Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-resolution Face Recognition with Variable Illumination Based on Differential Images

Low resolution severely degrades the detail of face images, while bad illumination condition further increases the difficulty of face recognition. In this paper, we present a new differential images based face recognition approach to deal with low resolution and variable illumination problems. Firstly, we resort to down-sampling and interpolation to build differential image database. Then feature extraction is preformed to project the differential images into differential feature subspace. For recognizing input low-resolution (LR) face images that suffer from illumination variation, normalization are employed to compensate the illumination of LR images and hallucination method is to infer the corresponding project coefficients in the differential feature subspace. Finally, similarity measure is used for face discrimination. Different from Eigenspace-based face recognition techniques, the utilization of differential images instead of original images ensures the distinction between face images of different subjects more effectively. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach can improve recognition rate of LR face under variable illumination significantly.
Resistance of the antibacterial agent ceragenin CSA-13 to inactivation by DNA or F-actin and its activity in cystic fibrosis sputum.

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of DNA and F-actin [polyanions present in high concentration in cystic fibrosis (CF) airway fluid] on the antibacterial activities of the cationic steroid antibiotic CSA-13 and the cationic peptides LL37, WLBU2 and HB71. METHODS Light scattering intensity was used to evaluate the aggregation of DNA and F-actin by the cationic antibacterial agents. Bacterial killing assays, atomic force microscopy, determination of MIC values and bacterial load of CF sputa were used to determine the bactericidal activity. Inhibition of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) translocation in human aorta endothelial cells (HAECs) was quantified as an assay of anti-inflammatory action. RESULTS CSA-13 is significantly more effective than cationic antibacterial peptides against kanamycin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and less susceptible to inactivation by DNA or F-actin. The concentration of CSA-13 sufficient to decrease the CF sputa bacteria load by approximately 90% is at least 10 times lower than that at which CSA-13 formed aggregates with DNA or F-actin. Both CSA-13 and LL37 prevent lipopolysaccharide-induced translocation of NF-kappaB in HAEC, thereby suggesting that these antibacterial molecules might prevent systemic inflammation caused by bacterial wall components. CONCLUSIONS Charge-based interactions that strongly inhibit the antibacterial activity of host cationic antibacterial peptides present in CF sputa have significantly less effect on molecules from the ceragenin family such as CSA-13 due in part to their smaller net charge and distribution of this charge over a hydrophobic scaffold. CSA molecules therefore have potential for the treatment of chronic infections and inflammation that occur in CF airways and other settings in which extracellular polyanions accumulate.
Cloud-Based Mobile Learning

As the cloud technologies are largely studied and mobile technologies are evolving, new directions for development of mobile learning tools deployed on cloud are proposed. MLearning is treated as part of the ubiquitous learning paradigm and is a pervasive extension of E-Learning technologies. Development of such learning tools requires specific development strategies for an effective abstracting of pedagogical principles at the software design and implementation level. Current paper explores an interdisciplinary approach for designing and development of cloud based M-Learning tools by mapping a specific development strategy used for educational programs to software prototyping strategy. In order for such instruments to be user effective from the learning outcome point of view, the evaluation process must be rigorous as we propose a metric model for expressing the trainee’s overall learning experience with evaluated levels of interactivity, content presentation and graphical user interface usability.
Real-time cargo volume recognition using internet-connected 3D scanners

Transport and logistics faces fluctuations in cargo volume that statistically can only be captured with a large error. Observing and managing such dynamic volume fluctuations more effectively promises many benefits such as reducing unused transport capacity and ensuring timely delivery of cargo. This paper introduces an approach that combines user-friendly mobile devices with internet-connected sensors to deliver up-to-date, timely, and precise information about parcel volumes inside containers. In particular, we present (1) RCM, a mobile app for unique identification of containers, and (2) SNAP, a novel approach for employing internet-connected low-cost, off-the-shelf 3D scanners for capturing and analyzing actual cargo volumes. We have evaluated the accuracy of SNAP in controlled experiments indicating that cargo volume can be measured with high accuracy. We have further evaluated RCM together with SNAP by means of a survey study with domain experts, revealing its high potential for practical use.
Suspending Subsidies for Public Transport: Impacts on Public Transport System in the Netherlands

The paper deals with the question of how the suspension of the subsidies for public transport operations in the Netherlands would affect the public transport system. Today, the costs of public transport far exceed the revenues, particularly in urban and regional transport. The most efficient measures for improving the financial performance are reducing the wages and increasing vehicle speed, for instance by enlarging stop spacing. In order to find the effects of suspension of the subsidies, two scenarios are developed describing opposite extremes that define probable developments in Dutch public transport. In both scenarios, suspension of subsidies would have strong negative effects on the urban and regional transport supply. The level of service would decline and fares would increase substantially. As a consequence the demand would fall. Long distance transport might be less affected. The effects might even be positive, depending on the strategy of the operators.
A STUDY OF TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

OF DISSERTATION A STUDY OF TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES Throughout the post-modern or post-professional age (2000-present), high stakes testing and accountability of public schools forced educational organizations to improve their professional practices to work collaboratively (Little, 2003). As a result, professional learning communities (PLCs) have been found to improve student learning among educational organizations (DuFour, 2007; Hord, 2004). During the past 20 years, a significant amount of research has been conducted, which describes PLCs in the educational settings (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008) Researchers note a lack of empirical research which focuses on teacher and principal perceptions of PLCs (Hord & Sommers, 2008). The central focus of this study is to better understand teacher and principal perceptions of the five dimensions of professional learning communities (PLCs) as identified by Hord through reporting data collected using the Professional Learning Community AssessmentRevised (PLCA-R). This study seeks to report teacher and principal perceptions of PLCs to identify specific practices that are most common in Kentucky schools. Findings suggest teacher and principal perceptions differ regarding the importance of the five dimensions of PLCs as described by Hord, and as measured by Oliver, Hipp, and Huffman’s (2010) PLCA-R. Findings also suggest that both teachers and principals agree that these five dimensions exist including: Shared and Supportive Leadership, Shared Values and Vision, Collective Learning and Application, Shared Personal Practice, Supportive Conditions – Relationships, and Supportive ConditionsStructures and that the majority of the specific practices related to each are in place. However, principal perceptions reflect that PLC practices were more common than teachers reported.
A game theoretic approach for the association problem in two-tier HetNets

This paper addresses a Bayesian game theoretic framework for determining the association rules that decide to which cell a given mobile user should associate in LTE two-tier Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets). Users are assumed to compete to maximize their throughput by picking the best locally serving cell with respect to their own measurement, their demand and a partial statistical channel state information (CSI) of other users. In particular, we investigate the properties of a hierarchical game, in which the macro-cell BS is a player on its own. We derive analytically the utilities related to the channel quality perceived by users to obtain the equilibria. We show by means of a Stackelberg formulation, how the operator, by dynamically choosing the offset about the state of the channel, can optimize its global utility while end-users maximize their individual utilities. The proposed hierarchical decision approach for wireless networks can reach a good trade-off between the global network performance at the equilibrium and the requested amount of signaling. Typically, it is shown that when the network goal is orthogonal to user's goal, this can lead the users to a misleading association problem. Numerical results validate the expectation from the theoretical analysis and illustrate the advantages of the proposed approach.
Economic Integration in East Asia

Until recently, East Asia, the world's most dynamic area for several decades now, had few regional institutions. However, the successive crises in the last ten years (financial crisis in 1997-1998, SRAS, tsunami, bird flu) have demonstrated the need for formal cooperation instruments. Trade integration is one of the aspects of regional cooperation that is beginning to take shape. Particularly, since China joined the WTO in 2001, there has been a multiplication of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreement negotiations. What form will the regional integration that emerges from this plethora of initiatives take? Here, we analyse two scenarios. One centres on an integrated and free trade ASEAN with each of four major Asian partners: China, Japan, Korea and India; the other, clearly more ambitious, consists of a complete free trade area amongst these fourteen countries. Simulations with the Mirage model show that Japan and Korea would have greater interest in the creation of a completely integrated area, whereas the ASEAN would derive greater benefits from bilateral agreements. Finally, even though the economic gains of agricultural liberalisation are potentially substantial, political considerations will no doubt exclude it for a long time yet.
Cloud simulation under fault constraints

As Cloud Computing offers support to more and more complex applications, the need to verify and validate computing models under fault constraints becomes more important, aiming to ensure applications performance. Doing this experimental validation in the early development phase and with small costs require a cloud simulation tool. An extensible framework for Cloud simulation and modeling is CloudSim. This paper proposes a new module for CloudSim consisting of a fault injector based on a specification language. The aim is to assist simulation to be more realistic and includes concrete conditions and constraints. The impact is on testing Cloud applications and help test fault tolerant applications by specifying defect patterns and failing components. The evaluation of the fault injection module is done by measuring the behavior and performance of a tool based on CloudSim, named CloudAnalyst. Several metrics are determined and measured for experimental validation, and conclusions are drawn.
Der Open-access-publikationsserver Der Zbw – Leibniz-informationszentrum Wirtschaft the Open Access Publication Server of the Zbw – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics Latent Factor Prediction Pursuit for Rank Deficient Regressors Latent Factor Prediction Pursuit for Rank Deficient Regressors

Terms of use: The ZBW grants you, the user, the non-exclusive right to use the selected work free of charge, territorially unrestricted and within the time limit of the term of the property rights according to the terms specified at → http://www.econstor. eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen By the first use of the selected work the user agrees and declares to comply with these terms of use. Abstract In simulation studies Latent Factor Prediction Pursuit outperformed classical reduced rank regression methods. The algorithm described so far for Latent Factor Prediction Pursuit had two shortcomings: It was only implemented for situations where the explanatory variables were of full colum rank. Also instead of the projection matrix only the regression matrix was calculated. These problems are addressed by a new algorithm which finds the prediction optimal projection.
A Low Cost Multiparty H.264 Based Video Conference Solution for Corporate Environment

One of the major challenges for video collaboration lies in video conferencing in low bandwidth and low cost. In this paper we discuss about a server less desktop based video conferencing application that has been built around a highly bandwidth efficient H.264 video compression technology. The proposed solution offers a low cost multiparty video conferencing solution suitable for corporate environment over multicast backbone and a mechanism of providing user a manual control over the transmission rate depending on the available bandwidth.
A Model of Hybrid Media for Publishing Industry

Supported by the wide diffusion of mobile technologies, internet- based media risk to become a popular alternative to traditional print media. The ubiquitous connection to the internet enables to reach a multitude of virtual con- tents such as videos, images, 3d representations and hypertexts. Moreover in- ternet-based media enable the direct interaction between user and publisher: the user can provide feedback, express preferences and receive related recommen- dations. Motivated by the necessity to modify the traditional paradigm of print media to face the competition of internet-based media, we show a perspective oriented to integrate paper medium and internet-based contents. This approach finds expression in the core results of our research: the ontology model of a general mixed reality (MR) environment for hybrid media, which is adopted to describe our system, and the integration of a recommender system into a MR environment, which is possible through the development of an automated app creation process.
Congenital Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

BACKGROUND We conducted a study of congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Our objective was to apply new tools to identify weak points in current screening algorithms, and find ways to improve them. METHODS Women presenting for delivery were screened by rapid and conventional serological tests. For infants of infected mothers, blood specimens obtained on days 0, 7, 21, 30, 90, 180, and 270 were concentrated and examined microscopically; serological tests were performed for the day 90, 180, and 270 specimens. Maternal and infant specimens, including umbilical tissue, were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the kinetoplast minicircle and by quantitative PCR. RESULTS Of 530 women, 154 (29%) were seropositive. Ten infants had congenital T. cruzi infection. Only 4 infants had positive results of microscopy evaluation in the first month, and none had positive cord blood microscopy results. PCR results were positive for 6 (67%) of 9 cord blood and 7 (87.5%) of 8 umbilical tissue specimens. PCR-positive women were more likely to transmit T. cruzi than were seropositive women with negative PCR results (P < .05). Parasite loads determined by quantitative PCR were higher for mothers of infected infants than for seropositive mothers of uninfected infants P < . 01). Despite intensive efforts, only 58% of at-risk infants had a month 9 specimen collected. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the low sensitivity of microscopy in cord blood and high rate of loss to follow-up, we estimate that current screening programs miss one-half of all infected infants. Molecular techniques may improve early detection.
Direct and Specific Effect of Sevoflurane Anesthesia on rat Per2 Expression in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Background Our previous studies revealed that application of the inhalation anesthetic, sevoflurane, reversibly repressed the expression of Per2 in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). We aimed to examine whether sevoflurane directly affects the SCN. Methods We performed in vivo and in vitro experiments to investigate rat Per2 expression under sevoflurane-treatment. The in vivo effects of sevoflurane on rPer2 expression were examined by quantitative in situ hybridization with a radioactively-labeled cRNA probe. Additionally, we examined the effect of sevoflurane anesthesia on rest/activity rhythms in the rat. In the in vitro experiments, we applied sevoflurane to SCN explant cultures from Per2-dLuc transgenic rats, and monitored luciferase bioluminescence, representing Per2 promoter activity. Bioluminescence from two peripheral organs, the kidney cortex and the anterior pituitary gland, were also analyzed. Results Application of sevoflurane in rats significantly suppressed Per2 expression in the SCN compared with untreated animals. We observed no sevoflurane-induced phase-shift in the rest/activity rhythms. In the in vitro experiments, the intermittent application of sevoflurane repressed the increase of Per2-dLuc luminescence and led to a phase delay in the Per2-dLuc luminescence rhythm. Sevoflurane treatment did not suppress bioluminescence in the kidney cortex or the anterior pituitary gland. Conclusion The suppression of Per2-dLuc luminescence by sevoflurane in in vitro SCN cultures isolated from peripheral inputs and other nuclei suggest a direct action of sevoflurane on the SCN itself. That sevoflurane has no such effect on peripheral organs suggests that this action might be mediated through a neuron-specific cellular mechanism or a regulation of the signal transduction between neurons.
A framework for vulnerability minimization — Object oriented design perspective

The research on software security is still in its infancy. Moreover, the design phase of software development is much ignored. Though, enough research is done for improvement of object oriented design quality, the improvement of object oriented design security has received little attention. The unavailability of any existing framework for minimization of object oriented design vulnerability has made the task complicated and haphazard. The research proposes a metric based framework for minimization of object oriented design vulnerability. The framework minimizes vulnerability by restricting the flow of vulnerable information.
Design, implementation, and evaluation of repairable file service

The data contents of an information system may be corrupted due to security breaches or human errors. This project focuses on intrusion tolerance techniques that speed up the process of repairing a damaged file system. The proposed system, called Repairable File Service (or RFS), is specifically designed to facilitate the repair of compromised network file servers. An architectural innovation of RFS is that it is decoupled from and requires no modifications on the shared file server that is being protected. RFS supports fine-grained logging to allow roll-back of any file update operation, and keeps track of inter-process dependencies to quickly determine the extent of system damage after an attack/error. Compared with the current practice of manual post-intrusion damage repair, RFS significantly reduces the mean time to repair and thus improves the overall system availability. Performance overhead of RFS is less than 6%.
Comparison of genomes using high-performance parallel computing

Comparison of the DNA sequences and genes of two genomes can be useful to investigate the common functionalities of the corresponding organisms and get a better understanding of how the genes or groups of genes are organized and involved in several functions. We use high-performance parallel computing to compare the whole genomes of two organisms, namely Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, each with more than five million base pairs. Our purpose is two-fold. First we intend to exploit the high-performance power of a cluster of low-cost microcomputers, propose a parallel solution to this problem, and show its feasibility with implementation and performance results. Second we do additional comparisons of the two genomes by locating and compare not only the homologous genes (expressed in terms of the 20-letter amino acids) but also compare the regions or gaps (in terms of the 4-letter DNA nucleotides) between the corresponding homologous genes. We have implemented the proposed comparison strategy to compare the two genomes Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac) and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). The parallel platform used is a Beowulf cluster of 64 nodes consisting of low cost microcomputers. Xac has 5175554 base pairs and 4313 protein-coding genes while Xcc has 5076187 base pairs and 4182 protein-coding genes. The parallel solution is based on the dynamic programming approach and presents not only less processing time, but also better quality results as compared to approaches based on Blast and EGG.
Do Intraday Volatility Patterns Follow a ‘U’ Curve? Evidence from the Indian Market

This study examines the ‘intraday’ volatility patterns of NSE’s Nifty Index from August 2000 to December 2003. The tick by tick index returns are categorized into three groups – opening price to thirty minutes after opening price (morning sample), thirty minutes after opening price to fifteen minutes before closing price (mid-day sample) and fifteen minutes before closing price to closing price (evening sample). Defining the tick by tick index returns as a measure of deviation between successive prices, new volatility estimates are constructed to compute intraday volatility. The volatility patterns across the samples suggest high volatility during the initial trading period which sustains till 30 opening minutes and further increasing volatility during the last 15 minutes of a trading day. Information bunching and presence of private information are attributed to morning and evening period volatilities respectively. The volatility of intraday index prices of Nifty follows a crude U shaped curve.
Self-Functioning and Perceived Parenting: Relations of Parental Empathy and Love Inconsistency With Narcissism, Depression, and Self-Esteem

In Heinz Kohut's (1977, 1984) theory of the psychology of the self, good parenting provides a child with optimal frustration and just the right amount of loving empathic concern. In the present study, the authors examined the relations of perceived parental empathy and love inconsistency with measures of narcissism, self-esteem, and depression. In a sample of university undergraduates (N = 232; 78 men, 153 women, and 1 nonresponder), perceived parental empathy predicted more adaptive self-functioning, whereas parental love inconsistency was related to psychological maladjustment. These results support the theoretical assumption that perceived parental empathy is associated with healthy self-development.