Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activity recognition for indoor fall detection using convolutional neural network

Falls are a major health problem in the elderly population. Therefore, a dedicated monitoring system is highly desirable to improve independent living. This paper presents a video based fall detection system in an indoor environment using convolution neural network. Identifying human poses is important in detecting fall events as specific “change of pose” defines a fall. Knowledge of series of poses is a key to detecting fall or non-fall events. A lying pose which may be considered as an after-fall pose is different from other normal activities such as lying/sleeping on the sofa or crawling. This paper uses Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to recognize different poses. Using Kinect, the following image combinations are explored: RGB, Depth, RGB-D and background subtracted RGB-D. We have constructed our own dataset by recording different activities performed by different people in different indoor set-ups. Our results suggest that combining RGB background subtracted and Depth with CNN gives the best possible solution for monitoring indoor video based falls.
Work in Progress: Using e-Portfolio to Define, Teach, and Assess ABET Professional Skills

While most engineering programs are confident developing specific criteria and assessment tools for the technical skills described in ABET Criterion 3a-k, the question of how to define, teach and assess the professional outcomes (teamwork, professional and ethical responsibility, communication, impact of engineering solutions, life-long learning, and contemporary issues) remains much more challenging. This paper will describe expectations that connect student work to professional skills, broken down by level and organized into ePortfolio assessment matrices. The authors drew on two well-known learning paradigms: Bloom's taxonomy and Baxter Magolda's schema of Intellectual Development. Changes resulting from consulting with an external assessor are discussed. Finally, the paper will conclude with a series of problems and answers in using this digital tool to meet the divergent goals of students, faculty, and program administrators
Sinonasal inverted papillomas: recurrence, and synchronous and metachronous malignancy

Introduction: Inverted papillomas are relatively rare, benign epithelial tumours of the nasal cavity which generate considerable interest because they are locally aggressive, have a tendency to recur and are associated with malignancy. Aims: To review our experience of the management of inverted papillomas, and to review the literature in order to evaluate recurrence rates, rates of synchronous and metachronous carcinoma, and outcomes of treatment, both endoscopic and conventional. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of inverted papilloma that presented to our unit, a tertiary referral centre, over a 20-year period from 1985 to 2005. A Medline review of the literature was performed to identify published case series of inverted papillomas. We undertook a critical analysis of the literature. Results: We treated 65 patients with inverted papilloma over the 20-year period, with a mean follow up of five years (range one to 20 years). Fifty-eight patients initially underwent nasal biopsy, often with polypectomy. Thirty-six had endoscopic surgery, with five (14 per cent) suffering recurrence, whilst 16 had a lateral rhinotomy and medial maxillectomy, of which four (25 per cent) suffered a recurrence. Seven septal inverted papillomas required local resection, with no subsequent recurrences. There were seven (11 per cent) synchronous and two metachronous malignancies. Sixty-three case series with adequate data were identified from the literature. There were 163 (7.1 per cent) cases of synchronous carcinoma, out of 2297 cases. Metachronous carcinomas were reported in 74 out of 2047 cases, representing a transformation rate of 3.6 per cent. However, the true population base for these figures is uncertain, given that many series were reported from tertiary centres, where recurrent and problematic cases are likely to be over-represented. The recurrence rates were 12.8 per cent for endoscopic procedures, 17.0 per cent for lateral rhinotomy with medial maxillectomy, and 34.2 per cent for limited resections such as nasal polypectomy and Caldwell–Luc approaches. No significant association between atypia or dysplasia and recurrence or malignant transformation was found. The mean time taken to develop a metachronous carcinoma was 52 months (range six to 180 months). The estimated malignant potential for recurrent disease was up to 11 per cent. Conclusion: Patients with inverted papilloma should undergo thorough surgery to remove all mucosal disease, most probably by the endoscopic, endonasal route when complete resection is possible. Cases demonstrating atypia or dysplasia may be treated by the endoscopic route. Recurrent disease and metachronous carcinoma can develop after a prolonged period of time. Long-term follow up is recommended to detect recurrence, as disease can become quite extensive before it becomes symptomatic.
Vendor Access and Use of School and Student Data

Online learning currently reaches millions of K-12 learners and its annual growth has been exponential. Industry has projected that this growth will likely continue and has the potential to lead to dramatic changes in the educational landscape. While online learning appears to hold great promise, civil rights legislation and policies—and their application—in online learning, as they pertain to students with disabilities, have been the subject of much less research than is necessary for appropriate policy planning and decision making. Researchers urgently need to develop shared understandings about how online learning affects students with disabilities as they participate in online learning environments, move through their coursework, and transition back to the brick-and-mortar classrooms (or out of school settings in general). Research that claims to focus on students with disabilities in online learning environments should be designed and carried out with particular attention to educational and social outcomes. The Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities (COLSD) conducts research in alignment with these goals.
A modified cell extraction method to access microbial community structure in soil samples by phospholipid fatty acid analysis

The aim of this chapter is to present a modified cell extraction method that is effective in increasing biomass recovery, especially when biochemical techniques like Phospholipid Fatty Acid Analysis (PLFA) are use to determine biomarkers for soil community structure. Extremely low biomass is a limiting factor for obtaining accurate and representative prokaryotic and eukaryotic community structure and composition in soil matrices. In this study, a combination of an inorganic cell releasing buffer and surfactants along with a density gradient separation provides an effective method for cell elution from sediment over other approaches from low biomass soil samples by avoiding traditional problems with direct biochemical extraction methods, e.g. ionic adsorption, pH, and humic acid interferences. Loam soil (10 cells/g of soil) and experimentally determined low biomass (10 cells/g of soil) samples were treated with modified cell extraction method to compare numbers of signature phospholipids biomarkers, their response (concentration), and microbial community structure in each tested soil. A higher biomass yield, measured in pico moles (pm) total lipid, and higher microbial diversity were obtained in both high and low biomass soils when the enhanced extraction method was used. Bacteria were a dominant community component in both high and low biomass soil samples, but several important groups such as methane oxidizers, sulfate reducers, fungi and iron reducers, were only detected with the new method. Genomic DNA extractions were also successfully extracted from the PLFA aqueous phase, showing high molecular weight recovery suitable for further DNA finger-printing techniques.
Is there a focus of HTLV-II infections in the Horn of Africa?

This letter to the editor reports on a survey conducted to determine whether there was a focus of HTLV-II infection in the Horn of Africa. A total of 589 sera from 7 population groups were obtained; the sample population was composed of 97 female sex workers (FSWs) 65 former guerrilla fighters 46 truck drivers 45 port workers 113 pregnant women 161 children and 62 Rashaidas a small and isolated population group of ancient origin. The Ortho HTLV-I/HTLV-II Ab-Capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used in the screening and Western blot and Genelabs Diagnostics HTLV blot 2.4 confirmed the positive results. Out of the 589 sera 2 (0.3%) were HTLV-positive both coming from the FSW group. Their infection might have come from HTLV-II-positive foreigners they had encountered or may also have been attributable to local transmission. Findings indicate that a focus of HTLV-II may exist in the Horn of Africa; thus further investigations on this matter are needed.
The use of traditional marketing tools by SMEs in an emerging economy: a South African perspective

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in all economies around the world, they are responsible for creating of jobs, alleviating of poverty, contributing to innovation and to the gross domestic product of a country. However, many of these businesses face challenges and often fail within a short period of time. The success of small businesses is not only having products and a market to sell them to but also effective marketing of these products to the targeted market. A vast array of studies have investigated SME marketing tool usage however few have looked to SMEs in emerging economies and specifically to the traditional marketing tools such firms employ. Therefore the focus of this study was to describe the usage of traditional marketing tools employed by SMEs from a South African perspective. This study followed a quantitative research methodology whereby a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to SME owners within the Gauteng province of South Africa. Results obtained from this research indicate that SME owners mostly make use of print media while broadcast media is used selectively. Results obtained within this study will be of value universally to SME owners as it can be seen that all SMEs irrespective of geographic location face similar challenges.
Production and Titration of Lentiviral Vectors

Lentiviral vectors have emerged over the last decade as powerful, reliable and safe tools for stable gene transfer in a wide variety of mammalian cells. Unlike other vectors derived from oncoretroviruses, they allow for stable gene delivery into most nondividing primary cells, including neurons. This is why LVs are becoming the most useful and promising tools in the field of neuroscience, not only for research, but also for future gene and cell therapy approaches. Lentivectors (LVs) derived from HIV‐1 have gradually evolved to display many desirable features aimed at increasing both their safety and their versatility. These latest designs are reviewed in this unit. This unit also describes protocols for production and titration of LVs that can be implemented in a research laboratory setting, with an emphasis on standardization to improve transposability of results between laboratories.
Flight or fight: flexible antipredatory strategies in porcelain crabs

Autotomy, the voluntary shedding of limbs or other body parts in the face of predation, is a highly effective escape mechanism that has evolved independently in a variety of taxa. Crabs are unusual in that the limb that is typically sacrificed during autotomy, the anterior clawed cheliped, can also be used to ward off attack. During an encounter with a predator, an individual must thus decide between two mutually exclusive strategies: flight or fight. We used experimental predation encounters with two species of porcelain crabs (genus Petrolisthes) to examine the factors that influence the decision to flee versus fight and to determine the degree to which this decision is context-dependent. We found that autotomy was highly conditional. The characteristics that best predicted autotomy--smaller body size or female gender--also correlated with a lower escape rate by the alternative escape tactic, struggling and pinching the predator. Variation among individuals in the benefit of autotomy (relative to alternative tactics) appears to drive variation in propensity to autotomize. Porcelain crabs thus demonstrate adaptive flexibility, employing the costly strategy of autotomizing a limb as a last resort, only when their chance at success by struggling is low. Copyright 2005.
Genome-wide mapping of infection-induced SINE RNAs reveals a role in selective mRNA export

Abstract Short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) are retrotransposons evolutionarily derived from endogenous RNA Polymerase III RNAs. Though SINE elements have undergone exaptation into gene regulatory elements, how transcribed SINE RNA impacts transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation is largely unknown. This is partly due to a lack of information regarding which of the loci have transcriptional potential. Here, we present an approach (short interspersed nuclear element sequencing, SINE-seq), which selectively profiles RNA Polymerase III-derived SINE RNA, thereby identifying transcriptionally active SINE loci. Applying SINE-seq to monitor murine B2 SINE expression during a gammaherpesvirus infection revealed transcription from 28 270 SINE loci, with ∼50% of active SINE elements residing within annotated RNA Polymerase II loci. Furthermore, B2 RNA can form intermolecular RNA–RNA interactions with complementary mRNAs, leading to nuclear retention of the targeted mRNA via a mechanism involving p54nrb. These findings illuminate a pathway for the selective regulation of mRNA export during stress via retrotransposon activation.
Clinical significance of hepatic derangement in severe acute respiratory syndrome.

AIM Elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level is commonly seen among patients suffering from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). We report the progression and clinical significance of liver derangement in a large cohort of SARS patient. METHODS Serial assay of serum ALT was followed in patients who fulfilled the WHO criteria of SARS. Those with elevated ALT were compared with those with normal liver functions for clinical outcome. Serology for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was checked. Adverse outcomes were defined as oxygen desaturation, need of intensive care unit (ICU) and mechanical ventilation and death. RESULTS Two hundred and ninety-four patients were included in this study. Seventy (24%) patients had elevated serum ALT on admission and 204 (69%) patients had elevated ALT during the subsequent course of illness. Using peak ALT >5XULN as a cut-off and after adjusting for potential confounding factors, the odds ratio of peak ALT >5X ULN for oxygen desaturation was 3.24 (95%CI 1.23-8.59, P = 0.018), ICU care was 3.70 (95%CI 1.38-9.89, P = 0.009), mechanical ventilation was 6.64 (95%CI 2.22-19.81, P = 0.001) and death was 7.34 (95%CI 2.28-24.89, P = 0.001). Ninety-three percent of the survived patients had ALT levels normalized or were on the improving trend during follow-up. Chronic hepatitis B was not associated with worse clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION Reactive hepatitis is a common complication of SARS-coronavirus infection. Those patients with severe hepatitis had worse clinical outcome.
Comparison of Chemical Composition of Particulate Matter Emitted from a Gasoline Direct Injected (GDI) Vehicle and a Port Fuel Injected (PFI) Vehicle using High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS)

Particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere has wideranging health, environmental, and climate effects, many of which are attributed to fine-mode secondary organic aerosols. PM concentrations are significantly enhanced by primary particle emissions from traffic sources. Recently, in order to reduce CO2 and increase fuel economy, gasoline direct injected (GDI) engine technology is increasingly used in vehicle manufactures. The popularization of GDI technique has resulted in increasing of concerns on environmental protection. In order to better understand variations in chemical composition of particulate matter from emissions of GDI vehicle versus a port fuel injected (PFI) vehicle, a high time resolution chemical composition of PM emissions from GDI and PFI vehicles was measured at facility of Transport Pollution Research Center (TPRC), National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), Korea. Continuous measurements of inorganic and organic species in PM were conducted using an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The HR-ToF-AMS provides insight into nonrefractory PM composition, including concentrations of nitrate, sulfate, hydrocarbon-like and oxygenated organic aerosol, and organic mass with 20 sec time resolution. Many cases of PM emissions during the study were dominated by organic and nitrate aerosol. An overview of observed PM characteristics will be provided along with an analysis of comparison of GDI vehicle versus PFI vehicle in PM emission rates and oxidation states.
A Statistical Approach to Evaluating Efficiency of Banks

Abstract Evaluating efficiency of banks has always represented a challenge for researchers. Although many different methods have been proposed, no particular approach is agreed upon. In this paper, statistical I–distance method is proposed. We employed this method on the Serbian banks in the five-year period. Results obtained by I-distance methodology are presented and thoroughly elaborated.
Arabic Text Detection in News Video Based on Line Segment Detector

Text embedded in video sequences is very important to semantic indexing and content-based retrieval system, especially for large scale news collection. However, its detection and extraction is still an open problem due to the variety of its size and the complexity of the backgrounds. In this paper, we propose an approach for automatic Arabic-text localization based on a novel method for text-line detection. On the ﬁrst stage, we use a line segment detector to detect candidate text lines. Then, we propose a word segment identiﬁcation algorithm based on speciﬁc features for Arabic text in order to remove non-text lines. The last stage concerns the text line estimation and text detection in video frames. Experiment results, that we drove on a large collection of video images issued from news broadcasts show the excellent performance of our approach for text detection with diﬀerent character sizes, directions and styles even in case of complex image background.
Structural models of the human iron exporter ferroportin in the inward- and outward- open states

Motivation Ferroportin (Fpn) is a membrane protein belonging to the Major Facilitator Superfamily of transporters. It is the only vertebrate iron exporter known so far. Several Fpn mutations lead to the so-called ‘ferroportin disease’ or type 4 haemochromatosis, characterized by two distinct iron accumulation phenotypes depending on whether the mutations affects the protein’s activity or its degradation pathway (Bonaccorsi di Patti et al., 2014). Despite a general agreement of the scientific community on a 12 transmembrane helices topology, no experimental data are available on human Fpn (HsFpn) three-dimensional structure. Thus, important features of HsFpn remain to be clarified. Recently, the crystal structures of a HsFpn homologue from the predatory Gram-negative bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus (BbFPN), in both the outward(Figure 1 A) and inward-open states (Figure 1 B), has been reported (Taniguchi et al., 20015). The residues essential for iron binding and transport in HsFpn are conserved in BbFPN (Bonaccorsi di Patti et al., 2015). The conservation of these functionally relevant residues prompted us to exploit the two BbFPN structures to construct reliable models of HsFPN. Methods The structural models of HsFpn in were built in both the outwardand inward-open states through the ab initio/threading strategy implemented in the I-TASSER server (Roy et al., 2010). The overall quality of the models generated has been evaluated using PROCHECK (Laskowski et al., 2005) and the model quality parameters provided in the I-TASSER output, such as the C-score. Putative iron binding sites have been detected using LIBRA (Viet Hung et al., 2015). Results The models display the typical fold of MFS proteins with 12 TMs spanning the membrane and the Nand C-termini located on the intracellular side (Figure 1). LIBRA analysis of the models has led to the identification of potential iron binding sites in the inward-open state allowing to propose an iron traslocation mechanism. Further, the outward-open model uncovers details of PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints. 2149v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec: 22 Jun 2016, publ: 22 Jun 2016 the interaction site of the peptide hormone hepcidin, a regulator of HsFpn function. Finally, the HsFPN models provide a mechanistic interpretation for the disease-related mutations that cause hereditary hemochromatosis. Figure 1. Schematic representation of the structural models of human Fpn in outwar-open (A) and inward-open states (B).
ENHANCING BUSINESS PROSPERITY IN NIGERIA THROUGH GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The recent economic global meltdown and the current crisis in the banking sector have cast doubts on the ability of corporate executives to manage their organizations for the good of the stakeholders. The study was conducted to determine the role played by good corporate governance in corporate business prosperity in Nigeria. A review of literature revealed that corporate governance is essentially concerned with whose benefit businesses should be run. Structured questionnaires were used to collect responses from respondents who were investment expert members of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos. It was hypothesized and found that there is a relationship between good corporate governance and corporate business prosperity and market value. The researcher recommended a vigorous enforcement of the corporate governance code by the Security and Exchange Commission, active board of directors and the encouragement of shareholders activism to promote corporate governance among Nigerian corporate organizations.
Effect of Mediating Factors on Customer Defection with Special Reference to Banking Industry in India

People who were practicing Marketing exercise’s and Academicians thinks that “4 Ps” marketing framework – product, price, place and promotion adds less value to their interest or business where ongoing relationship is critical. In a process of finding a way to overcome these marketers has evolved a concept of Relationship Marketing which talks about understanding customer segments, delivering ongoing quality service, and achieving high customer satisfaction. Relationship marketing was about “putting the customer in the middle of the business circle,” in the words of Dick Lee, principal of St. Paul-based Hi-Yield Marketing. Customer Relationship management is the strongest and the most efficient method of maintaining and creating customers. The challenges for marketers doesn’t stops here, as market matured from national to international to global, customer retention and acquisition become more crucial and challenging for them. Multiple options broaden the path for consumer to get access over many products and services, creating a high probability of defection. Now they have new challenge to face that is “Defection”. They are trying hard to understand what they are supposed to do so as to increase customer retention and decrease customer defection. This paper tries to understand the mediating effect of sources on customer defection (Objective knowledge versus Subjective Knowledge) and its important act on consumers repurchase behavior. Effect of Mediating Factors on Customer Defection with Special Reference to Banking Industry in India