Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study on pedestrian detection and tracking with monocular vision

Pedestrian detection is a rapidly evolving topic in many computer vision applications such as intelligent vehicle, surveillance and advanced robotics. The pedestrian collision avoidance not only requires detection of pedestrian but also requires prediction by tracking to analyze its dynamics and behaviors. The objective of this paper is to provide a method realizing pedestrian detection and tracking based on monocular vision. The first part of the paper is to detect pedestrian from the image. Both the rectangle features and edge orientation features are calculated by integral image techniques and Adaboost is used to fulfill discriminative features selection and classifiers training. The second part contains a pedestrian tracking method based on Kalman filtering. Experiments are performed to test and verify the pedestrian detection and tracking method under normal urban environments. The experiment results show that the method can detect and track pedestrian ahead of vehicle with different sizes and postures.
Effects of Water-misting Sprays with Forced Ventilation after Transport during Summer on Meat Quality, Stress Parameters, Glycolytic Potential and Microstructures of Muscle in Broilers

Effects of water-misting sprays with forced ventilation after transport during summer on meat quality, stress parameters, glycolytic potential and microstructures of muscle in broilers were investigated. A total of 105 mixed-sex Arbor Acres broilers were divided into three treatment groups: i) 45-min transport without rest (T group), ii) 45-min transport with 1-h rest (TR group), iii) 45-min transport with 15-min water-misting sprays with forced ventilation and 45-min rest (TWFR group). The results showed the TWFR group significantly increased (p<0.05) initial muscle pH (pHi) and ultimate pH (pHu) and significantly reduced L* (p<0.05), drip loss, cook loss, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase activity, plasma glucose content, lactate and glycolytic potential when compared with other groups. Microstructure of the muscle from TWFR group broilers under light microscopy showed smaller intercellular spaces among muscle fibers and bundles compared with T group. In conclusion this study indicated water-misting sprays with forced ventilation after transport could relieve the stress caused by transport under high temperature, which was favorable for the broilers’ welfare. Furthermore, water-misting sprays with forced ventilation after transport slowed down the postmortem glycolysis rate and inhibited the occurrence of PSE-like meat in broilers. Although rest after transport could also improve the meat quality, the effect was not as significant as water-misting sprays with forced ventilation after transport.
A Three-Gene Expression Signature Model for Risk Stratification of Patients with Neuroblastoma

Purpose: Neuroblastoma is an embryonal tumor with contrasting clinical courses. Despite elaborate stratification strategies, precise clinical risk assessment still remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to develop a PCR-based predictor model to improve clinical risk assessment of patients with neuroblastoma. Experimental Design: The model was developed using real-time PCR gene expression data from 96 samples and tested on separate expression data sets obtained from real-time PCR and microarray studies comprising 362 patients. Results: On the basis of our prior study of differentially expressed genes in favorable and unfavorable neuroblastoma subgroups, we identified three genes, CHD5, PAFAH1B1, and NME1, strongly associated with patient outcome. The expression pattern of these genes was used to develop a PCR-based single-score predictor model. The model discriminated patients into two groups with significantly different clinical outcome [set 1: 5-year overall survival (OS): 0.93 ± 0.03 vs. 0.53 ± 0.06, 5-year event-free survival (EFS): 0.85 ± 0.04 vs. 0.042 ± 0.06, both P < 0.001; set 2 OS: 0.97 ± 0.02 vs. 0.61 ± 0.1, P = 0.005, EFS: 0.91 ± 0.8 vs. 0.56 ± 0.1, P = 0.005; and set 3 OS: 0.99 ± 0.01 vs. 0.56 ± 0.06, EFS: 0.96 ± 0.02 vs. 0.43 ± 0.05, both P < 0.001]. Multivariate analysis showed that the model was an independent marker for survival (P < 0.001, for all). In comparison with accepted risk stratification systems, the model robustly classified patients in the total cohort and in different clinically relevant risk subgroups. Conclusion: We propose for the first time in neuroblastoma, a technically simple PCR-based predictor model that could help refine current risk stratification systems. Clin Cancer Res; 18(7); 2012–23. ©2012 AACR.
Single fiber-optic fluorescence enzyme-based sensor.

Detecteur de pH a fibre optique sur laquelle est immobilise de la penicillinase et un colorant fluorescent. La penicilline en solution est convertie enzymatiquement en acide penicilloique a la surface de la sonde, causant une baisse de pH, avec une decroissance dans l'intensite de fluorescence du colorant
The Cation Transporters rOCT1 and rOCT2 Interact with Bicarbonate but Play Only a Minor Role for Amantadine Uptake into Rat Renal Proximal Tubules

In renal proximal tubules, the organic cation transporters rOCT1 and rOCT2 are supposed to mediate the first step in organic cation secretion. We investigated whether previously described differences in amantadine and tetraethylammonium (TEA) uptake into isolated renal proximal tubules could be explained by differences in their transport by rOCT1 and rOCT2. By expressing rOCT1 and rOCT2 inXenopus oocytes and HEK 293 cells, we demonstrated that both transporters translocated amantadine. In Xenopusoocytes, the inhibitory potency of several rOCT1/2 inhibitors was similar for amantadine compared to TEA uptake and supports amantadine transport by rOCT1 and rOCT2. In proximal tubules, procainamide, quinine, cyanine863, choline, and guanidine in concentrations that inhibit rOCT1/2-mediated TEA or amantadine uptake in Xenopus oocytes exhibited no effect on amantadine uptake. At variance, these inhibitors blocked TEA uptake into proximal tubules. Amantadine and TEA transport were sensitive to modulation by 25 mM bicarbonate. The effect of bicarbonate on organic cation transport was dependent on substrate (amantadine or TEA), cell system (oocytes, HEK 293 cells, or proximal tubules), and transporter (rOCT1 or rOCT2). In proximal tubules, only amantadine uptake was stimulated by bicarbonate. The data suggested that rat renal proximal tubules contain an organic cation transporter in addition to rOCT1 and rOCT2 that mediates amantadine uptake and requires bicarbonate for optimal function. TEA uptake by the basolateral membrane may be mediated mainly by rOCT1 and rOCT2, but these transporters may be in a different functional or regulatory state when expressed in cells or oocytes compared with expression in vivo.
MASS: An efficient and secure broadcast authentication scheme for resource constrained devices

Message authentication for resource constrained devices is a challenging topic. Indeed, given the scarceness of on-board resources, solutions that do not rely on asymmetric key cryptography are in demand. A few solutions to address this issue have been proposed, and some have gained the status of state of the art thanks to their effectiveness and efficiency. However, even if state of the art solutions do provide sender-receiver on-the-fly message authentication, they are not able to tackle a few relevant attacks on received messages when the time dimension is taken into account. In particular, we first introduce two types of attacks: the switch command attack (where an adversary pretends to “switch” two messages over time-that is, altering the relative time ordering), and the drop command attack (where an adversary could pretend not having received a message previously sent from the legitimate sender). We then propose a new solution for broadcast authentication that copes with the above introduced attacks: MASS. Our analysis shows that MASS is effective in detecting both switch command and drop command attacks.
The case for explicit knowledge in documents

The Web is full of documents which must be interpreted by human readers and by software agents (search engines recommender systems clustering processes <i>etc.</i>). Although Web standards have addressed format obfuscation by using XML schemas and stylesheets to specify unambiguous structure and presentation semantics interpretation is still hampered by the fundamental ambiguity of information in <b>PCDATA</b> text. Even the most easily distinguishable kinds of knowledge such as article citations and proper nouns (referring to people organisations projects products technical concepts) have to be identified by fallible post-hoc extraction processes. The WiCK project has investigated the writing process in a Semantic Web environment where knowledge services exist and actively assist the author. In this paper we discuss the need to make knowledge an explicit part of the document representation and the advantages and disadvantages of this step.
Exposure to traffic related air pollutants: self reported traffic intensity versus GIS modelled exposure

Background: In epidemiological studies of the potential health effects of traffic related air pollution, self reported traffic intensity is a commonly used, but rarely validated, exposure variable. Methods: As part of a study on the impact of Traffic Related Air Pollution on Childhood Asthma (TRAPCA), data from 2633 and 673 infants from the Dutch and the German-Munich cohorts, respectively, were available. Parents subjectively assessed traffic intensity at the home address. Objective exposures were estimated by a combination of spatial air pollution measurements and geographic information system (GIS) based modelling using an identical method for both cohorts. Results: The agreement rates between self reported and GIS modelled exposure—accumulated over the three strata of self assessed traffic intensity—were 55–58% for PM2.5, filter absorbance (PM2.5 abs), and nitrogen dioxide in Munich and 39–40% in the Netherlands. Of the self reported low traffic exposed group, 71–73% in Munich and 45–47% in the Netherlands had low modelled exposure to these three air pollutants. Of the self assessed high exposed subgroups in Munich (15% of the total population) and the Netherlands (22% of the total population), only 22–33% and 30–32% respectively had high modelled exposure to the three air pollutants. The subjective assessments tend to overestimate the modelled estimates for PM2.5 and NO2 in both study areas. When analysis was restricted to the portion of the Dutch cohort living in non-urban areas, the agreement rates were even lower. Conclusions: Self reported and modelled assessment of exposure to air pollutants are only weakly associated.
Sequence Analysis of Tn10 Insertion Sites in a Collection of Escherichia coli Strains Used for Genetic Mapping and Strain Construction

ABSTRACT The chromosomal insertion sites of Tn10-containingEscherichia coli strains were amplified by inverse PCR, and the nucleotide sequences of the junctions were determined. In 95 strains analyzed, 88 unique Tn10 positions were determined and matched to the E. coli chromosome sequence. Two gaps in insertion site positions were noted, one including the terminus of DNA replication and another bounded by recombination hot spots RhsA and RhsB.
Economic Policy and Theological Reflection in South Africa: An Overview and Assessment After Twenty Years of Democracy

After giving an overview of major economic policy developments and their successes or not in South Africa from its transition to democracy in 1994 until recently, this article acknowledges efforts at, but also pleads for stronger engagement of theology with economic issues. The article also highlights some of the difficulties in achieving this and gives guidelines that may assist in forging a closer link between theological reflection and economic policy formation/execution. It is suggested in particular that theologians embark on a more intentional and purposeful development of economic expertise by taking cognizance of the insights of economists. In this way public theology may move beyond mere formulations of visions of an economically just society and criticizing betrayals of that vision to a theology that employs thorough economic analyses to offer concrete suggestions for economic policy and economic practices. Such a public theology would contribute to addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality.
You Should Read This Book

Kenneth J. Doka, Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of the College of New Rochelle, is Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America. He edited Disenfranchised Grief: New Directions, Challenges, and Strategies for Practice published in 2002 by Research Press. Terry L. Martin is Associate Professor of Psychology and Thanatology at Hood College. With Wen-Chi Wang, he wrote ‘‘A Pilot Study of the Development of a Tool to Measure Instrumental and Intuitive Styles of Grieving,’’ published in Omega, 53, 263–276. David E. Balk, Professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies in Thanatology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, is the Book Review Editor for Death Studies. With Andrea C. Walker, he wrote ‘‘Bereavement Rituals in the Muscogee Creek Tribe,’’ published in Death Studies, 31, 633–652.
Access to and use of everyday technology among older people: An occupational justice issue – but for whom?

ABSTRACT Research into older people's use of remote controls, mobile phones, digital home appliances, and computerized communication systems reveals that many have difficulty accessing and using these everyday technologies. By using occupational justice theory as a lens onto this technological development, we argue in this commentary that critical analysis of the findings from an occupational perspective reveals systematic injustices that disadvantage certain sectors of the older population. In particular we propose that, contrary to what might be expected, diagnosis or disability is not the sole marker for a vulnerable population at high risk of occupational injustices. Rather, the empirical findings support that other aspects (e.g., economic, educational) may also be influencing both everyday technology access and use among the older population. In light of these concerns, we argue that (a) occupation-centred outcome measures are needed to target everyday technology populations at risk of occupational injustices, and (b) future studies evaluating the access and use of everyday technology among older people must also monitor and target socio-demographic diversities.
For Personal Use. Only Reproduce with Permission from the Lancet Publishing Group

Background HIV-1 prevalence typically rises more rapidly at young ages in women than in men in sub-Saharan Africa. Greater susceptibility to infection on exposure in women is believed to be a contributory factor as is greater exposure to previously infected sexual partners of the opposite sex. We investigated the latter hypothesis using data from a field study in rural Manicaland, Zimbabwe.
End-to-End Delay Enhancment with AODV in VANET

The rise in the number of vehicles has led to a rapid increasing need for vehicle communication today, so the emerging Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) is becoming more and more important. Routing in VANET is a key issue which decides network performance. Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) is one of the widely used reactive routing algorithms that suffer from high delay. In this paper, a modified AODV (M-AODV) routing protocol is proposed to reduce the end-to-end delay. OMNeT++ simulator has been used to compare performances of AODV and M-AODV using IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 802.11g as MAC protocols with varying number of vehicles and vehicle speed in city and highway scenarios. The results show that the M-AODV has better performance than AODV in terms of end-to-end delay and average throughput.
Materials and Methods Brief Definitive Report Interleukin 4 Induces Changes in the Chromatin Structure of the Yl Switch Region in Resting B Cells before Switch Recombination

Interleukin 4 (IL4) can induce the expression of IgG1 in sIgG-murine B cells stimulated with mitogens or through a cognate interaction with T helper (Th) cells. We have investigated the molecular basis for the 11.4-induced switch to IgG1 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine B cells and have previously shown that 11,4 induces transcription of the yl switch region before switch recombination. We now demonstrate that IL4 induces a DNase I hypersensitive site at the 5' end of the yi switch region in resting B cells. LPS is not required, but it enhances induction. Hence, the interaction of 114 with its receptor results in increased accessibility of the yl switch region. The more open chromatin structure and increased transcriptional activity may be important in the selection of this region for switch recombination. T helper cells and Th cell-derived lymphokines play an important role in the regulation of isotype switching and expression. In particular, IL4 induces switching to IgG1 (1, 2) and IgE (3) in mitogen-activated B cells in vitro. Several reports have suggested that mitogens and some lymphokines may direct isotype switching by increasing the accessibility of specific switch regions to switch recombinase(s) (4-6). In support of this hypothesis, we and others have demonstrated transcriptional activation of the yl (6-8) and e (9) switch regions by IL4 before switch recombination in murine splenic B cells. In addition, Schmitz and Radbruch (10) have recently shown that the combination of LPS and 11,4 can induce the appearance of a single DNase I hypersensitive site upstream ofthe 71 switch region before switch recombination. In the present study we report the induction of two distinct DNase I hypersensitive sites at the 5' end of Syl by LPS plus IL4. We further demonstrate that 11,4 alone can induce the stronger of these two hypersensitive sites in resting B cells without co-stimulation with LPS. Thus, IL4 can deliver signal(s) that open the y1 switch region and perhaps make it more accessible to the switch recombination machinery of the cell. Animals. Specific pathogen-free female BALB/c mice were obtained from Simonsen Laboratories (Gilroy, CA) and were housed in laminar-flow animal isolation hoods. All animals were used at 8-16 wk of age. Preparation and Culture ofSplenic B Cells. Small, resting B cells (density >1.085 g/ml) were prepared by Percoll density gradient fractionation and cultured as previously described (7). LPS (Salmonella typhosa 0901, Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI) was used at a concentration …
A New Error Analysis Based Method for Tolerance Computation for Algorithm-Based Checks

Algorithm based techniques are based on checking for the preservation of certain properties possessed by global data following a set of computations. This often involves the introduction of a check variable which is updated in such a manner that, in the absence of roundoff errors, it equals the value of some function which involves all the data elements participating in the algorithm. However, roundoff errors accumulate in different ways in the updates involving the check variables and the computations involving data elements; this makes it highly unlikely that the equality is preserved exactly for an implementation of the algorithm on a real computer. Thus, the check step involves verifying the preservation of the equality to within a tolerance value. We propose a method for determination of the tolerance based on error analysis techniques. We present results on three numerical algorithms which show the effectiveness of our approach for data sets of varying sizes and data ranges.
Integration of β-Catenin, Sirtuin, and FOXO Signaling Protects from Mutant Huntingtin Toxicity

One of the current challenges of neurodegenerative disease research is to determine whether signaling pathways that are essential to cellular homeostasis might contribute to neuronal survival and modulate the pathogenic process in human disease. In Caenorhabditis elegans, sir-2.1/SIRT1 overexpression protects neurons from the early phases of expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) toxicity, and this protection requires the longevity-promoting factor daf-16/FOXO. Here, we show that this neuroprotective effect also requires the DAF-16/FOXO partner bar-1/β-catenin and putative DAF-16-regulated gene ucp-4, the sole mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP) in nematodes. These results fit with a previously proposed mechanism in which the β-catenin FOXO and SIRT1 proteins may together regulate gene expression and cell survival. Knockdown of β-catenin enhanced the vulnerability to cell death of mutant-huntingtin striatal cells derived from the HdhQ111 knock-in mice. In addition, this effect was compensated by SIRT1 overexpression and accompanied by the modulation of neuronal UCP expression levels, further highlighting a cross-talk between β-catenin and SIRT1 in the modulation of mutant polyQ cytoxicity. Taken together, these results suggest that integration of β-catenin, sirtuin and FOXO signaling protects from the early phases of mutant huntingtin toxicity.
Treatment for complex atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium.

OBJECTIVE To clarify the clinical outcome of women with complex atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium who were treated either by hysterectomy or a non-surgical treatment with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). STUDY DESIGN Thirty of the 53 patients with complex atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium were treated by undergoing hysterectomy and 20 were treated with MPA alone as the primary therapy. Their clinical features and outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS The ages of the 53 patients ranged from 28 to 62 years (mean 46.2). Fifteen (75%) of the 20 patients (8 of 12 with low-dose MPA and 6 of 8 with high-dose MPA) responded initially to MPA therapy. Two of the 12 patients who were treated with low-dose MPA progressed to endometrial adenocarcinoma. Three patients treated with high-dose MPA conceived after treatment having three healthy infants. CONCLUSION Primary treatment with high-dose MPA is a safe and effective therapy for women with complex atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium who wish to preserve their fertility.
Acrosome status and morphology of human spermatozoa bound to the zona pellucida and oolemma determined using oocytes that failed to fertilize in vitro.

It is known that only acrosome-reacted spermatozoa can fuse with the oolemma during normal fertilization with zona pellucida-intact oocytes. The aim of this study was to determine if the oolemma of human zona pellucida-free oocytes selectively binds spermatozoa with normal morphology and a reacted acrosome. Oocytes that failed to fertilize in vitro because of severe sperm defects were used. The zona pellucida was removed with acidic (pH 2-3) saline. Sperm samples were obtained from normal fertile donors and normozoospermic men. Motile spermatozoa were selected with a swim-up technique and 2 x 10(6)/ml incubated with oocytes. The results from 23 experiments showed that at 2 h there was a significantly higher mean percentage of acrosome-reacted spermatozoa bound to the zona pellucida (mean +/- SD, 42 +/- 22) than in the insemination medium (27 +/- 12). In contrast, all spermatozoa bound to the oolemma at 2 h were acrosome reacted. Furthermore, each fresh zona pellucida had > 100 spermatozoa bound compared with an average of 28 (range 4-81) spermatozoa bound per zona pellucida-free oocyte. There was no significant difference in the zona pellucida-induced acrosome reaction between fresh (45 +/- 21) and salt-stored (35 +/- 22) zonae pellucidae. The percentage with normal morphology was significantly higher for spermatozoa bound to the zona pellucida (84 +/- 13) and oolemma of zona pellucida-free oocytes (71 +/- 25) than for spermatozoa in insemination medium (39 +/- 11) (P < 0.01). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)