Robust Facial Emotion Recognition Using a Temporal-Reinforced Approach

Kai-Tai Song,Chao-Yu Lin 제어로봇시스템학회 2014 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2014 No.10

In this paper, a temporal-reinforced approach to enhancing emotion recognition from facial images is presented. Shape and texture models of facial images are computed by using active appearance model (AAM), from which facial feature points and geometrical feature values are extracted. The extracted features are used by relevance vector machine (RVM) to recognize emotional states. We propose a temporal analysis approach to recognizing likelihood of emotional categories, such that more subtle emotion, such as degree and ratio of basic emotional states can be obtained. Furthermore, a method is developed to map the recognition result to the arousal-valence plane (A-V Plane). Experimental results verify that the performance of emotion recognition is enhanced by the proposed method.

Visual Servoing and Compliant Motion Control of a Continuum Robot

Kai-Tai Song,Han-Chih Tsai 제어로봇시스템학회 2018 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2018 No.10

This paper presents a visual servoing and compliant motion control design of a continuum robot. Two endoscopic cameras were installed at the tip of the continuum robot to build a stereo camera system. The depth information is obtained by using semi-global block-matching (SGBM) algorithm. The visual servoing system proposed in this work includes the feature point extraction by using speeded-up robust features (SURF), followed by feature-point matching using nearest neighbor distance ratio (NNDR), and tracking of feature points by using mean shift algorithm. Through the pressure sensor installed around the circumference of the continuum robot, a compliant motion control design is proposed to make the robot to move in a constrained environment while executing the visual servoing task. Practical experiments show that the proposed method can effectively track a target and generate the adaptive motion when the robot encounters an obstacle during visual servoing.

Sensorless Assistive Torque Design for a Lower Extremity Exoskeleton

Kai-Tai Song,Yun-Chih Liao,You-Lin Jian 제어로봇시스템학회 2014 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2014 No.10

For improving mobility of the elderly, it is desirable to use a lower limb exoskeleton to enhance strength and endurance for their daily life activities. This paper presents a novel design of assist torque generation and compliant motion of a knee joint for an exoskeleton robot. Based on a sensorless approach, a method is suggested to estimate the external torque and generate the assistance torque of the attached DC motor. The developed lower limb exoskeleton joint provides assistive torque in order to comply with motion of the user. In comparison with existing lower limb exoskeletons, the proposed exoskeleton robot can execute various training programs by adjusting the assisting torque with less sensors and reduced hardware complexity. Experimental results on a knee exoskeleton validate the proposed method. Desirable assistive torque can be generated to be compliant with a swing motion.

Object Grasping of a Mobile Robot Using Image Features and Virtual Points

Kai-Tai Song,Hong-Tze Chen 제어로봇시스템학회 2009 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2009 No.8

This paper presents a novel method of autonomous grasping design for a mobile manipulator, such that the robot can find and grasp a target object in a complex environment. Scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm is adopted to search and recognize features of the object to be grasped. Histogram-enhanced feature matching (HEFM) is developed to obtain depth estimate and reject unreliable feature points in order to improve the feature matching accuracy. The concept of virtual points is proposed to facilitate image-based visual servo controller design. Experimental results of autonomous object grasping validate the proposed method.

Bioinformatic Prediction of SNPs within miRNA Binding Sites of Inflammatory Genes Associated with Gastric Cancer

Song, Chuan-Qing,Zhang, Jun-Hui,Shi, Jia-Chen,Cao, Xiao-Qin,Song, Chun-Hua,Hassan, Adil,Wang, Peng,Dai, Li-Ping,Zhang, Jian-Ying,Wang, Kai-Juan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.2

Polymorphisms in miRNA binding sites have been shown to affect miRNA binding to target genes, resulting in differential mRNA and protein expression and susceptibility to common diseases. Our purpose was to predict SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) within miRNA binding sites of inflammatory genes in relation to gastric cancer. A complete list of SNPs in the 3'UTR regions of all inflammatory genes associated with gastric cancer was obtained from Pubmed. miRNA target prediction databases (MirSNP, Targetscan Human 6.2, PolymiRTS 3.0, miRNASNP 2.0, and Patrocles) were used to predict miRNA target sites. There were 99 SNPs with MAF>0.05 within the miRNA binding sites of 41 genes among 72 inflammation-related genes associated with gastric cancer. NF-${\kappa}B$ and JAK-STAT are the two most important signaling pathways. 47 SNPs of 25 genes with 95 miRNAs were predicted. CCL2 and IL1F5 were found to be the shared target genes of hsa-miRNA-624-3p. Bioinformatic methods could identify a set of SNPs within miRNA binding sites of inflammatory genes, and provide data and direction for subsequent functional verification research.

Independent Component Analysis for Pattern Recognition of Gas Sensor Array Measurement Data

Kai Song,Taehwan Kim,Keunsung Bae 대한전자공학회 2008 ITC-CSCC :International Technical Conference on Ci Vol.2008 No.7

Commercial metal oxide semiconductor gas sensor array system is generally subject to significant crosssensitivity due to poor selectivity for different gases. This crosstalk greatly affects the accuracy of gas recognition and concentration measurement. In this paper, we explore the independent component analysis as a novel modeling technique to process the gas sensor array response data for quantitative and qualitative analysis. The process consists of two stages: first the type of gas is classified from the independent components analysis, then gas concentration is computed using the scatter plot of adjacent independent components. Simulation results demonstrate that the ICAbased method show good performance on the qualitative and quantitative gas component analysis.

Genetic Epidemiological Analysis of Esophageal Cancer in High-incidence Areas of China

Wang, Kai-Juan,Yang, Jun-Xia,Shi, Jia-Chen,Deng, Song-Yuan,Cao, Xiao-Qin,Song, Chun-Hua,Wang, Peng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.22

Genetic epidemiological studies have shown that genetic susceptibility to esophageal cancer (EC) is an important cause of its high incidence within families in some areas of China. The purpose of this study was to obtain evidence of a genetic basis of EC in Xin-an and Xin-xiang counties in China. Familial aggregation and complex segregation analyses were performed of 79 EC families in these counties. The heritability of EC was examined using Falconer's method and complex segregation analysis was conducted with the SEGREG program in Statistical Analysis for Genetic Epidemiology (SAGE version 5.3.1). The results showed that the distribution of EC in families did not fit well into a binomial distribution. The heritability of EC among first-degree and second-degree relatives was $67.0{\pm}7.31%$ and $43.1%{\pm}9.80%$, respectively, and the summing up powered heritability was $53.2{\pm}6.74%$. The segregation ratio was 0.045. Complex segregation analysis showed that the genetic model of EC was additive. The current results provide evidence for an inherited propensity to EC in certain high-risk groups in China, and support efforts to identify the genes that confer susceptibility to this disease.

IP-10 Expression in Patients with Chronic HBV Infection and Its Ability to Predict the Decrease in HBsAg Levels after Treatment with Entecavir

Kai Zhao,Tao Yang,Mimi Sun,Wei Zhang,Yong An,Gang Chen,Lei Jin,Qinghua Shang,Wengang Song 한국분자세포생물학회 2017 Molecules and cells Vol.40 No.6

Interferon-γ-inducible protein 10 (IP-10), also known as chemokine C-X-C motif ligand (CXCL) 10, is closely associ-ated with antiviral immunity and the progression of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, the value of baseline serological and histological IP-10 expression levels in predicting the efficacy of the antiviral response to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs) is still unknown. In our research, intrahepatic and peripheral IP-10 expression levels were systemically examined before and after treatment with entecavir (ETV). Baseline serological and histological IP-10 expression levels were significantly increased in patients with CHB, particularly in patients with higher degrees of liver inflammation and liver fibrosis. Moreover, higher baseline intrahepatic IP-10 levels indicated better prognoses in patients with CHB after entecavir therapy. The baseline IP-10 level was also positively associated with several clinical parameters, including baseline levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and with the decrease in HBsAg levels after treatment. In addition, monocyte-derived IP-10 was expressed at higher levels in patients with CHB than in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and healthy controls (HC). According to the results of our in vitro experiments, IP-10 directly promoted hepatocyte apoptosis. Based on these findings, baseline serological and histological IP-10 levels might predict CHB severity and the decrease in HBsAg levels after entecavir therapy.

Ultrathin Trilayer Assemblies as Long-Lived Barriers against Water and Ion Penetration in Flexible Bioelectronic Systems

Song, Enming,Li, Rui,Jin, Xin,Du, Haina,Huang, Yuming,Zhang, Jize,Xia, Yu,Fang, Hui,Lee, Yoon Kyeung,Yu, Ki Jun,Chang, Jan-Kai,Mei, Yongfeng,Alam, Muhammad A.,Huang, Yonggang,Rogers, John A. American Chemical Society 2018 ACS NANO Vol.12 No.10

<P>Biomedical implants that incorporate active electronics and offer the ability to operate in a safe, stable fashion for long periods of time must incorporate defect-free layers as barriers to biofluid penetration. This paper reports an engineered material approach to this challenge that combines ultrathin, physically transferred films of silicon dioxide (t-SiO<SUB>2</SUB>) thermally grown on silicon wafers, with layers of hafnium oxide (HfO<SUB>2</SUB>) formed by atomic layer deposition and coatings of parylene (Parylene C) created by chemical vapor deposition, as a dual-sided encapsulation structure for flexible bioelectronic systems. Accelerated aging tests on passive/active components in platforms that incorporate active, silicon-based transistors suggest that this trilayer construct can serve as a robust, long-lived, defect-free barrier to phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution at a physiological pH of 7.4. Reactive diffusion modeling and systematic immersion experiments highlight fundamental aspects of water diffusion and hydrolysis behaviors, with results that suggest lifetimes of many decades at physiological conditions. A combination of ion-diffusion tests under continuous electrical bias, measurements of elemental concentration profiles, and temperature-dependent simulations reveals that this encapsulation strategy can also block transport of ions that would otherwise degrade the performance of the underlying electronics. These findings suggest broad utility of this trilayer assembly as a reliable encapsulation strategy for the most demanding applications in chronic biomedical implants and high-performance flexible bioelectronic systems.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the Late Cretaceous-Eocene sediments in the southeastern Fenwei Graben and its tectono-sedimentary significance

Kai Jiang,Guanzuo Wu,Guohao Si,Jiangang Li,Boyang Zheng,Qi Shen,Shida Song 한국지질과학협의회 2023 Geosciences Journal Vol.27 No.4

The Fenwei Graben located in the conjoint region between the Neo-Tethys tectonic domain and the western Pacific tectonic domain is key to understanding the tectonic evolution of the East Asian interior. Extensive Late Cretaceous–Paleogene fluvial and lacustrine deposits within the southeastern Fenwei Graben, provide ideal archives of early tectono-sedimentary evolution in Fenwei Graben. Recently, we find two complete Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic sections in the Lingbao Basin. These unique sections provide an excellent opportunity to investigate regional tectono-sedimentary evolution and its potential dynamic mechanisms in Fenwei Graben. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is an effective and economic method to obtain information about tectonic and/or sedimentary evolution recorded in deposits. To this end, we present an integrated rock magnetism and AMS study of 36 sampling sites from these two sections that span the interval from the Late Cretaceous to the Early Eocene. Our rock magnetism results suggest that hematite and magnetite are the main magnetic carriers of remanence, and paramagnetic minerals and hematite are major contributors to AMS in the Lingbao Basin. In addition, the reverse, intermediate and anomalous magnetic fabrics are found in these two sections, which may result from the contribution of iron-bearing carbonates in deposits. The AMS of the Lingbao Basin is a primary sedimentary fabric with the K1 direction antiparallel to the preferential paleocurrent direction. During the Paleocene, the clockwise rotation of the paleocurrent directions in both sections is more likely to be caused by the rotation of the Lingbao basin or the relatively rapid uplift of western provenance under the influence of the India–Eurasia convergence. Moreover, the inferred early evolution of the Fenwei Graben is likely controlled by both the western Pacific plate subduction and India–Eurasia convergence.