Anticipating Suspicious Actions using a Small Dataset of Action Templates

In this paper, we propose to detect an action as soon as possible and ideally before it is fully completed. The objective is to support the monitoring of surveillance videos for preventing criminal or terrorist attacks. For such a scenario, it is of importance to have not only high detection and recognition rates but also low time latency for the detection. Our solution consists in an adaptive sliding window approach in an online manner, which efficiently rejects irrelevant data. Furthermore, we exploit both spatial and temporal information by constructing feature vectors based on temporal blocks. For an added efficiency, only partial template actions are considered for the detection. The relationship between the template size and latency is experimentally evaluated. We show promising preliminary experimental results using Motion Capture data with a skeleton representation of the human body

Influence of cold on host-parasite interactions.

pt.

The effect of dietary chromium(III) on growth and carbohydrate utilization in mirror and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) L.

The aim of feed formulation in aquaculture is to supply a suitable diet that provides nutritional requirements at relatively low cost. Carbohydrates are the most economic energy source for animals compared to protein and lipid; however, fish have limited capacity for dietary carbohydrate utilization. Trivalent chromium is an essential micronutrient for carbohydrate metabolism in vertebrates. The primary objective of this thesis was to enhance understanding of the effects of organic and inorganic forms of Cr on carbohydrate utilization, growth performance, gene expression and activity of specific key liver enzymes in carp Cyprinus carpio. In addition, effects of dietary Cr on body composition, Cr tissue content, blood cells DNA damage, and tissue histopathology (liver and gut) were evaluated. The first experiment (Chapter 3) tested levels of dietary Cr (0, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg Cr kg-1 as Cr chloride) to determine Cr requirement; the second experiment (Chapter 4) compared bioavailability of different forms of Cr (Cr chloride, Cr picolinate, and Cr yeast); and the third experiment (Chapter 5) evaluated different levels of Cr yeast (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg Cr kg-1) on utilization of a starch or dextrin-based diet. A Cr supplementation of 0.5 mg Cr kg-1 (regardless of form of Cr) produced highest growth performance; whereas 2.0 mg Cr kg-1 did not differ from control. The 0.5 mg Cr kg-1 also enabled carp to utilize complex carbohydrates (e.g., starch) and did not affect final body composition. Only 2.0 mg Cr kg-1 caused DNA damage in blood cells and tissue damage (liver and gut histopathology). Cr content in whole body increased with dietary Cr, but Cr did not affect hexokinase gene expression. Overall, results indicate that Cr can improve growth performance of carp and that Cr supplementation can enhance utilization of carbohydrates in fish feed.The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research/ Republic of Ira

Research in the Language, Information and Computation Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania

This report takes its name from the Computational Linguistics Feedback Forum (CLiFF), an informal discussion group for students and faculty. However the scope of the research covered in this report is broader than the title might suggest; this is the yearly report of the LINC Lab, the Language, Information and Computation Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. It may at first be hard to see the threads that bind together the work presented here, work by faculty, graduate students and postdocs in the Computer Science and Linguistics Departments, and the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science. It includes prototypical Natural Language fields such as: Combinatorial Categorial Grammars, Tree Adjoining Grammars, syntactic parsing and the syntax-semantics interface; but it extends to statistical methods, plan inference, instruction understanding, intonation, causal reasoning, free word order languages, geometric reasoning, medical informatics, connectionism, and language acquisition. Naturally, this introduction cannot spell out all the connections between these abstracts; we invite you to explore them on your own. In fact, with this issue it’s easier than ever to do so: this document is accessible on the “information superhighway”. Just call up http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~cliff-group/94/cliffnotes.html In addition, you can find many of the papers referenced in the CLiFF Notes on the net. Most can be obtained by following links from the authors’ abstracts in the web version of this report. The abstracts describe the researchers’ many areas of investigation, explain their shared concerns, and present some interesting work in Cognitive Science. We hope its new online format makes the CLiFF Notes a more useful and interesting guide to Computational Linguistics activity at Penn

1998 NASA-ASEE-Stanford Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

This report presents the essential features and highlights of the 1998 Summer Faculty Fellowship Program at Ames Research Center and Dryden Flight Research Center in a comprehensive and concise form. Summary reports describing the fellows' technical accomplishments are enclosed in the attached technical report. The proposal for the 1999 NASA-ASEE-Stanford Summer Faculty Fellowship Program is being submitted under separate cover. Of the 31 participating fellows, 27 were at Ames and 4 were at Dryden. The Program's central feature is the active participation by each fellow in one of the key technical activities currently under way at either the NASA Ames Research Center or the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The research topic is carefully chosen in advance to satisfy the criteria of: (1) importance to NASA, (2) high technical level, and (3) a good match to the interests, ability, and experience of the fellow, with the implied possibility of NASA-supported follow-on work at the fellow's home institution. Other features of the Summer Faculty Fellowship Program include participation by the fellows in workshops and seminars at Stanford, the Ames Research Center, and other off-site locations. These enrichment programs take place either directly or remotely, via the Stanford Center for Professional Development, and also involve specific interactions between fellows and Stanford faculty on technical and other academic subjects. A few, brief remarks are in order to summarize the fellows' opinions of the summer program. It is noteworthy that 90% of the fellows gave the NASA-Ames/Dryden- Stanford program an "excellent" rating and the remaining 10%, "good." Also, 100% would recommend the program to their colleagues as an effective means of furthering their professional development as teachers and researchers. Last, but not least, 87% of the fellows stated that a continuing research relationship with their NASA colleagues' organization probably would be maintained. Therefore, the NASA-ASEE- Ames/Dryden-Stanford Program has met its goals very well and every effort will be made to continue to do so in the future

Targets in Gene Therapy

This book aims at providing an up-to-date report to cover key aspects of existing problems in the emerging field of targets in gene therapy. With the contributions in various disciplines of gene therapy, the book brings together major approaches: Target Strategy in Gene Therapy, Gene Therapy of Cancer and Gene Therapy of Other Diseases. This source enables clinicians and researchers to select and effectively utilize new translational approaches in gene therapy and analyze the developments in target strategy in gene therapy

Molecular Analysis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Other XP Mutations Using Cloned DNA Sequences

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common, lethal X-linked mutation in the United Kingdom, affecting one in every three thousand male livebirths. Affected males have progressive muscle weakness and die as a result of respiratory or cardiac involvement in their late teens or early twenties. Whilst the X-linked nature of DMD has been recognised for many years, the regional assignment of DMD to Xp21 is relatively recent. This was first proposed on the basis of X;autosome translocations and more recently has been supported by linkage analysis using polymorphic DNA probes from within and around the DMD locus. X-linked ichthyosis (XLI) is the most common cause of early onset scaly skin (ichthyosis), affecting one in every five to six thousand male livebirths and is due to a deficiency of steroid sulphatase (STS). Although the X-linked nature of one form of ichthyosis had been recognised for many years, deficiency of STS in association with this condition was a relatively recent discovery. STS was assigned to Xp22 to Xpter on the basis of somatic cell hybrid mapping and to Xp22.3 to Xpter on the basis of a male with an XY translocation. The STS locus is of particular interest as it is one of the few known X-linked loci which escape inactivation in females. The main aim of this project was to isolate DNA sequences from the short arm of the X-chromosome (Xp) which could be used to study either DMD or XLI. In order to achieve this, an x-chromosome specific EcoRI library was constructed from flow-sorted chromosomes. In the initial screening of this library, one hundred and twenty plaques were selected for further study of which twenty eight had human inserts. Sixteen of these were single-copy or low-copy sequences with homology to the human x-chromosome, four were sequences with homology to the autosomes, six had homology to repeat sequences and a further recombinant had homology to multiple sequences in both man and mouse. The X-specific inserts were further characterised by a somatic cell hybrid mapping panel and four were assigned to xp; GMGX9(DXS237) to Xp22.3-pter, GMGX10(DXS238) to Xp21-cen and GMGX1KDXS239) and GMGX12(DXS240) to Xp21-Xp22.3. The ability of these four probes to detect restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) was studied using panels of twelve to fourteen X-chromosomes digested with each of thirteen restriction enzymes. Only GMGX9(DXS237) detected an RFLP with HindiII. This had alleles of 4kb and 2.5kb + 1.5kb, which occurred at frequencies of 0.67 and 0.33 respectively, and a Pic value of 0.44. These four probes were also tested in eleven individuals with DMD, BMD or contiguous gene syndromes including DMD, who all had deletions of pERT87(DXS164) and/or XJ(DXS206) (which are deleted in 6-10% of males with DMD/BMD). GMGXll(DXS239) was deleted in one individual with adrenal hypoplasia (AHC), glycerol kinase deficiency (GK) and DMD, whilst GMGX10(DXS238) was deleted in three individuals with large deletions. These eleven individuals were also examined with twenty seven other Xp probes. Only two of these eleven deletions could not be resolved from the others by these probes and there was no smallest region of overlap. The deletion in one boy (pedigree number 5097) with BMD, apparently encompassed that of a second (5265) with DMD, thus excluding the notion of an unique BMD domain in Xp21. Deletion studies in these eleven individuals and in somatic cell hybrids mapped GMGX10(DXS238) proximal to pERT84(DXS142), GMGX11(DXS239) between JBir(DXS270) and Ll-4(DXS68) and GMGX12(PXS240) between C7(DXS28) or B24(DXS67) and GMGX9(DXS239). GMGX10(DXS238), GMGXll(DXS239), GMGX12(DXS240), p20(DXS269), JBir(DXS270) and J66HI(DXS268) were used to screen one hundred and three boys with DMD or BMD, including nine of the eleven deletions described above. GMGX10(DXS238) and GMGX12(DXS240) detected no additional deletions. Thirty six additional deletions or altered fragment sizes were detected with GMGXll(DXS239), p20(DXS269), JBir(DXS270) and J66HI(DXS268). Thus 46% of boys in this group had deletions or altered restriction fragment lengths visualised with DNA probes. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)