Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of recovery algorithms on compressive sensing background subtraction

Background subtraction is a key method required to aid processing surveillance videos. Current methods require storing each pixel of every video frame, which can be wasteful as most of this information refers to the uninteresting background. Compressive sensing can offer an efficient solution by using the fact that foreground is often sparse in the spatial domain. By making this assumption and applying a specific recovery algorithm to a trained background, it is possible to reconstruct the foreground, using only a low dimensional representation of the difference between the current frame and the estimated background scene. Although new compressive sensing background subtraction algorithms are being created, no study has been made of the effect of recovery algorithms on performance of background subtraction. This is considered by applying both Basis Pursuit and Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) to a standard test video, and comparing their accuracy.
Children's pain threat appraisal and catastrophizing moderate the impact of parent verbal behavior on children's symptom complaints.

OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that pain threat appraisal and catastrophizing by children with functional abdominal pain (FAP) will moderate the relation between parent verbal behavior and children's symptom complaints following experimentally induced visceral discomfort. METHODS Thirty-three pediatric patients with FAP and their parents participated. Children completed measures of pain threat appraisal and catastrophizing. Weeks later they completed the Water Load Symptom Provocation Test to induce visceral discomfort. Spontaneous parent-child interactions during child discomfort were audiotaped and coded for content. RESULTS Parent symptom-related talk was associated with more child symptom complaints and parent non-symptom-related talk with fewer child complaints. The relation between symptom talk and complaints was greater for children with high catastrophizing. Non-symptom talk was associated with fewer complaints for children with high threat appraisals. CONCLUSIONS Child characteristics should be considered in research on the relation between parent behavior and children's symptom complaints.
Damping in SMA-reinforced composites using SMA intrinsic properties

The hysteresis between transformation to martensite and austenite in a SMA is discussed here as an intrinsic material property to be used to enhance damping. Initially the SMA constitutive modeling is described on a thermomechanical basis before considering the coupling of the SMA with a host structure targeting in the long term to a composite. The different parameters influencing damping with regard to the applied loads is discussed and conclusions are drawn with regard to how these parameters have to be set such that damping of a SMA-composite can be optimized.
Growth and Development in Chinese Pre-Schoolers with Picky Eating Behaviour: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective To explore the associations between picky eating behaviour and pre-schoolers’ growth and development. Corresponding potential mechanisms, such as nutrient and food subgroup intake, as well as micronutrients in the blood, will be considered. Methods Picky eating behaviour was present if it was reported by parents. From various areas of China, 937 healthy children of 3-7 years old were recruited using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method. Children and their mothers’ socio-demographic information and children’s anthropometry, intelligence, blood samples, one 24-hour dietary intake record and food frequency questionnaire were collected. Z-scores and intelligence tests were used to evaluate growth and development (cognitive development). Multilevel models were employed to verify the associations between picky eating behaviour and growth and development. Results The prevalence of picky eating as reported by parents was 54% in pre-schoolers. Compared with the non-picky eaters, weight for age in picky eaters was 0.14 z-score (95% CI: -0.25, -0.02; p = 0.017) lower while no significant difference was found in intelligence (p > 0.05). Picky eating behaviour lasting over two years was associated with lower weight for age, as was nit-picking meat (the prevalence from parents’ perception was 23% in picky eaters) (p < 0.05). Picky eaters consumed fewer cereals, vegetables, and fish (p < 0.05), and had a lower dietary intake of protein, dietary fibre, iron, and zinc (p < 0.05). There were no differences in the concentrations of essential minerals in whole blood (p > 0.05). Conclusions Picky eating behaviour is reported by parents in half of the Chinese pre-schoolers, which is negatively associated with growth (weight for age). Lower protein and dietary fibre as well as lower iron and zinc intakes were associated with picky eating as were lower intakes of vegetables, fish and cereals.
Systematic targeted mutagenesis of the MarR/SlyA family members of Dickeya dadantii 3937 reveals a role for MfbR in the modulation of virulence gene expression in response to acidic pH

Pathogenicity of Dickeya dadantii is a process involving several factors, such as plant cell wall‐degrading enzymes and adaptation systems to adverse conditions encountered in the apoplast. Regulators of the MarR family control a variety of biological processes, including adaptation to hostile environments and virulence. Analysis of the members of this family in D. dadantii led to the identification of a new regulator, MfbR, which controls virulence. MfbR represses its own expression but activates genes encoding plant cell wall‐degrading enzymes. Purified MfbR increases the binding of RNA polymerase at the virulence gene promoters and inhibits transcription initiation at the mfbR promoter. MfbR activity appeared to be modulated by acidic pH, a stress encountered by pathogens during the early stages of infection. Expression of mfbR and its targets, during infection, showed that MfbR is unable to activate virulence genes in acidic conditions at an early step of infection. In contrast, alkalinization of the apoplast, during an advanced stage of infection, led to the potentialization of MfbR activity resulting in plant cell wall degrading enzyme production. This report presents a new example of how pathogens adjust virulence‐associated factors during the time‐course of an infection.
Location-based crowdsourcing: extending crowdsourcing to the real world

The WWW and the mobile phone have become an essential means for sharing implicitly and explicitly generated information and a communication platform for many people. With the increasing ubiquity of location sensing included in mobile devices we investigate the arising opportunities for mobile crowdsourcing making use of the real world context. In this paper we assess how the idea of user-generated content, web-based crowdsourcing, and mobile electronic coordination can be combined to extend crowdsourcing beyond the digital domain and link it to tasks in the real world. To explore our concept we implemented a crowd-sourcing platform that integrates location as a parameter for distributing tasks to workers. In the paper we describe the concept and design of the platform and discuss the results of two user studies. Overall the findings show that integrating tasks in the physical world is useful and feasible. We observed that (1) mobile workers prefer to pull tasks rather than getting them pushed, (2) requests for pictures were the most favored tasks, and (3) users tended to solve tasks mainly in close proximity to their homes. Based on this, we discuss issues that should be considered during designing mobile crowdsourcing applications.
Surface gene mutants of hepatitis B virus in infants who develop acute or chronic infections despite immunoprophylaxis

Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA from 4 infants with fulminant hepatitis B, 3 infants with acute self‐limited hepatitis B, and 15 infants with chronic HBV infection were amplified by polymerase chain reaction followed by direct sequencing of the region of HBV genome encoding the major antigenic epitopes of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). All infants were born to carrier mothers and administered immunoprophylaxis from birth. Serum HBV DNA from 13 carrier children born to carrier mothers who did not receive immunoprophylaxis and had comparable length of infection were studied as controls. An S mutant (residue 126, Thr to Ala) initially found in an infant with fulminant hepatitis was replaced by another S mutant (residue 145, Gly to Arg) 4 days later. In a girl with chronic hepatitis B, Ala‐126 variant and Arg‐145 variant were found at 17 and 25 months of age, respectively. The Arg‐145 variant persisted for 8 years in an asymptomatic male carrier and for 1 year in an infant with chronic hepatitis B. The Ala‐126 variant persisted for 11 years in one child who had an early loss of hepatitis B e antigen. In the majority of the infants' mothers, corresponding mutations in HBsAg were not detected in serum by direct sequencing. The S mutants detected in three carrier infants were not found in their mothers' serum after cloning and sequencing of 10 DNA clones from each maternal sample. None of the 13 control patients had detectable S mutants. These results suggest that S variants emerge or are selected under the immune pressure generated by the host or by administration of hepatitis B immune globulin and hepatitis B vaccination. An S mutant (residue 129, Gln to Arg) found in one mother‐infant pair suggested a direct maternal‐infant transmission, resulting in immunoprophylaxis failure. None of the family members of children infected with Arg‐145 variant had the same variant infection, implying this variant's low transmissability.
The Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Gly482Ser in the PGC-1α Gene Impairs Exercise-Induced Slow-Twitch Muscle Fibre Transformation in Humans

PGC-1α (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator 1α) is an important regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis and a master regulator of enzymes involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Recent evidence demonstrated that the Gly482Ser single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the PGC-1α gene affects insulin sensitivity, blood lipid metabolism and binding to myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2). Individuals carrying this SNP were shown to have a reduced cardiorespiratory fitness and a higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes. Here, we investigated the responses of untrained men with the Gly482Ser SNP to a 10 week programme of endurance training (cycling, 3 x 60 min/week, heart rate at 70-90% VO2peak). Quantitative data from analysis of biopsies from vastus lateralis muscle revealed that the SNP group, in contrast to the control group, lacked a training-induced increase in content of slow contracting oxidative fibres. Capillary supply, mitochondrial density, mitochondrial enzyme activities and intramyocellular lipid content increased similarly in both groups. These results indicate that the impaired binding of MEF2 to PGC-1α in humans with this SNP impedes exercise-induced fast-to-slow muscle fibre transformation.
The Association Between Physical Workload and Low Back Pain Clouded by the “Healthy Worker” Effect: Population-Based Cross-Sectional and 5-Year Prospective Questionnaire Study

Study Design. A population-based cross-sectional and 5-year prospective questionnaire study. Objective. To investigate self-reported physical workload as a risk factor for low back pain. Summary of Background Data. Both physical and psychosocial workplace factors are considered risk factors for low back pain. However, today no consensus has been reached regarding the exact role of these factors in the genesis of low back pain. Methods. Questionnaire data were collected at baseline for 1397 (and after 5 years for 1163) men and women aged 31–50 years at baseline. Low back pain (“any low back pain within the past year,” “low back pain ≤ 30 days in total during the past year,” “low back pain > 30 days in total during the past year”) was analyzed in relation to physical workload (sedentary, light physical, and heavy physical work) using logistic regression and controlling for age, gender, and social group. The proportions of workers changing between the workload groups over the 5-year period were analyzed in relation to low back pain status. Results. At baseline no statistically significant differences in low back pain outcomes were found for workers exposed to sedentary, light physical, or heavy physical work. This was true for all age, gender, and social groups. At follow-up there was a statistically significant dose–response association between any low back pain and longstanding low back pain within the past year and increasing physical workload at baseline also after controlling for age, gender, and social group. Subjects with heavy physical workload at baseline changed statistically significantly more often to sedentary work if they experienced low back pain for more than 30 days out of the past year. Conclusions. Having a sedentary job might have a protective or neutral effect in relation to low back pain, whereas having a heavy physical job constitutes a significant risk factor. Because of migration between exposure groups (the “healthy-worker” effect), longitudinal studies are necessary for investigating the associations between physical workload and low back pain.
Terrain and Model Queries Using Scalar Representations With Wavelet Compression

In this paper, we present efficient height/distance field data structures for line-of-sight (LOS) queries on terrains and collision queries on arbitrary 3-D models. The data structure uses a pyramid of quad-shaped regions with the original height/distance field at the highest level and an overall minimum/maximum value at the lower levels. The pyramid can compactly be stored in a wavelet-like decomposition but using max and plus operations. Additionally, we show how to get minimum/maximum values for regions in a wavelet decomposition using real algebra. For LOS calculations, we compare with a kd-tree representation containing the maximum height values. Furthermore, we show that the LOS calculation is a special case of a collision detection query. Using our wavelet-like approach, even general and arbitrary collision detection queries can efficiently be answered.
Mechanism Design Based on Beliefs about Responsive Play ( Position Paper )

In general, identifying a solution concept only incomplete ly specifies a mechanism design problem. The designer must consider which among a multiplicity of solutions is likely to be playe d, as well as the possibility that actual play will not correspond to any solution. Given that actual play is the ultimate determiner of a mechanism’s success, we advocate that designers embrace the cor responding forecasting problem and evaluate candidate mecha nisms with respect to belief distributions over players’ respons e. Solution concepts can play a useful role in delimiting and structurin g belief distributions. We propose that membership of prospective s rategy profiles in various solution classes be treated as evidence b earing on their likelihood of play. Flexible solution classes, for example based on approximate equilibrium, degree of dominance, or s afety level, provide natural measures (e.g., distance from equil ibri m) that can be employed in defining belief distributions.
A flat direct model for speech recognition

We introduce a direct model for speech recognition that assumes an unstructured, i.e., flat text output. The flat model allows us to model arbitrary attributes and dependences of the output. This is different from the HMMs typically used for speech recognition. This conventional modeling approach is based on sequential data and makes rigid assumptions on the dependences. HMMs have proven to be convenient and appropriate for large vocabulary continuous speech recognition. Our task under consideration, however, is the Windows Live Search for Mobile (WLS4M) task [1]. This is a cellphone application that allows users to interact with web-based information portals. In particular, the set of valid outputs can be considered discrete and finite (although probably large, i.e., unseen events are an issue). Hence, a flat direct model lends itself to this task, making the adding of different knowledge sources and dependences straightforward and cheap. Using e.g. HMM posterior, m-gram, and spotter features, significant improvements over the conventional HMM system were observed.
Site-specific cation release drives actin filament severing by vertebrate cofilin

Significance Cofilin is an essential actin regulatory protein that severs filaments, which accelerates network remodeling by increasing the concentration of filament ends available for elongation and subunit exchange. The molecular basis of how cofilin binding interactions fragment filaments, which have stiffness comparable to commercial laboratory plastics, remains a central and unresolved mystery of cellular actin cytoskeleton reorganization. In this study we demonstrate that actin filament severing by vertebrate cofilin is driven by the linked dissociation of a single, site-specific cation that controls filament structure and mechanical properties, and that filament severing is an essential function of cofilin in cells. This work establishes that discrete interactions with cations serve a central regulatory function in mediating actin filament fragmentation by certain classes of severing proteins. Actin polymerization powers the directed motility of eukaryotic cells. Sustained motility requires rapid filament turnover and subunit recycling. The essential regulatory protein cofilin accelerates network remodeling by severing actin filaments and increasing the concentration of ends available for elongation and subunit exchange. Although cofilin effects on actin filament assembly dynamics have been extensively studied, the molecular mechanism of cofilin-induced filament severing is not understood. Here we demonstrate that actin filament severing by vertebrate cofilin is driven by the linked dissociation of a single cation that controls filament structure and mechanical properties. Vertebrate cofilin only weakly severs Saccharomyces cerevisiae actin filaments lacking this “stiffness cation” unless a stiffness cation-binding site is engineered into the actin molecule. Moreover, vertebrate cofilin rescues the viability of a S. cerevisiae cofilin deletion mutant only when the stiffness cation site is simultaneously introduced into actin, demonstrating that filament severing is the essential function of cofilin in cells. This work reveals that site-specific interactions with cations serve a key regulatory function in actin filament fragmentation and dynamics.
Sex and the risk of restless legs syndrome in the general population.

BACKGROUND Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by the desire to move the limbs associated with paresthesias of the legs, a motor restlessness, an intensification of symptoms at rest with relief by activity, and a worsening of symptoms in the evening or at night. Population-based studies are rare, and risk factors in the general population are not known. METHODS Cross-sectional survey with face-to-face interviews and physical examination among 4310 participants in the Study of Health in Pomerania in northeastern Germany. Participants were aged 20 to 79 years and were randomly selected from population registers. Restless legs syndrome was assessed with standardized, validated questions addressing the 4 minimal criteria for RLS as defined by the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group. RESULTS The overall prevalence of RLS was 10.6%, increasing with age, and women were twice as often affected as men. While nulliparous women had prevalences similar to those among men up to age 64 years, the risk of RLS increased gradually for women with 1 child (odds ratio, 1.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.25-3.13), 2 children (odds ratio, 3.04; 95% confidence interval, 2.11-4.40), and 3 or more children (odds ratio, 3.57; 95% confidence interval, 2.30-5.55). Subjects with RLS had significantly lower quality-of-life scores than those without the syndrome. CONCLUSIONS Restless legs syndrome is a common disease in the general population, affecting women more often than men. It is associated with reduced quality of life in cross-sectional analysis. Parity is a major factor in explaining the sex difference and may guide further clarification of the etiology of the disease.
Discovery and in vitro biosynthesis of haloduracin, a two-component lantibiotic

Lantibiotics are ribosomally synthesized peptides that undergo posttranslational modifications to their mature, antimicrobial form. They are characterized by the unique amino acids lanthionine and methyllanthionine, introduced by means of dehydration of Ser/Thr residues followed by reaction of the resulting dehydro amino acids with cysteines to form thioether linkages. Two-component lantibiotics use two peptides that are each posttranslationally modified to yield two functionally distinct products that act in synergy to provide bactericidal activity. By using genetic data instead of isolation, a two-component lantibiotic, haloduracin, was identified in the genome of the Gram-positive alkaliphilic bacterium Bacillus halodurans C-125. We show that heterologously expressed and purified precursor peptides HalA1 and HalA2 are processed by the purified modification enzymes HalM1 and HalM2 in an in vitro reconstitution of the biosynthesis of a two-component lantibiotic. The activity of each HalM enzyme is substrate-specific, and the assay products exhibit antimicrobial activity after removal of their leader sequences at an engineered Factor Xa cleavage site, indicating that correct thioether formation has occurred. Haloduracin's biological activity depends on the presence of both modified peptides. The structures of the two mature haloduracin peptides Halα and Halβ were investigated, indicating that they have similarities as well as some distinct differences compared with other two-component lantibiotics.
Improving the Postmarket Surveillance of Total Joint Arthroplasty Devices

Objective To evaluate the FDA’s approval process and postmarket surveillance strategies for THR devices. Design The FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) 510k releasable database was used to document approved THR devices. The CDRH Medical Device Reporting data files were used to study the efficiency of the FDA’s post-market surveillance system. Manufacturers were contacted to supply information regarding their implants. Medline was searched between 1966-1996 to determine the percentage of THR devices with published data on clinical outcomes. Results Between 1976 and 1996, 701 new THR devices were approved by the Substantial Equivalent (SE) route and 34 were approved on the basis of Premarket Approval PMA. The number of approvals doubled between 1991-1995 compared to 1976-1990. Seventy-four different manufacturers obtained approval to market THR devices. Only four manufacturers obtained approval via the PMA application. Under Mandatory Device Reporting all revision arthroplasties should be reported. Using data from 2 independent services for which we had US hospital discharge data in 1993 we estimate that only 3% of all revision THR were reported to the FDA. Manufacturers of hip implants failed to provide useful information. Medline search revealed only 15% of the approved THR devices had published data on outcomes. Conclusion Current FDA premarket approval and postmarket surveillance strategies fail to provide information for evidence-based selection of THR devices. Recommendations are made to avert problems with device failures.