Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of food portion size estimation from digital pictures acquired by a chest-worn camera

Abstract Objective Accurate estimation of food portion size is of paramount importance in dietary studies. We have developed a small, chest-worn electronic device called eButton which automatically takes pictures of consumed foods for objective dietary assessment. From the acquired pictures, the food portion size can be calculated semi-automatically with the help of computer software. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the accuracy of the calculated food portion size (volumes) from eButton pictures. Design Participants wore an eButton during their lunch. The volume of food in each eButton picture was calculated using software. For comparison, three raters estimated the food volume by viewing the same picture. The actual volume was determined by physical measurement using seed displacement. Setting Dining room and offices in a research laboratory. Subjects Seven lab member volunteers. Results Images of 100 food samples (fifty Western and fifty Asian foods) were collected and each food volume was estimated from these images using software. The mean relative error between the estimated volume and the actual volume over all the samples was −2·8 % (95 % CI −6·8 %, 1·2 %) with sd of 20·4 %. For eighty-five samples, the food volumes determined by computer differed by no more than 30 % from the results of actual physical measurements. When the volume estimates by the computer and raters were compared, the computer estimates showed much less bias and variability. Conclusions From the same eButton pictures, the computer-based method provides more objective and accurate estimates of food volume than the visual estimation method.
Parole and Prisoner Reentry in the United States

Discretionary parole release and parole field services have undergone major changes as the nation has embraced more punitive policies. Fourteen states have abolished discretionary parole release for all offenders, and twenty-one others severely limit its use. Parole supervision remains, but needed treatment programs are scarce, and parole officers focus on surveillance more than rehabilitation. About half of parolees fail to complete parole successfully, and their returns to prison represent about a third of incoming prisoners. Given an average (median) prison term served of fifteen months, more than half of all inmates now in prison will be in the community in less than two years. Developing programs to reduce parole recidivism should be a top priority, and a few agencies are operating successful job-training and substance abuse programs. Experts argue that a new parole model is sorely needed, one that incorporates advances in technology, risk prediction, effective rehabilitation, and more "active" forms of supervision that incorporate citizens and others who know the offender. Such reforms are more promising than parole abolition, in that they reduce the public safety risks posed by parolees and increase the chances that offenders will succeed.
Gallbladder motility in Crohn disease: influence of disease localization and bowel resection.

BACKGROUND Patients with Crohn disease (CD) have an increased risk of developing gallstones. Among other factors, gallbladder motility may have a role in the pathogenesis of gallstone formation. We have evaluated whether gallbladder motor function is affected in Crohn disease with special emphasis on the influence of disease localization and previous bowel resection. METHODS Thirty-seven patients (20 females and 17 males, age 36 +/- 2 years) with inactive Crohn disease (CDAI < 150) were studied: 15 patients after ileocecal resection and 22 non-operated patients; 12 had small bowel disease and 10 had large bowel disease. Nineteen healthy subjects (10 female; 9 male, age 30 +/- 2 years) served as controls. Gallbladder volumes were measured in the fasting state and at regular intervals for 2 h after ingestion of a solid meal (780 kcal). Blood samples were drawn at regular intervals for determination of cholecystokinin (CCK) and peptide YY (PYY). RESULTS Fasting gallbladder volumes were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in patients with large bowel disease (20.8 +/- 2.1 ml) or after ileocecal resection (18.3 +/- 2.4 ml) compared to patients with small bowel disease (28.0 +/- 2.1 ml) and controls (27.2 +/- 1.8 ml). Fasting plasma CCK levels were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in patients with large bowel disease or after ileocecal resection compared to patients with small bowel disease and controls. Postprandial gallbladder emptying and endogenous plasma CCK and PYY secretion in patients with Crohn disease were not different from controls. CONCLUSIONS Fasting gallbladder volume is decreased and fasting plasma CCK levels are increased in patients with Crohn disease of the large bowel and patients after ileocecal resection. Postprandial gallbladder motility, CCK and PYY release were not affected in patients with Crohn disease.
Temporal Profile (Clinical Course) of Acute Carotid System Cerebral Infarction

The records of 179 consecutive patients with acute carotid system cerebral infarction were studied to describe the temporal profile of the clinical events during the first week of the illness. Only those patients admitted to the cerebrovascular hospital service within 36 hours of the onset of the first symptom were included. The neurological status of 39%was stable (unchanged) at the end of seven days; 35%of the patients gradually improved. Nineteen percent had a progressing neurological deficit from the onset which stabilized within 48 hours of onset. Six patients (3%) had a remittingrelapsing course during the first 36 hours. Eight patients (4%%) had a significant late worsening, after 48 hours of stable or improving course. Mortality was 11% for the entire group. However, a high risk of death group was identified - the mortality was 41% for those patients who had any degree of decreased level of consciousness and hemiplegia at the time of admission.
Time-energy Optimal Trajectory Planning over a Fixed Path for a Wheeled Mobile Robot

In this paper a method for time-energy optimal velocity profile planning for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot (WMR) is proposed. Instead of relying on a nonlinear programming algorithm, the method utilizes a nonlinear change of variables that can transform the nonlinear optimization problem into a convex optimization problem. The equations are then discretized and later formulated as a second order cone programming that can be solved by the Matlab CVX toolbox. The formulation of the objective function has two components: the total energy and the traversal time that is weighted by a parameter named penalty coefficient. With the use of the penalty coefficient one can easily establish a trade-off between the optimization of total energy and traversal time. If the penalty coefficient is increased then minimization of time is more prioritized than the total energy and vice versa. The formulation gives rise to a Pareto optimality condition from which it is not possible to diminish the traversal time without increasing the total energy and vice versa.
dSPACE based Permanent Magnet Motor HIL simulation and test bench

Hardware-in-loop (HIL) real-time simulation and &test system for permanent magnet motor (PMM) is presented in this paper. Considering the low credibility of digital simulation issues and the complexity of advanced control algorithm verification, the real-time simulation platform based on dSPACE is built. The specific I/O interface and driving circuits are designed to achieve the signal insulating, matching, filtering and driving between dSPACE and the main power circuit, which meet the operation features of PMM. Results of a brushless DC motor control (BLDCM) system verify the validity and practicability of the proposed HIL simulation & test bench.
Finding design qualities in a tangible programming space

We reflect upon the process of developing a tangible space for children's collaborative construction of screen-based systems. As in all design work, the design process involved continual refinements of initial ideas and their practical realisation. We discuss how some widely held assumptions often put forward with tangible interfaces were given up in favour of reaching overall goals of interaction. In particular our design involved a shift from a focus on persistent representation and readability of tangible code structures, to instead focus on achieving reusability of programming resources. On a general level, our results illustrate a view on tangibles as resources for action instead of only as alternative forms of data representation. Importantly, this view includes action directed towards the computer as well as off-line socially oriented action conducted with the tangible artefacts.
Regulation of drug transporter expression and function in the placenta

Introduction: Medication of pregnant women is increasingly common in developed countries. Several placental drug transporters have been shown to transfer their substrates from the trophoblast back to the maternal circulation, thus hindering the transplacental passage of xenobiotics and protecting the fetus. However, the expression and activity of drug transporter proteins in the placenta vary during gestation and are tightly regulated by many factors. In addition, their function can be compromised by pathological conditions and/or drug–drug interactions. Areas covered: This article reviews current knowledge on placental drug transporters, their effects on placental pharmacokinetics and the regulatory mechanisms that control their expression and activity. Transcriptional, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of placental transporter regulation and the drug–drug interactions that modulate transporter activity are described. Physiological and pathological factors that can affect drug transporter expression and function in the placenta are also discussed. Expert opinion: The expression and activity of drug transporter proteins in the placenta vary during gestation and are tightly regulated by many factors. Subsequently, there is a great variability in the expression and function of placental drug transporters both within human populations (interindividual variability) and also during gestation (intraindividual variability). An understanding of the expression and function of placental drug transporters is essential for efficient and safe therapy during pregnancy. There is clearly a need for further preclinical and clinical studies on placental drug transporters, but such investigations must be carefully designed and the resulting data should be evaluated with great caution. This review highlights several methodological aspects that will have to be considered and addressed in order to shed further light on these important issues.
Scalable modeling based on fill ratio for planar spiral inductors

This paper presents a scalable model based on the fill ratio with an enhanced 1-π topology for on-chip spiral inductor. Usually, scalable modeling requires so many parameters such as the width, the turn spacing, number of turns and inner radius. To reduce the number of variables and coefficients in the scalable rules, this work utilizes fill ratio to represent geometry properties of an inductor and all the equations for the elements in the topology have simple form. The proposed scalable model is further verified by a set of spiral inductors fabricated by using 0.18-μm 1P6M RF CMOS technology.
Individual differences in ambulatory autonomic nervous system activity: causes and consequences

This study estimated the heritability of 24-h heart rate variability (HRV) measures, while considering ceiling effects on HRV at low heart rates during the night. HRV was indexed by the standard deviation of all valid interbeat intervals (SDNN), the root mean square of differences between valid, successive interbeat intervals (RMSSD), and peak-valley respiratory sinus arrhythmia (pvRSA). Sleep and waking levels of cardiac vagal control were assessed in 1,003 twins and 285 of their nontwin siblings. Comparable heritability estimates were found for SDNN (46%-53%), RMSSD (49%-54%), and pvRSA (48%-57%) during the day and night. A nighttime ceiling effect was revealed in 10.7% of participants by a quadratic relationship between mean pvRSA and the interbeat interval. Excluding these participants did not change the heritability estimates. The genetic factors influencing ambulatory pvRSA, RMSSD, and SDNN largely overlap. These results suggest that gene finding studies may pool the different cardiac vagal indices and that exclusion of participants with low heart rates is not required. Heritability of 24-h heart rate variability 49
Development and Regeneration of the Zebrafish Maxillary Barbel: A Novel Study System for Vertebrate Tissue Growth and Repair

Background Barbels are integumentary sense organs found in fishes, reptiles and amphibians. The zebrafish, Danio rerio, develops paired nasal and maxillary barbels approximately one month post fertilization. Small in diameter and optically clear, these adult appendages offer a window on the development, maintenance and function of multiple cell types including skin cells, neural-crest derived pigment cells, circulatory vessels, taste buds and sensory nerves. Importantly, barbels in other otophysan fishes (e.g., catfish) are known to regenerate; however, this capacity has not been tested in zebrafish. Methodology/Principal Findings We describe the development of the maxillary barbel in a staged series of wild type and transgenic zebrafish using light microscopy, histology and immunohistochemistry. By imaging transgenic zebrafish containing fluorescently labeled endothelial cells (Tg(fli1a:EGFP)), we demonstrate that the barbel contains a long (∼2–3 mm) closed-end vessel that we interpret as a large lymphatic. The identity of this vessel was further supported by live imaging of the barbel circulation, extending recent descriptions of the lymphatic system in zebrafish. The maxillary barbel can be induced to regenerate by proximal amputation. After more than 750 experimental surgeries in which approximately 85% of the barbel's length was removed, we find that wound healing is complete within hours, followed by blastema formation (∼3 days), epithelial redifferentiation (3–5 days) and appendage elongation. Maximum regrowth occurs within 2 weeks of injury. Although superficially normal, the regenerates are shorter and thicker than the contralateral controls, have abnormally organized mesenchymal cells and extracellular matrix, and contain prominent connective tissue “stumps” at the plane of section—a mode of regeneration more typical of mammalian scarring than other zebrafish appendages. Finally, we show that the maxillary barbel can regenerate after repeated injury and also in senescent fish (>2 years old). Conclusions/Significance Although the teleost barbel has no human analog, the cell types it contains are highly conserved. Thus “barbology” may be a useful system for studying epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, neural pathfinding, wound healing, scar formation and other key processes in vertebrate physiology.
Investigating the Performance of Asynchronous Jacobi's Method for Solving Systems of Linear Equations

Ever-increasing core counts create the need to develop parallel algorithms that avoid closely-coupled execution across cores. In this paper we present two case studies investigating the performance of several parallel asynchronous implementations of Jacobi's method for solving systems of linear equations. Although conditions for the convergence of asynchronous Jacobi are well known, what drives its rate of convergence is less well understood. The first case study investigates the algorithm's performance when executed on large numbers of processors on a Cray XE6, while the second explores the effect of varying the number of synchronous and asynchronous processors. We observe that the performance of parallel asynchronous Jacobi is highly implementation, problem and architecture-dependent.
An adaptive video segmentation approach based on shape prior

As the basic and efficient segmentation framework, GraphCut plays an important part in video segmentation area. This paper proposes a adaptive video segmentation approach based on shape prior of the foreground. Shape information with Euclidean distance measure is added to GraphCut framework to compensate instability caused by single color information. And the shape model is adaptive with the size of foreground. The experiments show segmentation results with our method is significantly better than only using the color information.
Molecular Cloning, Identification, and Expression Patterns of Myostatin Gene in Water Buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis)

ABSTRACT Myostatin (MSTN), also named growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF8), is a transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family member with a key role in the negative regulation of skeletal muscle growth. However, its role in ovarian folliculogenesis remains unclear. To provide us with a basis for understanding this role, we cloned MSTN and examined its expression patterns in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). The complete ORF of the water buffalo MSTN gene is 1,128 nucleotides, which encode a 375 amino acid protein and sharing 99% identity at the deducted amino acid level with that of Bos taurus. Protein sequence analysis showed that MSTN is a weakly acerbic extracellular protein, consisting of signal peptides at 18-19 sites, a TGF-β propeptide, and a TGF-β domain. RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that water buffalo MSTN was expressed in multiple tissues but not limited to muscle. Immunohistochemistry staining confirmed the presence of MSTN in oocytes and granulosal cells. To our knowledge, this is the first study to confirm the expression of MSTN in the water buffalo ovary, suggesting an additional role of MSTN in water buffalo folliculogenesis, along with its role in skeletal muscle growth regulation. Further study of the regulatory mechanism of MSTN in water buffalo reproduction is warranted. Abbreviations: MSTN, myostatin; ORF, open reading frame.
Evaluación de técnicas de Machine Learning para el reconocimiento de gestos corporales

El progreso y la innovación tecnológica alcanzados en los últimos años, en particular en el área de entretenimientos y juegos, han promovido la creación de interfaces más naturales e intuitivas. Por ejemplo, dispositivos de interacción natural como Microsoft Kinect permiten explorar una nueva forma de comunicación hombre-máquina mucho más expresiva mediante el reconocimiento de gestos corporales. En este sentido, han surgido diferentes estrategias que permiten el reconocimiento de gestos utilizando técnicas de Machine Learning. Sin embargo, no se ha hecho un estudio comparativo del comportamiento de estas técnicas. Por lo tanto, este trabajo presenta una evaluación de 4 técnicas de Machine Learning con un dataset de 7 gestos diferentes y 80 muestras para cada uno de ellos. Se evaluó la precisión de las distintas técnicas obteniendo resultados cercanos al 100% de los gestos evaluados en algunas de ellas.
The Design of an Object-based System for Representing and Classifying Spatial Structures and Relations

Our work is concerned with the design of a knowledge-based system for recognizing agricultural landscape models on land-use maps. Landscape models are defined as sets of spatial structures and spatial relations. This paper focuses on the representation of topological relations inside an object-based representation system. In this system, relations are represented by objects with their own properties. We propose to define two types of properties: the first ones are concerned with relations as concepts while the second are concerned with relations as links between concepts. In order to represent the second type of properties, we have defined facets that are inspired from the constructors of description logics. We describe these facets and how they are used for classifying spatial structures and relations on land-use maps. The paper ends with a discussion on the present work and related work in qualitative spatial reasoning.
Discriminative Feature-to-Point Matching in Image-Based Localization

The prevalent approach to image-based localization is matching interest points detected in the query image to a sparse 3D point cloud representing the known world. The obtained correspondences are then used to recover a precise camera pose. The state-of-the-art in this field often ignores the availability of a set of 2D descriptors per 3D point, for example by representing each 3D point by only its centroid. In this paper we demonstrate that these sets contain useful information that can be exploited by formulating matching as a discriminative classification problem. Since memory demands and computational complexity are crucial in such a setup, we base our algorithm on the efficient and effective random fern principle. We propose an extension which projects features to fern-specific embedding spaces, which yields improved matching rates in short runtime. Experiments first show that our novel formulation provides improved matching performance in comparison to the standard nearest neighbor approach and that we outperform related randomization methods in our localization scenario.
Using a Collaborative Course Reflection Process to Enhance Faculty and Curriculum Development

Reflective practice is a vital skill of effective teachers and a precondition for professional growth. Lack of time, poorly developed reflective skills, or academic cultures that are not supportive of reflection may curtail reflective practice. This article describes a peer-led course reflection process designed to increase the reflection and teaching skills of faculty as well as support course and curriculum development. Department faculty perspectives on the process were examined via a survey that included open-ended and forced-choice questions (N = 10; 91% return rate). The vast majority of respondents indicated this reflective process had improved administrative aspects of their teaching (90%); enriched and informed course development (100%); was time well spent (100%); and helped faculty see how their course fit into the overall framework of the curriculum (80%). The guided, cyclical, and structured nature of this reflection process appears to be effective. The collaborative, non-hierarchical process became part of the program's culture over time. A systematic course reflection process may be of interest to academic faculty who wish to enhance and document course and curricular development.
Changes in bioactive components related to the harvest time from the spicas of Prunella vulgaris

Context: Prunella vulgaris L. (Labiatae) is a perennial plant common in China and Europe and is rich in rosmarinic acid (RA), ursolic acid (UA), and oleanolic acid (OA). The dried spica of P. vulgaris has been used as traditional medicine in China for over a hundred years. To our best knowledge, no study has been conducted to determine the influence of harvesting time on concentrations of bioactive compounds of P. vulgaris. Objective: In the current study, changes in the bioactive compounds present in spicas were investigated at five harvest times over 2 months. Materials and methods: Plant material were collected at five fixed dates: 5th May, 20th May, 7th June, 15th June, and 25th June and assayed for chemical contents by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: Among the different harvest times, the highest levels of RA (56.81 mg·g−1), UA (2.77 mg·g−1), and OA (0.91 mg·g−1) were found on 5th May, whereas the lowest levels of RA (1.66 mg·g−1), UA (2.27 mg·g−1), and OA (0.43 mg·g−1) were observed on 25th June. Discussion and conclusion: As each medicinal product has its own content requirement for different bioactive components, the optimum harvest time might be determined according to the accumulation dynamics of target compound in dried spicas of P. vulgaris. These results may be useful for determining the optimal harvest time when bioactive components are at the maximum level, which is in early May.