Is the Pedestrian going to Cross? Answering by 2D Pose Estimation

Our recent work suggests that, thanks to nowadays powerful CNNs, image-based 2D pose estimation is a promising cue for determining pedestrian intentions such as crossing the road in the path of the ego-vehicle, stopping before entering the road, and starting to walk or bending towards the road. This statement is based on the results obtained on non-naturalistic sequences (Daimler dataset), i.e. in sequences choreographed specifically for performing the study. Fortunately, a new publicly available dataset (JAAD) has appeared recently to allow developing methods for detecting pedestrian intentions in naturalistic driving conditions; more specifically, for addressing the relevant question is the pedestrian going to cross? Accordingly, in this paper we use JAAD to assess the usefulness of 2D pose estimation for answering such a question. We combine CNN-based pedestrian detection, tracking and pose estimation to predict the crossing action from monocular images. Overall, the proposed pipeline provides new state-of-the-art results.Comment: This is a paper presented in IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IEEE IV 2018

Pedestrian Detection at Day/Night Time with Visible and FIR Cameras : A Comparison

Altres ajuts: DGT (SPIP2014-01352)Despite all the significant advances in pedestrian detection brought by computer vision for driving assistance, it is still a challenging problem. One reason is the extremely varying lighting conditions under which such a detector should operate, namely day and nighttime. Recent research has shown that the combination of visible and non-visible imaging modalities may increase detection accuracy, where the infrared spectrum plays a critical role. The goal of this paper is to assess the accuracy gain of different pedestrian models (holistic, part-based, patch-based) when training with images in the far infrared spectrum. Specifically, we want to compare detection accuracy on test images recorded at day and nighttime if trained (and tested) using (a) plain color images; (b) just infrared images; and (c) both of them. In order to obtain results for the last item, we propose an early fusion approach to combine features from both modalities. We base the evaluation on a new dataset that we have built for this purpose as well as on the publicly available KAIST multispectral dataset

Therapeutic Effects of TianDiJingWan on the A β

The main purpose of this study was to demonstrate the therapeutic effects and mechanism of TDJW, a modern Chinese medicine prescription developed based on the basic traditional Chinese medicine theory of “tonifying the kidney essence,” on the Aβ25–35-induced AD rats. The AD model was established by the intracerebroventricular administrations of Aβ25–35 into the hippocampus CA1 tissue of SD male rats. 72 rats were randomly divided into six groups: sham operation, AD model, donepezil, high TDJW group, medium TDJW group, and low TDJW group. After oral administration of TDJW, the results of Morris water maze and step-down test showed that the learning and memory abilities of AD rats were significantly improved. And biochemical measurement demonstrated that Ach and Glu in hippocampus tissues of AD rats were increased as well. Moreover, the Aβ deposits and p-Tau aggregations in hippocampus CA1 tissues of AD rats were attenuated as observed in the micrographs of immunohistochemistry study, and the results of ELISA indicated that the expressions of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in hippocampus tissues were significantly decreased. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that TDJW could be used as a promising therapeutic agent for the clinical applications of AD treatment in patients

Linkage between surface energy balance non‐closure and horizontal asymmetric turbulent transport

A number of studies have reported that the traditional eddy covariance (EC) method generally underestimated vertical turbulent fluxes, leading to an outstanding non-closure problem of the surface energy balance (SEB). Although it is recognized that the enlarged surface energy imbalance frequently coincides with the increasing wind shear, the role of large eddies in affecting the SEB remains unclear. On analyzing data collected by an EC array, considerable horizontal inhomogeneity of kinematic heat flux is observed. The results show that the combined EC method that incorporates the spatial flux contribution increases the kinematic heat flux by 21% relative to the traditional EC method, improving the SEB closure. Additionally, spectral analysis indicates that large eddies with scales ranging from 0.0005 to 0.01 (in the normalized frequency) mainly account for the horizontal inhomogeneity of kinematic heat flux. Under unstable conditions, this process is operating upon large eddies characterized by enlarged asymmetric turbulent flux transport. With enhanced wind shear, the increment of flux contribution associated with sweeps and ejections becomes disproportionate, contributing to the horizontal inhomogeneity of kinematic heat flux, and thus may explain the increased SEB non-closure

Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Drives Heat Adaptation by Sequestering Fatty Acids

Cells adapt to temperature shifts by adjusting levels of lipid desaturation and membrane fluidity. This fundamental process occurs in nearly all forms of life, but its mechanism in eukaryotes is unknown. We discovered that the evolutionarily conserved C. elegans gene acdh-11 (acyl CoAdehydrogenase, ACDH) facilitates heat adaptation by regulating the lipid desaturase FAT-7. Human ACDH deficiency causes the most common inherited disorders of fatty acid oxidation, with syndromes that are exacerbated by hyperthermia. Heat up-regulates acdh-11 expression to decrease fat-7 expression. We solved the high-resolution crystal structure of ACDH-11 and established the molecular basis of its selective and high-affinity binding to C11/C12-chain fatty acids. ACDH-11 sequesters C11/C12-chain fatty acids and prevents these fatty acids from activating nuclear hormone receptors and driving fat-7 expression. Thus, the ACDH-11 pathway drives heat adaptation by linking temperature shifts to regulation of lipid desaturase levels and membrane fluidity via an unprecedented mode of fatty acid signaling.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grants GM24663 and K99HL11665)Charles A. King Trust (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Real-time stability of a hepatitis E vaccine (Hecolin®) demonstrated with potency assays and multifaceted physicochemical methods

The first prophylactic vaccine against hepatitis E virus (HEV), Hecolin®, was licensed in China. Recombinant p239 virus-like particle (VLP) is its active component with dimeric protein as the basic building block harboring the immuno dominant and neutralizing epitopes. The real time and real condition stability of the prefilled syringes for the vaccine was demonstrated using both in vivo mouse potency and in vitro antigenicity assays. A total of 12 lots of Hecolin® were assessed with a set of assays after storage at 2-8 °C for 24 months. The particle characteristics of p239 VLP recovered from the aluminum-containing adjuvant was assessed with different methods including analytical ultracentrifugation, high performance size exclusion chromatography and transmission electron microscopy. The thermal and conformational stability of the adsorbed antigen was assessed using differential scanning calorimetry. The protein integrity of the recovered p239 antigen was demonstrated using SDS-PAGE with silvering staining, LC-MS and MALDI-TOF MS. Most importantly, the binding activity to the neutralizing antibody or vaccine antigenicity was measured using an epitope-specific and real-time SPR assay and a monoclonal antibody-based sandwich ELISA. Taken together, the overall good stability of the Hecolin® prefilled syringes was demonstrated with unaltered molecular and functional attributes after storage at 2-8 °C for 24 months

A comparative metabolomics analysis of domestic yak (Bos grunniens) milk with human breast milk

Yaks are tough animals living in Tibet’s hypoxic stress environment. However, the metabolite composition of yak milk and its role in hypoxic stress tolerance remains largely unexplored. The similarities and differences between yak and human milk in hypoxic stress tolerance are also unclear. This study explored yak colostrum (YC) and yak mature milk (YMM) using GC–MS, and 354 metabolites were identified in yak milk. A comparative metabolomic analysis of yak and human milk metabolites showed that over 70% of metabolites were species-specific. Yak milk relies mainly on essential amino acids- arginine and essential branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs): L-isoleucine, L-leucine, and L-valine tolerate hypoxic stress. To slow hypoxic stress, human breast milk relies primarily on the neuroprotective effects of non-essential amino acids or derivates, such as citrulline, sarcosine, and creatine. In addition, metabolites related to hypoxic stress were significantly enriched in YC than in YMM. These results reveal the unique metabolite composition of yak and human milk and provide practical information for applying yak and human milk to hypoxic stress tolerance