LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Real-time Stereo Visual SLAM

Simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) has been the focus of intensive research in the last decade due to the potential benefits it offers to the field of autonomous mobile robotics. SLAM is concerned with the ability of an autonomous vehicle to navigate through an unexplored environment and incrementally construct a map of the environment and localise itself within this map. This thesis describes an entirely vision-based, large-area, 6DoF SLAM system that was developed specifically for real-time deployment on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with a calibrated stereo system. This SLAM system is based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and incorporates a novel approach to landmark description and data association in which landmarks are essentially local submaps that consist of a cloud of 3D points and their associated SIFT or SURF descriptors. Furthermore, landmarks are sparsely distributed in the constructed map which greatly simplifies and accelerates data association and map updates. In addition to performing localisation based on landmark observations the system also performs visual odometry and predicts vehicle motion using a constant-velocity model. For a simulated 87m long 3D loop trajectory the mean squared localisation error of the system was 3.16 and the maximum absolute error in roll, pitch and yaw angles was 11.6, 24.3 and 24.4 respectively when the stereo and landmark correspondences contained Gaussian noise with a standard deviation of 0.1 pixels and 10% of correspondences were outliers. This thesis represents an important contribution to entirely vision-based 6DoF SLAM as very few implementations currently exist, and the approach utilised in this thesis achieves comparable results and has the potential to operate in real-time. I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it the right way, did not become still more complicated. . . .
Soil health and sustainability: managing the biotic component of soil quality

Soil health is the capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health. Anthropogenic reductions in soil health, and of individual components of soil quality, are a pressing ecological concern. A conference entitled ‘Soil Health: Managing the Biological Component of Soil Quality’ was held was held in the USA in November 1998 to help increase awareness of the importance and utility of soil organisms as indicators of soil quality and determinants of soil health. To evaluate sustainability of agricultural practices, assessment of soil health using various indicators of soil quality is needed. Soil organism and biotic parameters (e.g. abundance, diversity, food web structure, or community stability) meet most of the five criteria for useful indicators of soil quality. Soil organisms respond sensitively to land management practices and climate. They are well correlated with beneficial soil and ecosystem functions including water storage, decomposition and nutrient cycling, detoxification of toxicants, and suppression of noxious and pathogenic organisms. Soil organisms also illustrate the chain of cause and effect that links land management decisions to ultimate productivity and health of plants and animals. Indicators must be comprehensible and useful to land managers, who are the ultimate stewards of soil quality and soil health. Visible organisms such as earthworms, insects, and molds have historically met this criterion. Finally, indicators must be easy and inexpensive to measure, but the need for knowledge of taxonomy complicates the measurement of soil organisms. Several farmer-participatory programs for managing soil quality and health have incorporated abiotic and simple biotic indicators. The challenge for the future is to develop sustainable management systems which are the vanguard of soil health; soil quality indicators are merely a means towards this end. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Bone strength and density via pQCT in post-menopausal osteopenic women after 9 months resistive exercise with whole body vibration or proprioceptive exercise.

OBJECTIVES
In order to better understand which training approaches are more effective for preventing bone loss in post-menopausal women with low bone mass, we examined the effect of a nine-month resistive exercise program with either an additional whole body vibration exercise (VIB) or balance training (BAL).


METHODS
68 post-menopausal women with osteopenia were recruited for the study and were randomised to either the VIB or BAL group. Two training sessions per week were performed. 57 subjects completed the study (VIB n=26; BAL n=31). Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) measurements of the tibia, fibula, radius and ulna were performed at baseline and at the end of the intervention period at the epiphysis (4% site) and diaphysis (66% site). Analysis was done on an intent-to-treat approach.


RESULTS
Significant increases in bone density and strength were seen at a number of measurement sites after the intervention period. No significant differences were seen in the response of the two groups at the lower-leg.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provided evidence that a twice weekly resistive exercise program with either additional balance or vibration training could increase bone density at the distal tibia after a nine-month intervention period in post-menopausal women with low bone mass.
Biometrics in banking security: a case study

Purpose To identify and discuss the issues and success factors surrounding biometrics, especially in the context of user authentication and controls in the banking sector, using a case study. Design/methodology/approach The literature survey and analysis of the security models of the present information systems and biometric technologies in the banking sector provide the theoretical and practical background for this work. The impact of adopting biometric solutions in banks was analysed by considering the various issues and challenges from technological, managerial, social and ethical angles. These explorations led to identifying the success factors that serve as possible guidelines for a viable implementation of a biometric enabled authentication system in banking organisations, in particular for a major bank in New Zealand. Findings As the level of security breaches and transaction frauds increase day by day, the need for highly secure identification and personal verification information systems is becoming extremely important especially in the banking and finance sector. Biometric technology appeals to many banking organisations as a near perfect solution to such security threats. Though biometric technology has gained traction in areas like healthcare and criminology, its application in banking security is still in its infancy. Due to the close association of biometrics to human, physical and behavioural aspects, such technologies pose a multitude of social, ethical and managerial challenges. The key success factors proposed through the case study served as a guideline for a biometric enabled security project called Bio Sec, which is envisaged in a large banking organisation in New Zealand. This pilot study reveals that more than coping with the technology issues of gelling biometrics into the existing information systems, formulating a viable security plan that addresses user privacy fears, human tolerance levels, organisational change and legal issues is of prime importance. Originality/value Though biometric systems are successfully adopted in areas such as immigration control and criminology, there is a paucity of their implementation and research pertaining to banking environments. Not all banks venture into biometric solutions to enhance their security systems due to their socio technological issues. This paper fulfils the need for a guideline to identify the various issues and success factors for a viable biometric implementation in a bank’s access control system. This work is only a starting point for academics to conduct more research in the application of biometrics in the various facets of banking businesses.
Interpretive front-of-pack nutrition labels. Comparing competing recommendations

Many stakeholders support introducing an interpretive front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition label, but disagree over the form it should take. In late 2012, an expert working group established by the New Zealand government recommended the adoption of an untested summary rating system: a Star label. This study used a best-worst scaling choice experiment to estimate how labels featuring the new Star rating, the Multiple Traffic Light (MTL), Daily Intake Guide (DIG), and a no-FOP control affected consumers' choice behaviours and product perceptions. Nutrient-content and health claims were included in the design. We also assessed whether respondents who used more or less information during the choice tasks differed in their selection patterns. Overall, while respondents made broadly similar choices with respect to the MTL and Star labels, the MTL format had a significantly greater impact on depressing preference as a food's nutritional profile became less healthy. Health claims increased rankings of less nutritious options, though this effect was less pronounced when the products featured an MTL. Further, respondents were best able to differentiate products' healthiness with MTL labels. The proposed summary Stars system had less effect on choice patterns than an MTL label and our findings highlight the need for policy makers to ensure that decisions to introduce FOP labels are underpinned by robust research evidence. These results suggest that the proposed summary Stars system will have less effect on shifting food choice patterns than interpretive FOP nutrition label featuring traffic light ratings.
Effects of NaCl salinity on seedling growth, senescence, catalase and protease activities in two wheat genotypes differing in salt tolerance

Changes in seedling growth, senescence, protease activities and possible involvement of hydrogen peroxide scavenging enzyme e.g., catalase, in relation to salt tolerance were investigated in two wheat genotypes differing in salt tolerance. The 3days old wheat seedlings were subjected to 5, 10 and 15dSm NaCl salinity for 6days. Data showed that salt-stress brought about a reduction of the growth and protein content, particularly at 15dSm NaCl salinity. Application of low salinity (5dSm) did not show marked effects, but under high NaCl stress growth was suppressed even in tolerant genotype. Overall good growth of wheat cultivar Lu-26 at seedling stage might be due to osmotic adjustment. Leaf senescence or decrease in leaf protein content was only observed at higher (15dSm) NaCl stress in salt sensitive wheat cultivar Pak-81. The magnitude of salt induced proteolysis was many folds higher in sensitive wheat genotype Pak-81 at 15dSm NaCl salinity. The prominent salt induced senescence in leaves of wheat cultivar Pak-81 was associated with higher salt sensitivity in terms of extensive proteolysis. Severe salt-stress resulted in an inhibition of the antioxidative enzyme catalase as revealed by spectrophotometric assay. Catalase activity was decreased at all salinity levels in both wheat cultivars signifying that high salinity generally reduced the catalase activity irrespective of wheat genotype. The results suggest that cv. Lu-26, exhibits a better protection mechanism against salinity as indicated by lower salt induced proteolysis, higher biomass accumulation and protein content than the relatively sensitive cv. Pak-81.
Quality measurement at intensive care units: which indicators should we use?

OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to develop a set of indicators that measure the quality of care in intensive care units (ICU) in Dutch hospitals and to evaluate the feasibility of the registration of these indicators.


METHODS
To define potential indicators for measuring quality, 3 steps were made. First, a literature search was carried out to obtain peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to 2005, describing process or structure indicators in intensive care, which are associated with patient outcome. Additional indicators were suggested by a panel of experts. Second, a selection of indicators was made by a panel of experts using a questionnaire and ranking in a consensus procedure. Third, a study was done for 6 months in 18 ICUs to evaluate the feasibility of using the identified quality indicators. Site visits, interviews, and written questionnaires were used to evaluate the use of indicators.


RESULTS
Sixty-two indicators were initially found, either in the literature or suggested by the members of the expert panel. From these, 12 indicators were selected by the expert panel by consensus. After the feasibility study, 11 indicators were eventually selected. "Interclinical transport," referring to a change of hospital, was dropped because of lack of reliability and support for further implementation by the participating hospitals in the study. The following structure indicators were selected: availability of intensivist (hours per day), patient-to-nurse ratio, strategy to prevent medication errors, measurement of patient/family satisfaction. Four process indicators were selected: length of ICU stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, proportion of days with all ICU beds occupied, and proportion of glucose measurement exceeding 8.0 mmol/L or lower than 2.2 mmol/L. The selected outcome indicators were as follows: standardized mortality (APACHE II), incidence of decubitus, number of unplanned extubations. The time for registration varied from less than 30 minutes to more than 1 hour per day to collect the items. Among other factors, this variation in workload was related to the availability of computerized systems to collect the data.


CONCLUSION
In this study, a set of 11 quality indicators for intensive care was defined based on literature research, expert opinion, and testing. The set gives a quick view of the quality of care in individual ICUs. The availability of a computerized data collection system is important for an acceptable workload.
Bone union rate with autologous iliac bone versus local bone graft in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF): a multicenter study

The purpose of this study is to compare bone union rate between autologous iliac bone and local bone graft in patients treated by posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) using carbon cage for single level interbody fusion. The subjects were 106 patients whose course could be observed for at least 2 years. The diagnosis was lumbar spinal canal stenosis in 46 patients, herniated lumbar disk in 12 patients and degenerative spondylolisthesis in 51 patients. Single interbody PLIF was done using iliac bone graft in 53 patients and local bone graft in 56 patients. Existence of pseudo-arthrosis on X-P (AP and lateral view) was investigated during the same follow up period. No significant differences were found in operation time and blood loss. Significant differences were also not observed in fusion grade at any follow up period or in fusion progression between the two groups. Donor site pain continued for more than 3 months in five cases (9 %). The final fusion rate was 96.3 versus 98.3 %. Almost the same results in fusion were obtained from both the local bone group and the autologous iliac bone group. Fusion progression was almost the same. Complications at donor sites were seen in 19 % of the cases. From the above results, it was concluded that local bone graft is as beneficial as autologous iliac bone graft for PLIF at a single level.
Stratigraphy and Succession of the Rocks of the Sierra Nevada of California

Introduction. General Character of the Sierra Rocks .—The great mass of the Sierra Nevada consists of crystalline rocks (granites) and highly metamorphosed, tilted and dislocated sedimentary and eruptive rocks. There are less metamorphosed strata of later age (Cretaceous and Tertiary) on the western flank at and near the foot of the range, and Tertiary and Quaternary lavas and sediments deposited by streams occur on the slopes and even on crests and peaks, especially of the northern half of the range. But the great mass of the range is made up of granites and of sedimentary and eruptive rocks so highly metamorphosed as to be quite generally designated as the metamorphic rocks of the Sierra. J. D. Whitney showed in his report on the geology of California, and added confirmation in his work on the auriferous gravels of the Sierra Nevada, that a portion of these metamorphic rocks are of Mesozoic . . .
Tutorial: Point Cloud Library: Three-Dimensional Object Recognition and 6 DOF Pose Estimation

With the advent of new-generation depth sensors, the use of three-dimensional (3-D) data is becoming increasingly popular. As these sensors are commodity hardware and sold at low cost, a rapidly growing group of people can acquire 3- D data cheaply and in real time.
A Motivational Model of Rural Students' Intentions To Persist In, versus Drop Out Of, High School.

Using self-determination theory, the authors tested a motivational model to explain the conditions under which rural students formulate their intentions to persist in, versus drop out of, high school. The model argues that motivational variables underlie students’ intentions to drop out and that students’ motivation can be either supported in the classroom by autonomy-supportive teachers or frustrated by controlling teachers. LISREL analyses of questionnaire data from 483 rural high school students showed that the provision of autonomy support within classrooms predicted students’ self-determined motivation and perceived competence. These motivational resources, in turn, predicted students’ intentions to persist, versus drop out, and they did so even after controlling for the effect of achievement.
Efficiency of three forward-pruning techniques in shogi: Futility pruning, null-move pruning, and Late Move Reduction (LMR)

The efficiency of three forward-pruning techniques, i.e., futility pruning, null-move pruning, and LMR, is analyzed in shogi, a Japanese chess variant. It is shown that the techniques with the a–b pruning reduce the effective branching factor of shogi endgames to 2.8 without sacrificing much accuracy of the search results. Because the average number of the raw branching factor in shogi is around 80, the pruning techniques reduce the search space more effectively than in chess. 2011 International Federation for Information Processing Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Strength in Numbers: How does data-driven decision-making affect firm performance?

We examine whether performance is higher in firms that emphasize decisionmaking based on data and business analytics (which we term a data-driven decisionmaking approach or DDD). Using detailed survey data on the business practices and information technology investments of 179 large publicly traded firms, we find that firms that adopt DDD have output and productivity that is 5-6% higher than what would be expected given their other investments and information technology usage. Using instrumental variables methods, we find evidence that these effects do not appear to be due to reverse causality. Furthermore, the relationship between DDD and performance also appears in other performance measures such as asset utilization, return on equity and market value. Our results provide some of the first large scale data on the direct connection between data-driven decisionmaking and firm performance. Acknowledgements: We thank Andrew McAfee, Roger Robert, Johnson Sikes and participants at the Workshop for Information Systems and Economics and participants at the 9 th Annual Industrial Organization Conference for useful comments and the MIT Center for Digital Business for generous
Comparison of manual therapy and exercise therapy in osteoarthritis of the hip: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the effectiveness of a manual therapy program compared with an exercise therapy program in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip.


METHODS
A single-blind, randomized clinical trial of 109 hip OA patients was carried out in the outpatient clinic for physical therapy of a large hospital. The manual therapy program focused on specific manipulations and mobilization of the hip joint. The exercise therapy program focused on active exercises to improve muscle function and joint motion. The treatment period was 5 weeks (9 sessions). The primary outcome was general perceived improvement after treatment. Secondary outcomes included pain, hip function, walking speed, range of motion, and quality of life.


RESULTS
Of 109 patients included in the study, 56 were allocated to manual therapy and 53 to exercise therapy. No major differences were found on baseline characteristics between groups. Success rates (primary outcome) after 5 weeks were 81% in the manual therapy group and 50% in the exercise group (odds ratio 1.92, 95% confidence interval 1.30, 2.60). Furthermore, patients in the manual therapy group had significantly better outcomes on pain, stiffness, hip function, and range of motion. Effects of manual therapy on the improvement of pain, hip function, and range of motion endured after 29 weeks.


CONCLUSION
The effect of the manual therapy program on hip function is superior to the exercise therapy program in patients with OA of the hip.
Treatment of isolated posterior coronal fracture of the lateral tibial plateau through posterolateral approach for direct exposure and buttress plate fixation

To present a case series of patients with isolated posterior coronal fractures of lateral tibial plateau treated by direct exposure and buttress plate fixation through posterolateral approach. Between May 2007 and April of 2008, eight middle aged patients were identified that had isolated posterior coronal fractures of the lateral tibial plateau. All eight patients underwent direct fracture exposure, reduction under visualization, and buttress plate fixation through posterolateral approach. There were 1 case of split, two cases of pure depression and five cases of split-depression fractures. Four were associated fibular head split fractures without common peroneal nerve injuries. Five patients were injured from a simple fall on riding electrical bicycle while the knee was relaxed in 90° position The articular displacement (8 cases) measured in CT scan was 10.5 mm in average (range 8–15 mm). The cortical split length (from the articular rim to the distal tip, 6 cases) was 2.8 cm in average (range 2.4–3.5 cm). The articular reduction was perfect in seven (absolutely no step-off) and imperfect in 1(<2 mm step-off) as measured by X-ray. With a mean follow-up of 10 months (6 cases > 12 months), the average range of motion arc was 119°, four patients have flexion lag 10°–20°. The average SMFA dysfunction score was 15.8, and average HSS score was 98. All eight patients stated they were highly satisfied. Direct posterolateral approach by dividing lateral border of soleus muscle, provides excellent fracture reduction under visualization and internal buttress plate fixation for posterior coronal fracture of the lateral tibial plateau. Good functional results and recovery can be expected.