigen-dependent activation of adhesion to ICAM-1 involves both the TCR and CD8. These results support a view of CTL activation as a cascade of adhesion and signaling events, with different coreceptors making distinct contributions.
DO CYCLIC CHANGES IN WOMEN'S FACE PREFERENCES TARGET CUES TO LONG-TERM HEALTH?

A shift to prefer more masculine male faces when conception risk is high may be an adaptation for finding mates with good disease resistance. We investigated whether preferences for other facial cues to long-term health also increase when conception is likely. We examined preferences for the faces of men with good health histories and for facial averageness and symmetry, two putative indicators of health during development. Preferences were tested at two points in the menstrual cycle that differed maximally in conception risk. No cyclic changes in preferences were found. We consider implications for the sexual selection of variation in preferences across the menstrual cycle.
CMOS RF LNA with high ESD immunity

We present a two-stage LNA design with a high ESD immunity. We use a common-gate amplifier as an input stage for our design. The RF input is directly connected to the source of the transistor, which will provide a higher ESD protection than conventional common-source amplifiers. The two-stage LNA is designed to operate at 1.8 GHz with a voltage supply of 1.5 V using AMS 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The new LNA has a measured power gain of 14.1 dB with a noise figure of 5 dB. The reverse isolation is -32 dB, and the output-referred third-order intercept point is 6.3 dBm. The measured HBM ESD withstand voltages are 1.5kV and -3.5kV.
Referring Expression Generation Using Speaker-based Attribute Selection and Trainable Realization (ATTR)

In the first REG competition, researchers proposed several general-purpose algorithms for attribute selection for referring expression generation. However, most of this work did not take into account: a) stylistic differences between speakers; or b) trainable surface realization approaches that combine semantic and word order information. In this paper we describe and evaluate several end-to-end referring expression generation algorithms that take into consideration speaker style and use data-driven surface realization techniques.
Serologic characteristics of a human rotavirus isolate, AU‐1, which has a “long” RNA pattern and subgroup I specificity

An unusual human rotavirus (HRV) isolate, designated AU‐1, has a “long” RNA electrophoretic pattern and subgroup I specificity, in contrast to properties common to HRVs previously isolated. Hemagglutination activity of the AU‐1 strain was demonstrated using erythrocytes of 1‐day‐old chicken. Neutralization assays revealed that the AU‐1 strain was crossneutralized by hyperimmune antisera against the MO strain (serotype 3). However, antiserum directed against a reassortant in which the gene for Vp7 was replaced by the corresponding AU‐1 gene neutralized the AU‐1 strain to a significantly higher titer than the MO strain.
gp39-CD40 interactions are essential for germinal center formation and the development of B cell memory

gp39, the ligand for CD40 expressed on activated CD4+ T helper cells, is required for the generation of antibody responses to T-dependent (TD) antigens. Treatment of mice with anti-gp39 in vivo inhibits both primary and secondary antibody formation to TD, but not T-independent antigens. However, the role of this receptor-ligand pair in the development of germinal centers and the generation of B cell memory is as yet undefined. Using an antibody to gp39, this study examines the in vivo requirement for gp39-CD40 interactions in the induction of germinal center formation, as well as in the generation of B cell memory. Animals were immunized, treated in vivo with anti-gp39, and evaluated using immunohistochemical staining for the presence of splenic germinal centers 9-11 d after immunization. The results demonstrate that the formation of germinal centers was completely inhibited as a result of treatment with anti-gp39. Moreover, adoptive transfer experiments demonstrate that the generation of antigen- specific memory B cells is also inhibited as a consequence of blocking gp39-CD40 interactions. Taken together, the data demonstrate that gp39- CD40 interactions are critical not only for the generation of antibody responses, but also in the development of B cell memory.
Effects of stimulators of protein kinases A and C and modulators of phosphorylation on plasminogen activator activity in porcine oocyte‐cumulus cell complexes during in vitro maturation

Effects of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP), 6‐dimethylami‐nopurine (6‐DMAP), and okadaic acid (OA) on plasminogen activator (PA) activity in porcine oocyte‐cumulus cell complexes (POCC) in vitro were determined. Cumulus cell‐enclosed oocytes were collected from 1–4 mm antral follicles and cultured in TCM‐199 with 0.3% polyvinyl‐pyrrolidone for 48 hr PA activities in POCC were quantified using SDS‐PAGE, casein‐agar zymography, and densitometry. Two plasminogen‐dependent lytic zones (93–96 kD and 71–79 kD) were observed in POCC. Addition of amilorde to the zymograph, a competitive inhibitor of urokinase‐type PA, failed to reduce activities in either zone, suggesting that the 71–79 kD band is a tissue‐type PA (tPA) and the 93–96 kD band is possibly a tPA‐inhibitor complex. Changes in PA activity due to the various treatments were expressed relative to the PA activity in 40 POCC. Increasing dbcAMP increased PA (P <0.05) activity in dose‐dependent fashion, whereas 6‐DMAP and 10 and 100ng/ml PMA inhibited (P <0.05) PA activity. PA activity increased (P <0.05) in POCC treated with up to 25 nM OA; however, activity decreased (P <0.05) at concentrations >75 nM. Treatment with 25 nM OA also induced the expression of an amiloride‐sensitive PA (49–52 kD). Germinal vesicle breakdown and progression to metaphase II were inhibited (P <0.05) by 2.5 mM dbcAMP and 2 mM 6‐DMAP, whereas 100 ng/ml PMA and 25 nM OA inhibited (P <0.05) only progression to metaphase II. These data suggest that PA production by POCC is influenced by protein kinases A and C and kinase inhibitors during oocyte maturation. Inhibition of intracellular phosphatases also induced novel PA production. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Intelligent Parking Management System for Urban Areas

In this article we describe a low-cost, minimally-intrusive system for the efficient management of parking spaces on both public roads and controlled zones. This system is based on wireless networks of photoelectric sensors that are deployed on the access roads into and out of these areas. The sensors detect the passage of vehicles on these roads and communicate this information to a data centre, thus making it possible to know the number of vehicles in the controlled zone and the occupancy levels in real-time. This information may be communicated to drivers to facilitate their search for a parking space and to authorities so that they may take steps to control traffic when congestion is detected.
Learning to hash logistic regression for fast 3D scan point classification

Segmenting range data into semantic categories has become a more and more active field of research in robotics. In this paper, we advocate to view this task as a problem of fast, large-scale retrieval. Intuitively, given a dataset of millions of labeled scan points and their neighborhoods, we simply search for similar points in the datasets and use the labels of the retrieved ones to predict the labels of a novel point using some local prediction model such as majority vote or logistic regression. However, actually carrying this out requires highly efficient ways of (1) storing millions of scan points in memory and (2) quickly finding similar scan points to a target scan point. In this paper, we propose to address both issues by employing Weiss et al.'s recent spectral hashing. It represents each item in a database by a compact binary code that is constructed so that similar items will have similar binary code words. In turn, similar neighbors have codes within a small Hamming distance of the code for the query. Then, we learn a logistic regression model locally over all points with the same binary code word. Our experiments on real world 3D scans show that the resulting approach, called spectrally hashed logistic regression, can be ultra fast at prediction time and outperforms state-of-the art approaches such as logistic regression and nearest neighbor.
Orientation vers le marché (OVM), qualité des services et satisfaction des clients dans le secteur du private banking (PB)

Ce texte s'appuie sur les resultats d'une etude empirique effectuee precedemment sur l'orientation vers le marche (OVM) dans le secteur du private banking (PB). Apres avoir rappele les principales caracteristiques de l'OVM et les avoir compare a celles de la gestion de la qualite totale (TQM) et de la gestion de la relation client (CRM) un bref examen de l'etat des connaissances sur la qualite des services et la satisfaction des clients est effectue. L'examen des resultats de l'enquete suggere ensuite que les institutions de PB demeurent certes attentives aux attentes des clients, mais qu'elles sont plus encore preoccupees par les strategies de la concurrence. Il est observe cependant que plus elles sont orientees vers le marche plus elles accordent de l'importance a la satisfaction de leur clientele.
Low serum testosterone and mortality in older men.

CONTEXT Declining testosterone levels in elderly men are thought to underlie many of the symptoms and diseases of aging; however, studies demonstrating associations of low testosterone with clinical outcomes are few. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to examine the association of endogenous testosterone levels with mortality in older community-dwelling men. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This was a prospective, population-based study of 794 men, aged 50-91 (median 73.6) yr who had serum testosterone measurements at baseline (1984-1987) and were followed for mortality through July 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE All-cause mortality by serum testosterone level was measured. RESULTS During an average 11.8-yr follow-up, 538 deaths occurred. Men whose total testosterone levels were in the lowest quartile (<241 ng/dl) were 40% [hazards ratio (HR) 1.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14-1.71] more likely to die than those with higher levels, independent of age, adiposity, and lifestyle. Additional adjustment for health status markers, lipids, lipoproteins, blood pressure, glycemia, adipocytokines, and estradiol levels had minimal effect on results. The low testosterone-mortality association was also independent of the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and prevalent cardiovascular disease but was attenuated by adjustment for IL-6 and C-reactive protein. In cause-specific analyses, low testosterone predicted increased risk of cardiovascular (HR 1.38; 95% CI 1.02-1.85) and respiratory disease (HR 2.29; 95% CI 1.25-4.20) mortality but was not significantly related to cancer death (HR 1.34; 95% CI 0.89-2.00). Results were similar for bioavailable testosterone. CONCLUSIONS Testosterone insufficiency in older men is associated with increased risk of death over the following 20 yr, independent of multiple risk factors and several preexisting health conditions.
Central limit theorems for eigenvalues in a spiked population model

In a spiked population model, the population covariance matrix has all its eigenvalues equal to units except for a few fixed eigenvalues (spikes). This model is proposed by Johnstone to cope with empirical findings on various data sets. The question is to quantify the effect of the perturbation caused by the spike eigenvalues. A recent work by Baik and Silverstein establishes the almost sure limits of the extreme sample eigenvalues associated to the spike eigenvalues when the population and the sample sizes become large. This paper establishes the limiting distributions of these extreme sample eigenvalues. As another important result of the paper, we provide a central limit theorem on random sesquilinear forms.