Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-scale spot segmentation with selection of image scales

Detecting spot-like objects of different sizes in images is needed in many applications. Multiple image scales must then be handled for reliable spot segmentation. We define an original criterion based on the a contrario approach and the LoG scale-space framework to automatically select the meaningful scales. We then design a coarse-to-fine multi-scale spot segmentation scheme involving a locally adaptive thresholding across scales, to come up with the final map of segmented spots. We report experimental results on simulated and real images of different types, and we demonstrate that our method outperforms other existing methods.
Effect of work related variables on growth among working boys in Jordan

Objective: To study the effect of work related variables on the height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of working boys aged 10–16 years. Design: Cross sectional survey. Setting: Irbid, Jarash, and North Jordan Valley in Jordan. Participants: 135 working boys aged 10–16 years and their mothers. Outcome measures: Height for age z score; weight for age z score; BMI for age z score. Results: In bivariate analysis, child's duration of work (r=−0.20), maternal height (r=0.26), and household per capita income (r=0.23) were significantly correlated with height for age z score and duration of work (r=−0.24), maternal height (r=0.24), and household per capita income (r=0.19) with weight for age z score. Duration of work (p<0.001), child's monthly income (p=0.044), maternal height (p=0.002), and household per capita income (p=0.005) were retained in the regression model fitted on height z score that explained 20.1% of the variance. The regression model fitted on weight z score explained 20.1% of the variance and duration of work (p<0.001), child's monthly income (p=0.022), household per capita income (p=0.017), and maternal height (p=0.004) were retained. Only duration of work (p=0.001) was retained in the model fitted on BMI for age z score. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the length of time children have been working and low monthly income have a detrimental effect on growth of working boys independent of the effects of low household per capita income and small maternal stature. Relevance of these findings for social policy and health care of working boys in Jordan and elsewhere is discussed.
Uber-in-light: Unobtrusive visible light communication leveraging complementary color channel

Recently, Visible Light Communication (VLC) over a screen-camera channel has drawn considerable attention to unobtrusive design. It overcomes the distractive nature of traditional coded image approaches (e.g., barcodes). Previous unobtrusive methods fall into two categories: (1) utilizing alpha channel, a well known concept in computer graphics, to encode bits into the pixel translucency change with off-the-shelf smart devices; and (2) leveraging the spatial-temporal flicker-fusion property of human vision system with the fast frame rate of modern displays. However, these approaches heavily rely on high-end devices to achieve both unobtrusive and high accuracy screen-camera-based data communication without affecting video-viewing experience. Unlike previous approaches, we propose Uber-in-light, a novel unobtrusive and accurate VLC system, that enables real-time screen-camera communication, applicable to any screen and camera. The proposed system encodes the data as complementary intensity changes over Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) color channels that could be successfully decoded by camera while leaving the human visual perception unaffected. We design a MFSK modulation scheme with dedicated frame synchronization signal embedded in an orthogonal color channel to achieve high throughput. Furthermore, together with the complementary color intensity, an enhanced MUSIC-based demodulation scheme is developed to ensure highly accurate data transmission. Our user experience experiments confirmed the effectiveness of delivering unobtrusive data across different types of video content and resolutions. Extensive real-time performance evaluations are conducted using our prototype implementation to demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of the proposed system under diverse wireless environments.
Program animation based on the roles of variables

Computer programming is a difficult skill for many students and visualizations may be used to foster learning. This paper presents a program animation system, PlanAni, that is based on the concept of the roles of variables. Roles represent schematic uses of variables that occur in programs over and over again, and a set of nine roles covers practically all variables in novice-level programs. PlanAni has been tested in a teaching experiment comparing traditional teaching with role-based teaching and animation. The results of a semi-structured interview with the teacher indicate that students like to work with the animator and that the system clarifies many concepts in programming.
Spam filtering: Comparative analysis of filtering techniques

The spread of various types of malicious activities like unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE) also called as SPAM has been the most imminent menace to the today's Internet world. These activities bring financial crisis to companies and annoying to most users because it clutters the users mailboxes and steal their valuable information for its financial gain. Now a day's these activities are the emerging threats for online users. Moreover many techniques have been used to detect and remove most of these messages automatically. But still now, no single method exists to resolve all of these problems. This paper provides the details about various spam filtering techniques. In addition, it compares several techniques including its advantages, disadvantages, accuracy, etc.
Symposium on 'metabolic Aspects of Human Nutrition at Rest and during Physical Stress: Recent Methodological and Technical Developments' Session 4: Tracers in Metabolic and Nutrition Research: 1 an Introduction to the Use of Tracers in Nutrition and Metabolism

Abbreviation: IRMS, isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. The present article is a review written at a level suitable for students and new workers to the field of techniques in common current use for the measurement of static and dynamic features of metabolism, especially nutritional metabolism. It covers the nature of radioactive and stable-isotope tracers, the means of measuring them, and the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The greater part of the review deals with methods for the measurement of pool sizes and metabolic processes, with the emphasis being on protein metabolism, a field the author knows best. The examples given are from a variety of sources, including the work of the author, but the principles underlying the techniques are universally applicable to all metabolic investigations using tracers. The word metabolism comes from Greek roots meaning dynamic change, and it makes sense therefore that if we want to look at the effects of altered diet or physical activity, we should use methods which enable us to describe the characteristics of the changes, and in particular their rates. Isotopic-labelling techniques are often ideal for this task. In the present review I will discuss the use of isotopic techniques linked with detection by mass spectrometry and liquid-scintillation counting. There is of course a large literature on other techniques, e.g. positron-emission tomography, magnetic-resonance spectroscopy and near-infra-red spectroscopy, all of which have useful applications in biomedical research, but the topic is simply too big to discuss, and other contributors will describe some of these techniques at this meeting. Nature of isotopes: stable v. radio, and methods of measurement What are isotopes, and which are useful for biomedical research? Elements which share the same place in the periodic table are termed isotopes (Table 1). Thus, they have the same chemistry, i.e. the same number of protons, but they are different in their atomic mass and usually in other physical properties also that can be used to distinguish between them.
Walking through a library remotely - Why we need maps for collections and how KnoweScape can help us to make them?

There is no escape from the expansion of information, so that structuring and locating meaningful knowledge becomes ever more difficult. The question of how to order our knowledge is as old as the systematic acquisition, circulation, and storage of knowledge. Classification systems have been known since ancient times. On the Internet, one finds both classifications and taxonomies designed by information professionals and folksonomies based on social tagging. Nevertheless, a user navigating through large information spaces is still confronted with a text based search interface and a list of hits as outcome. There is still an obvious gap between a physical encounter with, for example, a librarys collection and browsing its content through an on-line catalogue. This paper starts from the need of digital scholarship for effective knowledge inquiry, revisits traditional ways to support knowledge ordering and information retrieval, and introduces into a newly funded research network where five different communities from all corners of the scientific landscape join forces in a quest for knowledge maps. It can be read as a manifesto for a newly funded specific research network KnoweScape. At the same time it is a general reflection about what one has to take into account when representing structure and evolution of data, information and knowledge and designing instruments to help scholars and others to navigate across the lands and oceans of knowledge.
Deuterium Isotope Effects on Permeation and Gating of Proton Channels in Rat Alveolar Epithelium

The voltage-activated H+ selective conductance of rat alveolar epithelial cells was studied using whole-cell and excised-patch voltage-clamp techniques. The effects of substituting deuterium oxide, D2O, for water, H2O, on both the conductance and the pH dependence of gating were explored. D+ was able to permeate proton channels, but with a conductance only about 50% that of H+. The conductance in D2O was reduced more than could be accounted for by bulk solvent isotope effects (i.e., the lower mobility of D+ than H+), suggesting that D+ interacts specifically with the channel during permeation. Evidently the H+ or D+ current is not diffusion limited, and the H+ channel does not behave like a water-filled pore. This result indirectly strengthens the hypothesis that H+ (or D+) and not OH− is the ionic species carrying current. The voltage dependence of H+ channel gating characteristically is sensitive to pHo and pHi and was regulated by pDo and pDi in an analogous manner, shifting 40 mV/U change in the pD gradient. The time constant of H+ current activation was about three times slower (τact was larger) in D2O than in H2O. The size of the isotope effect is consistent with deuterium isotope effects for proton abstraction reactions, suggesting that H+ channel activation requires deprotonation of the channel. In contrast, deactivation (τtail) was slowed only by a factor ≤1.5 in D2O. The results are interpreted within the context of a model for the regulation of H+ channel gating by mutually exclusive protonation at internal and external sites (Cherny, V.V., V.S. Markin, and T.E. DeCoursey. 1995. J. Gen. Physiol. 105:861–896). Most of the kinetic effects of D2O can be explained if the pK a of the external regulatory site is ∼0.5 pH U higher in D2O.
Sensorimotor-Conceptual Integration in Free Walking Enhances Divergent Thinking for Young and Older Adults

Prior research has shown that free walking can enhance creative thinking. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether bidirectional body-mind links are essential for the positive effect of free walking on creative thinking. Moreover, it is unknown whether the positive effect can be generalized to older adults. In Experiment 1, we replicated previous findings with two additional groups of young participants. Participants in the rectangular-walking condition walked along a rectangular path while generating unusual uses for chopsticks. Participants in the free-walking group walked freely as they wished, and participants in the free-generation condition generated unconstrained free paths while the participants in the random-experienced condition walked those paths. Only the free-walking group showed better performance in fluency, flexibility, and originality. In Experiment 2, two groups of older adults were randomly assigned to the free-walking and rectangular-walking conditions. The free-walking group showed better performance than the rectangular-walking group. Moreover, older adults in the free-walking group outperformed young adults in the rectangular-walking group in originality and performed comparably in fluency and flexibility. Bidirectional links between proprioceptive-motor kinematics and metaphorical abstract concepts can enhance divergent thinking for both young and older adults.
An envelope-following method for the efficient transient simulation of switching power and filter circuits

The transient behavior of circuits like switching power converters and switched capacitor filters are expensive to simulate because they are clocked at a frequency whose period is orders of magnitude smaller than the time interval of interest to the designer. It is possible to reduce the simulation time without compromising accuracy by exploiting the fact that the behavior of such a circuit in a given high-frequency clock cycle is similar, but not identical, to its behavior in the preceding and following cycles. In particular, the envelope of the high-frequency clock can be followed by accurately computing the circuit behavior over occasional cycles. The authors describe the implementation of an envelope-following method that is particularly efficient for switching power and filter circuits, and they present results demonstrating the method's effectiveness. <<ETX>>
Distribution of vesicular glutamate transporters in the human brain

Glutamate is the major excitatory transmitter in the brain. Vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUT1-3) are responsible for uploading glutamate into synaptic vesicles. VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 are considered as specific markers of canonical glutamatergic neurons, while VGLUT3 is found in neurons previously shown to use other neurotransmitters than glutamate. Although there exists a rich literature on the localization of these glutamatergic markers in the rodent brain, little is currently known about the distribution of VGLUT1-3 in the human brain. In the present study, using subtype specific probes and antisera, we examined the localization of the three vesicular glutamate transporters in the human brain by in situ hybridization, immunoautoradiography and immunohistochemistry. We found that the VGLUT1 transcript was highly expressed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum, whereas VGLUT2 mRNA was mainly found in the thalamus and brainstem. VGLUT3 mRNA was localized in scarce neurons within the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, striatum and raphe nuclei. Following immunoautoradiographic labeling, intense VGLUT1- and VGLUT2-immunoreactivities were observed in all regions investigated (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, caudate-putamen, cerebellum, thalamus, amygdala, substantia nigra, raphe) while VGLUT3 was absent from the thalamus and cerebellum. This extensive mapping of VGLUT1-3 in human brain reveals distributions that correspond for the most part to those previously described in rodent brains.
Inducing German Semantic Verb Classes from Purely Syntactic Subcategorisation Information

The paper describes the application of k-Means, a standard clustering technique, to the task of inducing semantic classes for German verbs. Using probability distributions over verb subcategorisation frames, we obtained an intuitively plausible clustering of 57 verbs into 14 classes. The automatic clustering was evaluated against independently motivated, hand-constructed semantic verb classes. A series of post-hoc cluster analyses explored the influence of specific frames and frame groups on the coherence of the verb classes, and supported the tight connection between the syntactic behaviour of the verbs and their lexical meaning components.
THE EFFECTS OF THE ALDH2*1/2, CYP2E1 C1/C2 AND C/D GENOTYPES ON BLOOD ETHANOL ELIMINATION

The effects of CYP2E1 genotypes on the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels were investigated in a pair of Japanese volunteers whose ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 genotypes were identical but whose CYP2E1 genotypes were different. In the same way, the effects of ALDH2 and ADH2 on the ethanol elimination kinetics were also studied. The predicting 95% confidence bounds determined on regression analysis of the data suggested that after venous injection of ethanol, the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations in a volunteer normal homozygous for ALDH2 (ALDH2*1/1) were lower than in a heterozygous one (ALDH2*1/2). Also, the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations in a volunteer with the c2 and C alleles of CYP2E1 (c1/c2 and C/D) were lower than in one without the c2 and C alleles (c1/c1 and D/D). However, there were no significant differences in the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations between volunteers with ADH2*1 (ADH2*1/1) and without ADH2*1 (ADH2*1/2). It is possible that the ALDH2*1, and c2 and/or C alleles may correspond to the higher blood ethanol and acetaldehyde elimination rates after the intravenous administration of 0.2 g/kg of ethanol.
Cognition Improvement in Taekwondo Novices Over 40. Results from the SEKWONDO Study

Age-related cognitive decline is associated with increased risk of disability, dementia, and death. Recent studies suggest improvement in cognitive speed, attention, and executive functioning with physical activity. However, whether such improvements are activity specific is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to study the effect of 1 year age-adapted Taekwondo training on several cognitive functions, including reaction/motor time, information processing speed, and working and executive memory, in 24 healthy volunteers over 40. Reaction and motor time decreased with 41.2 and 18.4 s (p = 0.004, p = 0.015), respectively. Digit symbol coding task improved with a mean of 3.7 digits (p = 0.017). Digit span, letter fluency, and trail making test task-completion-time all improved, but not statistically significant. The questionnaire reported “better” reaction time in 10 and “unchanged” in 9 of the 19 study compliers. In conclusion, our data suggest that age-adapted Taekwondo training improves various aspects of cognitive function in people over 40, which may, therefore, offer a cheap, safe, and enjoyable way to mitigate age-related cognitive decline.
Vitamin D deficiency as a public health issue: using vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 in future fortification strategies

The role of vitamin D in supporting the growth and maintenance of the skeleton is robust; with recent research also suggesting a beneficial link between vitamin D and other non-skeletal health outcomes, including immune function, cardiovascular health and cancer. Despite this, vitamin D deficiency remains a global public health issue, with a renewed focus in the UK following the publication of Public Health England's new Dietary Vitamin D Requirements. Natural sources of vitamin D (dietary and UVB exposure) are limited, and thus mechanisms are needed to allow individuals to achieve the new dietary recommendations. Mandatory or voluntary vitamin D food fortification may be one of the mechanisms to increase dietary vitamin D intakes and subsequently improve vitamin D status. However, for the food industry and public to make informed decisions, clarity is needed as to whether vitamins D2 and D3 are equally effective at raising total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations as the evidence thus far is inconsistent. This review summarises the evidence to date behind the comparative efficacy of vitamins D2 and D3 at raising 25(OH)D concentrations, and the potential role of vitamin D food fortification as a public health policy to support attainment of dietary recommendations in the UK. The comparative efficacy of vitamins D2 and D3 has been investigated in several intervention trials, with most indicating that vitamin D3 is more effective at raising 25(OH)D concentrations. However, flaws in study designs (predominantly under powering) mean there remains a need for a large, robust randomised-controlled trial to provide conclusive evidence, which the future publication of the D2–D3 Study should provide (BBSRC DRINC funded: BB/I006192/1). This review also highlights outstanding questions and gaps in the research that need to be addressed to ensure the most efficacious and safe vitamin D food fortification practices are put in place. This further research, alongside cost, availability and ethical considerations (vitamin D3 is not suitable for vegans), will be instrumental in supporting government, decision-makers, industry and consumers in making informed choices about potential future vitamin D policy and practice.
A semi-supervised formulation to binary kernel spectral clustering

A semi-supervised formulation to binary kernel spectral clustering is presented. The formulation fits in a constrained optimization setting with primal and dual model representations. The clustering model can be applied naturally to out-of-sample points allowing model selection and achieving good generalization capabilities. The proposed method incorporates labeled information into the core binary kernel spectral clustering by adding an extra term into the objective function together with a regularization constant. The resulting dual problem is no longer an eigenvalue problem as in the case of the original core model but a linear system. A model selection criterion combining a cluster distortion measure on the unlabeled part and the classification accuracy on the labeled part is also presented. This criterion can be used to obtain clustering parameters such that the clustering model evaluated at validation points display a desirable structure. Simulation results with toy data and real benchmark datasets show the applicability of the proposed method.
Hydrogen-Sensing Characteristics of a Pd/GaN Schottky Diode With a Simple Surface Roughness Approach

Hydrogen-sensing characteristics of a Pd/GaN Schottky diode with a simple surface roughness approach are studied and demonstrated. A high sensing response Sr of 2.05 × 105 and a large Schottky barrier height variation ratio (ΔφB/φair) of 36.3% upon exposure to a 1% H2/air gas at 303 K are found. They could be attributed to the presence of more adsorption sites caused by the employed surface plasma treatment. The increase in series resistance due to the decrease in sensing response under the applied voltage range from 0.5 to 1 V is found. Based on the kinetic analysis and transient-state behavior measurement, at 523 K, the studied device shows a faster adsorption time of 2.9 s and a higher initial rate of 968 μA/s. Consequently, the studied structure provides a promise for high-performance GaN-based Schottky-diode-type hydrogen sensor applications.