Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
QuEst: A Quaternion-Based Approach for Camera Motion Estimation From Minimal Feature Points

In this letter, we consider the problem of recovering the rotation and translation changes of a moving camera from captured images. This problem is traditionally solved using the epipolar constraint, where the rotation and translation changes are recovered from the essential matrix. We propose a new formulation based on quaternion representation of rotation. Using this formulation, we recover the rotation and translation changes separately without resorting to an essential matrix. We compare the estimation accuracy and execution time of the proposed method with several state-of-the-art algorithms using both synthetic and actual image sequences. On average, our approach shows better accuracy in the presence of noise, but it has a larger execution time. For the benefit of community, we have made the implementation of our algorithm available online and free.
Compensation

Dosage is less effective in birds than in Abstract Background: In animals with heteromorphic sex chromosomes, dosage compensation of sex-chromosome genes is thought to be critical for species survival. Diverse molecular mechanisms have evolved to effectively balance the expressed dose of X-linked genes between XX and XY animals, and to balance expression of X and autosomal genes. Dosage compensation is not understood in birds, in which females (ZW) and males (ZZ) differ in the number of Z chromosomes. Results: Using microarray analysis, we compared the male:female ratio of expression of sets of Z-linked and autosomal genes in two bird species, zebra finch and chicken, and in two mammalian species, mouse and human. Male:female ratios of expression were significantly higher for Z genes than for autosomal genes in several finch and chicken tissues. In contrast, in mouse and human the male:female ratio of expression of X-linked genes is quite similar to that of autosomal genes, indicating effective dosage compensation even in humans, in which a significant percentage of genes escape X-inactivation. Conclusions: Birds represent an unprecedented case in which genes on one sex chromosome are expressed on average at constitutively higher levels in one sex compared with the other. Sex-chromosome dosage compensation is surprisingly ineffective in birds, suggesting that some genomes
Extending the contention scheduling model of routine action selection: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and frontal dysfunction

We extend a previously developed model of routine action selection by incorporating functional components to support behaviour in a simple non-routine task – sorting cards according to a rule that must be discovered by the subject. A minimal extension to the previous model, consisting of an activation-based working memory/inference system in which evidence is incorporated by simply exciting or inhibiting relevant rule nodes, is demonstrated to be capable of capturing basic performance on the task. The task is commonly used in assessing frontal brain injury, and the extended model is further shown to be capable of capturing the gross behavioural characteristics of frontal patients. However, it is argued that a purely activation-based working memory cannot capture the requirements of more complex tasks. The paper thereby demonstrates 1) how the basic routine action model might be extended to more complex behaviours, but 2) that such behaviours require more than simple activation-based memory processes to structure nonroutine behaviour over time.
Non-Traditional Wives With Traditional Husbands

Feminist scholars have argued that husband gender traditionalism is one of the root causes of spousal violence against women. Using couple-level data from Hong Kong (N = 871 couples), this article argues that a second mechanism—couple gender value mismatch—also explains husband-to-wife physical assault. Our findings show that a husband’s gender traditionalism is positively associated with husband-to-wife physical assault only when the husband is coupled with a wife who has non-traditional gender attitudes. Similarly, egalitarian gender attitudes in wives are positively associated with husband-to-wife physical assault only when a non-traditional wife is coupled with a traditional husband.
Top‐down and bottom‐up diversity cascades in detrital vs. living food webs

Apex predators and plant resources are both critical for maintaining diversity in biotic communities, but the indirect (cascading) effects of top-down and bottom-up forces on diversity at different trophic levels are not well resolved in terrestrial systems. Manipulations of predators or resources can cause direct changes of diversity at one trophic level, which in turn can affect diversity at other trophic levels. The indirect diversity effects of resource and consumer variation should be strongest in aquatic systems, moderate in terrestrial systems, and weakest in decomposer food webs. We measured effects of top predators and plant resources on the diversity of endophytic animals in an understorey shrub Piper cenocladum (Piperaceae). Predators and resource availability had significant direct and indirect effects on the diversity of the endophytic animal community, but the effects were not interactive, nor were they consistent between living vs. detrital food webs. The addition of fourth trophic level beetle predators increased diversity of consumers supported by living plant tissue, whereas balanced plant resources (light and nutrients) increased the diversity of primary through tertiary consumers in the detrital resources food web. These results support the hypotheses that top-down and bottom-up diversity cascades occur in terrestrial systems, and that diversity is affected by different factors in living vs. detrital food webs.
B Vitamins, Methionine and Alcohol Intake and Risk of Colon Cancer in Relation to BRAF Mutation and CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (CIMP)

Background One-carbon metabolism appears to play an important role in DNA methylation reaction. Evidence suggests that a low intake of B vitamins or high alcohol consumption increases colorectal cancer risk. How one-carbon nutrients affect the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) or BRAF mutation status in colon cancer remains uncertain. Methods Utilizing incident colon cancers in a large prospective cohort of women (the Nurses' Health Study), we determined BRAF status (N = 386) and CIMP status (N = 375) by 8 CIMP-specific markers [CACNA1G, CDKN2A (p16), CRABP1, IGF2, MLH1, NEUROG1, RUNX3, and SOCS1], and 8 other CpG islands (CHFR, HIC1, IGFBP3, MGMT, MINT-1, MINT-31, p14, and WRN). We examined the relationship between intake of one-carbon nutrients and alcohol and colon cancer risk, by BRAF mutation or CIMP status. Results Higher folate intake was associated with a trend towards low risk of CIMP-low/0 tumors [total folate intake ≥400 µg/day vs. <200 µg/day; the multivariate relative risk = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.53–1.02], whereas total folate intake had no influence on CIMP-high tumor risks (Pheterogeneity = 0.73). Neither vitamin B6, methionine or alcohol intake appeared to differentially influence risks for CIMP-high and CIMP-low/0 tumors. Using the 16-marker CIMP panel did not substantially alter our results. B vitamins, methionine or alcohol intake did not affect colon cancer risk differentially by BRAF status. Conclusions This molecular pathological epidemiology study suggests that low level intake of folate may be associated with an increased risk of CIMP-low/0 colon tumors, but not that of CIMP-high tumors. However, the difference between CIMP-high and CIMP-low/0 cancer risks was not statistically significant, and additional studies are necessary to confirm these observations.
Dynamic Rank/Select Dictionaries with Applications to XML Indexing

We consider a central problem in text indexing: Given a text T over an alphabet (cid:6), construct a compressed data structure answering the queries char ( i ), rank s ( i ), and select s ( i ) for a symbol s 2 (cid:6). Many data structures consider these queries for static text T [GGV03, FM01, SG06, GMR06]. We consider the dynamic version of the problem, where we are allowed to insert and delete symbols at arbitrary positions of T . This problem is a key challenge in compressed text indexing and has direct application to dynamic XML indexing structures that answer subpath queries [FLMM05]. We build on the results of [RRR02, GMR06] and give the best known query bounds for the dynamic version of this problem, supporting arbitrary insertions and deletions of symbols in T . Speci(cid:12)cally, with an amortized update time of O ((1 =(cid:15) ) n (cid:15) ), we suggest how to support rank s ( i ), select s ( i ), and char ( i ) queries in O ((1 =(cid:15) ) log log n ) time, for any (cid:15) < 1. The best previous query times for this problem were O (log n log j (cid:6) j ), given by [MN06]. Our bounds are competitive with state-of-the-art static structures [GMR06]. Some applicable lower bounds for the partial sums problem [PD06] show that our update/query tradeo(cid:11) is also nearly optimal. In addition, our space bound is competitive with the corresponding static structures. For the special case of bitvectors (i.e., j (cid:6) j = 2), we also show the best tradeo(cid:11)s for query/update time, improving upon the results of [MN06, HSS03, RRR02]. Finally,
Tubing Extrusion of a Fluoropolymer Melt

Abstract The tubing extrusion-forming process of a fluoropolymer (FEP) melt was studied both experimentally and numerically. The flow behaviour of a FEP resin was determined by using a tubular die used in industrial-scale operations and these data were compared with simulation results using (i) a viscous model (Cross) and (ii) a viscoelastic one (the Kaye–Bernstein, Kearsley, Zapas / Papanastasiou, Scriven, Macosko or K-BKZ/PSM model) in order to assess the viscoelastic effects. In all simulations, compressibility, thermal and pressure effects on viscosity were taken into account. It was found that the viscoelastic results for the pressure, and hence the stresses at the wall, were always higher than the viscous results. Both were higher than the experimental results. A quadratic slip model plus viscoelasticity was found necessary to reproduce the experiments. The smooth flow curves resulting from this industrial tubular-coating die are a further manifestation that this is an appropriate design for coating fluoropolymers at very high apparent shear rates, exceeding 5000 s−1.
Mammalian Peroxiredoxin Isoforms Can Reduce Hydrogen Peroxide Generated in Response to Growth Factors and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α*

Mammalian tissues express three immunologically distinct peroxiredoxin (Prx) proteins (Prx I, II, and III), which are the products of distinct genes. With the use of recombinant proteins Prx I, II, and III, all have now been shown to possess peroxidase activity and to rely on Trx as a source of reducing equivalents for the reduction of H2O2. Prx I and II are cytosolic proteins, whereas Prx III is localized in mitochondria. Transient overexpression of Prx I or II in cultured cells showed that they were able to eliminate the intracellular H2O2 generated in response to growth factors. Moreover, the activation of nuclear factor κB (NFκB) induced by extracellularly added H2O2 or tumor necrosis factor-α was blocked by overproduction of Prx II. These results suggest that, together with glutathione peroxidase and catalase, Prx enzymes likely play an important role in eliminating peroxides generated during metabolism. In addition, Prx I and II might participate in the signaling cascades of growth factors and tumor necrosis factor-α by regulating the intracellular concentration of H2O2.
State-of-charge assessment for supercap-powered sensor nodes: Keep it simple stupid!

Electric double-layer capacitors, also known as supercaps, have several advantages over traditional energy buffers: They do not require complex charging circuits, offer virtually unlimited charge-discharge cycles, and generally enable easy state-of-charge assessment. A closer look yet reveals that leakage and internal reorganization effects hamper state-of-charge assessment by means of terminal voltage, particularly after a charging cycle. Sophisticated models capture this effect at the cost of an increased calculation and parameter-estimation complexity. As this is hardly feasible on low-power, low-resource sensor nodes, we evaluate the performance of simple models on a real energy-harvesting sensor node platform. We show that model errors are as low as 1-2% on average and never exceed 5% in our experiments, supporting that there is no need to employ more complex models on common sensor node platforms, equipped with unreliable ADC readings and uncertain consumption due to hardware variation in the same order of magnitude.
Optimized Online Rank Learning for Machine Translation

We present an online learning algorithm for statistical machine translation (SMT) based on stochastic gradient descent (SGD). Under the online setting of rank learning, a corpus-wise loss has to be approximated by a batch local loss when optimizing for evaluation measures that cannot be linearly decomposed into a sentence-wise loss, such as BLEU. We propose a variant of SGD with a larger batch size in which the parameter update in each iteration is further optimized by a passive-aggressive algorithm. Learning is efficiently parallelized and line search is performed in each round when merging parameters across parallel jobs. Experiments on the NIST Chinese-to-English Open MT task indicate significantly better translation results.
A Novel Parallel Approach of Radix Sort with Bucket Partition Preprocess

Radix sort is an important sorting algorithm which is widely used in applications such as binary search and database. The most important advantage of radix sort is its time complexity is O(n), lower than other sorting algorithms based on comparison operation. However, a factor that hampers its application is long execution time of its loop body. In this paper, based on data level parallelism idea, we present a new parallel radix sort algorithm. In this algorithm, each iteration of loop can be fully parallelized via thounds of concurrent threads, eliminating the original performance bottleneck. Furthermore, it is a scalable algorithm, which means the performance of algorithm can be linearly improved with the increase of core number of modern many-core processors. Experiment results show the efficiency of the algorithm.
Structure-Analitycal Theory of Martensitic Unelasticity

The article presents a theory able to calculate various phenomena of martensitic unelasticity as well as of dislocation plasticity. The theory is based on the structure-analytical conception. The developed methodology accounts for such fundamental phenomena as kinetics of martensite crystals growth ; influence of temperature, stress and neutron radiation ; influence of non-homogeneous strain of dislocation origin and its dependence on diffusion and radiation damage, etc. The developed theory allows to predict mechanical behaviour of crystals under an arbitrary thermomechanical and radiation effect thus making possible to solve numerous applied problems.
A weakly pathogenic Rauscher spleen focus-forming virus mutant that lacks the carboxyl-terminal membrane anchor of its envelope glycoprotein

A mutant Rauscher spleen focus-forming virus (mutant 4-3) that causes mild splenic erythroblastosis in mice has a 44-base-pair deletion in the 3' region of its envelope glycoprotein (env) gene. The encoded glycoprotein terminates prematurely, lacks a hydrophobic membrane anchor, and has a shortened intracellular lifespan. An active site for causing erythroblast proliferation may occur in the undamaged amino-terminal domain of the env glycoprotein.
Model reduction of discrete interval system using dominant poles retention and direct series expansion method

This paper presents a method for reduction of discrete interval system using Padé approximation. For a given high-order system, denominator of the reduced model is obtained by retaining dominant poles of the original system and the numerator is obtained by matching first r time moments of the system and its model. The time moments are calculated using novel method i.e. direct series expansion method. Numerical example is given to illustrate the procedure.
Host defence against disseminated Candida albicans infection and implications for antifungal immunotherapy

The different manifestations of Candida albicans infection are dictated by an underlying defect in the immune response of the host. Protective immunity to disseminated candidiasis, the manifestation of C. albicans infection discussed in this review, has traditionally been ascribed to innate immunity with emphasis on the role of granulocytes. Lately, however, immunological studies have learned that host defence against disseminated candidiasis is based on a complex interplay between innate and cell-mediated immunity. Despite the availability of new antifungal agents, mortality associated with disseminated C. albicans infection remains high. Immunotherapy that augments host defence is an important strategic option in the battle against disseminated candidiasis. Here, the authors review the chronological events in the pathogenesis of disseminated candidiasis that aid in predicting the impact of existing immunotherapy and the development of future immunomodulating strategies.
Purification and Characterization of an Oat Fructan Exohydrolase That Preferentially Hydrolyzes [beta]-2,6-Fructans

Oat (Avena sativa cv Fulghum) fructan hydrolase was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and size-exclusion chromatography. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity as determined by the presence of a single band (43 kD) on a silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. A mixture of [beta]-2,6-linked fructan (neokestin) isolated from oat was used as the substrate to purify fructan hydrolase. Neokestin and small degree of polymerization fructan isomers were used to characterize the substrate specificity of the purified enzyme. The purified fructan hydrolase catalyzed hydrolysis of the terminal [beta]-2,6 linkage of 6G,6-kestotetraose 3.5 times more rapidly than it hydrolyzed the terminal [beta]-2,6 linkage of 6G-kestotriose and approximately 10 times faster than it hydrolyzed the terminal [beta]-2,1 linkage of chicory inulin. Sucrose and 1-kestose were not substrates. The Km for neokestin ([beta]-2,6-linked fructans with a degree of polymerization of 7–14) hydrolysis was 2.8% (w/v), and the Vmax was 0.041 [mu]mol min-1 mL-1. The Km for hydrolysis of 6G,6-kestotetraose was 5.6% (w/v), and the Vmax was 0.138 [mu]mol min-1 mL-1. Catalysis was exolytic and by multiple chain attack. Hydrolysis of neokestin was maximal at pH 4.5 to 5.0.
TOPICAL REVIEW: Testing the limits of quantum mechanics: motivation, state of play, prospects

I present the motivation for experiments which attempt to generate, and verify the existence of, quantum superpositions of two or more states which are by some reasonable criterion `macroscopically' distinct, and show that various a priori objections to this programme made in the literature are flawed. I review the extent to which such experiments currently exist in the areas of free-space molecular diffraction, magnetic biomolecules, quantum optics and Josephson devices, and sketch possible future lines of development of the programme.
Hospital admissions of patients aged over 80 with acute abdominal complaints.

OBJECTIVE Evaluation of the outcome of patients aged over 80 with acute abdominal complaints, who were admitted to the hospital through the emergency department. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING City hospital, the Netherlands. PATIENTS 132 patients aged over 80 with acute abdominal complaints who were admitted through the emergency department in 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Diagnosis at admission and discharge or necropsy, diagnostic tests, treatment, morbidity, and mortality. RESULTS In 27 of 132 patients (20%) the diagnosis on discharge or at necropsy differed from the initial diagnosis in the emergency department; in 18 patients (14%) an important diagnosis was missed and the severity was underestimated. Within the first 24 hours, 97% (n = 128) had blood tests, 63% (n = 83) urine tests, 58% (n = 76) plain radiograph of the abdomen, 20% (n = 26) ultrasonography, and 3% (n = 4) computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen. Of all the patients admitted, 35 (27%) were operated on. The hospital mortality of the admitted patients was 17% (n = 23) and of those operated on 34% (n = 12). The mortality in the 27 misdiagnosed patients was 59% (n = 16). The morbidity among the 109 surviving patients was 22%. CONCLUSIONS Mortality was high among those aged over 80 with acute abdominal complaints who were admitted through the emergency department, particularly among those who were operated on and those who were misdiagnosed. Guidelines for an earlier and more comprehensive diagnostic approach could lead to better insight into the prognosis and thereby to more adequate and better-targeted treatment.
Contractility of the guinea pig bladder measured in situ and in vitro

To study the relative importance of neurogenic factors in detrusor contractility and to relate a total bladder in vitro contractility model to a previously described bladder wall strip model, active intravesical pressure values were compared in situ and in vitro in eight male guinea pigs. In situ, the active pressure was measured in spontaneous isometric and nonisometric micturition contractions. In vitro, the active pressure was measured in isometric contractions of the same bladders, developed in response to optimal electrical stimulation. The volume dependence of the active pressure generated by the bladder was measured in vitro in order to relate bladder capacity to the volume where the generated force is maximal and to determine the optimal volume at which to study detrusor contractility. The results indicated that in normal micturition the detrusor muscle was not fully stimulated: active pressure in isometric contractions in vivo was about 60% of the pressure values attained in vitro at the same bladder volume. Most micturitions occurred at a volume where the active pressure generated in vitro was about 80% of the maximal pressure. The active pressure‐bladder volume relationship complied with the sliding filament‐cross bridge theory. In whole bladder preparations active stress was about twice as high as in strips. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Information flow property preserving transformation of UML interaction diagrams

We present an approach for secure information flow property preserving refinement and transformation of UML inspired interaction diagrams.The approach is formally underpinned by trace-semantics.The semantics is sufficiently expressive to distinguish underspecification from explicit nondeterminism. A running example is used to introduce the approach and to demonstrate that it is of practical value.