Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Fully Automatic Approach for Human Recognition from Profile Images Using 2D and 3D Ear Data

The use of ear shape as a biometric trait for recognizing people in different applications is one of the most recent trends in the research communities. In this work, a fully automatic and fast technique based on the AdaBoost algorithm is used to detect a subject’s ear from his/her 2D and corresponding 3D profile images. A modified version of the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is then used for the matching of this extracted probe ear to the previously stored ear data in a gallery database. A coarse-tofine hierarchical technique is used where the ICP algorithm is first applied on low and then on high resolution meshes of 3D ear data. We obtain a rank one recognition rate of 93% while testing with the University of Notre Dame Biometrics Database. The proposed recognition approach does not require any manual intervention or sharp extraction of ear contour from the detected ear region. No segmentation of the extracted ear is required and more importantly, the system performance does not rely on the presence of a particular feature of the ear.
'. . . and nothing else changes': the frame problem in procedure specifications

The first aim of this analysis is to outline a certain general problem which arises in all formal specifications using the pre/postcondition notation, and which is related to a longstanding problem in the field of AI, called the frame problem (J. McCarthy and P. Hayes, 1969). The authors then present examples illustrating this problem, which becomes particularly acute for large object-oriented specifications where inheritance plays a central role. The examples are intended to demonstrate that failure to deal with the frame problem compromises a formal specification language with respect to its notational suitability and its capacity to support a methodology for formally proving properties of specifications. How existing specification languages have endeavored to cope with the problem are reviewed. A novel approach is presented based on recent work intended to solve the frame problem in planning applications within AI. <<ETX>>
Electromyography-Guided Botulinum Toxin Injection Into the Cricothyroid Muscles in Bilateral Vocal Fold Abductor Paralysis

Objectives Bilateral vocal fold abductor paralysis (BVFAP) both deteriorates quality of life and may cause life-threatening respiratory problems. The aim of this study was to reduce respiratory symptoms in BVFAP patients using cricothyroid (CT) botulinum toxin (BTX) injection. Methods Before and 2 weeks and 4 months after bilateral BTX injection into the CT muscles under electromyography; alterations in respiratory, acoustic, aerodynamic and quality of life parameters were evaluated in BVFAP patients with respiratory distress. For the respiratory evaluation modified Borg scale and spirometry, for the voice and aerodynamic evaluations Voice Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30), GRBAS, acoustic analysis (sound pressure level, F0, jitter%, shimmer%, noise-to-harmonic ratio) and maximum phonation time and for the quality of life assessment Short Form-36 (SF-36) form were used. Results All patients were female with a mean age of 47±8.1 years. There was a mean time of 11.8±5.5 (minimum 2, maximum 23) months between BVFAP development and BTX injection. In all cases, other than one case with unknown aetiology, the cause of vocal fold paralysis was prior thyroid surgery. In total 18.6±3.1 units of BTX were applied to the CTs. In the preinjection period, and the 2nd week and 4th month after injection, the Borg dyspnea scale was 7.3/5.3/5.0, FIV1 (forced inspiratory volume in one second) was 1.7/1.7/1.8 L, peak expiratory flow (PEF) was 1.4/1.7/2.1 L/sec, maximum phonation time was 7.0/6.4/6.2 seconds and VHI-30 was 63.2/52.2/61.7 respectively. There was no significant alteration in acoustic analysis parameters. Many of the patients reported transient dysphagia within the first week. There were insignificant increases in SF-36 sub-scale values. Conclusion After BTX injection, improvements in the mean Borg score, PEF and FIV1 values and SF-36 sub-scale scores showed the restricted success of this approach. This modality may be kept in mind as a transient treatment option for patients refused persistent tracheotomy or ablative airway surgeries.
Synaptic NMDAR activity suppresses FOXO1 expression via a cis-acting FOXO binding site: FOXO1 is a FOXO target gene

Activation of gene expression by FOXO transcription factors can promote neuronal death in response to loss of trophic support, or oxidative stress. The predominant neuronal FOXOs, FOXO1 and FOXO3, promote the expression of pro-death genes, such as Fas Ligand, Bim and Txnip. Neuroprotective signals initiated by neurotrophins, growth factors or synaptic activity trigger the nuclear export of FOXOs via activation of the PI3K-Akt pathway. One key aspect of FOXO regulation is that once PI3K-Akt activity has returned to baseline, FOXOs return to the nucleus to resume the activation of their target genes. Thus, the FOXO-inhibiting capacity of the PI3K-Akt pathway is thought to be short-lived. However, we show here that synaptic NMDA receptor activity not only triggers FOXO export, but also suppresses the expression of FOXO1. Blockade of PI3K activity prevents both FOXO nuclear export and suppression of FOXO1 expression, raising the possibility that FOXO1 is itself a FOXO target gene. We found that FOXO3, and to a lesser extent FOXO1 transactivates the FOXO1 promoter via a consensus FOXO binding site (GTAAACAA), and also an upstream sequence resembling a classical FOXO-binding insulin response sequence (CAAAACAA). Activity-dependent suppression of the FOXO1 promoter is mediated through the proximal GTAAACAA sequence. Similar suppression via this site is observed by activating neuronal IGF-1 receptors by exogenous insulin. Thus, through a feed-forward inhibition mechanism, synaptic activity triggers FOXO export resulting in suppression of FOXO1 expression. These results suggest that FOXO-inactivating signals are likely to result in longer-term inhibition of FOXO target gene expression than previously thought.
Induced Maturation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus

ABSTRACT HIV-1 assembles at the plasma membrane of virus-producing cells as an immature, noninfectious particle. Processing of the Gag and Gag-Pol polyproteins by the viral protease (PR) activates the viral enzymes and results in dramatic structural rearrangements within the virion—termed maturation—that are a prerequisite for infectivity. Despite its fundamental importance for viral replication, little is currently known about the regulation of proteolysis and about the dynamics and structural intermediates of maturation. This is due mainly to the fact that HIV-1 release and maturation occur asynchronously both at the level of individual cells and at the level of particle release from a single cell. Here, we report a method to synchronize HIV-1 proteolysis in vitro based on protease inhibitor (PI) washout from purified immature virions, thereby temporally uncoupling virus assembly and maturation. Drug washout resulted in the induction of proteolysis with cleavage efficiencies correlating with the off-rate of the respective PR-PI complex. Proteolysis of Gag was nearly complete and yielded the correct products with an optimal half-life (t 1/2) of ∼5 h, but viral infectivity was not recovered. Failure to gain infectivity following PI washout may be explained by the observed formation of aberrant viral capsids and/or by pronounced defects in processing of the reverse transcriptase (RT) heterodimer associated with a lack of RT activity. Based on our results, we hypothesize that both the polyprotein processing dynamics and the tight temporal coupling of immature particle assembly and PR activation are essential for correct polyprotein processing and morphological maturation and thus for HIV-1 infectivity. IMPORTANCE Cleavage of the Gag and Gag-Pol HIV-1 polyproteins into their functional subunits by the viral protease activates the viral enzymes and causes major structural rearrangements essential for HIV-1 infectivity. This proteolytic maturation occurs concomitant with virus release, and investigation of its dynamics is hampered by the fact that virus populations in tissue culture contain particles at all stages of assembly and maturation. Here, we developed an inhibitor washout strategy to synchronize activation of protease in wild-type virus. We demonstrated that nearly complete Gag processing and resolution of the immature virus architecture are accomplished under optimized conditions. Nevertheless, most of the resulting particles displayed irregular morphologies, Gag-Pol processing was not faithfully reconstituted, and infectivity was not recovered. These data show that HIV-1 maturation is sensitive to the dynamics of processing and also that a tight temporal link between virus assembly and PR activation is required for correct polyprotein processing.
Reversing symmetry group of Gl ( 2 , Z ) and PGl ( 2 , Z ) matrices with connections to cat maps and trace maps

Dynamical systems can have both symmetries and time-reversing symmetries. Together these two types of symmetries form a group called the reversing symmetry group R with the symmetries forming a normal subgroup S of R. We give a complete characterization of R (and hence S) in the dynamical systems associated with the groups of integral matrices Gl(2,Z) and PGl(2,Z). To do this, we use well known methods of number theory, such as Dirichlet’s unit theorem for quadratic fields and Gauß’ results on the equivalence of integer quadratic forms, and employ the algebraic structure of the modular group PSl(2,Z) as a free product. We show how some recently discussed generalizations of the reversing symmetry group are also nicely illustrated when we consider affine extensions of these matrix groups. Our results are applicable to hyperbolic toral automorphisms (Anosov or cat maps), pseudo-Anosov maps, and the group of three-dimensional (3D) trace maps that preserve the Fricke–Vogt invariant.
Evaluating Strategic Leadership based on the Method of Fuzzy Analytic Network Process

We apply the method of Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (ANP-Fuzzy) to evaluate strategic leadership, because its indexes are complex, inter-relationship, and fuzzy. First, construct indexes s ystem of strategic leadership ,which constitutes of personal abilities and organizational abilities. Second, interpret the fitness of ANP-Fuzzy for strategic leadership and the method's implication steps of ANP structure, pairwise comparisons and priority vectors, super matrix formation and transformation, and fuzzy evaluation. Final, design ANP structure of strategic leadership , calculate priorities, and ana lyse empirically strategic leadership of candidates for promotion by fuzzy evaluation. Results show that the method is feasible, because it can get not only the whole status of strategic leadership but also of personal abilities and organizational abilities, which gives significant decision support.
Developing a Social Cost of Carbon for US Regulatory Analysis: A Methodology and Interpretation

The US government recently developed a range of values representing the monetized global damages associated with an incremental increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, commonly referred to as the social cost of carbon (SCC). These values are currently used in benefit–cost analyses to assess potential federal regulations. For 2010, the central value of the SCC is $21 per ton of CO2 emissions, with sensitivity analyses to be conducted at $5, $35, and $65 per ton of CO2 (2007 dollars). This article summarizes the methodology and interagency process used to develop these SCC values, offers our own commentary on how the SCC can be used to inform regulatory decisions, and identifies priorities for further research.
Cancer immunotherapy with interleukin 12 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-encapsulated microspheres: coinduction of innate and adaptive antitumor immunity and cure of disseminated disease.

Tumor cells, injected s.c. , were maintained until spontaneous metastases to the lungs were established in all of the mice. Mice were then treated with a single dose of cytokine-encapsulated biodegradable microspheres injected directly into primary s.c. tumors to achieve a local and sustained release of interleukin 12 (IL-12), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), or a combination of these cytokines to the tumor microenvironment. The s.c. tumors were surgically excised 6 days after microsphere injections, and the mice were monitored for recurrence of the primary tumor, survival, and progression of metastatic disease. Combined neoadjuvant treatment with IL-12 and GM-CSF microspheres was superior to all other treatments in reducing the recurrence of primary tumors, enhancing postoperative survival, and suppressing established metastatic disease. Long-term survival analysis demonstrated that intratumoral injection of IL-12 + GM-CSF-loaded microspheres resulted in the complete cure of disseminated disease in the majority of the animals. The addition of systemic low-dose IL-2 therapy to the treatment protocol resulted in the loss of the antitumor activity induced by IL-12 + GM-CSF treatment. In vivo lymphocyte subset depletions established that both T- and natural killer-cell subsets were required for the suppression of primary and metastatic tumors. Long-term, tumor-specific T-cell activity was demonstrated by immunohistochemical analysis of metastatic lesions, IFN-gamma enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) assays and tumor challenge studies. These results establish that neoadjuvant in situ tumor immunotherapy with IL-12 + GM-CSF microspheres induces both innate and adaptive antitumor immune responses resulting in the eradication of disseminated disease.
Presence of ribosomal ribonucleic acid in the rickettsia Coxiella burneti.

The rickettsial agent Coxiella bumrneti, which is a prokaryotic organism, is an intracellular obligate parasite with a broad host range. Although the organisms incorporate amino acids (Mallavia & Paretsky, 1967), and electron microscopy shows structures similar to ribosomes (Burton, Kordova & Paretsky, 1971), there has been no direct demonstration of their presence. We now present evidence for the existence of rickettsial ribosomes. Coxiella burneti, Nine Mile strain, phase I, was propagated in embryonated eggs and purified (Paretsky, Downs, Consigli & Joyce, 1958). Subsequently, 40-50mg of the resultant suspension was layered on 28ml 30-60% (w/w) linear
Sparse estimation of the hemodynamic response functionin functional near infrared spectroscopy

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals offer an interesting alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) when investigating the temporal dynamics of brain region responses during activations. The hemodynamic response function (HRF) is the object of primary interest to neuroscientists in this case. Making use of a semiparametric model to characterize the oxygenated (HbO) and deoxygenated (HbR) fNIRS time-series and a sparsity assumption on the HRF, a new method for non-parametric HRF estimation from a single fNIRS signal is derived in this paper. The proposed method consistently estimates the HRF using a profile least square estimator obtained using the local polynomial smoothing technique applied to estimate the drift and introducing a regularization penalty in the minimization problem to promote sparsity of the HRF coefficients. The performance of the proposed method is assessed on both simulated and fNIRS data from a finger tapping experiment.
A cross-linguistic comparison of address pronoun use in four European languages: intralingual and interlingual dimensions

As part of a major ongoing project, we consider and compare contemporary patterns of address pronoun use in four major European languages- French, German, Italian and Swedish. We are specifically interested in two major aspects: intralingual behaviour, that is, within the same language community, and interlingual dimensions of address pronoun use. With respect to the former, we summarize our key findings to date. We then give consideration in a more preliminary fashion to issues and evidence relevant to the latter.
T Regulatory Cells Are Markers of Disease Activity in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

FoxP3+ Treg cells are believed to play a role in the occurrence of autoimmunity and in the determination of clinical recurrences. Contradictory reports are, however, available describing frequency and function of Treg cells during autoimmune diseases. We examined, by both polychromatic flow cytometry, and real-time RT-PCR, several Treg markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system. We found that Tregs, as defined by CD25, CD39, FoxP3, CTLA4, and GITR expression, were significantly decreased in stable MS patients as compared to healthy donors, but, surprisingly, restored to normal levels during an acute clinical attack. We conclude that Treg cells are not involved in causing clinical relapses, but rather react to inflammation in the attempt to restore homeostasis.
On the Convergence Rates of Expected Improvement Methods

We consider a ranking and selection problem with independent normal observations, and we analyze the asymptotic sampling rates of expected improvement (EI) methods in this setting. Such methods often perform well in practice, but a tractable analysis of their convergence rates is difficult because of the nonlinearity and nonconvexity of the EI calculations. We present new results indicating that, for known sampling noise, variants of EI produce asymptotic simulation allocations that are essentially identical to those chosen by the optimal computing budget allocation (OCBA) methodology, which is known to yield near-optimal asymptotic performance in ranking and selection. This is the first general equivalence result between EI and OCBA, and it provides insight into the good practical performance of EI. We also derive the limiting allocation for EI under unknown sampling variance.
Fusion of TEO Phase with MFCC Features for Speaker Verification

In the last few years, there has been significant work on using temporal features of speech excitation source, viz., Linear Prediction (LP) residual and its analytic or instantaneous phase, group delay method, glottal glow derivative, etc. for speaker recognition task. In this paper, score-level fusion of Teager Energy Operator (TEO) phase with Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) features for text-independent Speaker Verification (SV) task has been proposed. Experiments have been performed on SV system based on Gaussian Mixture Model-Universal Background Model (GMM-UBM). Proposed SV system with fusion of TEO phase with MFCC is found to improve the accuracy of SV system by 3.10% over state-of-the-art MFCC features. This score-level fusion of TEO phase with MFCC performs better than MFCCs alone under matched and mismatched conditions during testing in SV system on 2002 NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) database. This indicates that TEO phase contains information that is complementary to the MFCC features.
Studies on the blood pressure-sensitive receptors in the rabbit kidney in vivo.

1) Spontaneous afferent discharges were recorded from nerve fibers dissected from the renal nerves in vivo.2) Raising the systemic blood pressure by mechanical and chemical means caused an increase in the discharge rate. It decreased with a reduction in the systemic blood pressure by mechanical or reflex means.3) The time course of the change in the discharge rate has a strong resemblance to that of the systemic blood pressure.4) The afferent discharge rate was approximately proportional to the systemic blood pressure levels.5) The afferent discharge pattern was irregular and asynchronous with the heartbeat.6) It is concluded that these renal receptors send information about blood pressure levels in the renal artery to the central nervous system.
Body mass index correlates negatively with white matter integrity in the fornix and corpus callosum: A diffusion tensor imaging study

Overweight or obese body habitus is associated with cognitive deficits, impaired brain function, gray matter atrophy, and white matter (WM) hyperintensities. However, few diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have assessed WM integrity in relation to overweight or obese status. This study assessed relationships between body mass index (BMI) and values of DTI parameters among 51 normal weight (lean), overweight, and obese participants who were otherwise healthy. BMI correlated negatively with fractional anisotropy and axial eigenvalues (λ1) in the body of corpus callosum (CC), positively with mean diffusivity and radial eigenvalues (λ⟂) in the fornix and splenium of CC, and positively with λ1 in the right corona radiata (CR) and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). These data indicate that BMI correlates negatively with WM integrity in the fornix and CC. Furthermore, the different patterns of BMI‐related differences in DTI parameters at the fornix, body, and splenium of the CC, and the right CR and SLF suggest that different biological processes may underlie BMI‐related impairments of WM integrity in different brain regions. Hum Brain Mapp, 2013. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Face Aftereffects Predict Individual Differences in Face Recognition Ability

Face aftereffects are widely studied on the assumption that they provide a useful tool for investigating face-space coding of identity. However, a long-standing issue concerns the extent to which face aftereffects originate in face-level processes as opposed to earlier stages of visual processing. For example, some recent studies failed to find atypical face aftereffects in individuals with clinically poor face recognition. We show that in individuals within the normal range of face recognition abilities, there is an association between face memory ability and a figural face aftereffect that is argued to reflect the steepness of broadband-opponent neural response functions in underlying face-space. We further show that this correlation arises from face-level processing, by reporting results of tests of nonface memory and nonface aftereffects. We conclude that face aftereffects can tap high-level face-space, and that face-space coding differs in quality between individuals and contributes to face recognition ability.
A more efficient message-optimal algorithm for distributed termination detection

Termination detection is a fundamental problem in distributed computing. Many algorithms have been proposed, but only the S. Chandrasekaran and S. Venkatesan (CV) algorithm (1990) is known to be optimal in worst-case message complexity. This optimal algorithm, however, has several undesirable properties. First, it always requires M'+2* mod E mod +n-1 control messages, whether it is worst case or best case, where M' is the number of basic messages issued by the underlying computation after the algorithm starts, mod E mod is the number of channels in the system, and n is the number of processes. Second, its worst-case detection delay is O(M'). In a message-intensive computation, that might not be tolerable. Third, the maximum amount of space needed by each process is O(M'), a quantity not known at compile time, making it necessary to use the more expensive dynamic memory allocation. Last, it works only for FIFO channels. This paper remedies these drawbacks, while keeping its strength. The authors propose an algorithm that requires M'+2(n-1) control messages in the worst case, but much fewer on the average, and in the best case, it uses only 2(n-1) control messages, no matter how large M' is. <<ETX>>