Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non‐Rigid Registration Under Isometric Deformations

We present a robust and efficient algorithm for the pairwise non‐rigid registration of partially overlapping 3D surfaces. Our approach treats non‐rigid registration as an optimization problem and solves it by alternating between correspondence and deformation optimization. Assuming approximately isometric deformations, robust correspondences are generated using a pruning mechanism based on geodesic consistency. We iteratively learn an appropriate deformation discretization from the current set of correspondences and use it to update the correspondences in the next iteration. Our algorithm is able to register partially similar point clouds that undergo large deformations, in just a few seconds. We demonstrate the potential of our algorithm in various applications such as example based articulated segmentation, and shape interpolation.
Topological Free Entropy Dimensions in Nuclear C*-algebras and in Full Free Products of Unital C*-algebras

Abstract In the paper, we introduce a new concept, topological orbit dimension of an $n$ -tuple of elements in a unital ${{\text{C}}^{*}}$ -algebra. Using this concept, we conclude that Voiculescu's topological free entropy dimension of every finite family of self-adjoint generators of a nuclear ${{\text{C}}^{*}}$ -algebra is less than or equal to 1. We also show that the Voiculescu's topological free entropy dimension is additive in the full free product of some unital ${{\text{C}}^{*}}$ -algebras. We show that the unital full free product of Blackadar and Kirchberg's unital $\text{MF}$ algebras is also an $\text{MF}$ algebra. As an application, we obtain that $\text{Ext(}C_{r}^{*}\text{(}{{F}_{2}}\text{)}{{\text{*}}_{\mathbb{C}}}C_{r}^{*}\text{(}{{F}_{2}}\text{))}$ is not a group.
Letting the Cat out of the Bag: EFL College Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English Idioms

Learning idioms is an uphill battle for many language learners. Thus, this quantitative study aims to shed light on English as Foreign Language (EFL) college students’ attitudes towards idiom learning. Specifically, the study is interested in revealing their attitudes towards (1) the importance of idiom learning, (2) the difficulties of idiom learning and (3) the learning strategies of idioms. Additionally, the study attempts to determine if there is an influence of age and/or year of study on the students’ attitudes towards learning English idioms. Participants were 218 female EFL college students at the College of Basic Education (CBE) in Kuwait. A five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was employed to obtain data for the study. Data analysis of the questionnaire uncovered the learners’ preferred strategies and sources of difficulties when learning idioms. Results showed that students had positive attitudes towards English idiom learning. Significant differences in the results were found when age was taken into account.
Employer Attitudes, the Marginal Employer, and the Ethnic Wage Gap

In most EU countries, ethnic minorities have lower wages than does the ethnic majority. To what extent these wage gaps are the result of prejudice toward ethnic minority workers is virtually unknown. The authors examine the role that prejudice plays in the creation of the ethnic wage gap in one of Europe’s most egalitarian countries, Sweden. The analysis takes into account the important distinction between average employer attitudes and the attitude of the marginal employer (the attitude of the most prejudiced employer hiring the ethnic minority). Results confirm that the attitudes of the marginal employer—but not those of the average employer—are important for explaining the ethnic wage gap.
Fever of unknown origin in a haemodialysis patient: a late diagnosis requiring a novel treatment

Fever in haemodialysis patients is usually attributed to infection, with less frequent causes including malignancy and autoimmune disorders [1]. Sometimes, fever persists despite empirical treatment, and investigations towards the above mentioned diagnoses fail to reveal the cause. Thus, rarer aetiologies need to be considered, which may appear rather unexpected, especially in patients under prolonged medical follow-up.
Environmental Enrichment Restores Memory Functioning in Mice with Impaired IL-1 Signaling via Reinstatement of Long-Term Potentiation and Spine Size Enlargement

Environmental enrichment (EE) was found to facilitate memory functioning and neural plasticity in normal and neurologically impaired animals. However, the ability of this manipulation to rescue memory and its biological substrate in animals with specific genetically based deficits in these functions has not been extensively studied. In the present study, we investigated the effects of EE in two mouse models of impaired memory functioning and plasticity. Previous research demonstrated that mice with a deletion of the receptor for the cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1rKO), and mice with CNS-specific transgenic over-expression of the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1raTG) display impaired hippocampal memory and long-term potentiation (LTP). We report here a corrective effect of EE on spatial and contextual memory in IL-1rKO and IL-1raTG mice and reveal two mechanisms for this beneficial effect: Concomitantly with their disturbed memory functioning, LTP in IL-1rKO mice that were raised in a regular environment is impaired, and their dendritic spine size is reduced. Both of these impairments were corrected by environmental enrichment. No deficiencies in neurogenesis or hippocampal BDNF and vascular endothelial growth factor secretion were found in IL-1rKO mice that were raised in a regular environment, and both of these variables were increased to a similar degree in enriched IL-1rKO and wild-type mice. These findings suggest that exposure to an enriched environment may be beneficial for individuals with impaired learning and memory related to genetic impairments of IL-1 signaling (and possibly other genetic causes), by reversing impairments in dentate gyrus LTP and spine size and by promoting neurogenesis and trophic factors secretion.
Reprints Available Directly from the Publisher Photocopying Permitted by License Only Selenium Deficiency and Chronic Pancreatitis" Disease Mechanism and Potential for Therapy

Background: It has been suggested that antioxidant deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis. The aim of this review was to analyse the evidence for this relationship and to consider the role of antioxidant supplementation in the treatment of chronic pancreatitis. Methods: Medline review of all English language publications for the years 1966-1998. Results and Conclusions: There is evidence that patients with chronic pancreatitis have enhanced levels of free radical production, cytochrome P450 induction and antioxidant deficiencies, in particular selenium. The limited published literature in this field suggests that dietary antioxidant supplementa-tion may ameliorate the pain associated with chronic pancreatitis, diminish the frequency of acute exacer-bations and reduce the requirement for pancreatic surgery. These findings await confirmation by a large prospective placebo-controlled study.
European American Students' Supports, Challenges, and Perceptions of Their Peers of Color

The purpose of the present study was to examine the experiences of European American students as they obtain advanced degrees in psychology. The study investigated what European American students find supportive and unsupportive as they pursue their doctoral degrees. The participants of this study consisted of 12 graduate students. Qualitative methods were employed, and data obtained through semi-structured interviews was analyzed using content analysis. The interviews revealed factors that students believe have facilitated their success in graduate school, as well as challenges experienced during graduate school, and the types of strategies they used when faced with obstacles. The participants were also asked about the experiences of their peers of color within their graduate programs. The results showed that the European American students have multiple factors that have facilitated their success in graduate school such as support from faculty, mentors, other students, and self-motivation. Participants also reported negative experiences such as lack of program structure and interpersonal challenges. In terms of strategies they used when faced with obstacles, the majority of participants stated that they relied on family and friends outside of school as well as engaged in self-care practices such as exercising. When asked about their perceptions of the experiences of their peers of color, most participants stated that their peers of color often feel uncomfortable within their graduate programs. One limitation of the study was that this study utilized audio-recorded telephone interviews, which may have impacted the rapport between the researchers and the participants. Another limitation of the study was that the participants were recruited from similar networks, which may have led to them responding in a similar manner. Future research should replicate this study to examine if doctoral students in disciplines other than psychology have similarities or differences in the factors they find supportive and challenging during their graduate studies.
A century of vegetation change on the Santa Rita Experimental Range

We know more about vegetation change on the Santa Rita Experimental Range since 1903 than is known about any other 20,000-ha area in the world. This record is only possible because important techniques of measuring vegetation changes were developed on the Santa Rita, such as repeat photography and the line intercept transect method, and because they were applied often and broadly. A 100-year record of experiments and systematic observations nourishes the interpretation of these changes. Together, they describe a steady increase of mesquite trees, four cycles of burroweed eruption and decline, one cholla cactus cycle, interannual and interdecadal variation in native grass composition, and the recent dominance of the nonnative Lehmann lovegrass. The most conspicuous change is the increase of mesquite, which began before 1903 when the spread of seed by livestock and cessation of fire led to the establishment of mesquite in the open grasslands. The growth of these plants and subsequent recruits transformed the grasslands into a mesquite-grass savanna, and neither the elimination of livestock grazing nor the occasional fire has reversed this change. Burroweed cycles appear to be more closely related to winter precipitation patterns and maximum plant longevity than land management activities. Similarly, the increase of Lehmann lovegrass is largely independent of livestock grazing management.
A Tale of Two Time Scales

It is a common practice in finance to estimate volatility from the sum of frequently sampled squared returns. However, market microstructure poses challenges to this estimation approach, as evidenced by recent empirical studies in finance. The present work attempts to lay out theoretical grounds that reconcile continuous-time modeling and discrete-time samples. We propose an estimation approach that takes advantage of the rich sources in tick-by-tick data while preserving the continuous-time assumption on the underlying returns. Under our framework, it becomes clear why and where the “usual” volatility estimator fails when the returns are sampled at the highest frequencies. If the noise is asymptotically small, our work provides a way of finding the optimal sampling frequency. A better approach, the “two-scales estimator,” works for any size of the noise.
Expression of varicella-zoster virus-related antigens in biochemically transformed cells.

L(O)cl 3 and L(K)cl 1 cells, biochemically transformed by varicella-zoster virus (VZV), were labelled with L-[35S]methionine and [32P]orthophosphate. Cell extracts were immunoprecipitated with anti-VZV monkey serum and analysed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Four polypeptides of apparent mol. wt. 135000 (135K), 48K, 44K and 35K were detected in the L-[35S]methionine-labelled extracts, and, of these, the 35K band showed marked intensity. However, this band was not detected in extracts from cells infected with a VZV tk- strain (Kanno strain). Also, the 35K polypeptide showed very low intensity when immunoprecipitated from extracts of transformed cells grown in non-selective (NS) medium, i.e. cells that had a very low thymidine kinase (tk) activity. In the case of [32P]orthophosphate-labelled cells, polypeptides of apparent mol. wt. 180K, 81K, 48K, 44K and 37K were obtained. In both instances, the 44K polypeptide was not immunoprecipitated from L(K)cl 1 cell extracts. From our data it is postulated that the expression of the 35K polypeptide is correlated with the VZV-specific tk activity of the cells.
Organ and Cell Type–Specific Complementary Expression Patterns and Regulatory Neofunctionalization between Duplicated Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Duplicated genes can contribute to the evolution of new functions and they are common in eukaryotic genomes. After duplication, genes can show divergence in their sequence and/or expression patterns. Qualitative complementary expression, or reciprocal expression, is when only one copy is expressed in some organ or tissue types and only the other copy is expressed in others, indicative of regulatory subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization. From analyses of two microarray data sets with 83 different organ types, developmental stages, and cell types in Arabidopsis thaliana, we determined that 30% of whole-genome duplicate pairs and 38% of tandem duplicate pairs show reciprocal expression patterns. We reconstructed the ancestral state of expression patterns to infer that considerably more cases of reciprocal expression resulted from gain of a new expression pattern (regulatory neofunctionalization) than from partitioning of ancestral expression patterns (regulatory subfunctionalization). Pollen was an especially common organ type for expression gain, resulting in contrasting expression of some duplicates in pollen. Many of the gene pairs with reciprocal expression showed asymmetric sequence rate evolution, consistent with neofunctionalization, and the more rapidly evolving copy often showed a more restricted expression pattern. A gene with reciprocal expression in pollen, involved in brassinosteroid signal transduction, has evolved more rapidly than its paralog, and it shows evidence for a new function in pollen. This study indicates the evolutionary importance of reciprocal expression patterns between gene duplicates, showing that they are common, often associated with regulatory neofunctionalization, and may be a factor allowing for retention and divergence of duplicated genes.
Quantitative magnetization transfer mapping of bound protons in multiple sclerosis

Quantitative analysis of magnetization transfer images has the potential to allow a more thorough characterization of the protons, both bound and free, in a tissue by extracting a number of parameters relating to the NMR properties of the protons and their local environment. This work develops previously presented techniques to produce estimates of parameters such as the bound proton fraction, f, and the transverse relaxation time of the bound pool, T2B, for the whole brain in a clinically acceptable imaging time. This is achieved by limiting the number of data collected (typically to 10); to collect 28 5‐mm slices with a reconstructed resolution of 0.94 × 0.94 mm. The protocol takes 82 sec per data point. The fitting technique is assessed against previous work and for fitting failures. Maps and analysis are presented from a group of seven controls and 20 multiple sclerosis patients. The maps show that the parameters are sensitive to tissue‐specific differences and can detect pathological change within lesions. Statistically significant differences in parameters such as T2B and f are seen between normal‐appearing white matter, multiple sclerosis lesions, and control white matter. Whole‐brain histograms of these parameters are also presented, showing differences between patients and controls. Magn Reson Med 50:83–91, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Q A ] 1 M ar 2 00 3 BC n-symmetric polynomials

We consider two important families of BCn-symmetric polynomials, namely Okounkov's interpolation polynomials and Koornwinder's orthogonal polynomials. We give a family of difference equations satisfied by the former, as well as generalizations of the branching rule and Pieri identity, leading to a number of multivariate q-analogues of classical hypergeometric transformations. For the latter, we give new proofs of Macdonald's conjectures, as well as new identities, including an inverse binomial formula and several branching rule and connection coefficient identities. We also derive families of ordinary symmetric functions that reduce to the interpolation and Koornwinder polynomials upon appropriate specialization. As an application, we consider a number of new integral conjectures associated to classical symmetric spaces.
Information Measure for Vague Symbols *

The structures of the fuzzy information theory are focused on the concept of fuzzy entropy, where the individual information of symbols is considered only implicitely. This paper aims to fill this gap and to study the concepts of fuzzy information. Special attention is paid to the typical fuzzy set theoretical paradigma of monotonicity of operations.
Protecting victims of intimate partner violence: Swedish prosecutors’ experiences of decision-making regarding restraining orders

ABSTRACT Restraining orders can be used as a risk management strategy to reduce the likelihood of intimate partner violence (IPV) re-victimisation. The aim of this study was to examine how prosecutors work with cases of IPV, with a focus on their collaboration with police, use of violence risk assessment and implementation of restraining orders. A qualitative analysis was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with five prosecutors operating in two northern police districts in Sweden in 2016. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. Three overarching themes arose: The case, Organization of resources and Interpretation of the law. Each theme was discussed in the context of the prosecutors’ work with IPV. Prosecutors pointed to several inadequacies in the legislation and offered potential solutions that would ameliorate their work. Results also showed that prosecutors seldom used violence risk assessments conducted by police as a basis for issuing restraining orders. The primary reason for this was a lack of clear routines governing cooperation between police and prosecutors in the application process. The results from this study can be used when training criminal justice personnel in order to obtain a better understanding of the difficulties that prosecutors face when trying to protect victims of IPV.
Gravitational Billiards, Dualities and Hidden Symmetries

The purpose of this article is to highlight the fascinating, but only very incompletely understood relation between Einstein's theory and its generalizations on the one hand, and the theory of indefinite, and in particular hyperbolic, Kac Moody algebras on the other. The elucidation of this link could lead to yet another revolution in our understanding of Einstein's theory and attempts to quantize it.
Nature and the city: the salt-works park in the urban area of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy)

The re-use and the domestication of nature in abandoned areas is becoming a theme of increasing relevance in European (and Italian) public debate. This article uses Gilles Clement's concept of 'third landscape' to understand the transformation of an urban salt works into a public park. Salt production in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) was suspended in 1984 because of pollution from urban sewage. Some years after abandonment, the state salt works eventually became a public park. People frequented the area before its establishment and eventually the salt works became a place for running, canoeing, walking, biking, birdwatching and other outdoor activities. The article shows how this abandoned area became a park and heritage site, though stakeholder support. It analyzes the local discourse that continues to represent and protect the area as 'green,' where nature can be enjoyed, despite its industrial heritage. Keywords: salt works, wetlands, coastal parks, European coastal cities, Sardinia
Motor cell columns in rat lumbar spinal cord.

The distribution pattern of motoneurons in the rat's lumbar spinal cord which send axons to the sciatic nerve was studied by means of staining degenerated motor cells with toluidine blue after relevant roots or nerves had been sectioned or crushed. The columnar arrangement of the motor cells in the lumbar spinal cord of the normal rats was confirmed and presented. The degeneration picture of the rat motoneuron was presented, which was observed only in the large cells in the ventral horn and not in the smaller cells suggestive of γ-motoneurons. It was found that the sciatic motoneurons occupy the dorsolateral portion of the ventral horn and extend in proximocaudal direction from the mid L4 through L5 to the end of L6. It was proved that the tibial motoneurons innervating the extensors of lower hind-limb and foot are situated dorsolaterally in the sciatic portion of the columnar arrangement of the motor cells, while the peroneal motoneurons innervating the flexors of lower hind-limb occupy the medial section in the sciatic portion.
Quasi-Periodic Variability and the Inner Radii of Thin Accretion Disks in Galactic Black Hole Systems

We calculate upper bounds on the inner radii of geometrically thin accretion disks in galactic black hole systems by relating their rapid variability properties to those of neutron stars. We infer that the inner disk radii do not exhibit large excursions between different spectral states, in contrast with the concept that the disk retreats significantly during the soft-to-hard-state transition. We find that, in the hard state, the accretion disks extend down to radii ≲6-25 GM/c2 and discuss the implications of our results for models of black hole X-ray spectra.
Feliform carnivores have a distinguished constitutive innate immune response

ABSTRACT Determining the immunological phenotype of endangered and threatened populations is important to identify those vulnerable to novel pathogens. Among mammals, members of the order Carnivora are particularly threatened by diseases. We therefore examined the constitutive innate immune system, the first line of protection against invading microbes, of six free-ranging carnivore species; the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), the brown hyena (Hyena brunnea), the caracal (Caracal caracal), the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the lion (Panthera leo) using a bacterial killing assay. The differences in immune responses amongst the six species were independent of their foraging behaviour, body mass or social organisation but reflected their phylogenetic relatedness. The bacterial killing capacity of black-backed jackals, a member of the suborder Caniformia, followed the pattern established for a wide variety of vertebrates. In contrast, the five representatives of the suborder Feliformia demonstrated a killing capacity at least an order of magnitude higher than any species reported previously, with a particularly high capacity in caracals and cheetahs. Our results suggest that the immunocompetence of threatened felids such as the cheetah has been underestimated and its assessment ought to consider both innate and adaptive components of the immune system. Summary: The innate immunocompetence of six free-ranging carnivores is independent of their foraging behaviour, body mass or social organisation but reflects their phylogenetic relatedness.