Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A corner detection method in a pseudo-random structured light pattern

This paper describes a corner detection method in a pseudo-random structured light pattern. In the algorithm, the image is firstly convoluted with a weighted Gaussian mask (WGM) in which the symmetry property between two neighboring rhombic elements is considered. As a result, the proposed method is more suitable to detect the X shape corner in the structured light pattern. Then a non-maximal suppression process is carried out to find the candidates for the corner. Record the times of each position being the candidate in different size of WGMs. Finally, the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm is conducted to determine the threshold for being the corner. Some experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Cellular prion protein and NMDA receptor modulation: protecting against excitotoxicity

Although it is well established that misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into the β-sheet-rich, aggregated scrapie conformation (PrPSc) causes a variety of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), the physiological roles of PrPC are still incompletely understood. There is accumulating evidence describing the roles of PrPC in neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. Recently, we identified a functional regulation of NMDA receptors by PrPC that involves formation of a physical protein complex between these proteins. Excessive NMDA receptor activity during conditions such as ischemia mediates enhanced Ca2+ entry into cells and contributes to excitotoxic neuronal death. In addition, NMDA receptors and/or PrPC play critical roles in neuroinflammation and glial cell toxicity. Inhibition of NMDA receptor activity protects against PrPSc-induced neuronal death. Moreover, in mice lacking PrPC, infarct size is increased after focal cerebral ischemia, and absence of PrPC increases susceptibility of neurons to NMDA receptor-dependent death. Recently, PrPC was found to be a receptor for oligomeric beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptides, suggesting a role for PrPC in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our recent findings suggest that Aβ peptides enhance NMDA receptor current by perturbing the normal copper- and PrPC-dependent regulation of these receptors. Here, we review evidence highlighting a role for PrPC in preventing NMDA receptor-mediated excitotoxicity and inflammation. There is a need for more detailed molecular characterization of PrPC-mediated regulation of NMDA receptors, such as determining which NMDA receptor subunits mediate pathogenic effects upon loss of PrPC-mediated regulation and identifying PrPC binding site(s) on the receptor. This knowledge will allow development of novel therapeutic interventions for not only TSEs, but also for AD and other neurodegenerative disorders involving dysfunction of PrPC.
A Dynamic Cache Optimized Algorithm of Static Materialized Views

Because the static materialized views lack of better response performance for dynamic query, an optimized algorithm DCO (dynamic cache optimization) is proposed, which generates a dynamic materialized views set to cooperate with the existing static materialized view set by cache. With the assistance of the additional materialized views, the dynamic adaptability and response capability to query increase greatly. Meanwhile, a novel method of allocating the space is presented to provide the alternative for realizing the dynamic cache, and then the free space of system can be used efficiently to store more materialized views for improving the response capability. Experimental results indicate the efficiency and feasibility of DCO, and also show that DCO can overcome the SPSE (space-performance saturation effect) of materialized views in some degree.
Automatic Human Daily Activity Segmentation Applying Smart Sensing Technology

Abstract Human daily activity segmentation utilizing smartphone sensing technology is quite new challenge. In this paper, the segmentation method combining statistical model and time series analysis is designed and implemented. According to designed partition procedure, real measured accelerometer datasets of human daily activities are tested. The segmentation performance of sliding window autocorrelation and minimized contrast algorithms is analysed and compared. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of this proposed automatic human activity separation method focusing on the application of mobile sensor. As the properties of signal, mean, variance, frequency and amplitude are all useful features on the case of motion sensor-based human daily activity segmentation. In the end, the suggested work to improve the developed partition model is presented.
Zebrafish prox1b Mutants Develop a Lymphatic Vasculature, and prox1b Does Not Specifically Mark Lymphatic Endothelial Cells

Background The expression of the Prospero homeodomain transcription factor (Prox1) in a subset of cardinal venous cells specifies the lymphatic lineage in mice. Prox1 is also indispensible for the maintenance of lymphatic cell fate, and is therefore considered a master control gene for lymphangiogenesis in mammals. In zebrafish, there are two prox1 paralogues, the previously described prox1 (also known as prox1a) and the newly identified prox1b. Principal Findings To investigate the role of the prox1b gene in zebrafish lymphangiogenesis, we knocked-down prox1b and found that depletion of prox1b mRNA did not cause lymphatic defects. We also generated two different prox1b mutant alleles, and maternal-zygotic homozygous mutant embryos were viable and did not show any lymphatic defects. Furthermore, the expression of prox1b was not restricted to lymphatic vessels during zebrafish development. Conclusion We conclude that Prox1b activity is not essential for embryonic lymphatic development in zebrafish.
Metals and Breast Cancer: Risk Factors or Healing Agents?

Metals and metal compounds are part of our environment. Several metals are essential for physiological functions (e.g., zinc or magnesium); while the beneficial effects of others are uncertain (e.g., manganese), some metals are proven to be toxic (e.g., mercury, lead). Additionally there are organic metal compounds; some of them are extremely toxic (e.g., trimethyltin, methylmercury), but there is very little knowledge available how they are handled by organisms. Scientific evidence indicates that long-term exposure to (some) metallic compounds induces different forms of cancer, including breast cancer. On the other side, several metal compounds have clinical use in treating life-threatening diseases such as cancer. In this paper we discuss the recent literature that shows a correlation between metal exposure and breast cancer.
High-speed real-time hand effect tuning algorithm in hand-held terminal

In this paper, impedance tuning algorithm is proposed. To improve antenna radiation performance, antennas have high radiation efficiency and mismatched efficiency. The mismatched efficiency can be improved by the impedance matching circuit and matching algorithm. The proposed algorithm uses only standing wave ratio (SWR) information. The proposed algorithm is high-speed predicting antenna impedance algorithm. The algorithm running time is less than 25 ms.
The Origin of Short-lived Radionuclides and the Astrophysical Environment of Solar System Formation

Based on early solar system abundances of short-lived radionuclides (SRs), such as 26Al (T1/2 = 0.74 Myr) and 60Fe (T1/2 = 1.5 Myr), it is often asserted that the Sun was born in a large stellar cluster, where a massive star contaminated the protoplanetary disk with freshly nucleosynthesized isotopes from its supernova (SN) explosion. To account for the inferred initial solar system abundances of short-lived radionuclides, this supernova had to be close (~0.3 pc) to the young (≤1 Myr) protoplanetary disk. Here we show that massive star evolution timescales are too long, compared to typical timescales of star formation in embedded clusters, for them to explode as supernovae within the lifetimes of nearby disks. This is especially true in an Orion Nebular Cluster (ONC) type of setting, where the most massive star will explode as a supernova ~5 Myr after the onset of star formation, when nearby disks will have already suffered substantial photoevaporation and/or formed large planetesimals. We quantify the probability for any protoplanetary disk to receive SRs from a nearby supernova at the level observed in the early solar system. Key constraints on our estimate are: (1) SRs have to be injected into a newly formed (⩽1 Myr) disk, (2) the disk has to survive UV photoevaporation, and (3) the protoplanetary disk must be situated in an enrichment zone permitting SR injection at the solar system level without disk disruption. The probability of protoplanetary disk contamination by a supernova ejecta is, in the most favorable case, 3 × 10−3. We propose instead that 60Fe (and possibly 26Al) was inherited from the interstellar medium.
Applying Machine Learning Algorithm in Fall Detection Monitoring System

Fall is a major health hazard for the elders when they live independently. Approximately a third of those aged 65 years and over fall each year. An automatic fall detector ensures the best possible chance of a full recovery following a fall. This paper presents new algorithm able to learn, classify and identify falls from data obtained by a multi-sensor monitoring system. The system, that uses a web cam and a heart rate sensor, is based on machine learning and data classification using decision trees. Our solution shows a satisfactory performance and gives interesting results.
Dependability in FPGAs, a Review

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are commonly used in safety-critical and mission-critical systems. In these applications failures are unacceptable, since they can lead to people injured or huge economical losses. Due to Moore's law and the continuous size reduction, electronic devices are able to perform more and more complex functionalities. However, they are becoming more and more vulnerable to radiation. Single event effects (SEE) are the major reliability concern in FPGAs, which are the effects provoked by radiation particles. Dependability has to be addressed at all stages of the system lifecycle, from design to decommissioning, in order to meet the dependability requirements. Since dependability issues have been observed in electronic systems, several dependability mechanisms have been developed. This work makes a review on the existing mechanisms necessary to obtain a dependable system and divides them in four groups; fault prevention, fault tolerance, fault removal and fault forecasting.
The Meaning of “Good Presidential Leadership”: A Frame Analysis

Abstract: Administrators use different organizational perspectives, or “frames,” to help them understand situations, problems, and day-to-day activities. In higher education, four such frames have been identified as bureaucratic, collegial, political, and symbolic. This study identifies the frames used by thirty-two college presidents in their responses to the analytic question, “How would you define ‘good presidential leadership’? ” and analyzes them according to content, complexity, institutional type, and length of presidential tenure.
AmbiLearn: Ambient Intelligent Multimodal Learning Environment for Children

Multimodality has real potential to improve interaction between computers and people. Research in the fields of pervasive computing and ambient intelligence hasresulted in multimodal interfaces that enable communication between technology and people to be more natural and efficient. With many organisations ‘harnessingtechnology’ for educational and entertaining purposes, there is a growing interest in the field of edutainment software for children. Interactive games provide a suitablemeans for producing a motivational and enjoyable learningenvironment. This paper presents preliminary work on thedevelopment of an ambient intelligent multimodal learningenvironment for children (AmbiLearn) and an edutainment game(TreasureLearn).
Treatment of Parkinson disease with diet-induced hyperketonemia: A feasibility study

Ketones may bypass the defect in complex I activity implicated in Parkinson disease (PD). Five of seven volunteers with PD were able to prepare a “hyperketogenic” diet at home and adhere to it for 28 days. Substituting unsaturated for saturated fats appeared to prevent cholesterol increases in four volunteers. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale scores improved in all five during hyperketonemia, but a placebo effect was not ruled out.
Co-evolution of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Class I Ligands with Killer-Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptors (KIR) in a Genetically Diverse Population of Sub-Saharan Africans

Interactions between HLA class I molecules and killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) control natural killer cell (NK) functions in immunity and reproduction. Encoded by genes on different chromosomes, these polymorphic ligands and receptors correlate highly with disease resistance and susceptibility. Although studied at low-resolution in many populations, high-resolution analysis of combinatorial diversity of HLA class I and KIR is limited to Asian and Amerindian populations with low genetic diversity. At the other end of the spectrum is the West African population investigated here: we studied 235 individuals, including 104 mother-child pairs, from the Ga-Adangbe of Ghana. This population has a rich diversity of 175 KIR variants forming 208 KIR haplotypes, and 81 HLA-A, -B and -C variants forming 190 HLA class I haplotypes. Each individual we studied has a unique compound genotype of HLA class I and KIR, forming 1–14 functional ligand-receptor interactions. Maintaining this exceptionally high polymorphism is balancing selection. The centromeric region of the KIR locus, encoding HLA-C receptors, is highly diverse whereas the telomeric region encoding Bw4-specific KIR3DL1, lacks diversity in Africans. Present in the Ga-Adangbe are high frequencies of Bw4-bearing HLA-B*53:01 and Bw4-lacking HLA-B*35:01, which otherwise are identical. Balancing selection at key residues maintains numerous HLA-B allotypes having and lacking Bw4, and also those of stronger and weaker interaction with LILRB1, a KIR-related receptor. Correspondingly, there is a balance at key residues of KIR3DL1 that modulate its level of cell-surface expression. Thus, capacity to interact with NK cells synergizes with peptide binding diversity to drive HLA-B allele frequency distribution. These features of KIR and HLA are consistent with ongoing co-evolution and selection imposed by a pathogen endemic to West Africa. Because of the prevalence of malaria in the Ga-Adangbe and previous associations of cerebral malaria with HLA-B*53:01 and KIR, Plasmodium falciparum is a candidate pathogen.
Higher Mosquito Production in Low-Income Neighborhoods of Baltimore and Washington, DC: Understanding Ecological Drivers and Mosquito-Borne Disease Risk in Temperate Cities

Mosquito-vectored pathogens are responsible for devastating human diseases and are (re)emerging in many urban environments. Effective mosquito control in urban landscapes relies on improved understanding of the complex interactions between the ecological and social factors that define where mosquito populations can grow. We compared the density of mosquito habitat and pupae production across economically varying neighborhoods in two temperate U.S. cities (Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC). Seven species of mosquito larvae were recorded. The invasive Aedes albopictus was the only species found in all neighborhoods. Culex pipiens, a primary vector of West Nile virus (WNV), was most abundant in Baltimore, which also had more tire habitats. Both Culex and Aedes pupae were more likely to be sampled in neighborhoods categorized as being below median income level in each city and Aedes pupae density was also greater in container habitats found in these lower income neighborhoods. We infer that lower income residents may experience greater exposure to potential disease vectors and Baltimore residents specifically, were at greater risk of exposure to the predominant WNV vector. However, we also found that resident-reported mosquito nuisance was not correlated with our measured risk index, indicating a potentially important mismatch between motivation needed to engage participation in control efforts and the relative importance of control among neighborhoods.
Codes of Conduct in the Soviet School System. Part 1: The Teacher as the Mouthpiece of the State

The purpose of this article is to analyze Soviet school codes as part of a continuous tradition in Russian education and as a way of arriving at a portrait of Soviet schoolchildren. The article is divided into two parts. The first part provides a brief historical overview of the codes of conduct in prerevolutionary and Soviet school policy and practice. The body of evidence that we consider includes resolutions of the Soviet government, Soviet regulations about schooling, as well as the corpus of codes of conduct for Soviet schools stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. The history of codes of conduct in the Soviet school system can be told in several stages: an initial period of complete rejection of all codes of conduct (1917–27), a period of gradual legitimation through the issuance of government resolutions (1927–35), a transitional period of waiting for the adoption of regulations promised by government resolution (1935–43), a decade (1943–54) during which all requirements were based on the “Code for Students,” adopted in 1943, and finally a gradual transition period when disciplinary functions became subject to uniform requirements (1954–72). The “Code for Students” promulgated in 1943 differed from a similar set of rules issued in 1874 as the former sought to construct an ideal image of the Soviet school and student. The fact that the new “Code” came to play a largely symbolic function meant that it lost its ability to actually regulate school discipline on a day-to-day basis.
Interne controle in de praktijk.

Hoofdstuk 1. Een korte historiek - Hoofdstuk 2. Wat is interne controle? - Hoofdstuk 3. Controlemaatregelen - Hoofdstuk 4. Interne audit en auditcomite - Hoofdstuk 5. Tools voor interne controle - Hoofdstuk 6. Interne controle binnen de organisatie - Hoofdstuk 7. Bespreking van de interne controle per bedrijfscyclus - Hoofdstuk 8. Interne controle in een geautomatiseerde omgeving - Hoofdstuk 9. Hoe 'praktisch' een interne audit uitvoeren? - Hoofdstuk 10. Het verband met externe controle - Hoofdstuk 11 . Fraude Trefwoordenregister
Dynamic Consolidation of Virtual Machines with Multi- Agent System

Cloud computing systems supply massive infrastructures for high-performance computing that are flexible as they are able to acclimate to user and application requirements. Cloud Computing offers on demand services which are used by virtue of a service-oriented interface that execute the anything-as-a-service archetype. The enlargement of Cloud computing has resulted in the establishment of large-scale data centers around the world containing thousands of compute nodes and these data centers consume excessive amounts of electrical energy resulting in high operating costs. Therefore, to cut down the cost of energy consumption the cloud providers must optimize resource usage by performing dynamic consolidation of virtual machines (VMs) in an effective way to improve energy efficiency in cloud data center. The problem of VM consolidation can be split into four sub-problems namely physical machine overload detection; physical machine under-load detection; VM selection and VM placement. Each of the afore-stated subproblems must operate in an optimized manner to maintain the tradeoff between energy and performance. In this research paper a new multi-agent system (MAS) for dynamic consolidation of VMs is proposed with the aim of making the cloud system smarter by incorporating the five traits of multiagent systems which are ubiquity, interconnection, intelligence, delegation and human orientation. The Cloud Computing systems require intelligent and perceptive based software with progressive, elastic, self-ruling style which can be provided by MASs. The proposed method has significantly reduced energy consumption and at the same time ensures a high level of constancy to the Service Level Agreements (SLA).
An Energy-efficient Location-Aware Routing Scheme for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

Owing to the availability of Global Positioning System (GPS) and the advancements of highperformance sensor technology, the location-aware routing is receiving interest as a method of routing in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (MWSNs). In location-aware routing, each intermediate node independently selects the closest next hop which is closer to the destination using the given location information. Therefore, location-aware routing is commonly regarded as highly scalable and very robust against frequent topological changes. However, limited energy resources and mobility are two main challenges of efficient routing in MWSNs. Once the sensors are scattered, they have to carry out the given task without power supply in a distributed manner. Consequently, energy-efficient mechanisms should be combined with the existing routing protocols to increase a successful data relaying. Therefore, we propose an Energy-efficient Location-aware Routing scheme to reduce the energy consumption and average number of hops for data forwarding to destination. Our scheme deals with three parameters as weight factors for selecting relay nodes: residual energy, predicted position and link expiration time. The simulation results show that the proposed routing scheme is able to find a better solution. Our proposed scheme is useful for minimizing the path length and packet loss ratio.
Apple stem-end/calyx identification using a speckle-array encoding pattern

Computer vision methods are widely used in apple quality grading applications. In this paper, we propose a new method to differentiate apple stem-end/calyx from true defect according to their depth information on apple surface. We design a NIR(Near Infrared) projector. The projector generates NIR structured light based on position encoding. The encoding is helpful while performing the search for the relevant neighborhood during the decoding process. The NIR structured light is used to sense the depth information of apple surface, then the stem-end/calyx region in apple image can be identified using these depth information. The identified stem-ends/calyxes are shown in the experimental results, and an overall 95.24% detection rate is achieved.