Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast Ego-motion Estimation with Multi-rate Fusion of Inertial and Vision

This paper presents a tracking system for ego-motion estimation which fuses vision and inertial measurements using EKF and UKF (Extended and Unscented Kalman Filters), where a comparison of their performance has been done. It also considers the multi-rate nature of the sensors: inertial sensing is sampled at a fast sampling frequency while the sampling frequency of vision is lower. the proposed approach uses a constant linear acceleration model and constant angular velocity model based on quaternions, which yields a non-linear model for states and a linear model in measurement equations. Results show that a significant improvement is obtained on the estimation when fusing both measurements with respect to just vision or just inertial measurements. It is also shown that the proposed system can estimate fast-motions even when vision system fails. Moreover, a study of the influence of the noise covariance is also performed, which aims to select their appropriate values at the tuning process. The setup is an end-effector mounted camera, which allow us to pre-define basic rotational and translational motions for validating results.
Organizational practices, work demands and the well-being of employees: a follow-up study in the metal industry and retail trade.

BACKGROUND Rapid technological change and increased international competition have changed working life and work organizations. These changes may not be considered when researching employee work ability and well-being. AIM This study investigates the impact of organizational practices, work demands and individual factors on work ability, organizational commitment and mental well-being of employees in the metal industry and retail trade. METHOD A follow-up study was conducted to examine these connections among 1389 employees (mean age 42 years at baseline) in 91 organizations. The first survey was conducted in 1998 and was repeated in 2000. RESULTS Changes in organizational practices and the demands of work were strongly associated with changes in employee well-being. Work ability, organizational commitment and the mental well-being of employees were increased most if the opportunities for development and influence and the promotion of employee well-being were increased and if the supervisory support and organization of work were improved. Well-being also improved with less uncertainty at work and with decreasing mental and physical work demands. In addition physical exercise and affluence also had favourable effects. CONCLUSIONS The results confirm that several features of organizational practices are strongly associated with employees' well-being. Organizational development is an important method of improving employees' work ability, commitment and well-being.
Option Pricing With Model-Guided Nonparametric Methods

Parametric option pricing models are widely used in finance. These models capture several features of asset price dynamics; however, their pricing performance can be significantly enhanced when they are combined with nonparametric learning approaches that learn and correct empirically the pricing errors. In this article we propose a new nonparametric method for pricing derivatives assets. Our method relies on the state price distribution instead of the state price density, because the former is easier to estimate nonparametrically than the latter. A parametric model is used as an initial estimate of the state price distribution. Then the pricing errors induced by the parametric model are fitted nonparametrically. This model-guided method, called automatic correction of errors (ACE), estimates the state price distribution nonparametrically. The method is easy to implement and can be combined with any model-based pricing formula to correct the systematic biases of pricing errors. We also develop a nonparametric test based on the generalized likelihood ratio to document the efficacy of the ACE method. Empirical studies based on S&P 500 index options show that our method outperforms several competing pricing models in terms of predictive and hedging abilities.
Improving the Lexical Function Composition Model with Pathwise Optimized Elastic-Net Regression

In this paper, we show that the lexical function model for composition of distributional semantic vectors can be improved by adopting a more advanced regression technique. We use the pathwise coordinate-descent optimized elastic-net regression method to estimate the composition parameters, and compare the resulting model with several recent alternative approaches in the task of composing simple intransitive sentences, adjective-noun phrases and determiner phrases. Experimental results demonstrate that the lexical function model estimated by elastic-net regression achieves better performance, and it provides good qualitative interpretability through sparsity constraints on model parameters.
Zero tolerance for healthcare-associated MRSA bacteraemia: is it realistic?

Background The term ‘zero tolerance’ has recently been applied to healthcare-associated infections, implying that such events are always preventable. This may not be the case for healthcare-associated infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia. Methods We combined information from an epidemiological investigation and bacterial whole-genome sequencing to evaluate a cluster of five MRSA bacteraemia episodes in four patients in a specialist hepatology unit. Results The five MRSA bacteraemia isolates were highly related by multilocus sequence type (ST) (four isolates were ST22 and one isolate was a single-locus variant, ST2046). Whole-genome sequencing demonstrated unequivocally that the bacteraemia cases were unrelated. Placing the MRSA bacteraemia isolates within a local and global phylogenetic tree of MRSA ST22 genomes demonstrated that the five bacteraemia isolates were highly diverse. This was consistent with the acquisition and importation of MRSA from the wider referral network. Analysis of MRSA carriage and disease in patients within the hepatology service demonstrated a higher risk of both initial MRSA acquisition compared with the nephrology service and a higher risk of progression from MRSA carriage to bacteraemia, compared with patients in nephrology or geriatric services. A root cause analysis failed to reveal any mechanism by which three of five MRSA bacteraemia episodes could have been prevented. Conclusions This study illustrates the complex nature of MRSA carriage and bacteraemia in patients in a specialized hepatology unit. Despite numerous ongoing interventions to prevent MRSA bacteraemia in healthcare settings, these are unlikely to result in a zero incidence in referral centres that treat highly complex patients.
Possible Deviation from Exact Tribimaximal Mixing

A simple relation UMNS = V † CKM UTB between the lepton and quark mixing matrices (UMNS and VCKM ) is speculated under an ansatz that UMNS becomes an exact tribimaximal mixing UTB in a limit VCKM = 1. By using the observed CKM mixing parameters, possible values of neutrino oscillation parameters are estimated: sin θ13 = 0.024− 0.028, sin 2θ23 = 0.94 − 0.95 and tan θ12 = 0.24 − 1.00 depending on phase conventions of UTB. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the magnitude of the neutrino mixing angle θ13 (νe ↔ ντ mixing angle), because it is a key value not only for checking neutrino mass matrix models, but also for searching CP -violation effects in the lepton sector. Recent observed neutrino oscillation data are in favor of the so-called “tribimaximal mixing” [1] which predicts θ13 = 0, tan2 θ12 = 1/2 and sin 2 2θ23 = 1, since the present data yield the values tan 2 θ12 = 0.47 +0.06 −0.05 [2] and sin 2θ23 = 1.00−0.13 [3]. If the angle θ13 is exactly zero or negligibly small, the observation of the CP -violation effects in the lepton sector will be hopeless even in future. On the other hand, recently, Fogli et al. [4] have reported a sizable value sin θ13 = 0.016 ± 0.010 (1σ) from a global analysis of neutrino oscillation data. The tribimaximal lepton mixing is given by the form U TB =   2 √ 6 1 √ 3 0 − 1 √ 6 1 √ 3 − 1 √ 2 − 1 √ 6 1 √ 3 1 √ 2   . (1) Such a form with beautiful coefficients seems to be understood from a discrete symmetry of flavors [1]. In contrast to the lepton mixing matrix (Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing matrix [5]) UMNS, the observed Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa [6] (CKM) quark mixing matrix VCKM seems to have no beautiful form with Clebsh-Gordan-like coefficients, and VCKM , rather, looks like nearly VCKM ≃ 1. It is unlikely that a theory which exactly leads to the tribimaximal mixing (1) simultaneously gives the CKM mixing matrix with small and complicated mixing values. Therefore, it is interesting to consider a specific case that a theory of flavor symmetry gives VCKM = 1 in the limit of UMNS = UTB . We consider that the observed form of the CKM matrix VCKM is due to some additional effects (e.g. symmetry breaking effects for the flavor symmetry). If it is true, then, the observed lepton mixing UMNS will also deviate from the exact tribimaximal mixing UMNS = UTB by additional effects which gives the deviation from VCKM = 1. For convenience of later discussions, we define the tribimaximal mixing by a form UTB = P ∗ LU 0 TBPR, (2)
NuMA-microtubule interactions are critical for spindle orientation and the morphogenesis of diverse epidermal structures

Mitotic spindle orientation is used to generate cell fate diversity and drive proper tissue morphogenesis. A complex of NuMA and dynein/dynactin is required for robust spindle orientation in a number of cell types. Previous research proposed that cortical dynein/dynactin was sufficient to generate forces on astral microtubules (MTs) to orient the spindle, with NuMA acting as a passive tether. In this study, we demonstrate that dynein/dynactin is insufficient for spindle orientation establishment in keratinocytes and that NuMA’s MT-binding domain, which targets MT tips, is also required. Loss of NuMA-MT interactions in skin caused defects in spindle orientation and epidermal differentiation, leading to neonatal lethality. In addition, we show that NuMA-MT interactions are also required in adult mice for hair follicle morphogenesis and spindle orientation within the transit-amplifying cells of the matrix. Loss of spindle orientation in matrix cells results in defective differentiation of matrix-derived lineages. Our results reveal an additional and direct function of NuMA during mitotic spindle positioning, as well as a reiterative use of spindle orientation in the skin to build diverse structures. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.12504. 001
The Yin and Yang of power and performance for asymmetric hardware and managed software

On the hardware side, asymmetric multicore processors present software with the challenge and opportunity of optimizing in two dimensions: performance and power. Asymmetric multicore processors (AMP) combine general-purpose big (fast, high power) cores and small (slow, low power) cores to meet power constraints. Realizing their energy efficiency opportunity requires workloads with differentiated performance and power characteristics.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies of sperm aneuploidies in infertile men.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis, performed with chromosome specific DNA probes labeled with fluorochromes, is a simple and reliable tool for the indirect study of aneuploidies in interphase cells such as spermatozoa. It is known that infertile male patients with poor sperm quality, due to different causes, produce cytogenetically abnormal spermatozoa despite a normal constitutional karyotype as a result of an altered intra-testicular environment that negatively affects the mechanisms controlling chromosome segregation during cell division. A particular subgroup of this category is composed of individuals with systematic sperm defects, characterized by an identical, specific alteration that affects the vast majority of their sperm population. Altered meiotic segregation has been described mainly in globozoospermia and in sperm with dysplasia of the fibrous sheath. Moreover, we also considered sperm aneuploidies in the presence of somatic chromosome abnormalities: numerical chromosomal anomalies, such as the presence of an extra chromosome and structural chromosomal anomalies, including translocations and inversions. It is known that somatic chromosomal abnormalities are often associated with infertility and have definite consequences on the cytogenetic anomalies observed in spermatozoa. Since individuals with abnormal semen parameters, also those that are carriers of a constitutional abnormal karyotype, make up the majority of intracytoplasmic sperm injection candidates, it is of great interest to study the chromosomal constitution of their spermatozoa. The problem of the possible presence of aneuploidy in sperm from infertile men should be seriously considered due to the documented risk of the transmission of a chromosomal imbalance to offspring.
Denervation in Femoral Artery-Ligated Hindlimbs Diminishes Ischemic Recovery Primarily via Impaired Arteriogenesis

Aims Multiple factors regulate arteriogenesis. Peripheral nerves play a crucial role in vascular remodeling, but the function of peripheral nerves during arteriogenesis is obscure. Our study investigated the contribution of denervation to arteriogenesis during post-ischemic recovery from hindlimb femoral artery ligation. Methods and Results Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into four groups of normal control (NC), hindlimb ischemia (HI), hindlimb ischemia with denervation (HID) and hindlimb simple denervation (HD). Hindlimb ischemic recovery was assessed by clinical assessment and tibialis anterior muscle remodeling on day 28 post-surgery. Blood flow was determined by laser Doppler imaging on day 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28 post-surgery. Collateral number of hindlimb was observed by angiography and gracilis muscles were tested by immunostaining on day 7 and 28 post-surgery. Angiogenesis was accessed by counting CD31 positive capillaries in tibialis anterior muscles on day 28 post-surgery. Group HID showed impaired ischemic recovery compared with the other 3 groups and impaired blood flow recovery compared with group HI on day 28 post-surgery. The collateral number and capillary density of group HID were lower than group HI. The collateral diameter of both group HID and group HI significantly increased compared with group NC. However, the lumen diameter was much narrower and the vessel wall was much thicker in group HID than group HI. We also demonstrated that the thickened neointima of collaterals in group HID comprised of smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. Conclusions Denervation of the ligated femoral artery in the hindlimb impairs ischemic recovery via impaired perfusion. The possible mechanisms of impaired perfusion are lower collateral number, lower capillary density and most likely narrower lumen, which damage ischemic recovery. This study illustrates the crucial role of peripheral nerves in arteriogenesis using a model combined ischemia with denervation in hindlimb.
Correlation and capacity of measured multi-user MIMO channels

In multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems, spatial multiplexing can be employed to increase the throughput without the need for multiple antennas and expensive signal processing at the user equipments. In theory, MU-MIMO is also more immune to most of propagation limitations plaguing single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) systems, such as channel rank loss or antenna correlation. However, in this paper we show that this is not always true. We compare the capacity and the correlation of measured MU-MIMO channels for both outdoor and indoor scenarios. The measurement data has been acquired using Eurecompsilas MIMO openair sounder (EMOS). The EMOS can perform real-time MIMO channel measurements synchronously over multiple users. The results show that in most scenarios MU-MIMO provides a higher throughput than SU-MIMO also in the measured channels. However, in outdoor scenarios with a line of sight, the capacity drops significantly when the users are close together, due to high correlation at the transmitter side of the channel. In such a case, the performance of SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO is comparable.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 2010 Leveraging Trust and Privacy Concerns in Online Social Networks : An Empirical Study

Unprecedented success of Online Social Networks, such as Facebook, has been recently overshadowed by the privacy risks they imply. Weary of privacy concerns and unable to construct their identity in the desired way, users may restrict or even terminate their platform activities. Even though this means a considerable business risk for these platforms, so far there have been no studies on how to enable social network providers to address these problems. This study fills this gap by adopting a fairness perspective to analyze related measures at the disposal of the provider. In a Structural Equation Model with 237 subjects we find that ensuring interactional and procedural justice are two important strategies to support user participation on the platform.
Excellent and gender equal? Academic motherhood and ‘gender blindness' in Norwegian academia

Gender Work Organ. 2019;1–15. wileyon This article explores Norwegian female academics’ experiences with academic motherhood in an organizational perspective. A main finding is that academia as an organization is greedy, uncertain, and has ‘blind spots’ that reveal gender bias related to gender and parental status, especially mothers. By analysing the link between gendered organization of work and the legitimatizing of gender inequality, the article reveals ‘gender blindness’ in the academic organization concerning gender and parental status. The article concludes that changes in academia — in line with academic capitalism — may indicate that the Norwegian model of work–life balance is under pressure. This article suggests that the organizational conditions for academic motherhood are important factors in order to understand the persistence of gender inequality.
THREAT BIAS AND HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN TRAIT ANXIETY

An attentional bias favoring threat-related information and reduced cardiac vagal control are both prominent features of anxiety. However, relationships of threat bias to indicators of vagal tone, such as high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), have primarily been examined among non-anxious individuals. The present study examined associations of threat bias, HF-HRV, and trait anxiety among 86 participants preselected for having high or low trait anxiety (M age= 26, 58% Female, 69% White), and tested whether experimentally manipulating threat bias via attention bias modification (ABM) would influence HF-HRV among high trait anxious individuals. Extent of threat bias, mood, and resting HF-HRV were assessed at baseline among all study participants. High trait anxious participants were then randomized to complete either a bias enhancing or bias attenuating ABM protocol after which extent of bias was re-assessed, and HF-HRV and mood were collected at rest, in response to stress, and during stress recovery. Results indicated that extent of vigilance toward threat (but not HF-HRV) predicted level of trait anxiety (OR = .995, p = .04), but that threat bias and HF-HRV were unrelated. In addition, ABM did not influence extent of bias or mood; however, HF-HRV increased from pre- to post-ABM among participants in the bias enhancement group, and decreased from post-ABM to stress among participants in the bias attenuation group [F (2.61, 130.61) =3.81, p=. 02]. These results highlight vigilance toward threat as a salient component of threat bias and are the first to demonstrate an effect of ABM on HF-HRV among trait anxious individuals.
Categorization of Upper Gastrointestinal Symptoms Is Useful in Predicting Background Factors and Studying Effects and Usages of Digestive Drugs

Background There have been very few reports assessing the relationship between various upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms or evaluating each individual upper GI symptom separately. Methods Based on the answers to Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of GERD from a large-scale population of healthy adults in Japan, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to categorize the typical 12 upper GI symptoms. The associations between the 12 symptoms and 13 background factors were systematically analyzed among the 18,097 digestive drug-free subjects, 364 proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) users, and 528 histamine H2-receptor antagonist (H2RA) users. Results The derived relationship between the 12 upper GI symptoms suggests the five symptom categories: heartburn (2), dyspepsia (4), acid regurgitation (3), pharyngo-upper esophageal discomfort (2), and fullness while eating (1). Among the digestive drug-free subjects, inadequate sleep, weight gain in adulthood, NSAID use, meals immediately prior to sleep, and frequent skipping of breakfast showed significant positive association with most upper GI symptoms. Compared to the digestive drug-free subjects, significantly associated factors for PPI and H2RA users are respectively different in “4 of 5” and “5 of 5” symptoms in heartburn and acid regurgitation categories, “1 of 2” and “1 of 2” symptoms in pharyngo-upper esophageal discomfort category, and “0 of 5” and “3 of 5” symptoms in dyspepsia and fullness while eating categories. These differences between digestive drug-free subjects and gastric acid suppressant users seem to correlate with our experiences in clinical situations: heartburn and acid regurgitation category symptoms are effectively controlled with PPI and H2RA whereas other category symptoms are not. Conclusions The 12 upper GI symptoms can be classified into five categories, which are statistically associated with various background factors. The differences of associated factors between digestive drug-free subjects and digestive drug users may be useful in studying the drug effects upon diverse upper GI symptoms.
Correlation of local and global orientation and spatial frequency tuning in macaque V1

Visual cortical neurones display a variety of visual properties. Among those that emerge in the primary visual cortex V1 are sharpening of selectivity for spatial frequency and for orientation. The selectivity for these stimulus attributes can be measured around the peak of the tuning function, usually as bandwidth. Other selectivity measures take into account the response across a broader range of stimulus values. An example of such a global measure is the circular variance of orientation tuning. Here we introduce a similar measure in the spatial frequency domain that takes into account the shape of the tuning curve at frequencies lower than the peak, called the low‐spatial frequency variance. Our recent studies with dynamic stimuli suggest that the selectivity for spatial frequency and orientation is strongly correlated with the degree of suppression at low spatial frequencies and off‐axis orientations. Here we extend the study of the global tuning to stimulus conditions that measure the response of cells to the presentation of drifting sinusoidal grating stimuli for periods of a few seconds. We find that under such steady‐state stimulus conditions there is a strong correlation between the global selectivity measures, orientation circular variance and low spatial frequency variance. Consistent with previous studies, there is a weaker correlation between the local tuning measures, orientation and spatial frequency bandwidth. These results support the idea that there are multiple factors that contribute to tuning and that suppression observed in dynamic experiments is also likely to contribute to the global selectivity for steady‐state stimuli.