Presentation attack detection for face recognition on smartphones: a comprehensive review

Even though the field of Face Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) has been around for quite a long time, but still it is quite a new field to be implemented on smartphones. Implementation on smartphones is different because the limited computing power of the smartphones when compared to computers. Presentation Attack for a face recognition system may happen in various ways, using photograph, video or mask of an authentic user’s face. The Presentation Attack Detection system is vital to counter those kinds of intrusion. Face presentation attack countermeasures are categorized as sensor level or feature level. Face Presentation Attack Detection through the sensor level technique involved in using additional hardware or sensor to protect recognition system from spoofing while feature level techniques are purely software-based algorithms and analysis. Under the feature level techniques, it may be divided into liveness detection; motion analysis; face appearance properties (texture analysis, reflectance); image quality analysis (image distortion); contextual information; challenge response. There are a few types of research have been done for face PAD on smartphones. They also have released the database they used for their testing and performance benchmarking

New distribution record of two pen shells (Bivalvia : Pinnidae) from the Seagrass Beds of Sg. Pulai, Johore Malaysia

Studies on taxonomy of pen shells were conducted at Merambong Shoal (N1° 19’ 55.62? E103° 35’ 57.75? ), Tanjung Adang Shoal (N1° 19’ 48.03? E103° 33’ 59.44? ) and Merambong Island (N1° 18’ 54.83? E103° 36’ 33.37? ) off South Western Johor coast, Peninsular Malaysia from August 2005 to June 2006. One hundred and seven individuals of pen shells were collected from the study areas for taxonomy identification. Pen shells were grouped based on the internal and external surface of the valves. Seven species were clearly identified where Atrina and Pinna are dominant. Among these seven species, "Pinna deltodes (Menke, 1843) and Pinna incurva (Gmelin, 1791)" are the new distribution record from the seagrasses bed of Sungai Pulai

Wanderlust Borneo Travel / Abdul Ghaffar Naning... [et al.]

This company runs a business relating to the tourism industry which it aims to provide tour and travel services. Basically, this company provides services like transportations and accommodations and also touring services for the convenience of all the clients especially the foreign tourists who have never been to Sabah, Malaysia

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Investigation into the Nature and Causes of Students’ Conflicts, Strategies and Role of Academic Personnel in Conflicts Resolution in Universities of Khyber Pakhtun Khwa

This paper focused on the investigation of the nature and causes of students’ conflicts, strategies and role of academic personnel in both sectors universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The objectives of the study were; to investigate the nature and causes of conflict, to find out the strategies employed in conflict resolution and to investigate the role of academic personnel in the resolution of conflicts in universities. The study was descriptive and survey and conducted to investigate the research problem. Ten (10) universities were taken as sample of the study from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Self-developed questionnaires were used to collect the data from the respondents. The collected data were put into SPSS and were analyzed through mean scores, standard deviation, independent sample t-test and Cohen’s d. Findings of the study showed that nature of conflicts is different in both private and public sector universities; it was further found that causes as well as resolution strategies followed in both the universities are also different. The role of private sector academic personnel was found significant in resolving the conflicts arise among students at universities. Based on the study results it was recommended that policy implementation at universities may be fair and uniform. Furthermore, autonomy may be given to the academic personnel of the universities so that they could properly resolve the conflict

The diversity and distribution of fish at the port and urbanized areas of Pulau Pinang Strait, Malaysia

Marine fish in Malaysian waters are impacted by various stressors, including resource exploitation, urbanization and industrialization. Therefore, this study examines the fish diversity and distribution at five sampling stations with different natural processes and anthropogenic activities in the coastal waters of Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. A total of 669 fish specimens belonging to 47 species from 23 families were collected using drift nets in two sampling periods from October to November 2017 and October to November 2019. The fish abundance is determined based on the catch per unit effort, (CPUE ind/hour). Among the dominant families, Leiognathidae and Ariidae accounted for 21.22 and 14.44 of the total catch, respectively. Three fish species, namely, Eubleekeria splendens, Anodontostoma chacunda, and Pennahia anea, dominated the catches. The CPUE near the ongoing reclamation projects and landfill was lower than that of the port and industrial areas with mangrove estuaries. The dendrogram clearly differentiated the fish species composition between the reclamation sites and natural shorelines. Given no previous research on the fish distribution along the Pulau Pinang strait featuring different habitat types, this study therefore serves as a contemporary fish assemblage for future research and surveys