Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant supplementation increases retinal responses and decreases refractive error changes in dogs

Abstract The objective of the study was to examine whether a nutritional antioxidant supplementation could improve visual function in healthy dogs as measured by electroretinography (ERG) and autorefraction. A total of twelve Beagles, 6 to 8 years of age, with normal eyes upon indirect ophthalmoscopy and slit lamp biomicroscopy, were age and sex matched and randomly assigned to receive a feeding regimen for 6 months with or without a daily antioxidant supplementation. Portable, mini-Ganzfeld ERG and a Welch Allyn hand-held autorefractor were used to test retinal response and refractive error in the dogs at baseline and at the end of the supplementation period. All ERG a-wave amplitudes obtained were increased in the treatment group compared with those of dogs in the control group, with significant improvements in the scotopic high and photopic single flash cone ERG responses (P < 0·05 for both). For the b-wave amplitudes, all responses were similarly increased, with significant improvements in responses for the scotopic high light intensity stimulation (P < 0·05), and for photopic single flash cone and 30 Hz flicker (P < 0·01 for both) recordings. Change in refractive error was significantly less in the treatment group compared with that of the control group during the 6-month study (P < 0·05). Compared with the control group, the antioxidant-supplemented group showed improvement to varying degrees for retinal function and significantly less decline in refractive error. Dogs, like humans, experience retinal and lens functional decline with age. Antioxidant supplementation as demonstrated may be beneficial and effective in the long-term preservation and improvement of various functions of the canine eye.
The Use of Reduced Rates of Herbicide Combinations in Tank-mixes for Goosegrass (Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.) Control

A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of a combination of ametryn plus glyphosate or glufosinate in tank-mixtures on the control of goosegrass at the 3- to 4- tiller growth stage under glasshouse and field conditions. In the glasshouse, seven of the nine herbicide combinations were additive, while two of them were antagonistic when goosegrass was treated with combinations of ametryn plus glyphosate, suggesting that ametryn is compatible with glyphosate. For combinations of ametryn plus glufosinate, additive responses were observed in five combinations, while the other four herbicide combinations gave antagonistic responses. In the field, it was found that a combination of ametryn at 80 g a.i. ha with either glyphosate at 1 320 g a.i. ha or glufosinate at 50 g a.i. ha provided good control of goosegrass ranging from 80 to 100%. 11
Wavelet-Based Multi-level Object Retrieval In Contour Images

In this paper we present a novel approach to shape similarity estimation. The target application is content-based indexing and retrieval over large image databases. The technique is based on wavelet decomposition and uses polygon approximation over several scales. This technique uses simple features (aspect ratio, angles, distances from the centroid, distance ratios and relative positions) extracted at high curvature points. These points are detected at each level of the wavelet decomposition as wavelet transform modulus maxima. The experimental results and comparisons show the performance of the proposed technique. This technique is also suitable to be extended to the retrieval of 3-D objects.
Associations between socio-economic status (including school- and pupil-level interactions) and student perceptions of school environment and health in English secondary schools

This article examines interactions between school‐level and pupil‐level measures of socio‐economic status for pupil reports of the school environment and a range of risk behaviours and health outcomes. The baseline survey for the INCLUSIVE trial provided data on pupil affluence and pupil reports of the school environment, smoking, drinking, anti‐social behaviour at school, quality of life and psychological wellbeing for over 6,000 pupils (aged 11–12 years) in 40 schools within a 1‐hour train journey from central London. The level of socio‐economic disadvantage of the school was measured using the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Multilevel regression models examined the association between pupil affluence, the socio‐economic composition of the school and the interaction between these with the school environment, risk behaviours and health outcomes. Our findings provide some evidence for interactions, suggesting that less affluent pupils reported lower psychological wellbeing and quality of life in schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes. There appears to be a complex relationship for anti‐social behaviour. Where pupil affluence and school socio‐economic composition were discordant, pupils reported a higher number of anti‐social behaviours. This article provides further evidence that less affluent pupils are more likely to engage in a variety of risk behaviours and experience worse health outcomes when they attend schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes, supporting some of the mechanisms described in the theory of human functioning and school organisation.
A host-based security assessment architecture for effective leveraging of shared knowledge

Security scanning performed on computer systems is an important step to identify and assess potential vulnerabilities in an enterprise network, before they are exploited by malicious intruders. An effective vulnerability assessment architecture should assimilate knowledge from multiple security knowledge sources to discover all the security problems present on a host. Legitimate concerns arise since host-based security scanners typically need to run at administrative privileges, and takes input from external knowledge sources for the analysis. Intentionally or otherwise, ill-formed input may compromise the scanner and the whole system if the scanner is susceptible to, or carries one or more vulnerability itself. It is not easy to incorporate new security analysis tools and/or various security knowlegebases in the conventional approach, since this would entail installing new agents on every host in the enterprise network. This report presents an architecture where a host-based security scanner’s code base can be minimized to an extent where its correctness can be verified by adequate vetting. At the same time, the architecture also allows for leveraging third-party security knowledge more efficiently and makes it easier to incorporate new security tools. In our work, we implemented the scanning architecture in the context of an enterprise-level security analyzer. The analyzer finds security vulnerabilities present on a host according to the third-party security knowledge specified in Open Vulnerability Assessment Language(OVAL). We empirically show that the proposed architecture is potent in its ability to comprehensively leverage third-party security knowledge, and is flexible to support various higher-level security analysis.
Baclofen facilitates sleep, neuroplasticity, and recovery after stroke in rats

Sleep disruption in the acute phase after stroke has detrimental effects on recovery in both humans and animals. Conversely, the effect of sleep promotion remains unclear. Baclofen (Bac) is a known non‐rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep‐promoting drug in both humans and animals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Bac on stroke recovery in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia (isch).
Mapping 2D input to 3D immersive spatial augmented reality

This poster presents Viewpoint Cursor, a technique for mapping 2D user input from devices such as mobile phones, trackballs, or computer mice, to 3D multi-projector spatial augmented reality systems. While the ubiquity of input devices such as these make them obvious choices for spatial augmented reality, their 2D nature makes them difficult to use. Existing VR techniques rely on a display in front of the user's eyes on which to place virtual information. Immersive spatial augmented reality systems allow users to experience and interact with projected virtual information from any angle, using arbitrary placement of projectors. Viewpoint Cursor addresses these issues by mapping 2D input to a plane in front of the user's view. Ray casting is then used to find the 3D location for the cursor in the scene, which is then projected using the projection system. The user's position is tracked, with the input remapped accordingly, resulting in 2D input that matches what the user expects, regardless of their location.
The Imperial IRAS-FSC Redshift Catalogue

We present a new catalogue, the Imperial IRAS-FSC Redshift Catalogue (IIFSCz), of 60 303 galaxies selected at 60 μ mf rom theIRAS Faint Source Catalogue (FSC). The IIFSCz consists of accurate position, optical, near-infrared and/or radio identifications, spectroscopic redshift (if available) or photometric redshift (if possible), predicted far-infrared (FIR) and submillimetre (submm) fluxes ranging from 12 to 1380 μm based upon the best-fitting infrared template. About 55 per cent of the galaxies in the IIFSCz have spectroscopic redshifts, and a further 20 per cent have photometric redshifts obtained through either the training set or the templatefitting method. For S(60) > 0.36 Jy, the 90 per cent completeness limit of the FSC, 90 per cent of the sources have either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts. Scientific applications of the IIFSCz include validation of current and forthcoming infrared and submm/mm surveys such as AKARI, Planck and Herschel, follow-up studies of rare source populations, large-scale structure and galaxy bias, local multiwavelength luminosity functions and source counts. The catalogue is publicly available at http://astro.imperial. ac.uk/∼mrr/fss/.
An Efficient Performance of Mimo - Ofdm Based Cognitieve Radio System for Arrays Signal Processing

The wireless channel is central within this context, thus estimating the channel is the key to make CR operational, taking in consideration that the transmission-reception technology is available. In this thesis, we design a MIMO system using OFDM modulation technology to transmit and receive two signals over the mobile wireless channel. First formulate the pilot design as a new optimization problem. We use MIMO concept to enhance system capacity and robustness of the wireless transmission. In Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) based cognitive radio (CR) systems, with the increasing demand for data rate and reliability in Wireless communicationsand devices, several issues become very important like bandwidth efficiency, quality of service and radio coverage. In this new scheme, adaptive arrays are group-selected in the spatial domain. Simulation shows that the proposed system can get significant performance improvements over the conventional array based OFDM systems over frequency-selective multipath fading channels with cognitive radio (CR) system. Keywords: Cognitive radios, MIMO, OFDM, and Joint transmit and receive group selected arrays.
Sex in Cheese: Evidence for Sexuality in the Fungus Penicillium roqueforti

Although most eukaryotes reproduce sexually at some moment of their life cycle, as much as a fifth of fungal species were thought to reproduce exclusively asexually. Nevertheless, recent studies have revealed the occurrence of sex in some of these supposedly asexual species. For industrially relevant fungi, for which inoculums are produced by clonal-subcultures since decades, the potentiality for sex is of great interest for strain improvement strategies. Here, we investigated the sexual capability of the fungus Penicillium roqueforti, used as starter for blue cheese production. We present indirect evidence suggesting that recombination could be occurring in this species. The screening of a large sample of strains isolated from diverse substrates throughout the world revealed the existence of individuals of both mating types, even in the very same cheese. The MAT genes, involved in fungal sexual compatibility, appeared to evolve under purifying selection, suggesting that they are still functional. The examination of the recently sequenced genome of the FM 164 cheese strain enabled the identification of the most important genes known to be involved in meiosis, which were found to be highly conserved. Linkage disequilibria were not significant among three of the six marker pairs and 11 out of the 16 possible allelic combinations were found in the dataset. Finally, the detection of signatures of repeat induced point mutations (RIP) in repeated sequences and transposable elements reinforces the conclusion that P. roqueforti underwent more or less recent sex events. In this species of high industrial importance, the induction of a sexual cycle would open the possibility of generating new genotypes that would be extremely useful to diversify cheese products.
An Experimental Comparison of Autoregressive and Fourier-Based Descriptors in 2D Shape Classification

An experimental comparison of shape classification methods based on autoregressive modeling and Fourier descriptors of closed contours is carried out. The performance is evaluated using two independent sets of data: images of letters and airplanes. Silhouette contours are extracted from non-occluded 2D objects rotated, scaled, and translated in 3D space. Several versions of both types of methods are implemented and tested systematically. The comparison clearly shows better performance of Fourier-based methods, especially for images containing noise. >
Conditioned Hidden Markov Model Fusion for Multimodal Classification

Classification using hidden Markov models (HMM) is in general done by comparing the model likelihoods and choosing the class more likely to have generated the data. This work investigates a conditioned HMM which additionally provides a probability for a class label and compares different fusion strategies. The notion is two-fold: on the one hand applications in affective computing might pass their uncertainty of the classification to the next processing unit, on the other hand different streams might be fused to increase the performance. The data set studied incorporates two modalities and is based on a naturalistic multiparty dialogue. The goal is to discriminate between laughter and utterances. It turned out that the conditioned HMM outperforms classical HMM using different late fusion approaches while additionally providing a certainty about class decision.
Formal Correctness Procedures for Object-oriented Databases

One of the most diicult requirements of database support is to guarantee schema and instance update correctness. Engineering applications rely on this safeguard during product development. Thus it is essential that a DBMS dynamically support schema modiications by allowing on-line access to the schema, and providing automatic consistency checking of objects as well as self-adaptive dynamic linking of new methods. Our paper addresses these issues by providing a set of formalized procedures for deening and hence checking schema correctness. In that context, we propose a core model for schema correctness management in object-oriented databases.
Better geometric measurements based on photometric information

We propose new methods for estimating properties of analog objects in properly sampled multi-dimensional grey-scale images. The finite aperture of lenses ensures band limitation of the analog image and allows sampling. Many existing measurement procedures work on a binary object obtained by edge detection and thresholding. The ragged binary edge is disturbed by aliasing which cannot be repaired by smoothing. To solve this problem we propose methods that work directly on the grey-scale image. The grey-scale image contains accurate photometric information. Our new methods yield errors that are generally an order of magnitude better than the traditional binary ones. For applications where a smooth, constant edge height is a prerequisite we introduce erf-clipping. Erf-clipping is a point operation that shapes a linear edge region into a scaled error function. In contrast to thresholding it requires very mild oversampling. <<ETX>>
Hypertension Subtype and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Chinese Adults

Background— We examined the relationship between hypertension subtype and cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality in Chinese adults. Methods and Results— We conducted a prospective cohort study in a nationally representative sample of 169 871 Chinese men and women aged ≥40 years. Data on systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and other variables were obtained at a baseline examination in 1991 with the use of standard protocols. Follow-up evaluation was conducted in 1999–2000, with a response rate of 93.4%. Hypertension subtypes were defined as combined systolic and diastolic hypertension (SBP ≥140 and DBP ≥90 mm Hg), isolated systolic hypertension (SBP ≥140 and DBP <90 mm Hg), isolated diastolic hypertension (SBP <140 and DBP ≥90 mm Hg), and 2 categories of treated hypertension (SBP <140 and DBP <90 mm Hg or SBP ≥140 and/or DBP ≥90 mm Hg). After participants with missing BP values were excluded, 169 577 adults were included in the analyses. Compared with normotensives, relative risks (95% CIs) of cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality were 2.73 (2.60 to 2.86) and 2.53 (2.39 to 2.68) for combined systolic and diastolic hypertension, 1.78 (1.69 to 1.87) and 1.68 (1.58 to 1.78) for isolated systolic hypertension, 1.59 (1.43 to 1.76) and 1.45 (1.27 to 1.65) for isolated diastolic hypertension, 2.01 (1.64 to 2.48) and 1.61 (1.28 to 2.03) for treated hypertension with SBP <140 and DBP <90 mm Hg, and 3.37 (3.07 to 3.69) and 2.88 (2.60 to 3.19) for treated hypertension with SBP ≥140 and/or DBP ≥90 mm Hg, respectively, after adjustment for important covariables. Conclusions— Our results indicate that all hypertension subtypes are associated with significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease in Chinese adults. Primary prevention of hypertension should be a public health priority in the Chinese population.
Modeling Oscillatory Components with The Homogeneous Spaces BM -α and W -α,p*

This paper is devoted to the decomposition of an image f into u + v, with u a piecewise-smooth or “cartoon” component, and v an oscillatory component (texture or noise), in a variational approach. The cartoon component u is modeled by a function of bounded variation, while v, usually represented by a square integrable function, is now being modeled by a more refined and weaker texture norm, as a distribution. Generalizing the idea of Y. Meyer [32], where v ∈ F = div(BMO) = ̇ BMO, we model here the texture component by the action of the Riesz potentials on v that belongs to BMO or to Lp. In an earlier work [26], the authors proposed energy minimization models to approximate (BV,F ) decompositions explicitely expressing the texture as divergence of vector fields in BMO. In this paper, we consider an equivalent more isotropic norm of the space F in terms of the Riesz potentials, and study models where the Riesz potentials of oscillatory components belong to BMO or to Lp, 1 ≤ p < ∞ (thus we consider oscillatory components in ̇ BMO or in Ẇα,p, with α < 0). Theoretical, experimental results and comparisons to validate the proposed methods are presented.
Role of Monkey Nucleus Reticularis Tegmenti Pontis in the Stabilization of Listing’s Plane

An important problem in motor control is how the nervous system deals with redundant degrees of freedom. It has been well documented that voluntary eye movements are constrained to a plane by Listing’s law. Recent evidence has indicated that Listing’s law is implemented downstream from the motor superior colliculus (SC), but controversy exists whether this synergy results from a neural control mechanism or from passive mechanical properties of the oculomotor plant. To address this problem, we have investigated the role of the caudal nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis (cNRTP), which is functionally positioned inbetween the SC and cerebellar vermis, in the three-dimensional (3-D) control of saccades. In three rhesus monkeys, 3-D eye movements were measured while recording from single units in the cNRTP. In contrast to the SC, movement fields of cNRTP cells were best described by 3-D eye displacement vectors. We also performed electrical microstimulation with the eyes starting from a large range of initial eye positions. Evoked movements were always ipsilaterally directed but were often endowed with a fixed torsional component in either the positive or the negative direction. In two monkeys, small amounts of muscimol were unilaterally injected into the cNRTP. The results of these experiments strongly suggest that the cNRTP contributes to the stabilization of Listing’s plane against torsional errors of the saccadic system. It is concluded, therefore, that the saccadic burst generator is 3-D, and that Listing’s law is at least partially implemented by a neural control strategy.
A robust and low power 7T SRAM cell design

In this paper, we propose a new seven transistors (7T) static random access memory (SRAM) cell that improves read stability and write ability of the conventional 6T SRAM cell. Separating read and write access transistors in this cell solves the conflict of access transistor sizing. Therefore, large write and small read access transistors are chosen leading to read stability and write ability enhancement. Moreover, by isolating the storage node from the read path, more improvement in the read stability is achieved. Single ended write operation in this cell leads to reduction in the number of write drivers. In order to further improve the write ability, a virtual ground for one of the inverters is used. This strategy weakens the positive feedback and enhances the write ability of the cell. HSPICE Simulations in 90 nm CMOS technology show 80% and 54.9% improvement for the proposed structure with respect to the conventional 6T cell in the read stability and write ability, respectively, at the supply voltage of 500 mV. Using the virtual ground in this design causes leakage power reduction for each cell by stacking effect. The virtual ground is shared among all the cells in a row in order to lower the SRAM block power and relax the area and power overhead of extra transistor that used. The HSPICE simulation results also show 12.35% improvement in the static power at the 500 mV supply voltage.
Stabilization of UAV using Delta Sigma Modulator based controller

The design development and control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) have stimulated great significance in the automatic control research for the past 2 decades. In specific, Quad rotor systems are a promising platform in the area of Uthe AV research, due to its simple in construction, maintenance, ability to hover, and their vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. The dynamics and control of quad rotor are highly nonlinear and under actuated so it is considered as a test-rig to verify any new proposed nonlinear control algorithm. Different control algorithms were proposed and implemented to stabilize the UAV attitude, and altitude. Adaptive control and navigation algorithms also implemented in UAV platform to ensure the maneuvering against the internal and external disturbances. The proposed research paper explains the implementation of the developed digital control algorithm Delta-sigma modulatoan r (DSM) based controller for UAV to enhance the robustness.