Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intrinsic3D: High-Quality 3D Reconstruction by Joint Appearance and Geometry Optimization with Spatially-Varying Lighting

We introduce a novel method to obtain high-quality 3D reconstructions from consumer RGB-D sensors. Our core idea is to simultaneously optimize for geometry encoded in a signed distance field (SDF), textures from automatically-selected keyframes, and their camera poses along with material and scene lighting. To this end, we propose a joint surface reconstruction approach that is based on Shape-from-Shading (SfS) techniques and utilizes the estimation of spatially-varying spherical harmonics (SVSH) from subvolumes of the reconstructed scene. Through extensive examples and evaluations, we demonstrate that our method dramatically increases the level of detail in the reconstructed scene geometry and contributes highly to consistent surface texture recovery.
A Unified Solution for Gateway and In-Network Traffic Load Balancing in Multihop Data Collection Scenarios

Data collection is a fundamental task of wireless sensor networks to support a variety of applications, such as remote monitoring, and emergency response, where collected information is relayed to an infrastructure network via packet gateways for processing and decision making. In large-scale monitoring scenarios, data packets need to be relayed over multihop paths to the gateways, and sensors are often randomly deployed, causing local node density differences. As a result, imbalance in data traffic load on the gateways is likely to occur. Furthermore, due to dynamic network conditions and differences in sensor data generation rates, congestion on some data paths is also often experienced. Numerous studies have focused on the problem of in-network traffic load balancing, whereas a few works have aimed at equalizing the loads on gateways. However, there is a potential tradeoff between these two problems. In this paper, the dual objective of gateway and in-network load balancing is addressed, and the reactive and adaptive load-balancing (RALB) algorithm is presented. RALB is proposed as a generic solution for multihop networks and mesh topologies, particularly in large-scale remote monitoring scenarios, to balance traffic loads.
CONDITION MONITORING OF INDUCTION MOTOR BALL BEARING USING MONITORING TECHNIQUES

Rolling element bearings are critical components in induction motors and monitoring their condition is important to avoid failures. Several condition monitoring techniques for the bearings are available. Out of these, stator current monitoring is a relatively new technique. Vibration, stator current, acoustic emission and shock pulse methods (SPMs) and FEM, surface analysis, for the detection of a defect in the Inner race of induction motor ball bearing have been compared. The measurements were performed at different loads and different speeds. The defect in the bearing could be detected by all the methods.
Assessment of Prevalence and Determinants of Occupational Exposure to HIV Infection among Healthcare Workers in Selected Health Institutions in Debre Berhan Town, North Shoa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2014

Introduction. Health care workers are exposed to different kinds of occupational hazards due to their day to day activities. The most common occupational exposure like body fluids is a potential risk of transmission of blood-borne infection like human immunodeficiency virus. Objective. To assess the prevalence and determinants of occupational exposure to human immunodeficiency virus infection. Methods and Materials. A descriptive cross-sectional institution based study was conducted in selected four health institutions in Debre Berhan town. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using semistructured interviewer administered questionnaire. The frequency distribution of dependent and independent variables was worked out and presented using frequency table, graph, and chart. Result. The overall prevalence of occupational exposure of the health care workers was found to be 88.6% (n = 187) in the past 12 months. Contact to potentially infectious body fluids accounts for the largest proportion (56.7%) followed by needle stick injury (31.5%) and glove breakage (28.8%). Conclusion. In this study majority (88.6%) of the health care workers had a risky occupational hazard that exposed them to human immunodeficiency virus infection during the past 12 months. The statistically significant determinant factors were professional status, working room, and time of personal protective equipment usage.
Whole-Killed Blood-Stage Vaccine-Induced Immunity Suppresses the Development of Malaria Parasites in Mosquitoes

As a malaria transmission-blocking vaccine alone does not confer a direct benefit to the recipient, it is necessary to develop a vaccine that not only blocks malaria transmission but also protects vaccinated individuals. In this study we observed that a whole-killed blood-stage vaccine (WKV) not only conferred protection against the blood-stage challenge but also markedly inhibited the transmission of different strains of the malaria parasite. Although the parasitemia is much lower in WKV-immunized mice challenged with malaria parasites, the gametocytemia is comparable between control and immunized mice during the early stages of infection. The depletion of CD4+ T cells prior to the adoptive transfer of parasites into WKV-immunized mice has no effect on the development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito, but the adoptive transfer of the serum from the immunized mice into the parasite-inoculated mice remarkably suppresses the development of malaria parasites in mosquitoes. Furthermore, immunized mice challenged with the malaria parasite generate higher levels of parasite-specific Abs and the inflammatory cytokines MCP-1 and IFN-γ. However, the adoptive transfer of parasite-specific IgG or the depletion of MCP-1, but not IFN-γ, to some extent is closely associated with the suppression of malaria parasite development in mosquitoes. These data strongly suggest that WKV-induced immune responses confer protection against the mosquito stage, which is largely dependent on malaria parasite-specific Abs and MCP-1. This finding sheds new light on blocking malaria transmission through the immunization of individuals with the WKV.
Balancing Risk: A Grounded Theory Study of Pregnant Women's Decisions to (Dis)Continue Antidepressant Therapy

This study explored how eight pregnant women diagnosed with depression managed the decision whether or not to take antidepressants during pregnancy. In total, 11 interviews were conducted and analysed by means of constructivist grounded theory. The major category constructed was Balancing risk, with two minor categories: Assessing depression and antidepressants and Evaluating the impact of significant others. The participants tried to make the safest decision, taking all aspects of their life into consideration. They described successful decision-making in the context of managing social norms that surround pregnancy, in a way that was acceptable to themselves, their significant others and healthcare professionals.
A comparison of the responsiveness of the Nottingham extended activities of daily living scale, London handicap scale and SF-36

Purpose : Clinical trials require scales which are sensitive to the effects of intervention. This study examined the sensitivity to change of three generic health status measurement scales commonly used in evaluations of interventions in chronic, disabling disease. Methods : Questionnaires comprising the SF-36, London Handicap Scale and Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living scale were administered to 81 patients before and after hip replacement. Changes were quantified as 'effect sizes'. Results : Eighty nine per cent of patients reported improvements three months after surgery. The largest changes were seen on the SF-36 pain scale (effect size 1.2 at three months, 1.5 at 6-12 months), physical function (1.1, 1.3) and role limitation - physical (0.8, 1.2) scales. The London Handicap Scale also measured large changes (effect sizes 0.6, 0.9), but the Extended Activities of Daily Living scale was insensitive to change (effect sizes 0.1, 0.2). Conclusions : Some of the SF-36 dimensions were very sensitive to change. The London Handicap Scale was also reasonably responsive, and has the advantage of being a single, utility-based, score. The simpler Extended ADL score was poorly responsive.
Applied psychology : an international review

Introduction - Applied psychology in Japan, J. Misumi research on leadership and group decision in Japanese organisations, J. Misumi managerial career progress in a Japanese organisation - a 13-year longitudinal investigation, T. Minami, M. Wakabayashi psychological assessment in Japan in these decades, B. Tsujioka psychological studies on human responses to noise in Japan, S. Naamba health psychology in Japan, T. Kinoshita community psychology in Japan - a historical review, N. Ando counselling psychology in Japan, M. Fukuhara the current situation of traffic psychology in Japan, Y. Nagatsuka economic psychology in Japan, Y. Okamoto.
Zero intelligence in economics and finance

Abstract This paper reviews the Zero Intelligence (ZI) methodology for investigating markets. This approach models individual traders, operating within a market mechanism, who behave without strategy, in order to determine the impact of the market mechanism and consequently the effect of trader behaviour. The paper considers the major contributions and models within this area from both the economics and finance communities before examining the strengths and weaknesses of this methodology.
EXTRACTION OF MATERIAL PARAMETERS BASED ON INVERSE MODELING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL INTERCONNECT STRUCTURES

We present an approach for extracting thermal coefficients of higher order for different materials. Based on inverse modeling and using transient electrothermal simulations thermal investigations of complex layered polycrystalline silicon (Polysilicon) fuses are performed by a three dimensional interconnect simulator. This method is well suited to optimize different material compositions and geometries as well as for achieving an optimum of speed and reliability.
Increasing the Precision of Distant Pointing for Large High-Resolution Displays

Distant pointing at large displays allows rapid cursor movements, but can be problematic when high levels of precision are needed, due to natural hand tremor and track-ing jitter. We present two ray-casting-based interaction techniques for large high-resolution displays – Absolute and Relative Mapping (ARM) Ray-casting and Zooming for Enhanced Large Display Acuity (ZELDA) – that ad-dress this precision problem. ZELDA enhances precision by providing a zoom window, which increases target sizes resulting in greater precision and visual acuity. ARM Ray-casting increases user control over the cursor position by allowing the user to activate and deactivate relative map-ping as the need for precise manipulation arises. The results of an empirical study show that both approaches improve performance on high-precision tasks when compared to basic ray-casting. In realistic use, however, performance of the techniques is highly dependent on user strategy.
Ground target tracking with RCS estimation based on signal strength measurements

The discrimination of closely spaced targets is a major challenge in the ground target-tracking domain based on measurements of airborne ground moving target indication radar. Being a standard output of modern radar systems, the measured signal strength of a radar detection can be used to estimate the characteristic mean radar cross section (RCS) of a ground target, which is then used as additional target attribute information to improve the tracking performance in situations with closely spaced targets. For this method to work, the fluctuations of the target RCS are assumed to follow the analytically tractable Swerling-I and Swerling-III cases. In this work, the RCS estimation scheme originally developed for air targets [1, 2] is generalized to ground-moving objects and then implemented into the Gaussian mixture cardinalized probability hypothesis density filter. The performance of the resulting algorithm is analyzed based on single and multiple-target simulation scenarios. In the latter case, a modified version of the optimal subpattern assignment metric that also accounts for labeling errors is used.
ICDAR 2009 Online Arabic Handwriting Recognition Competition

This paper describes the Online Arabic handwriting recognition competition held at ICDAR 2009. This first competition uses the ADAB-database with Arabic online handwritten words. This year, 3 groups with 7 systems are participating in the competition. The systems were tested on known data (sets 1 to 3) and on one test dataset which is unknown to all participants (set 4). The systems are compared on the most important characteristic of classification systems, the recognition rate. Additionally, the relative speed of the different systems were compared. A short description of the participating groups, their systems, the experimental setup, and the performed results are presented.
Investigation into the memory processes that underlie judgments of recency

Judgements of recency (JORs) are decisions about how long ago a repeated item was initially presented. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were acquired in three experiments, alongside behavioural measures, in order to determine the number and nature of memory processes contributing to JORs. In a series of continuous verbal memory tasks (adapted from Yntema & Trask, 1963), participants were presented with a long list of words and for each item participants were required to make an old/new recognition judgement, followed by a numerical JOR. The repetition intervals and JOR response options varied across experiments from between 5 to 35 intervening words. The mid-frontal old/new effect and the left parietal old/new effect were two ERP modulations which varied in a strength-based manner across time and JOR. These bore resemblances to effects reported in previous studies where they were associated with familiarity and recollection memory processes respectively. Late frontal ERP activity was also identified in the experiments and this is discussed in relation to previous theory. A series of behavioural experiments was employed in addition to the ERP studies, which also involved continuous memory tasks. These studies all had 6 different repetition lags and JOR response options which were between 5 and 30 with increments of 5 (adapted from Hintzman, 2003). This research was conducted in order to address further questions about how recollection and familiarity might support JORs under different circumstances. Additional support for the notion that memory processes underpin JORs in a strength-based manner was identified in this behavioural series. The findings in this thesis therefore suggest that JORs are based in part on an assessment of memory strength, and that two memory processes are likely to support memory for recency under some circumstances.
Pathogenesis of Dyspepsia

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a highly prevalent and heterogeneous disorder. Although recent studies have investigated various pathophysiological mechanisms, the pathogenesis of FD remains obscure. Pathophysiological mechanisms currently proposed to be involved in FD symptom generation include delayed gastric emptying, impaired gastric accommodation to a meal, hypersensitivity to gastric distention, altered duodenal sensitivity to lipids or acid, abnormal duodenojejunal motility, and others. Pathogenetic factors implicated in the occurrence of FD include genetic susceptibility, Helicobacter pylori status, acute gastrointestinal infections and psychosocial factors. The present article provides an overview of pathogenetic factors, pathophysiologic mechanisms and their potential roles in FD.
Subcarrier-Index Modulation Aided OFDM - Will It Work?

The achievable performance of subcarrier-index modulation (SIM) is analyzed in terms of its minimum Euclidean distance, constrained and unconstrained average mutual information, as well as its peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Our performance investigations identify the beneficial operating region of the SIM scheme over its conventional orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) counterpart, hence providing general design guidelines for the SIM parameters. More specifically, an SIM scheme is shown to be beneficial for the scenario of a relatively low transmission rate below 2 b/s/Hz. In addition, we demonstrate that the PAPR of the SIM scheme is comparable with that of its OFDM counterpart under the idealized simplifying assumption of having Gaussian input symbols.
Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (cid:1) Inhibits Myocardin-Dependent Transcription and Hypertrophy Induction Through Site-Specific Phosphorylation

—Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy is transcriptionally controlled and inhibited by glycogen synthase kinase 3 (cid:1) (GSK3 (cid:1) ). Myocardin is a muscle-specific transcription factor with yet unknown relation to hypertrophy. Therefore, we investigated whether myocardin is sufficient to induce cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and whether myocardin is regulated by GSK3 (cid:1) through site-specific phosphorylation. Adenoviral myocardin overexpression induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, with increased cell size, total protein amount, and transcription of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). In vitro and in vivo (HEK 293 cells) kinase assays with synthetic peptides and full-length myocardin demonstrated that myocardin was a “primed” GSK3 (cid:1) substrate, with serines 455 to 467 and 624 to 636 being the major GSK3 (cid:1) phosphorylation sites. Myocardin-induced ANF transcription and increase in total protein amount were enhanced by GSK3 (cid:1) blockade (10 mmol/L LiCl), indicating that GSK3 (cid:1) inhibits myocardin. A GSK3 (cid:1) phosphorylation-resistant myocardin mutant (8xA) activated ANF transcription twice as potently as wildtype myocardin under basal conditions with GSK3 (cid:1) being active. Conversely, a GSK3 (cid:1) phospho-mimetic myocardin mutant (8xD) was transcriptionally repressed after GSK3 (cid:1) blockade, indicating that GSK3 (cid:1) phosphorylation at the sites identified inhibits myocardin transcriptional activity. GAL4-myocardin fusion constructs demonstrated that GSK3 (cid:1) phosphorylation reduced the intrinsic myocardin transcriptional activity. A cell-permeable (Antennapedia protein transduction tag) peptide containing the mapped myocardin GSK3 (cid:1) motifs 624 to 636 induced hypertrophy of cultured cardiomyocytes, suggesting that the peptide acted as substrate-based GSK3 (cid:1) inhibitor in cardiomyocytes. Therefore, we conclude that the GSK3 (cid:1) –myocardin interaction constitutes a novel molecular control of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Phosphorylation by GSK3 (cid:1) comprises a novel post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism of myocardin. ( Circ Res . 2005;97:645-654.)
Urokinase receptor (uPAR, CD87) is a platelet receptor important for kinetics and TNF-induced endothelial adhesion in mice.

BACKGROUND Urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR, CD87) is a widely distributed 55-kD, glycoprotein I-anchored surface receptor. On binding of its ligand uPA, it is known to increase leukocyte adhesion and traffic. Using genetically deficient mice, we explored the role of uPAR in platelet kinetics and TNF-induced platelet consumption. METHODS AND RESULTS Anti-uPAR antibody stained platelets from normal (+/+) but not from uPAR-/- mice, as seen by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis. 51Cr-labeled platelets from uPAR-/- donors survived longer than those from +/+ donors when injected into a +/+ recipient. Intratracheal TNF injection induced thrombocytopenia and a platelet pulmonary localization, pronounced in +/+ but absent in uPAR-/- mice. Aprotinin, a plasmin inhibitor, decreased TNF-induced thrombocytopenia. TNF injection markedly reduced the survival and increased the pulmonary localization of 51Cr-labeled platelets from +/+ but not from uPAR-/- donors, indicating that it is the platelet uPAR that is critical for their response to TNF. As seen by electron microscopy, TNF injection increased the number of platelets and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) in the alveolar capillaries of +/+ mice, whereas in uPAR-/- mice, platelet trapping was insignificant and PMN trapping was slightly reduced. Platelets within alveolar capillaries of TNF-injected mice were activated, as judged from their shape, and this was evident in +/+ but not in uPAR-/- mice. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate for the first time the critical role of platelet uPAR for kinetics as well as for activation and endothelium adhesion associated with inflammation.
Infrared spectroscopy of phytochrome and model pigments.

Fourier-transform infrared difference spectra between the red-absorbing and far-red-absorbing forms of oat phytochrome have been measured in H2O and 2H2O. The difference spectra are compared with infrared spectra of model compounds, i.e. the (5Z,10Z,15Z)- and (5Z,10Z,15E)-isomers of 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethyl-bilindion (Et8-bilindion), 2,3-dihydro-2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethyl-bilindion (H2Et8-bilindion), and protonated H2Et8-bilindion in various solvents. The spectra of the model compounds show that only for the protonated forms can clear differences between the two isomers be detected. Since considerable differences are present between the spectra of Et8-bilindion and H2Et8-bilindion, it is concluded that only the latter compound can serve as a model system of phytochrome. The 2H2O effect on the difference spectrum of phytochrome supports the view that the chromophore in red-absorbing phytochrome is protonated and suggests, in addition, that it is also protonated in far-red-absorbing phytochrome. The spectra show that protonated carboxyl groups are influenced. The small amplitudes in the difference spectra exclude major changes of protein secondary structure.
Redesigning commercial floating-gate memory for analog computing applications

We have modified a commercial NOR flash memory array to enable high-precision tuning of individual floating-gate cells for analog computing applications. The modified array area per cell in a 180 nm process is about 1.5 μm2. While this area is approximately twice the original cell size, it is still at least an order of magnitude smaller than in state-of-the-art analog circuit implementations. The new memory cell arrays have been successfully tested, in particular confirming that each cell may be automatically tuned, with ~1% precision, to any desired subthreshold readout current value within an almost three-orders-of-magnitude dynamic range, even using an unoptimized tuning algorithm. Preliminary results for a four-quadrant vector-by-matrix multiplier, implemented with the modified memory array, gate-coupled with additional peripheral floating-gate transistors, show highly linear transfer characteristics over a broad range of input currents.