Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Wearable Device for Fast and Subtle Spontaneous Smile Recognition

Facial expressions are usually linked to emotional states of a person, and are among the most salient cues for automatic emotion recognition. They are an indispensable social communication tool, and therefore, they can also be fabricated to face complex situations in social interaction. Despite efforts to either deliberately or unconsciously conceal an emotion, micro-expressions are usually leaked. Because of their revealing nature, potential applications can arise from automatically detecting them, both at a personal and inter-personal levels. Therefore, we explored micro-expression detection using a wearable device that detects distal facial EMG signals unobtrusively, as an alternative to Computer Vision-based detection. EMG recognition is advantageous over commonly used video recognition techniques because of its robustness against occlusion and light changes, good temporal resolution, and independence of movement. We evaluated the performance of the wearable device on micro-smile recognition. The results show the potential of EMG to detect such fast and subtle spontaneous expressions. Finally, we evaluated the device as a tool to provide affective annotations of Advertisement Videos, and social interaction in a face-to-face context while watching these stimuli.
Protective effect of Pycnogenol on cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in rats

Abstract Context: Pycnogenol®, which is French maritime pine bark extract, is a potent antioxidant. It is used in medical conditions caused by oxidative stress. Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum II) is an antineoplastic agent. However, its serious side effects such as ototoxicity limit its usage. Objective: Antioxidants can be used to prevent ototoxicity. We investigated the effect of Pycnogenol® on cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Materials and methods: Rats were randomly assigned to four groups of five. Distortion product-evoked otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) test was performed for each rat. The experimental groups were as follows: Control Group, Pycnogenol® Group: 10 mg/kg Pycnogenol® intraperitoneally for 7 days, Cisplatin Group: intraperitoneally 15 mg/kg single injection of cisplatin on the fifth day, Cisplatin + Pycnogenol® Group: intraperitoneally 10 mg/kg Pycnogenol® treatment for 7 days, additionally on the fifth day, 15 mg/kg single injection of cisplatin was given. On the eighth day, DPOAE was re-performed and rats were sacrificed. Apoptosis was evaluated histopathologically. Results: Mean percentage of apoptotic cells was 1.5, 3, 30 and 11% in organ of Corti and 2, 2, 40, 15% in spiral ganglion neurons in Control Group, Pycnogenol® Group, Cisplatin Group and Cisplatin + Pycnogenol® Group, respectively. Cisplatin Group and Cisplatin + Pycnogenol® Group were significantly different when compared to Control Group histopathologically both in organ of Corti and spiral ganglion neuron (p <0.001, p = 0.019, p = 0.001, p = 0.015). DPOAE results showed that Cisplatin + Pycnogenol® Group was significantly different when compared to Cisplatin Group at 3, 6 and 8 kHz (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Pycnogenol protected against cisplatin ototoxicity. Also, pycnogenol is not ototoxic.
A Substrate Integrated Waveguide Based Antipodal Linear Tapered Slot Antenna for 60 GHz Wireless Communications

─ Antipodal linear tapered slot antenna (ALTSA) for 60 GHz communications is presented in this paper. To obtain a high gain, dielectric loading in addition to the corrugation structure is applied to the ALTSA. The use of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology allows a highly efficient, compact and low cost planar design. The antenna is designed and simulated in an electromagnetic field simulation tool. To validate the proposed design, a prototype has been fabricated and measured. The simulated results agree well with the measured values, which validates the proposed design. The radiation efficiency is observed to be 92%. The antenna has a gain of 18.7 ± 0.5 dBi. The return loss is better than 10 dB over the 60 GHz band (57 GHz – 64 GHz). Index Terms ─ Antipodal linear tapered slot antenna, dielectric loading, high gain, substrate integrated waveguide, 60 GHz.
Evolutionary and phenotypic analysis of live virus isolates suggests arthropod origin of a pathogenic RNA virus family

Significance Knowledge of the origin and evolution of viruses provides important insight into virus emergence involving the acquisition of genes necessary for the infection of new host species or the development of pathogenicity. The family Bunyaviridae contains important arthropod-borne pathogens of humans, animals, and plants. In this study, we provide a comprehensive characterization of two novel lineages of insect-specific bunyaviruses that are in basal phylogenetic relationship to the rodent-borne hantaviruses, the only genus within the Bunyaviridae that is not transmitted by arthropod vectors. These data, together with ancestral state reconstruction of bunyavirus hosts for major virus lineage bifurcations, suggest that the vertebrate-infecting viruses evolved from arthropod-specific progenitors. The evolutionary origins of arboviruses are unknown because their typical dual host tropism is paraphyletic within viral families. Here we studied one of the most diversified and medically relevant RNA virus families, the Bunyaviridae, in which four of five established genera are transmitted by arthropods. We define two cardinally novel bunyavirus groups based on live isolation of 26 viral strains from mosquitoes (Jonchet virus [JONV], eight strains; Ferak virus [FERV], 18 strains). Both viruses were incapable of replicating at vertebrate-typical temperatures but replicated efficiently in insect cells. Replication involved formation of virion-sense RNA (vRNA) and mRNA, including cap-snatching activity. SDS/PAGE, mass spectrometry, and Edman degradation identified translation products corresponding to virion-associated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase protein (RdRp), glycoprotein precursor protein, glycoproteins Gn and Gc, as well as putative nonstructural proteins NSs and NSm. Distinct virion morphologies suggested ancient evolutionary divergence, with bunyavirus-typical morphology for FERV (spheres of 60–120 nm) as opposed to an unusual bimorphology for JONV (tubular virions of 60 × 600 nm and spheres of 80 nm). Both viruses were genetically equidistant from all other bunyaviruses, showing <15% amino acid identity in the RdRp palm domain. Both had different and unique conserved genome termini, as in separate bunyavirus genera. JONV and FERV define two novel sister taxons to the superclade of orthobunyaviruses, tospoviruses, and hantaviruses. Phylogenetic ancestral state reconstruction with probabilistic hypothesis testing suggested ancestral associations with arthropods at deep nodes throughout the bunyavirus tree. Our findings suggest an arthropod origin of bunyaviruses.
Tungsten Carbide: A Remarkably Efficient Catalyst for the Selective Cleavage of Lignin C-O Bonds.

A remarkably effective method for the chemoselective cleavage of the C-O bonds of typical β-O-4 model compounds and the deconstruction of lignin feedstock was developed by using tungsten carbide as the catalyst. High yields of C-O cleavage products (up to 96.8 %) from model compounds and liquid oils (up to 70.7 %) from lignin feedstock were obtained under low hydrogen pressure (0.69 MPa) in methanol. The conversion efficiency was determined to a large extent by solvent effects and was also affected by both the electronic and steric effects of the lignin model compounds. In situ W2 C/activated carbon (AC)-catalyzed hydrogen transfer from methanol to the substrate was proposed to be responsible for the high performance in methanol solvent. The conversion of 2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-1-phenylethanol showed that the catalyst could be reused five times without a significant loss in activity for C-O bond cleavage, whereas the selectivity to value-added styrene increased markedly owing to partial oxidation of the W2 C phase according to X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy characterization. 2 D-HSQC-NMR spectroscopy analysis showed that W2 C/AC exhibited high activity not only for β-O-4 cleavage but also for the deconstruction of more resistant α-O-4 and β-β linkages, so that a high yield of liquid oil was obtained from lignin. Corn stalk lignin was more liable to be depolymerized than birch lignin owing to its loosened structure (scanning electron microscopy results), larger surface area (BET results), and lower molecular weight (gel-permeation chromatography results), whereas its liquid oil composition was more complicated than that of birch wood lignin in that the former lignin contained more p-hydroxyphenyl units and the former contained noncanonical units.
The cost of code quality

Using data from more than 80 development projects, this paper attempts to answer the question: how much effort should be invested into code quality? It is shown that a "quick and dirty" approach is actually preferable in some situations. Volatility of requirements, expected breadth of usage, customers' defect tolerance, cost of defect fixing and system lifespan are suggested as the main factors determining how much effort to spend on improving code. These factors are then used to identify situations where XP coding practices are inefficient and to find boundaries within which simpler, less expensive methods give better results
Prevalence of Cryptosporidium in immunocompetent patients at a tertiary care centre at Moradabad , Western Uttar Pradesh , India : A One-year observational study

Cryptosporidiosis is a serious public health problem in most of the regions of the world, especially in developing countries, and represents a major cause of morbidity in children and among high-risk groups. The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infections in Moradabad district in immunocompetent patients in Western Uttar Pradesh and compare and correlate it with gender, age group, area (rural or urban) and main complains. Stool samples from 643 immunocompetent patients were collected and subjected to routine stool investigations during the study, i.e. Macroscopic examination was carried out for the presence adult worms or their body segments and microscopic examination such as stool wet mounts (both saline and iodine mounts), Modified Acid fast staining and ELISA for Cryptosporidium antigens were done. Out of total 643 patients, 178 (27.68%) had Cryptosporidium infection. Maximum numbers of patients were in the age group of 0-10yrs (277,43.08%) whereas out of these, 77 patients were found positive(27.8%), followed by 11-20 yrs age group(153,23.79%), and out of these, 53 (34.64%) were found positive, thus total positive patients of or less than twenty years of age were130,(73.03% of all positive patients). Out of total 643 patients, 383 (59.57%) were male and 260 (40.43%) were female patients and out of total 178 positive patients,105 (58.98%) were male patients. Most of the positive patients were from rural area, 108(60.67%). Diarrhoea(off and on) was the main complain in 163(91.57%) patients, followed by abdominal cramps in158(88.76%), anorexia and nausia in 101(56.74%) and Fever in 72 (40.44%) patients. Prevalence of Cryptosporidium infectionis high(27.68%)in Moradabad district in Western Uttar Pradesh.
Exploring AR poster as an interface to personal health data

In this demo, we present a set-up that utilizes augmented reality (AR) in a display set-up combining a public and a private display for presenting health related information. Our installation includes a life-size poster of a human body, which is viewed through a mobile phone camera viewfinder that augments different body parts with health related data. We envision that this kind of set-up could be utilized in contexts where informative posters or similar are commonly used, and where people would benefit from accessing personal wellness or health information, such as a gym or medical doctor's waiting room.
Novel down link rain fade mitigation technique for Ka‐band multibeam systems

Rain fades at Ka‐Band degrades the link quality and performance significantly. Several rain fade mitigation techniques for Ka‐band satellite systems are being investigated to improve the channel capacity. Methods such as power control and adaptive waveform techniques have been proposed for use in the uplink as they are capable of straightforward implementation. A novel down link power control technique for multi‐beam Ka‐band system has been proposed in this paper. It is based on the use of multi‐port amplifier, which is commonly used for dynamic power sharing of the beams depending upon the traffic. Payload architecture for multi‐beam coverage using multi‐port amplifiers has been designed for the proposed technique. The simulation results to compensate for the rain fade attenuation of one beam by sharing the unused power from other beams have been presented Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The evolution of cooperation and altruism – a general framework and a classification of models

One of the enduring puzzles in biology and the social sciences is the origin and persistence of intraspecific cooperation and altruism in humans and other species. Hundreds of theoretical models have been proposed and there is much confusion about the relationship between these models. To clarify the situation, we developed a synthetic conceptual framework that delineates the conditions necessary for the evolution of altruism and cooperation. We show that at least one of the four following conditions needs to be fulfilled: direct benefits to the focal individual performing a cooperative act; direct or indirect information allowing a better than random guess about whether a given individual will behave cooperatively in repeated reciprocal interactions; preferential interactions between related individuals; and genetic correlation between genes coding for altruism and phenotypic traits that can be identified. When one or more of these conditions are met, altruism or cooperation can evolve if the cost‐to‐benefit ratio of altruistic and cooperative acts is greater than a threshold value. The cost‐to‐benefit ratio can be altered by coercion, punishment and policing which therefore act as mechanisms facilitating the evolution of altruism and cooperation. All the models proposed so far are explicitly or implicitly built on these general principles, allowing us to classify them into four general categories.
Emotional involvement in digital games

Digital games have become a pervasive aspect of the contemporary media landscape, yet our understanding of the way they engage players is limited. Experiential studies of games have the added complexity of plugging human consciousness in the cybernetic circuit that generates gameplay. Quite simply games require input from players in order to occur. The nature of this cybernetic circuit means that the forms of engagement enabled by digital games are considerably different from those of other noninteractive media. This calls for theoretical models and analytical tools developed specifically with digital games in mind. This paper describes such a model which aims to enhance our understanding of digital game involvement. The model addresses a variety of experiential dimensions related to gameplay, but will here focus primarily on the affective dimension.
Generalized Latent Variable Modeling: Multilevel,Longitudinal, and Structural Equation Models

needed for nonadditive and more complex models. Chapter 2 describes five additional examples that provide the foundation for more detailed explanations in later chapters. The chapter also includes some of properties of sensitivity analysis and expands on the various settings in which sensitivity analysis is applicable. Chapter 3 presents the examples in greater detail by showing some practical problems in which sensitivity analysis has demonstrated usefulness. The chapter includes a variance estimation problem, the method of Morris, Monte Carlo filtering, and estimation/calibration problems. Chapter 4 concerns the identification of a subset of the most important factors when working with a complex model involving numerous input factors. Chapter 5 presents methods that illustrate the approach of variance decomposition relative to the output factor. Both orthogonal and nonorthogonal sets of input factors are discussed. Chapter 6 presents methods suitable for sensitivity analysis of diagnostic models. A Monte Carlo approach termed “regionalized sensitivity analysis” is presented in detail, and Bayesian methods and global sensitivity analysis are covered. Chapter 7 illustrates use of the SIMLAB software (the authors’ software, available for free download at through the authors’ webpage) to implement many of the methods described in the text. There are step-by-step instructions that explain how to use SIMLAB to analyze the investor’s portfolio example in Chapter 1. The last chapter is a short but entertaining presentation of the importance of sensitivity analysis in model validation that includes some quotations on the role of sensitivity analysis to confirm numerical based scientific findings. I found this to be an interesting and informative book; however, some of the technical material seemed overly complicated and lacking sufficient explanation. I was left with the impression that to fully grasp some of the more complex aspects of sensitivity analysis, additional references are needed to supplement this text. Perhaps that is part of the authors’ purpose, to whet the appetite for more information. If so, they have succeeded.
Reliability criteria for system dynamic performance

One of the topics of discussion at the January 1976 meeting of the Working Group on Dynamic System Performance was the reliability criteria for system design as specified by the National Electric Reliability Council (NERC) and the Council's regional design review committees. The Working Group discussion occurred just after the 10th anniversary of the November 1965 "Northeast Blackout. " It seemed appropriate at that time to review the events of the intervening decade and evaluate the progress made in assuring adequate system design for dynamic performance.
Urinary catecholamine and metadrenaline to creatinine ratios in dogs with a phaeochromocytoma

Urinary adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline, dopamine, metadrenaline (metanephrine) and normetadrenaline to creatinine ratios were measured from spot samples of seven client-owned dogs with a histologically confirmed phaeochromocytoma. Urine was collected on day 0 in the hospital in six dogs, and additionally on days 2, 6 and 7 after discharge in two of these dogs. In one dog, urine was sampled on day 7 only. Samples were also collected from 10 healthy control dogs on days 0, 1 and 7. In dogs with phaeochromocytomas, normetadrenaline:creatinine ratios at all time points ranged from 103 to 6430 nmol/mmol. From day 0, ratios of samples taken at the hospital (range 157 to 925 nmol/mmol) were significantly higher (P<0.0012) compared with control samples (range 14 to 91 nmol/mmol). The highest normetadrenaline:creatinine ratios were found in two dogs with bilateral phaeochromocytomas. Adrenaline:creatinine and noradrenaline:creatinine ratios were also significantly increased (P<0.016) in dogs with a phaeochromocytoma at day 0 compared with controls, although the difference was less pronounced than that between controls and dogs with a phaeochromocytoma for the normetadrenaline:creatinine ratio. Urine normetadrenaline:creatinine ratios may be useful in the diagnosis of canine phaeochromocytomas.
Reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their negative health impact in Estonia

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with increased energy intake, weight gain, overweight and obesity more than for any other food or beverage as well as with the development of several non-communicable diseases and poor oral health. Already, more than half of all Estonians are overweight or obese, and the numbers are rising rapidly, especially among children and adolescents. The brief focuses on children, as beverage preferences and consumption patterns develop early in childhood and can persist over time. Four policy options were selected for reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their negative health effects: regulation of food advertising, labelling of sugar-sweetened beverages and raising awareness about their health effects, school interventions and nutrition policies, and imposing taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, subsidizing other food groups and/or substituting alternative beverages. Based on the findings it was concluded that the four policy options complement each other and, if implemented in combination, would help to reach the goal of better health outcomes. Comprehensive, multicomponent interventions will reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their negative health effects.
Structural design of LED packaging in terms of lumen reliability by a statistical method

The structural design for LED packaging is of great importance. S o far, the methods for LED packaging are mostly from the perspective of enhancing the emitted light's optical performance. In this paper, we proposed a statistical method for the structural design of LED packaging in terms of lumen reliability. Orthogonal experimental design was used in the determination of the experimental scheme. Optical simulations were conducted to calculate the optical power of LED package according to the scheme. Two traditional structural models were selected as objectives. Range and variance analyses were applied to investigate the significance of structural factors on the LED's light output before guiding the structural design. According to the analyses, it is suggested that the lens and silicone encapsulant can be combined as one and the quality of the heat slug's top surface should be enhanced pointedly. It is concluded that this method is useful for the development and design of new packaging structures from the perspective of reliability.
Relationship between antidepressant medication treatment and suicide in adolescents.

CONTEXT A decade of increasing antidepressant medication treatment for adolescents and corresponding declines in suicide rates raise the possibility that antidepressants have helped prevent youth suicide. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between regional changes in antidepressant medication treatment and suicide in adolescents from 1990 to 2000. DESIGN Analysis of prescription data from the nation's largest pharmacy benefit management organization, national suicide mortality files, regional sociodemographic data from the 1990 and 2000 US Census, and regional data on physicians per capita. PARTICIPANTS Youth aged 10 to 19 years who filled a prescription for antidepressant medication and same-aged completed suicides from 588 three-digit ZIP code regions in the United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The relationship between regional change in antidepressant medication treatment and suicide rate stratified by sex, age group, regional median income, and regional racial composition. RESULTS There was a significant adjusted negative relationship between regional change in antidepressant medication treatment and suicide during the study period. A 1% increase in adolescent use of antidepressants was associated with a decrease of 0.23 suicide per 100 000 adolescents per year (beta = -.023, t = -5.14, P<.001). In stratified adjusted analyses, significant inverse relationships were present among males (beta = -.032, t = -3.81, P<.001), youth aged 15 to 19 years (beta = -.029, t = -3.43, P<.001), and regions with lower family median incomes (beta = -.023, t = -3.73, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS An inverse relationship between regional change in use of antidepressants and suicide raises the possibility of a role for using antidepressant treatment in youth suicide prevention efforts, especially for males, older adolescents, and adolescents who reside in lower-income regions.