Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multimodal biometric authentication based on iris pattern and pupil light reflex

Biometrics-based authentication is a method of personal identification that has some advantages over the password and object-based ones, mainly for the user, who doesn't need to carry or memorize anything. However, this kind of identification is also subject to problems. Besides the technology-related possibilities of fraud, such as system invasion, database corruption or algorithm injection, some of the common used bio-metric features can be faked. Furthermore, most cases of false rejection are related to the quality of the acquired sample. This paper proposes a multimodal bio-metric authentication method which incorporates the use of dynamic features of the human reflex and the iris pattern recognition for a better performance. A prototype system has been implemented and tested with 59 volunteers. Experimental results presented an EER of 2.44%.
Increasing the efficiency of fault detection in modified code

Many software systems are developed in a number of consecutive releases. Each new release does not only add new code but also modifies already existing one. In this study we have shown that the modified code can be an important source of faults. The faults are widely recognized as one of the major cost drivers in software projects. Therefore we look for methods of improving fault detection in the modified code. We suggest and evaluate a number of prediction models for increasing the efficiency of fault detection. We evaluate them against the theoretical best model, a simple model based on size, as well as against analyzing the code in a random order (not using any model). We find that using our models provides a significant improvement both over not using any model at all and using the simple model based on the class size. The gain offered by the models corresponds to 30% to 60% of the theoretical maximum.
An Empirical Study of Receiver-Based AIMD Flow-Control Strategies for CCN

The Content Centric Network (CCNx) protocol introduces a new routing and forwarding paradigm for the waist of the future Internet architecture. Below CCN, a volatile set of transport and flow-control strategies is envisioned, which can match better different service requirements, than current TCP/IP technology does. Although a broad range of possibilities has not been explored yet, there are already several proponents of strategies that come close to TCP's well-known flow control mechanism (timeout-driven, window-based, and AIMD- operated). In this paper, we carry out an empirical exploration of some proposed strategies in order to assert their feasibility and efficiency. Our contributions are twofold: First, we establish if receiver-based, timeout-driven, AIMD operated flow-control on Interest transmissions is sufficiently effective for CCN in a future Internet deployment, where it may co-exist with TCP. In this process we compare the performance of three different variants of this strategy, in presence of multi-homed content in the network (one of them proposed by the authors). Second, we provide indicators for the general efficiency of timeout-based flow-control at the CCN receiver, in presence of in-network caching, and exhibit some of the challenges faced by such strategies.
Efficient video retrieval by locality sensitive hashing

In this paper, a new scheme for fast video retrieval is proposed. In the scheme, a video is represented by a set of feature vectors which are computed using the robust alpha-trimmed average color histogram. To efficiently retrieve videos, the locality sensitive hashing technique, which involves a uniform distance shrinking projection, is applied. Such a technique does not suffer from the notorious "curse of dimensionality" problem in handling high-dimensional data point sets and guarantees that geometrically close vectors are hashed to the same bucket with high probability. In addition, unlike the conventional techniques, the involved similarity measure incorporates the temporal order of video sequences. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional approaches in accuracy and efficiency.
Deep traps induced by 700keV protons in CdTe and CdZnTe Detectors

We have studied the effects of 700 keV proton at increasing fluences (up to times 1012 p/cm2) on CdTe:Cl and Cd0.9Zn0. 1Te detectors. The charge transport properties of the detectors have been studied by mutau product measurements, gamma spectroscopy and PICTS analyses. The correlation of the macroscopic transport behaviour with the information on the microscopic defective states allowed for the identification of the role played by the dominant traps: levels Z and HI resulted related to electron trapping effects, while levels K and X showed a hole trapping character.
Participatory sensing algorithms for mobile object discovery in urban areas

This paper introduces mechanisms for the automated detection of mobile objects in urban areas. Widely available devices such as mobile phones with integrated proximity sensors such as RFID readers or Bluetooth cooperatively perform sensing operations to discover mobile objects. In this paper, we propose a coverage metric for assessing the completeness of sensing that considers spatial and temporal aspects. To maximize coverage while minimizing energy consumption of mobile nodes, we propose both a centralized and a distributed coordination algorithm for selecting nodes that need to sense. Moreover, we present strategies that allow selected nodes to perform efficient sense operations. By extensive simulations, we show that distributed coordination achieves drastic energy savings of up to 63%, while limiting the coverage loss to 13%. Moreover, we show that the centralized algorithm loses less than 1% coverage compared to the maximum possible coverage.
Population genetic analyses of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus using HLA allele frequencies

In order to try to detect heterogeneity within insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and to distinguish a mode of inheritance of IDDM, population genetic analyses were performed using HLA allele frequencies. HLA‐A and ‐B typing performed on 231 IDDM individuals and 268 controls from the southeastern U.S. showed significant increases with IDDM in A2, B8, B15 and B18, and significant decreases in Aw23, B7, B14 and B17. The combination of HLA‐B8/B15 showed a greatly increased risk (RR = 25.5). Between the 120 IDDM individuals and 123 controls HLA‐DR typed, HLA‐DR3 and ‐DR4 were significantly increased among the IDDM group and DR2 and DR7 were decreased. The risk for DR3/4 was 29.2. It appeared that the B15 association was secondary to the DR4, but the B8/DR3 association showed no difference. Using the method of Curie‐Cohen, no significant increases in risk were found for the B8/B15 or DR3/DR4 heterozygotes when compared to the respective homozygotes. Using the method of Thomson and Bodmer, the dominant mode of inheritance was excluded for DR4 only. There was a significant increase in B15 and DR4 in those with onset before age 20. No significant differences were found among the DR phenotypes with respect to season.
Immunophenotypic Analysis of Bone Marrow B Lymphocyte Precursors (Hématogones) by Flow Cytometry

The aims of this flow cytometry study were to quantify B lymphoid precursors known as hématogones across age and clinical conditions and to study the immunophenotypic profile of these benign immature B cells. A total of 406 consecutive marrow specimens were analyzed for hématogones using 4-color flow cytometry during a 19 month period (60% males and 40% females). The age range was 3 months to 89 years. Hématogones were present in 80% of the specimens. Morphologic analysis of the smears from each patient showed small numbers of hématogones (<13% of total cellularity). The B cell population was defined by CD 19+ CD45 bright positivity, coexpression of other B lineage markers: CD20, CD22, CD10, CD29, CD38 and CD58 in addition to HLA-DR and CD34. In our study we found a significant decline in hématogones with increasing age but a broad range was found at all ages. Marrow from some adults contained relatively high numbers. Diagnosis in these patients included cytopenias, infections, and neoplastic diseases. Distinction of hématogones is critical for disease management particularly after therapy of paediatric B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to monitor for minimal residual disease.
TFcheckpoint: a curated compendium of specific DNA-binding RNA polymerase II transcription factors

SUMMARY Gene regulatory network assembly and analysis requires high-quality knowledge sources that cover functional aspects of the various components of the gene regulatory machinery. A multiplicity of resources exists with information about mammalian transcription factors (TFs); yet, only few of these provide sufficiently accurate classifications of the functional roles of individual TFs, or standardized evidence that would justify the information on which these functional classifications are based. We compiled the list of all putative TFs from nine different resources, ignored factors such as general TFs, mediator complexes and chromatin modifiers, and for the remaining factors checked the available literature for references that support their function as a true sequence-specific DNA-binding RNA polymerase II TF (DbTF). The results are available in the TFcheckpoint database, an exhaustive collection of TFs annotated according to experimental and other evidence on their function as true DbTFs. TFcheckpoint.org provides a high-quality and comprehensive knowledge source for genome-scale regulatory network studies. AVAILABILITY The TFcheckpoint database is freely available at www.tfcheckpoint. org
Differentiation of Burkholderia Species by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis of the 16S rRNA Gene and Application to Cystic Fibrosis Isolates

ABSTRACT Burkholderia cepacia, which is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF) owing to the potential severity of the infections and the high transmissibility of some clones, has been recently shown to be a complex of five genomic groups, i.e., genomovars I, II (B. multivorans), III, and IV and B. vietnamiensis. B. gladioli is also involved, though rarely, in CF. Since standard laboratory procedures fail to provide an accurate identification of these organisms, we assessed the ability of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of amplified 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA), with the combination of the patterns obtained with six endonucleases, to differentiateBurkholderia species. This method was applied to 16 type and reference strains of the genus Burkholderiaand to 51 presumed B. cepacia clinical isolates, each representative of one clone previously determined by PCR ribotyping. The 12 Burkholderia type strains tested were differentiated, including B. cepacia, B. multivorans, B. vietnamiensis, and B. gladioli, but neither the genomovar I and III reference strains nor the genomovar IV reference strain and B. pyrrociniaT were distinguishable. CF clinical isolates were mainly distributed in RFLP group 2 (which includesB. multivoransT) and RFLP group 1 (which includes B. cepacia genomovar I and III reference strains, as well as nosocomial clinical isolates). Two of the five highly transmissible clones in French CF centers belonged to RFLP group 2, and three belonged to RFLP group 1. The remaining isolates either clustered with other Burkholderia species (B. cepaciagenomovar IV or B. pyrrocinia, B. vietnamiensis, and B. gladioli) or harbored unique combinations of patterns. Thus, if further validated by hybridization studies, PCR-RFLP of 16S rDNA could be an interesting identification tool and contribute to a better evaluation of the respective clinical risks associated with each Burkholderia species or genomovar in patients with CF.
Parallel Distributed Processing: Implications for Psychology and Neurobiology

Network models of the mind, H.C. Longuet-Higgins parallel distributed processing - implications for cognition and development, Jay L.McClelland learning distributed representations of concepts, Geoffrey E.Hinton parallel distributed processing and psychology, Glyn W.Humphreys selective attention, variable processing and distributed representation of stimuli - applications to perceptual learning and latent inhibition, Ian P.McLaren et al connections and disconnections - acquired dyslexia in a computational model of reading processes rules and connections in human language, Steven Pinker and Alan Prince computational neuroscience - modelling the brain, Richard G.M. Morris a biologically realistic neural network model for higher-order features of classical conditioning, Robert D.Hawkins does synaptic plasticity play a role in information storage in the vertebrate brain? , Richard G.M. Morris parallel distributed processing in the brain - implications of the functional architecture of neuronal networks in the hippocampus, Edmund T.Rolls rapid incremental learning of hierarchically organized stimuli by layer II sensory (olfactory) cortex.
Identification of the isotherm function in chromatography using CMA-ES

This paper deals with the identification of the flux for a system of conservation laws in the specific example of analytic chromatography. The fundamental equations of chromatographic process are highly non linear. The state-of-the-art evolution strategy, CMA-ES (the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy), is used to identify the parameters of the so-called isotherm function. The approach was validated on different configurations of simulated data using either one, two or three components mixtures. CMA-ES is then applied to real data cases and its results are compared to those of a gradient-based strategy.
Reduction of uncertainty in human sequential learning: Evidence from artificial grammar learning

Research on statistical teaming in adults and infants has shown that humans are particularly sensitive to statistical properties of the input. Early experiments in artificial grammar teaming, for instance, show a sensitivity for transitional n-gram probabilities. It has been argued, however, that this source of information may not help in detecting nonadjacent dependencies, in the presence of substantial variability of the intervening material, thus suggesting a different focus of attention involving change versus non-change (Gomez, 2002). Following Gomez proposal, we contend that alternative sources of information may be attended to simultaneously by learners, in an attempt to reduce uncertainty. With several potential cues in competition, performance crucially depends on which cue is strong enough to be relied upon. By carefully manipulating the statistical environment it is possible to weigh the contribution of each cue. Several implications for the field of statistical teaming and language development are drawn.
The Ebola Interferon Inhibiting Domains Attenuate and Dysregulate Cell-Mediated Immune Responses

Ebola virus (EBOV) infections are characterized by deficient T-lymphocyte responses, T-lymphocyte apoptosis and lymphopenia. We previously showed that disabling of interferon-inhibiting domains (IIDs) in the VP24 and VP35 proteins effectively unblocks maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and increases the secretion of cytokines and chemokines. Here, we investigated the role of IIDs in adaptive and innate cell-mediated responses using recombinant viruses carrying point mutations, which disabled IIDs in VP24 (EBOV/VP24m), VP35 (EBOV/VP35m) or both (EBOV/VP35m/VP24m). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from cytomegalovirus (CMV)-seropositive donors were inoculated with the panel of viruses and stimulated with CMV pp65 peptides. Disabling of the VP35 IID resulted in increased proliferation and higher percentages of CD4+ T cells secreting IFNγ and/or TNFα. To address the role of aberrant DC maturation in the IID-mediated suppression of T cell responses, CMV-stimulated DCs were infected with the panel of viruses and co-cultured with autologous T-lymphocytes. Infection with EBOV/VP35m infection resulted in a significant increase, as compared to wt EBOV, in proliferating CD4+ cells secreting IFNγ, TNFα and IL-2. Experiments with expanded CMV-specific T cells demonstrated their increased activation following co-cultivation with CMV-pulsed DCs pre-infected with EBOV/VP24m, EBOV/VP35m and EBOV/VP35m/VP24m, as compared to wt EBOV. Both IIDs were found to block phosphorylation of TCR complex-associated adaptors and downstream signaling molecules. Next, we examined the effects of IIDs on the function of B cells in infected PBMC. Infection with EBOV/VP35m and EBOV/VP35m/VP24m resulted in significant increases in the percentages of phenotypically distinct B-cell subsets and plasma cells, as compared to wt EBOV, suggesting inhibition of B cell function and differentiation by VP35 IID. Finally, infection with EBOV/VP35m increased activation of NK cells, as compared to wt EBOV. These results demonstrate a global suppression of cell-mediated responses by EBOV IIDs and identify the role of DCs in suppression of T-cell responses.
Nerve Growth Factor Activation of Nuclear Factor κB through Its p75 Receptor Is an Anti-apoptotic Signal in RN22 Schwannoma Cells*

Recent evidence indicates that nerve growth factor (NGF) produces its effects through signaling contributions from both TrkA and the p75 receptor. In contrast to its trophic actions through TrkA, NGF binding to p75 has been shown to activate programmed cell death through a mechanism involving the stress kinase JNK. However, this receptor also activates nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), the role of which has yet to be determined. We investigated the function of p75-mediated NF-κB stimulation in regulating cell survival in the rat schwannoma cell line RN22, which expresses p75, but not TrkA. Gel shift assays demonstrated activation of NF-κB in response to NGF within 30 min and lasting at least 4 h. NGF also stimulated JNK in the cells (detected by in vitro kinase assays) with a similar time course. Preventing activation of NF-κB with the specific inhibitor SN50 resulted in NGF-induced cell loss. Similarly, transfection of the cells with a mutant form of the endogenous NF-κB inhibitor (IκBαΔN), which cannot be degraded and therefore remains bound to NF-κB, preventing its activation, resulted in a significant increase in the number of apoptotic cells following NGF treatment. These results suggest that NGF activation of NF-κB through the p75 receptor promotes survival, counterbalancing the pro-apoptotic signal.
Aliskiren, a Novel Orally Effective Renin Inhibitor, Provides Dose-Dependent Antihypertensive Efficacy and Placebo-Like Tolerability in Hypertensive Patients

Background—Stopping the detrimental effects of the renin-angiotensin system at the most upstream point of the cascade offers theoretical advantages for cardiovascular protection. This study compares the antihypertensive efficacy and safety of the novel oral renin inhibitor aliskiren with placebo and an active comparator. Methods and Results—The study was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, active-comparator 8-week trial in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension (mean sitting diastolic blood pressure [DBP] ≥95 and <110 mm Hg). After a 2-week, single-blind placebo run-in, 652 patients were randomized to receive double-blind treatment with once-daily oral doses of aliskiren (150, 300, or 600 mg), irbesartan 150 mg, or placebo. Aliskiren 150, 300, and 600 mg effectively lowered both trough mean sitting DBP and systolic blood pressure (SBP) (P<0.001 versus placebo for both variables). The least-squares mean reductions in trough DBP were 9.3±0.8, 11.8±0.8, and 11.5±0.8 mm Hg, respectively, versus 6.3±0.8 mm Hg for placebo, and the least-squares mean reductions in trough SBP were 11.4±1.3, 15.8±1.2, and 15.7±1.2 mm Hg, respectively, versus 5.3±1.2 mm Hg for placebo. The antihypertensive effect of aliskiren 150 mg was comparable to that of irbesartan 150 mg (8.9±0.7 and 12.5±1.2 mm Hg, least-squares reduction in mean sitting DBP and SBP, respectively, for irbesartan). Aliskiren 300 and 600 mg lowered mean sitting DBP significantly more than irbesartan 150 mg (P<0.05). Aliskiren showed safety and tolerability comparable to those of placebo and irbesartan; the incidence of adverse events and number of patients discontinuing therapy were similar in all groups. Conclusions—Once-daily oral treatment with aliskiren lowers blood pressure effectively, with a safety and tolerability profile comparable to that of irbesartan and placebo, in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension. Aliskiren 150 mg is as effective as irbesartan 150 mg in lowering blood pressure.
The new accent technologies:recognition, measurement and manipulation of accented speech

Advances in speech technology, speech signal processing and phonetic representation are leading to new applications within Accent studies. These technologies will allow us to automatically identify the features of an accent, to cluster speakers into accent groups, to adapt our pronunciation dictionaries on-line to a speaker's accent, to measure the similarity between accents, even to modify recordings of a speaker to change their accent. These technologies apply to both regional and foreign accented speech and have considerable potential in language learning. For example they will allow a learner's accent to be evaluated and diagnosed, they will allow the demonstration of pronunciation targets in the learner's voice, and they can improve the intelligibility of foreign accented speech to native listeners. In this article I will describe some of the underlying components of the new accent technologies and demonstrate their use. In speech recognition, I will show how an accent feature system can be used for pronunciation dictionary adaptation to improve recognition performance without the need to identify the accent of the speaker. In experimental phonetics, I will show how measures of self-similarity provide a means to measure and evaluate accent independently of speaker characteristics. In speech signal processing, I will show how accent morphing techniques can be used to modify a speaker's accent in a given recording, and show how such methods can lead to an increase in the intelligibility of foreign accented speech to native listeners.
‘Being a model for the world’: performing Creoleness in La Réunion

In this article, I shall argue that concepts of Creoleness are used both to formulate an ethics of modern time and mobility, and to form social realities whose experience, among others through tourism, brings this very ethics alive. Creoleness presents itself here as a powerful allegory to think about time in terms of a linear process, as ‘history’ emanating in an imaginary point of purity and origin, and leading towards a state of increasing melange and ‘creolisation’. Through a historical and ethnographic study of landscape poetic, spatial planning and museum initiatives in the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, I will show how the island and islanders were made to inhabit and ultimately to perform this allegory as a means to participate in a global modernity. Through the particular focus on a recent museum project, the article will point to the ambivalences underlying this new sign-economy within which facets of the islanders’ everyday life are elevated as to be or become a ‘model for the world’.