Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Modular Linear Regression Based Classification for Face Recognition with Occlusion

Face recognition with occlusion is a challenging problem. Recently, the modular representation based method, i.e., modular linear regression based classification (MLRC) was proposed to deal with this problem. However, MLRC just simply combines the individual decision of each block within an image (based on the min rule) to make final decision. Therefore, the block distance information is not fully exploited. In this paper, we propose a robust modular linear regression based classification (RMLRC) method to overcome the above problem. RMLRC can effectively fuse the information provided by all the blocks and thus alleviate the limiations of the MLRC method. Experimental results show that the RMLRC method can achieve promising results for face recognition with occlusion.
Second-Order Effects on Seismic Response of Slender Bridge Columns

This paper presents and discusses, through an experimental investigation, the second-order effects of P-Δ and P-δ on the inelastic seismic response of slender reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns. Two large-scale RC columns with an aspect ratio (shear span to section width) of 12 were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. The destabilizing effect of P-Δ and the contribution of P-δ to the growth of the plastic region were experimentally evaluated by comparing primary and secondary moment gradients. Results confirmed the destabilizing effect of P-Δ demands and showed that the geometric second-order effects from P-δ led to a significant increase in the extent of the plastic region (Lpr). Enhancing the strength to compensate for the second-order effects proved to be inadequate to improve the deformation capacity before instability as limited by current seismic design guidelines. Yet, the test columns exhibited stable cyclic response beyond the conventional stability limit indexes.
The decline of infant and child mortality among Spanish Gitanos or Calé (1871−2005): A microdemographic study in Andalusia

Background: Most Romani groups in Europe have experienced a decline in childhood mortality during recent decades. These crucial transformations are rarely addressed in research or public policy. Objective: This paper analyzes the timing and structure of the decline of childhood mortality among the Gitano people of Spain. Methods: The paper is based on the family and genealogy reconstitution of the Gitano population of 22 contiguous localities in Southern Spain. Registry data from over 19,100 people and 3,501 reconstituted families was included in a dense genealogical grid ranging over 150 years. From this database we produced annual time series of infant and child mortality and of the registered causes of death from 1871 to 2005. Results: The analyzed data shows a rapid decline in infant and child mortality from about 1949 to 1970. The onset of the definitive decline occurred in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Child mortality was higher in the pre-transitional period and started to decline earlier, although it took longer to converge with majority rates. The mortality transition in the Gitano minority paralleled that of the dominant majority, but with important delays and higher mortality rates. The causes of death show the deprivation suffered by Gitano people. Conclusions: The childhood mortality decline facilitated the most important changes experienced recently by the Gitano minority, including its fertility transition and the transformation of Gitanos’ gender and family systems. Contribution: This is one of the first historical reconstructions of the mortality transition of a Romani population.
Improving radial triangulation-based forensic palmprint recognition according to point pattern comparison by relaxation

Forensic palmprint recognition, which mainly deals with high-resolution palmprints and latent-to-full palmprint comparison, has aroused research highlights because of the increased use of the evidence of palmprints in forensics. There are some in-depth works on high-resolution palmprint preprocessing (i.e., segmentation and enhancement) and feature extraction. However, few works on latent-to-full palmprint comparison have been done. Recently, radial triangulation-based latent-to-full palmprint comparison algorithm was proposed as it has been proposed for forensic likelihood ratio computation using fingerprints, and proved to have identification usability and efficiency for palmprint comparison. In this work, we generalize point pattern comparison by relaxation to minutiae-based palmprint recognition and improve the latent-to-full palmprint comparison algorithm based on radial triangulation. Firstly, local minutiae comparison is modified according to novel point pattern comparison method and global minutiae comparison is based on centroid distribution. Then logistic regression learning is used for comparison score computation. Performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on forensic databases including 22 latent palmprints from real cases and 8680 full palmprints from criminal investigation field. Experimental results show the improvement on identification accuracy and efficiency of our approach. A rank-1 identification rate of 69% is achieved, compared with 63% of previous radial triangulation-based.
Teeth Displacement and Palatal Adaptation of Autoclave Cured Acrylic Resin with Various Palates and Investments

Background: The denture base inaccuracies during processing negatively influence the retention and stability of finished complete denture. The aims of this study were to evaluate teeth movement and palatal adaptation of autoclave cured denture bases and their relationship with palatal depths and investments. Materials and methods: A nightly maxillary complete dentures prepared, processed and organized to be tested as follows: 1. Processing methods: water bath and autoclave with both fast and slow cycles. 2. Palatal depth: shallow, medium and deep. 3. Investing medium: stone and silicone. For every finished denture, two measurements were done: first: teeth movement by attaching metallic reference screws on the right and left centrals, first premolars and second molars. Second: palatal adaptation by sectioning the posterior part of the denture and measuring the distances between five selected points which were on the right and left: ridge crest, center of the vestibule and middle of the palate. Then two measurements were done before and after curing by using travelling microscope of 0.001% of accuracy. The collected data organized statistically by three ways analysis of variance for curing methods, investments and palatal depth. Also, least significant test and t test for detection of difference. Results: High significant improvements in dimensional stability shows when autoclave was used compared with the water bath. Results show that autoclave curing reduces the amount of teeth movements and improves palatal adaptation with silicone investment compared with stone. Conclusions: resin curing by autoclave is a better alternative to water bath. The dimensional stability were improved especially when silicone were used instead of stone.
The radial scroll tool: scrolling support for stylus- or touch-based document navigation

We present radial scroll, an interface widget to support scrolling particularly on either small or large scale touch displays. Instead of dragging a elevator in a scroll bar, or using repetitive key presses to page up or down, users gesture anywhere on the document surface such that clockwise gestures advance the document; counter clockwise gestures reverse the document. We describe our prototype implementation and discuss the results of an initial user study.
Approximate pyramidal shape decomposition

A shape is pyramidal if it has a flat base with the remaining boundary forming a height function over the base. Pyramidal shapes are optimal for molding, casting, and layered 3D printing. However, many common objects are not pyramidal. We introduce an algorithm for approximate pyramidal shape decomposition. The general exact pyramidal decomposition problem is NP-hard. We turn this problem into an NP-complete problem which admits a practical solution. Specifically, we link pyramidal decomposition to the Exact Cover Problem (ECP). Given an input shape S, we develop clustering schemes to derive a set of building blocks for approximate pyramidal parts of S. The building blocks are then combined to yield a set of candidate pyramidal parts. Finally, we employ Knuth's Algorithm X over the candidate parts to obtain solutions to ECP as pyramidal shape decompositions. Our solution is equally applicable to 2D or 3D shapes, and to shapes with polygonal or smooth boundaries, with or without holes. We demonstrate our algorithm on numerous shapes and evaluate its performance.
Therapeutic Potential of Engineered Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) comprise a heterogeneous group of small membrane vesicles, including exosomes, which play a critical role in intracellular communication and regulation of numerous physiological processes in health and disease. Naturally released from virtually all cells, these vesicles contain an array of nucleic acids, lipids and proteins which they transfer to target cells within their local milieu and systemically. They have been proposed as a means of “cell-free, cell therapy” for cancer, immune disorders, and more recently cardiovascular disease. In addition, their unique properties of stability, biocompatibility, and low immunogenicity have prompted research into their potential as therapeutic delivery agents for drugs and small molecules. In this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of extracellular vesicle biology as well as engineering strategies in play to improve their therapeutic potential.
Value-added utilisation of municipal waste

Over the last few decades there has been an immense demand for aggregate materials for use in construction. These are currently obtained from primary rock and gravel resources. However, such resources are finite and material extraction is associated with significant environmental costs. In addition, the significant quantities of residues generated by Waste-to-Energy incineration and coal combustion have emphasized the need to find practical reuse applications for these high-volume wastes. These, together with the economic burden of waste disposal and associated adverse environmental impacts, have made it imperative to develop alternative techniques for converting wastes into high-added value products. This paper describes the process used to produce a lightweight aggregate using incinerator bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration and pulverized fuel ash from coal-fired power plants. The method involves wet milling of the IBA/PFA mixes, pelletisation of the powder mixes and firing in a rotary kiln at high temperatures to produce sintered aggregates. Lightweight aggregates with particle densities between 1.5 and 1.8 g/cm 3 , bulk densities between 0.8 and 0.9 g/cm 3 and water absorptions between 16 and 19% by dry weight have been produced. The manufactured lightweight aggregates achieved compressive strengths of approximately 58 N/mm 2
Neurobehavioral assessment of maternal odor in developing rat pups: implications for social buffering

ABSTRACT Social support can attenuate the behavioral and stress hormone response to threat, a phenomenon called social buffering. The mother’s social buffering of the infant is one of the more robust examples; yet we understand little about the neurobiology. Using a rodent model, we explore the neurobiology of social buffering by assessing neural processing of the maternal odor, a major cue controlling social buffering in rat pups. We used pups before (postnatal day (PN) 7) and after (PN14, PN23) the functional emergence of social buffering. Pups were injected with 14C 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) and presented with the maternal odor, a control preferred odor incapable of social buffering (acetophenone), or no odor. Brains were removed, processed for autoradiography and brain areas identified as important in adult social buffering were assessed, including the amygdala basolateral complex (Basolateral Amygdala [BLA]), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Results suggest dramatic changes in the processing of maternal odor. PN7 pups show mPFC and ACC activation, although PN14 pups showed no activation of the mPFC, ACC, or BLA. All brain areas assessed were recruited by PN23. Additional analysis suggests substantial changes in functional connectivity across development. Together, these results imply complex nonlinear transitions in the neurobiology of social buffering in early life that may provide insight into the changing role of the mother in supporting social buffering.
The Physical, Developmental, and Mental Health Needs of Young Children in Child Welfare by Initial Placement Type

ABSTRACT. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends comprehensive assessments for children entering foster care. These children may be placed with biological parents, kin, or in nonrelative foster care. It is not known whether health-related needs differ by placement. Chart abstractions were conducted of child welfare and medical records of 1542 children, ages 3 months to 5 years 11 months, admitted to San Diego's sole emergency shelter/receiving facility from April 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, for investigation of alleged maltreatment. Children were discharged to three placement types: biological parents (28.5%), kinship caregivers (28.4%), or nonrelative foster parents (43.1%). Overall, 86.7% of children studied demonstrated physical, developmental, or mental health needs, with more than half displaying two or more problems. More than half of the children had a "Suspect" score on the Denver-II; 70.3% of children with "Suspect" scores were found to have delay on a developmental evaluation. Almost one tenth of the sample were diagnosed with one or more mental health conditions. Few differences were found for physical, developmental, or mental health concerns by placement. Results suggest that young children placed with biological parents or in kinship care have similar needs to those of children placed with foster parents. This study confirms the importance of comprehensive assessments for young children removed from their homes, regardless of placement. It also illustrates a need for standardized assessment criteria, particularly for developmental and mental health status, and for collaborative care models for all young children entering the child welfare system, regardless of their placement following investigation.
Weighted MSE based spatially adaptive BM3D

Weighted MSE (wMSE), recently introduced modification of MSE, is an image quality metric used to estimate visual quality of filtered images. It provides better than MSE correspondence to a human perception in consideration of distortions introduced by image filters. In this paper, wMSE is used both as a criterion to evaluate filtering efficiency of the modification of BM3D filter with spatially varying parameters, as well as to train a specially designed neural network to predict filters' parameters. Extensive analysis on three image datasets demonstrates that the proposed modification of BM3D provides lower values of wMSE than those of BM3D, both effectively suppressing noise in homogeneous regions as well as preserving fine details and texture.
To include or not to include: The impact of gene filtering on species tree estimation methods

Species tree estimation from loci sampled from multiple genomes is now common, but is challenged by the heterogeneity across the genome due to multiple processes, such as gene duplication and loss, horizontal gene transfer, and incomplete lineage sorting. Although methods for estimating species trees have been developed that address gene tree heterogeneity due to incomplete lineage sorting, many of these methods operate by combining estimated gene trees and are hence vulnerable to gene tree quality. There is also the added concern that missing data, which is frequently encountered in genome-scale datasets, will impact species tree estimation. Our study addresses the impact of gene filtering on species trees inferred from multi-gene datasets. We address these questions using a large and heterogeneous collection of simulated datasets both with and without missing data. We compare several established coalescent-based methods (ASTRAL, ASTRID, MP-EST, and SVDquartets within PAUP*) as well as unpartitioned concatenation using maximum likelihood (RAxML). Our study shows that gene tree error and missing data impact all methods (and some methods degrade more than others), but the degree of incomplete lineage sorting and gene tree estimation error impacts the absolute and relative performance of methods as well as their response to gene filtering strategies. We find that filtering genes based on the degree of missing data is either neutral or else reduces the accuracy of all five methods examined, and so is not recommended. Filtering genes based on gene tree estimation error shows somewhat different trends. Under low levels of incomplete lineage sorting, removing genes with high gene tree estimation error can improve the accuracy of summary methods, but only if not too many genes are removed. Otherwise, filtering genes tends to increase error, especially under high levels of incomplete lineage sorting. Hence, while filtering genes based on missing data is not recommended, there are conditions under which removing high error gene trees can improve species tree estimation. This study provides insights into prior studies and suggests approaches for analyzing phylogenomic datasets.
Modern approaches to understanding stress and disease susceptibility: A review with special emphasis on respiratory disease

Studies in animals and humans link both physical and psychological stress with an increased incidence and severity of respiratory infections. For this manuscript we define stress as the physiological responses an individual undergoes while adjusting to a continually changing environment. It is known that stressors of various types (psychological/physical) can alter the physiological levels of certain hormones, chemokines and cytokines. These alterations send information to the central nervous system to take necessary action which then sends messages to appropriate organs/tissues/cells to respond. These messages can either activate or suppress the immune system as needed and failure to compensate for this by the body can lead to serious health-related problems. Little is known how stress affects disease susceptibility, yet understanding this mechanism is important for developing effective treatments, and for improving health and food quality. The current review focuses on (a) the effects of psychological stressors in humans and animals, (b) various methodologies employed to understand stress responses and their outcomes, and (c) the current status of the attempts to correlate stress and disease with respiratory disease as model system. The methodologies included in this review span traditional epidemiological, behavioral and immunological studies to current high throughput genomic, proteomic, metabolomic/metabonomic approaches. With the advent of various newer omics and bioinformatics methodologies we postulate that it will become feasible to understand the mechanisms through which stress can influence disease onset. Although the literature in this area is limited because of the infancy of this research area, the objective of this review is to illustrate the power of new approaches to address complex biological questions. These new approaches will also aid in our understanding how these processes are related to the dynamics and kinetics of changes in expression of multiple genes at various levels.
Performance and Total PM Emission Factor Evaluation of Expendable Abrasives

Dry abrasive blasting is one of the most widely used methods of surface preparation. Air emissions from this process include particulate matter (PM) and metals. Spent abrasive generated from this process may be hazardous in nature. With increasing concern on health effects due to silica emissions from sand, use of alternative materials is suggested by health and regulatory agencies. The objective of this research was to evaluate performance of expendable abrasives and determine PM emission factors. Dry abrasive blasting was performed in an enclosed chamber and total PM samples were collected. Three commonly used expendable abrasives, coal slag, copper slag and specialty sand, were used to evaluate cleaner alternatives. Blast pressure and abrasive feed rate, two important process conditions were varied to study their effect on performance of an abrasive. Productivity, consumption and emission factors (performance parameters) were calculated and their variation with pressure and feed rate was evaluated. Two dimensional and three dimensional predicted models were developed to estimate the performance at intermediate blast pressure and feed rate conditions. Performance of the three abrasives was compared with respect to emission potential, productivity and consumption. Emission factors developed in this research will help in accurate estimation of total PM emissions and to select cleaner abrasives and optimum process conditions that will results in minimum emissions and reduced health risk. The productivity and consumption models will help is estimating life cycle costs including material cost, equipment cost, energy cost, labor costs, waste disposal cost, and compliance costs. Consumption models will also help in determining the quantity of spent abrasive generated, identify abrasives with lower material consumption, and identify process conditions that generate minimum spent abrasives. In addition, these models will help industries in making environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP), which results in pollution prevention and cost reduction.
Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the HD-Zip Gene Family in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) gene family, as plant-specific transcription factors, plays an important role in plant development and growth as well as in the response to diverse stresses. Although HD-Zip genes have been extensively studied in many plants, they had not yet been studied in wheat, especially those involved in response to abiotic stresses. In this study, 46 wheat HD-Zip genes were identified using a genome-wide search method. Phylogenetic analysis classified these genes into four groups, numbered 4, 5, 17 and 20 respectively. In total, only three genes with A, B and D homoeologous copies were identified. Furthermore, the gene interaction networks found that the TaHDZ genes played a critical role in the regulatory pathway of organ development and osmotic stress. Finally, the expression profiles of the wheat HD-Zips in different tissues and under various abiotic stresses were investigated using the available RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data and then validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to obtain the tissue-specific and stress-responsive candidates. This study systematically identifies the HD-Zip gene family in wheat at the genome-wide level, providing important candidates for further functional analysis and contributing to the better understanding of the molecular basis of development and stress tolerance in wheat.