Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous Super-Resolution of Depth and Images Using a Single Camera

In this paper, we propose a convex optimization framework for simultaneous estimation of super-resolved depth map and images from a single moving camera. The pixel measurement error in 3D reconstruction is directly related to the resolution of the images at hand. In turn, even a small measurement error can cause significant errors in reconstructing 3D scene structure or camera pose. Therefore, enhancing image resolution can be an effective solution for securing the accuracy as well as the resolution of 3D reconstruction. In the proposed method, depth map estimation and image super-resolution are formulated in a single energy minimization framework with a convex function and solved efficiently by a first-order primal-dual algorithm. Explicit inter-frame pixel correspondences are not required for our super-resolution procedure, thus we can avoid a huge computation time and obtain improved depth map in the accuracy and resolution as well as high-resolution images with reasonable time. The superiority of our algorithm is demonstrated by presenting the improved depth map accuracy, image super-resolution results, and camera pose estimation.
Evidence of Cognitive Dysfunction after Soccer Playing with Ball Heading Using a Novel Tablet-Based Approach

Does frequent head-to-ball contact cause cognitive dysfunctions and brain injury to soccer players? An iPad-based experiment was designed to examine the impact of ball-heading among high school female soccer players. We examined both direct, stimulus-driven, or reflexive point responses (Pro-Point) as well as indirect, goal-driven, or voluntary point responses (Anti-Point), thought to require cognitive functions in the frontal lobe. The results show that soccer players were significantly slower than controls in the Anti-Point task but displayed no difference in Pro-Point latencies, indicating a disruption specific to voluntary responses. These findings suggest that even subconcussive blows in soccer can result in cognitive function changes that are consistent with mild traumatic brain injury of the frontal lobes. There is great clinical and practical potential of a tablet-based application for quick detection and monitoring of cognitive dysfunction.
Routing, merging and sorting on parallel models of computation

A variety of models have been proposed for the study of synchronous parallel computation. We review these models and study further some prototype problems. We distinguish two classes of models, fixed connection networks and models based on a shared memory. Routing is the prototype problem for the networks. In particular, routing provides the basis for simulating the more powerful shared memory models. We show that a simple but important class of deterministic strategies (oblivious routing) is necessarily inefficient with respect to worst case analysis. Routing can be viewed as a special case of sorting and the existence of a deterministic O(logn) routing or sorting algorithm for an n processor fixed connection network remains open. However, if we consider the more powerful class of shared memory models, we are -&-ldquo;almost-&-rdquo; able to achieve such an efficient sort via Valiant's parallel merging algorithm. Within a spectrum of models, we show that log log n - log log r is asymptotically optimal for rn processors to merge two sorted lists of n elements.
Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Unfree Labour: Case Studies and Debates

Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 30, No. 4 "Make no mistake. This is some book. One of the best I have read for some time. The challenge of this book should be read, studied and appreciated by all scholars of labour, migration or development. " "a very important contribution to contemporary and historical studies of workers, and class relations into which they are inserted and against which many of them struggle" International Review of Social History
A survey of consumer expectation in community pharmacies in Bandung, Indonesia

Article history: Received on: 14/10/2013 Revised on: 29/11/2013 Accepted on: 06/01/2014 Available online: 30/01/2014 The pharmacy has an important social as well as a functional role within an integrated health care system. Service quality has been an important topic to both health care providers and marketers as well as the focus of much recent research. This study was aimed to measure the service quality of community pharmacy based on patient’s perceptions. A written survey was carried out among pharmacy costumers (n=500) in Bandung, Indonesia (in 5 community pharmacies). The survey method used questionnaire with Cross-Sectional descriptive study approaches and SERVQUAL model. The level of patient satisfaction was mapped by Cartesian diagram. Mapping attribute on Cartesian Diagram majority on quadrat B, means the patients who purchased the prescription was satisfied with the services provided. The results showed that patients who purchased their prescription at five of community pharmacies overall very satisfied with the services provided and no one really needs to be a priority to increase the satisfaction of patients with prescription treatments given.
Designing efficient sorting algorithms for manycore GPUs

We describe the design of high-performance parallel radix sort and merge sort routines for manycore GPUs, taking advantage of the full programmability offered by CUDA. Our radix sort is the fastest GPU sort and our merge sort is the fastest comparison-based sort reported in the literature. Our radix sort is up to 4 times faster than the graphics-based GPUSort and greater than 2 times faster than other CUDA-based radix sorts. It is also 23% faster, on average, than even a very carefully optimized multicore CPU sorting routine. To achieve this performance, we carefully design our algorithms to expose substantial fine-grained parallelism and decompose the computation into independent tasks that perform minimal global communication. We exploit the high-speed onchip shared memory provided by NVIDIA's GPU architecture and efficient data-parallel primitives, particularly parallel scan. While targeted at GPUs, these algorithms should also be well-suited for other manycore processors.
Overweight and Effect of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Lipid Profiles in Postmenopausal Women

Background Many experimental and observational studies have suggested that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women is cardioprotective. However, the results of randomized controlled trials have been discouraging. We attempted to evaluate the influence of overweight, a frequent risk factor for coronary artery disease, on the lipid-modifying effects of HRT. Methods A total of 345 postmenopausal women were divided into 2 groups according to body mass index (BMI): the control group; BMI<25 Kg/m2 (n=248) and the overweight group; BMI≥25 Kg/m2 (n=97). All women received either 0.625 mg conjugated equine estrogen (CEE)(n=139), CEE plus 5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA)(n=97) or CEE plus 10 mg MPA (n=109). Lipid profiles were measured before and 12 months after HRT. Results In both the control and overweight groups, HRT reduced low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (p=0.000 and p=0.000 respectively) and lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] levels (p=0.000 and p=0.000 respectively) and raised high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (p=0.000 and p=0.002 respectively). However, the elevation of the HDL-C level was higher in the control group than in overweight group (17.5% vs. 10.4%, p=0.015), and this was significant after adjusting for changes in body weights (p=0.016). There were no differences in the reduction of LDL-C (p=0.20) and Lp(a) (p=0.09) levels between the two groups. Conclusion HRT had less favorable effects on HDL-C levels in overweight postmenopausal women than in women with normal body weight. This finding may be partially associated with no cardioprotective effect of HRT in postmenopausal patients at a high risk due to multiple risk factors including obesity.
GPU-Enabled High Performance Online Visual Search with High Accuracy

We propose an online image search engine based on local image features (key points), which runs fully on GPUs. State-of-the-art visual image retrieval techniques are based on bag-of-visual-words (BoV) model, which is an analogy for text-based search. In BoV, each key point is rounded off to the nearest visual word. On the other hand in this work, thanks to the vector computation power of GPUs, we utilize real values of key point descriptors. We match key points in two steps. The idea in the first step is similar to visual word matching in BoV. In the second step, we do matching in key point level. By keeping identities of each key point, closest key points are accurately retrieved in real-time. Image search has different characteristics than textual search. We implement one-to-one key point matching, which is more natural for images. Our experiments reveal 265 times speed up for offline index generation, 104 times speedup for online index search and 20.5 times speedup for online key point matching time, when compared to the CPU implementation. Our proposed key point-matching-based search improves accuracy of BoV by 9.5%.
Extreme Multi-label Loss Functions for Recommendation, Tagging, Ranking & Other Missing Label Applications

The choice of the loss function is critical in extreme multi-label learning where the objective is to annotate each data point with the most relevant subset of labels from an extremely large label set. Unfortunately, existing loss functions, such as the Hamming loss, are unsuitable for learning, model selection, hyperparameter tuning and performance evaluation. This paper addresses the issue by developing propensity scored losses which: (a) prioritize predicting the few relevant labels over the large number of irrelevant ones; (b) do not erroneously treat missing labels as irrelevant but instead provide unbiased estimates of the true loss function even when ground truth labels go missing under arbitrary probabilistic label noise models; and (c) promote the accurate prediction of infrequently occurring, hard to predict, but rewarding tail labels. Another contribution is the development of algorithms which efficiently scale to extremely large datasets with up to 9 million labels, 70 million points and 2 million dimensions and which give significant improvements over the state-of-the-art. This paper's results also apply to tagging, recommendation and ranking which are the motivating applications for extreme multi-label learning. They generalize previous attempts at deriving unbiased losses under the restrictive assumption that labels go missing uniformly at random from the ground truth. Furthermore, they provide a sound theoretical justification for popular label weighting heuristics used to recommend rare items. Finally, they demonstrate that the proposed contributions align with real world applications by achieving superior clickthrough rates on sponsored search advertising in Bing.
A new species of Telmatobius (Amphibia, Anura, Telmatobiidae) from the Pacific slopes of the Andes, Peru

Abstract We describe a new species of Telmatobius from the Pacific slopes of the Andes in central Peru. Specimens were collected at 3900 m elevation near Huaytará, Huancavelica, in the upper drainage of the Pisco river. The new species has a snout–vent length of 52.5 ± 1.1 mm (49.3–55.7 mm, n = 6) in adult females, and 48.5 mm in the single adult male. The new species has bright yellow and orange coloration ventrally and is readily distinguished from all other central Peruvian Andean species of Telmatobius but Telmatobius intermedius by having vomerine teeth but lacking premaxillary and maxillary teeth, and by its slender body shape and long legs. The new species differs from Telmatobius intermedius by its larger size, flatter head, and the absence of cutaneous keratinized spicules (present even in immature females of Telmatobius intermedius), and in males by the presence of minute, densely packed nuptial spines on dorsal and medial surfaces of thumbs (large, sparsely packed nuptial spines in Telmatobius intermedius). The hyper-arid coastal valleys of Peru generally support low species richness, particularly for groups such as aquatic breeding amphibians. The discovery of a new species in this environment, and along a major highway crossing the Andes, shows that much remains to be done to document amphibian diversity in Peru.
COMPARISON OF TWO PHYTASE SOURCES IN CORN- SOYBEAN MEAL-BASED DIETS FOR COMMERCIAL LAYING HENS

An experiment was conducted to compare the effects of feeding two phytase sources on performance of commercial Leghorns fed corn-soy diets. Seven dietary treatments were fed to 280 Hy-Line W-36 hens. A basal corn-soy based diet served as a positive control diet (0.31 NPP; Trt.1). Two phytase sources (Natuphos and Phyzyme) were supplemented to the basal diet at 0, 300 or 450 FTU/kg feed (Trt. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; respectively). All diets were fed from 38 to 48 weeks of age. Birds were housed in cages, and each cage was considered as an experimental replicate (4 hens/ cage) in a randomized complete block design, and each treatment was replicated 10 times. Overall, Natuphos fed hens (diet 4 to 7) consumed more feed (FI) averaging 83.49 g. / h. / d. Similarly, egg production (EP) ranged from 90.32 for the positive control and 89.10% for Natuphos (300 FTU/ kg feed) to 77.92% for hens fed diet 2 (negative control; 0.12 NNP). Egg mass (EM) was higher for hens fed dietary treatments of Natuphos and the control as compared to the Phyzyme fed group. No significant differences were proved among dietary treatments with the control group having numerically better feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.67 g feed/ g egg. Excreta P were not affected by phytase source or dietary levels. All dietary treatments had no significant effects on egg components. The highest albumen was obtained with diet 6 (59.77%), and the highest yolk was (26.70%), while the highest shell (13.30%) with the control group, respectively. Egg specific gravity (SG) was also not affected by dietary treatments. Bone mineral content (BMC), and bone mineral density (BMD) were not significantly affected by any of the dietary treatments. Bone minerals content ranged from 35.51 to 42.30 g. , diet 4 vs. diet 5, respectively. Based on the information generated from this trial, supplementing corn-soy bean based diets with Phyzyme XP (300 FTU/kg) was comparable
Dual Neural Routing of Visual Facilitation in Speech Processing

Viewing our interlocutor facilitates speech perception, unlike for instance when we telephone. Several neural routes and mechanisms could account for this phenomenon. Using magnetoencephalography, we show that when seeing the interlocutor, latencies of auditory responses (M100) are the shorter the more predictable speech is from visual input, whether the auditory signal was congruent or not. Incongruence of auditory and visual input affected auditory responses ∼20 ms after latency shortening was detected, indicating that initial content-dependent auditory facilitation by vision is followed by a feedback signal that reflects the error between expected and received auditory input (prediction error). We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging and confirmed that distinct routes of visual information to auditory processing underlie these two functional mechanisms. Functional connectivity between visual motion and auditory areas depended on the degree of visual predictability, whereas connectivity between the superior temporal sulcus and both auditory and visual motion areas was driven by audiovisual (AV) incongruence. These results establish two distinct mechanisms by which the brain uses potentially predictive visual information to improve auditory perception. A fast direct corticocortical pathway conveys visual motion parameters to auditory cortex, and a slower and indirect feedback pathway signals the error between visual prediction and auditory input.
'Something else, then something else again' : neuroscience and connection-making in contemporary poetry

This thesis establishes a dialogue between neuroscience and contemporary poetry, based on Bakhtin’s principle of dialogicality (1981) and presents a novel approach to combining two disciplines usually regarded as separate. The contention of the thesis is that neuroscientists and poets are often concerned with the same questions about human consciousness and seek to explore the same ‘mysteries’ and that the perspective offered by each field can be greatly enriched by the other (Burke and Troscianko, 2013). I define and develop the approach I call ‘neuropoetics’, setting close thematic studies of key poets (including Norman MacCaig, Paul Muldoon and John Burnside) and qualitative data drawn from interviews with contemporary poets in dialogue with texts and ideas from the domain of neuroscience, notably McGilchrist (2009), Ramachandran (2011), Trimble (2007) and Shermer (2011), but also including Libet et al (1983), Turner and Poppel (1983), Rizzolati (2004), Seung (2013) and others. In this thesis I relate the work of each of the contemporary poets in my study to key issues in contemporary neuroscience (specifically metaphor, patternicity, negative tropes and free will) according to the dialogical principles established at the start. I then draw the work of all three poets together in relation to the themes of memory and self-identity. In conclusion, I evaluate this thesis alongside recent fMRI studies of creative writing and consider how the two approaches could be combined in a future enquiry that gives equal weight to poetry and neuroscience.
The Coevolution of Network Structure and Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU) is one of the most central constructs in IS research. However, it has been examined only from an individual perspective. This article conceptualizes PEoU as a network construct. Results indicate three things. Firstly, the higher a person's PEoU, the more likely she or he is sought for advice. Secondly, there is a greater likelihood that a person seeks out another person for advice if the other person also seeks out the first person for advice. Thirdly, a person's PEoU will become similar to that of other persons' she or he seeks out for advice.
Influence of exogenous factor VIIa on thrombin generation in cord plasma of full-term and pre-term newborns

Factor (F) VIIa has been used to treat adults and children with a variety of bleeding disorders. The results from these studies cannot be extrapolated to newborns because their hemostatic system differs significantly from adults, which may influence the effects of FVIIa on thrombin (IIa) generation. We compared the effects of FVIIa concentrates on IIa generation in plasmas from adults, full-term newborns and pre-term newborns. Defibrinated plasma (using arvin) from adults, or umbilical cords from full-term or pre-term deliveries was supplemented with FVIIa (Novo Nordisk, Bagsvaerd, Denmark), mixed with dilute thromboplastin reagent, and the resultant reaction mixture subsampled periodically into ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, followed by measurement of total IIa activity (S-2238). Thrombin–α2Macroglobulin complexes, determined as residual activity after neutralization with heparin and antithrombin, were subtracted from total IIa to give free IIa. Prothrombin (FII) and inhibitor complexes were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Addition of FVIIa caused a reduction in the lag phase for the appearance of free IIa and consumption of FII, which was more pronounced in newborn plasma. There was no increase in peak IIa levels regardless of the amount of FVIIa added. Final inhibitor complex concentrations were increased in plasmas from adults compared with newborns, likely reflecting higher plasma concentrations of FII in adults. Generation of IIa was more rapid in pre-term plasma compared with that in adult and full-term cord plasmas due to increased endogenous tissue factor (TF). In summary, FVIIa enhanced IIa generation in plasma from different age groups, with the effect being more pronounced in plasma from pre-term newborns, possibly due to increased levels of plasma TF.
Pulse dropout in harmonically mode-locked fiber lasers

We have studied theoretically and experimentally supermode competition in an actively mode-locked Er-fiber laser that operates in a high harmonic mode. Using an innovative numerical technique that allows us to properly account for the complex interaction of multiple pulses with the gain media, we could study the dynamics that leads to supermode competition, pulse dropouts, and pulse pair generation, and to accurately predict the limits of the stable operating regime.
Neutrophil and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as new predictors of dropout and recurrence after liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer

There is increasing evidence that systemic inflammation markers like neutrophil (NLR) and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratios (PLR) may play a role in the outcome of hepatocellular cancer (HCC). Between January 1994 and March 2012, 181 patients with HCC were registered on the transplant waiting list: 35 (19.3%) patients dropped out during the waiting period and 146 (80.7%) patients underwent liver transplantation (LT). The median follow‐up of this patient cohort was 4.2 years (IQR: 1.8–8.3). On c‐statistics, the last NLR (AUROC = 67.4; P = 0.05) was the best predictor of dropout. The last PLR had an intermediate statistical ability (AUROC = 66.1; P = 0.07) to predict post‐LT tumor recurrence. Patients with a NLR value >5.4 had poor 5‐year intention‐to‐treat (ITT) survival rates (48.2 vs. 64.5%; P = 0.02). Conversely, PLR better stratified patients in relation to tumor‐free survival (TFS) (80.7 vs. 91.6%; P = 0.02). NLR is a good predictor for the risk of dropout, while PLR is a good predictor for the risk of post‐LT recurrence. Use of these markers, which are all available before LT, may represent an additional tool to refine the selection criteria of HCC liver recipients.
Chandra Observations of “The Antennae” Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039). II. Detection and Analysis of Galaxian X-Ray Sources

We report the detailed analysis of the X-ray properties of the discrete sources detected in a long (72 ks) Chandra ACIS-S observation of the Antennae galaxies. We detect 49 sources, down to a detection limit of ∼1038 ergs s-1; 18 sources have LX > 1039 ergs s-1 (ultraluminous X-ray sources; ULXs). Six of the 49 sources have an extended component. Two sources show evidence for variability during this observation, and three sources exhibit long-term variability in timescales of a few years. The spectra of the discrete sources are diverse, suggesting different emission mechanisms, broadly correlated with the source luminosity: the most luminous sources exhibit harder emission, while the spectra of fainter sources appear softer. Spectra and variability suggest that the ULXs may be binary accretion sources; Supernova remnants or hot interstellar medium in the Chandra beam may be responsible for some of the softer sources.
Role of Superoxide in Catalase-Peroxidase-Mediated Isoniazid Action against Mycobacteria

ABSTRACT Isoniazid (INH) activation in vitro is associated with reduction of the mycobacterial ferric KatG catalase-peroxidase by hydrazine and reaction with O2 to form an oxyferrous enzyme complex. Since this complex could also form directly via reaction of ferric KatG with superoxide, intracellular activation might be responsive to superoxide concentration. When Mycobacterium smegmatiscarrying the M. bovis katG gene was treated with nontoxic levels of plumbagin, a generator of superoxide, the bacteriostatic activity of INH increased unless a plasmid-borne superoxide dismutase gene was also present. Thus, endogenous superoxide probably contributes to intracellular activation of INH.