Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comparison of Fisheye Lenses for Interactive Layout Tasks

Interactive fisheye views allow users to edit data and manipulate objects through the distortion lens. Although several varieties of fisheye lens exist, little is known about how the different types fare for different interactive tasks. In this paper, we investigate one kind of interaction -- layout of graphical objects -- that can be problematic in fisheyes. Layout involves judgments of distance, alignment, and angle, all of which can be adversely affected by the distortion of a fisheye. We compared performance on layout tasks with three kinds of fisheye: a full-screen pyramid lens, a constrained hemispherical lens, and a constrained flat-topped hemisphere. We found that accuracy was significantly better with the constrained lenses compared to the full-screen lens, and also that the simple hemisphere was better at higher levels of distortion than the flat-topped version. The study shows that although there is a cost to doing layout through distortion, it is feasible, particularly with constrained lenses. In addition, our findings provide initial empirical evidence of the differences between competing fisheye varieties.
Neural Evidence for Distracter Suppression during Visual Search in Real-World Scenes

Selecting visual information from cluttered real-world scenes involves the matching of visual input to the observer's attentional set—an internal representation of objects that are relevant for current behavioral goals. When goals change, a new attentional set needs to be instantiated, requiring the suppression of the previous set to prevent distraction by objects that are no longer relevant. In the present fMRI study, we investigated how such suppression is implemented at the neural level. We measured human brain activity in response to natural scene photographs that could contain objects from (1) a currently relevant (target) category, (2) a previously but not presently relevant (distracter) category, and/or (3) a never relevant (neutral) category. Across conditions, multivoxel response patterns in object-selective cortex carried information about objects present in the scenes. However, this information strongly depended on the task relevance of the objects. As expected, information about the target category was significantly increased relative to the neutral category, indicating top-down enhancement of task-relevant information. Importantly, information about the distracter category was significantly reduced relative to the neutral category, indicating that the processing of previously relevant objects was suppressed. Such active suppression at the level of high-order visual cortex may serve to prevent the erroneous selection of, or interference from, objects that are no longer relevant to ongoing behavior. We conclude that the enhancement of relevant information and the suppression of distracting information both contribute to the efficient selection of visual information from cluttered real-world scenes.
A 3D Face Recognition System Using Passive Stereo Vision and Its Performance Evaluation

This paper proposes a three-dimensional (3D) face recognition system using passive stereo vision. So far, the reported 3D face recognition systems assume the use of active 3D measurement for 3D facial capture. However, active methods employ structured illumination or laser scanning, which is not desirable in many human recognition applications. Addressing this problem, we propose a 3D face recognition system that uses (i) AdaBoost-based face detection to automatically extract a face region from an image, (ii) passive stereo vision to capture 3D facial information, and (iii) 3D face matching based on a simple ICP (iterative closest point) algorithm. Experimental evaluation demonstrates an efficient recognition performance of the proposed system
Sexually violent predators and civil commitment: is selection evidence based?

Sexual offenses represent an alarming proportion of crimes committed yearly. To address these concerns, several states, including South Carolina (SC), have enacted laws requiring sexually violent predators (SVPs) to be civilly committed to treatment. To date, no published study has examined sexual offenders recommended for treatment in SC. This study used a specially designed statewide database (SC-SVP research database) to determine which offender and offense characteristics were associated with increased likelihood of being recommended for civil commitment. Factors correlated with being more likely to be recommended included: being of a younger age at time of evaluation, prior sex convictions, having related and unrelated victims, a higher number of victims, frequent substance use, and a history of suicide attempts. Prior sex convictions, having both related and non-related victims, and a higher total number of victims align with characteristics associated with sexual recidivism. Frequent substance abuse and a history of suicide attempts do not mirror previous findings regarding sexual recidivism. These findings present new information regarding the civil commitment process of offenders being committed to the SC-SVP treatment program, characterize types of offenders committed to SC-SVP treatment program, and provide a foundation for using a computerized database in conducting sex offender research.
Monetary Policy Rules in Practice: Evidence from New Zealand

We use the ten years of experience in inflation-targeting in New Zealand since 1989 to test whether monetary policy appears to conform to the simple rules that have been recommended for it in the literature.Of the inflation targeting central banks, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has both the longest experience and probably the most clearly defined target and policy framework for achieving it.We show that while a Taylor rule with the standard parameters used in the US does indeed describe New Zealand monetary policy quite well, the Reserve Bank has focused rather more strongly on price stability, as required by its Policy Target Agreements.However, while the conduct of New Zealand monetary policy as set out in the Monetary Policy Statements is firmly based on targeting the inflation rate in the future we find, using the Bank's own forecasts, that nevertheless targeting inflation close to the present appears to be a better description of policy. Furthermore, restricting the policy choice to the information available to the Reserve Bank at the actual time of policy settings and ignoring subsequent revisions to published statistics does not result in a much improved explanation of its actions.We find a clear 'smoothing' element to the Bank's policy rather than immediate response to every small fluctuation.We show further that some of the variables that enter the policy rule have slightly asymmetric cycles.From symmetric and asymmetric cointegration tests on the long-run relationship between interest rates, the output gap, and inflation we show that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that monetary policy has been asymmetric in treating upside inflationary pressures differently from those towards deflation.Key words: monetary policy, Taylor rule, inflation targeting, New Zealand
ORIGINAL RESEARCH P 53 AND RB TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENE ALTERATIONS IN GASTRIC CANCER

Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes has been frequently observed in gastric carcinogenesis. Our purpose was to study the involvement of p53, APC, DCC, and Rb genes in gastric carcinoma. METHOD: Loss of heterozygosity of the p53, APC, DCC and Rb genes was studied in 22 gastric cancer tissues using polymerase chain reaction; single-strand conformation polymorphism of the p53 gene exons 5-6 and exons 7-8 was studied using S-dATP, and p53 expression was detected using a histological immunoperoxidase method with an anti-p53 clone. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: No loss of heterozygosity was observed in any of these tumor suppressor genes; homozygous deletion was detected in the Rb gene in 23% (3/13) of the cases of intestinal-type gastric carcinoma. Eighteen (81.8%) cases showed band mobility shifts in exons 5-6 and/or 7-8 of the p53 gene. The presence of the p53 protein was positive in gastric cancer cells in 14 cases (63.6%). Normal gastric mucosa showed negative staining for p53; thus, the immunoreactivity was likely to represent mutant forms. The correlation of band mobility shift and the immunoreactivity to anti-p53 was not significant (P = .90). There was no correlation of gene alterations with the disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: The inactivation of Rb and p53 genes is involved in gastric carcinogenesis in our environment. Loss of the Rb gene observed only in the intestinal-type gastric cancer should be further evaluated in association with Helicobacter pylori infection. The p53 gene was affected in both intestinal and diffuse histological types of gastric cancer.
Applied Social Psychology: A Critical Theoretical Perspective

The purpose of this analysis is to review, through a critical theoretical lens, social psychology applied to work and organisations. In our reading of the applied social psychological literature four key issues emerged. These include the valorisation of a positivist epistemology, an owner/management perspective on workplace issues, a focus on intra-psychic variables or internal mental states when accounting for organisational problems, and the ignoring of moral and ethical commitments in determining workplace research and practice. Each of these issues is then further analysed in light of insights from the field of Critical Management Studies. This alternative approach to organisational behaviour points to the ways in which applied social psychological theory and practice have the potential to disadvantage workers.
Factors Influencing Quality Threatening Behaviour in a Big Four Accounting Firm

We investigate the determinants of employee dysfunctional behaviour, focusing on how functional area and hierarchical level affect behavioural outcomes. This is an empirical study based upon results obtained from a company based web survey in a Big Four accounting firm in the UK. Our results show dysfunctional behaviour increases when performance evaluation focuses on the achievement of pre-set targets. However such behaviours are reduced as organizational commitment, perceptions of fairness and interactions with superiors increase. Our results show that the strength of these effects differs across hierarchical levels. We also provide some preliminary evidence of differences in behavioural responses in the non-audit section of the firm. Our results confirm hierarchical level is an important contextual factor affecting the use of performance management systems.
EACL - Expansion of Abbreviations in CLinical text

In the medical domain, especially in clinical texts, non-standard abbreviations are prevalent, which impairs readability for patients. To ease the understanding of the physicians’ notes, abbreviations need to be identified and expanded to their original forms. We present a distributional semantic approach to find candidates of the original form of the abbreviation, and combine this with Levenshtein distance to choose the correct candidate among the semantically related words. We apply the method to radiology reports and medical journal texts, and compare the results to general Swedish. The results show that the correct expansion of the abbreviation can be found in 40% of the cases, an improvement by 24 percentage points compared to the baseline (0.16), and an increase by 22 percentage points compared to using word space models alone (0.18).
Early detection of population declines: high power of genetic monitoring using effective population size estimators

Early detection of population declines is essential to prevent extinctions and to ensure sustainable harvest. We evaluated the performance of two Ne estimators to detect population declines: the two‐sample temporal method and a one‐sample method based on linkage disequilibrium (LD). We used simulated data representing a wide range of population sizes, sample sizes and number of loci. Both methods usually detect a population decline only one generation after it occurs if Ne drops to less than approximately 100, and 40 microsatellite loci and 50 individuals are sampled. However, the LD method often out performed the temporal method by allowing earlier detection of less severe population declines (Ne approximately 200). Power for early detection increased more rapidly with the number of individuals sampled than with the number of loci genotyped, primarily for the LD method. The number of samples available is therefore an important criterion when choosing between the LD and temporal methods. We provide guidelines regarding design of studies targeted at monitoring for population declines. We also report that 40 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers give slightly lower precision than 10 microsatellite markers. Our results suggest that conservation management and monitoring strategies can reliably use genetic based methods for early detection of population declines.
An Analytical Model for Flow-Level Performance of Large, Randomly Placed Small Cell Networks

Abstract-In this paper, we develop a flexible and accurate analytical model of large networks with random base station (BS) placement, in order to understand the impact of key network parameters like BS density and load on the network performance. The main goal is to understand the flow level dynamics of such a system, assuming non-saturated users and studying the congestion statistics for BSs and the per flow delay. To achieve this, we base our analysis on two main tools: (a)stochastic geometry, to understand the impact of topological randomness and coverage maps and (b) queueing theory, to model the competition between concurrent flows within the same BS. Our model is then applied the populars Radio Access Technologies (RATs), such as LTE and WIFi. Our results provide some interesting qualitative and quantitative insights about the performance of those networks.
Synaptic pattern formation during cellular recognition

Cell–cell recognition often requires the formation of a highly organized pattern of receptor proteins (a synapse) in the intercellular junction. Recent experiments [e.g., Monks, C. R. F. , Freiberg, B. A. , Kupfer, H. , Sciaky, N. & Kupfer, A. (1998) Nature (London) 395, 82–86; Grakoui, A. , Bromley, S. K. , Sumen, C. , Davis, M. M. , Shaw, A. S. , Allen, P. M. & Dustin, M. L. (1999) Science 285, 221–227; and Davis, D. M. , Chiu, I. , Fassett, M. , Cohen, G. B. , Mandelboim, O. & Strominger, J. L. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 15062–15067] vividly demonstrate a complex evolution of cell shape and spatial receptor–ligand patterns (several microns in size) in the intercellular junction during immunological synapse formation. The current view is that this dynamic rearrangement of proteins into organized supramolecular activation clusters is driven primarily by active cytoskeletal processes [e.g., Dustin, M. L. & Cooper, J. A. (2000) Nat. Immunol. 1, 23–29; and Wulfing, C. & Davis, M. M. (1998) Science 282, 2266–2269]. Here, aided by a quantitative analysis of the relevant physico-chemical processes, we demonstrate that the essential characteristics of synaptic patterns observed in living cells can result from spontaneous self-assembly processes. Active cellular interventions are superimposed on these self-organizing tendencies and may also serve to regulate the spontaneous processes. We find that the protein binding/dissociation characteristics, protein mobilities, and membrane constraints measured in the cellular environment are delicately balanced such that the length and time scales of spontaneously evolving patterns are in near-quantitative agreement with observations for synapse formation between T cells and supported membranes [Grakoui, A. , Bromley, S. K. , Sumen, C. , Davis, M. M. , Shaw, A. S. , Allen, P. M. & Dustin, M. L. (1999) Science 285, 221–227]. The model we present provides a common way of analyzing immunological synapse formation in disparate systems (e.g., T cell/antigen-presenting cell junctions with different MHC-peptides, natural killer cells, etc.).
ACE2, CBK1, and BUD4 in Budding and Cell Separation

ABSTRACT Mutations in the RAM network genes, including CBK1, MOB2, KIC1, HYM1, and TAO3, cause defects in bud site selection, asymmetric apical growth, and mating projections. Additionally, these mutants show altered colony morphology, cell separation defects, and reduced CTS1 expression, phenotypes also seen by mutating the Ace2 transcription factor. We show that an ACE2 multicopy plasmid suppresses the latter three defects of RAM network mutations, demonstrating that Ace2 is downstream of the RAM network and suggesting that these phenotypes are caused by reduced expression of Ace2 target genes. We show that wild-type W303 strains have a bud4 mutation and that combining bud4 with either ace2 or cbk1 in haploids results in altered colony morphology. We describe a timed sedimentation assay that allows quantitation of cytokinesis defects and subtle changes in budding pattern and cell shape. Experiments examining budding patterns and sedimentation rates both show that Ace2 and Cbk1 have independent functions in addition to their common pathway in transcription of genes such as CTS1. SWI5 encodes a transcription factor paralogous to ACE2. Additive effects are seen in cbk1 swi5 strains, and we show that activation of some target genes, such as EGT2, requires either Swi5 or Ace2 with Cbk1. The relative roles and interactions of Ace2, Cbk1, and Bud4 in bud site selection, polarized growth, and cell separation are discussed.
Cardiac Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in Coronary Stenting (CRISP Stent) Study: A Prospective, Randomized Control Trial

Background— Myocyte necrosis as a result of elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) occurs in approximately one third of cases and is associated with subsequent cardiovascular events. This study assessed the ability of remote ischemic preconditioning (IPC) to attenuate cardiac troponin I (cTnI) release after elective PCI. Methods and Results— Two hundred forty-two consecutive patients undergoing elective PCI with undetectable preprocedural cTnI were recruited. Subjects were randomized to receive remote IPC (induced by three 5-minute inflations of a blood pressure cuff to 200 mm Hg around the upper arm, followed by 5-minute intervals of reperfusion) or control (an uninflated cuff around the arm) before arrival in the catheter laboratory. The primary outcome was cTnI at 24 hours after PCI. Secondary outcomes included renal dysfunction and major adverse cardiac and cerebral event rate at 6 months. The median cTnI at 24 hours after PCI was lower in the remote IPC compared with the control group (0.06 versus 0.16 ng/mL; P=0.040). After remote IPC, cTnI was <0.04 ng/mL in 44 patients (42%) compared with 24 in the control group (24%; P=0.01). Subjects who received remote IPC experienced less chest discomfort (P=0.0006) and ECG ST-segment deviation (P=0.005) than control subjects. At 6 months, the major adverse cardiac and cerebral event rate was lower in the remote IPC group (4 versus 13 events; P=0.018). Conclusion— Remote IPC reduces ischemic chest discomfort during PCI, attenuates procedure-related cTnI release, and appears to reduce subsequent cardiovascular events.
Performance Analysis of Two-Tier Femtocell Networks with Outage Constraints

This paper investigates the performance of two-tier femtocell networks with cochannel femtocell deployment while considering cellular geometry and cross-tier interference in downlink. We derive the per-tier outage probability by introducing a simplified mathematical model that provides closely approximate femtocell interference distribution. Based on the outage probability analysis, we also derive the transmission capacity that represents the total capacity of the cochannel two-tier networks with outage constraints. The performance analysis provides an accurate characterization of the outage probability and the transmission capacity, accounting for the density of randomly scattered femtocells and femtocell transmission power.
Evaluation of different doses of mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum) on the reduction of sperm production, motility and morphology in adult male rats

Mashua is an edible‐tuber crop that grows in the Andean region. Folk medicine describes the use of mashua to reduce reproductive function in men. The present study aimed: (i) to determine whether different doses of mashua (0.01, 0.1, 1 and 2 g kg−1) produced a dose–response reduction on sperm production and quality; and, (ii) to determine whether these anti‐reproductive effects of mashua can be reversible after cessation of treatment (12 and 24 days of recovery time). Mashua‐treated rats showed lower values of daily sperm production, epididymal and vas deferens sperm count and sperm motility; meanwhile, mashua increased the percentage of abnormal sperm morphology and epididymal sperm transit rate. The following variables follow a dose–response effect: sperm number in vas deferens, sperm motility and sperm transit rate. In addition, it was demonstrated that the reduction in reproduction function in male rats treated with mashua was reversible after 24 days of recovery time. Finally, lower doses mashua reduces sperm number and quality (motility and morphology), and these adverse effects on male reproductive system may be reversible after 24 days after cessation of the treatment.
Cellular Immunodepression Preceding Infectious Complications after Acute Ischemic Stroke in Humans

Background: We have recently shown that ischemic stroke causes a stress-mediator-induced long-lasting immunodepressive state in mice. Methods: Using head magnetic resonance imaging and standardized immunoassays, we prospectively investigated whether poststroke immunodepression is also seen in humans. Results: Compared to healthy volunteers (n = 30), a rapid depression of lymphocyte counts and a functional deactivation of monocytes and T helper type 1 cells was observed in acute stroke patients (SP; n = 40). Immunodepression was more pronounced in patients with severe clinical deficit or large infarction. On admission the combination of monocytic tumor necrosis factor α release ex vivo and the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score were the best predictors for nosocomial infection, preferentially affecting older SP. Conclusion: Our data provide evidence for an immediate suppression of cell-mediated immune responses after ischemic stroke in humans.