Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complementary coding mode design based on R-D cost minimization for extending H.264 coding technology

To improve high resolution video coding efficiency under low bit-rate condition, an appropriate coding mode is required from an R-D optimization (RDO) perspective, although a coding mode defined within the H.264 standard is not always optimal for RDO criteria. With this in mind, we previously proposed extended SKIP modes with close-to-optimal R-D characteristics. However, the additional modes did not always satisfy the optimal R-D characteristics, especially for low bit-rate coding. In this paper, we propose an enhanced coding mode capable of providing a candidate corresponding to the minimum R-D cost by controlling the residual signal associated with the extended SKIP mode. The experimental result showed that the PSNR improvement against H.264 and our previous approach reached 0.42 dB and 0.24 dB in the maximum case, respectively.
Antioxidant Activities and Anticancer Screening of Extracts from Banana Fruit (Musa sapientum)

Banana is one of the oldest fruit crops domesticated by humans, delicious test and nutritional value has made it one of the most economically important plants in the globe. In this work, banana peels and pulps were extracted with two organic solvents as well as water. Six extracts were tested for antioxidant properties using two methods (2, 2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays). They were also screened for antiangiogenic activity using the rat aorta ring assay as well as antineoplasic activity using MTT assay. The correlation between antiangiogenic and antioxidant activities also was evaluated. Of the six extracts tested, 2 exhibited significant antiangiogenic activity. The hexane extracts of banana peels had the highest activity (85.32% inhibition at 100 µg/mL. Similarly, the hexane extract of banana peel had the highest cytotoxic activity and was found to inhibit the growth of colon cancer cell line HCT-116.
Simultaneous estimation of segmentation and shape

The main focus of this work is the integration of feature grouping and model based segmentation into one consistent framework. The algorithm is based on partitioning a given set of image features using a likelihood function that is parameterized on the shape and location of potential individuals in the scene. Using a variant of the EM formulation, maximum likelihood estimates of both the model parameters and the grouping are obtained simultaneously. The resulting algorithm performs global optimization and generates accurate results even when decisions can not be made using local context alone. An important feature of the algorithm is that the number of people in the scene is not modeled explicitly. As a result no prior knowledge or assumed distributions are required. The approach is shown to be robust with respect to partial occlusion, shadows, clutter, and can operate over a large range of challenging view angles including those that are parallel to the ground plane. Comparisons with existing crowd segmentation systems are made and the utility of coupling crowd segmentation with a temporal tracking system is demonstrated.
Exchange Relationships and the Environment: The Acceptability of Compensation in the Siting of Waste Disposal Facilities

Within siting literature there is strong agreement that compensation for environmental risks is a necessary condition for local acceptance of waste treatment facilities. In-kind compensation is commonly pushed forward as being more effective than financial benefits in reducing local opposition. By focusing on the siting of a sanitary landfill in Santiago, Chile, this paper explores the performance of both types of compensation and relates the analysis to the notion of social norms of exchange. These are understood as being based on three main types of social relations: care, justice and freedom. Whereas monetary compensation is associated with market relations based on freedom and the offer of in-kind compensation to egalitarian relations based on justice, the absence of compensation is linked to fraternal relations based on care. It is argued that in-kind compensation is more acceptable than monetary payments or no compensation because people tend to understand siting conflicts more as matters of justice rather than as matters of freedom or care.
Strategic Behaviors in Romantic Relationship Initiation

Two studies were conducted to examine the strategies used to initiate romantic relationships. In Study 1, participants responded to questions about general romantic relationship initiation strategies derived from the literature. In Study 2, participants wrote narrative accounts of their romantic relationship initiation experiences, which were coded for relationship goals and initiation strategies. The effect of biological sex on the evaluation and use of relationship initiation strategies was assessed in both studies. Overall, the normative pattern of goals and strategies prominently included love and intimacy goals and direct and emotional-disclosure strategies. Men tended to be more active and direct in the beginning stages of relational development and to be more interested than women in the goal of sexual intimacy; women used passive and indirect strategies more often than men. Results are discussed in terms of Buss and Schmitt’s sexual strategies theory and Reis and Shaver’s model of interpersonal intimacy.
Effect of antioxidants on aging of the chloroprene rubber/butadiene rubber (CR/BR) blends

Abstract Thermal degradation of blends containing chloroprene rubber (CR) and butadiene rubber (BR) cross-linked with copper(II) oxide (CuO) with the addition of anti-aging substance ((N-(1.3-dimethylbutyl)-N-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD), polymerized 2.2. 4-trimethyl-1.2-dihydroquinoline (TMQ), or 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI)) under high temperature was investigated using a Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy and color measurement. Additionally, changes in mechanical properties (such as tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, tear resistance) causes by aging factors have also been investigated. The results indicated that the 6PPD and the MBI provided better protection of the CR/BR/CuO vulcanizates against degradation at elevated temperature than the TMQ. As a result of thermo-oxidative aging, in an infrared spectrum, a peak assigned to stretching vibration of carbonyl groups was observed. Differences in protection against thermo-oxidative aging by the anti-aging substance are caused by their different structure, consequently, by the differences in their protection mechanism.
Radical Right-Wing Populist Party Preference and Perceived Group Threat: Time, Context, and Moderators

With this dissertation I aim for a deeper understanding of the most prominent link in research on radical right-wing populist parties – this aim is threefold. At its heart is the relationship between perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist party preferences. First, I test the temporal order of perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist party prefer-ences. Second, I examine the ideological climate of group threat perception as a contextual antecedent of preferences for radical right-wing populist parties. Third, I analyze if media attention to radical right-wing populist parties affects radical right-wing populist party prefer-ences and, if so, to what extent media attention operates as a factor further illuminating the link between perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist preferences.
Improved Access to Foreign Markets Raises Plant-Level Productivity ... For Some Plants

We weigh into the debate about whether rising productivity is ever a consequence rather than a cause of exporting. Exporting and investing to raise productivity are complimentary activities. For lower-productivity firms, incurring the fixed costs of such investments is justifiable only if accompanied by the larger sales volumes that come with exporting. Lower foreign tariffs will induce these firms to simultaneously export and invest in productivity. In contrast, lower foreign tariffs will induce higher-productivity firms to export without investing, as in Melitz (2003). We model this econometrically using a heterogeneous response model. Unique 'plant-specific' tariff cuts serve as our instrument for the decision of Canadian plants to start exporting to the United States. We find that those lower-productivity Canadian plants that were induced by the tariff cuts to start exporting (a) increased their labor productivity, (b) engaged in more product innovation, and (c) had high adoption rates of advanced manufacturing technologies. These new exporters also increased their domestic (Canadian) market share at the expense of non-exporters, which suggests that the labor productivity gains reflect underlying gains in TFP. In contrast, we find no effects for higher-productivity plants, just as predicted by our complementarity theory.
The Benefits and Satisfaction of Participating in Campus Recreational Sports Facilities and Programs among Male and Female African American Students: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to assess the benefits and satisfaction of participating in campus recreational sports facilities and programs among male and female African American students. A convenience sample of students from classes in the Department of Health and Human Performance at a small southeastern private historically black college and university was used in the study. The instrument consisted of a modified version of the National Intramural-Recreational Sport Association's Quality and Importance of Recreational Services Survey. Independent samples t test and analysis of variance were used to test for differences between gender and the benefit of participation questions (α = .05). It was determined that 80% benefitted with communication skills, 79% benefitted with a sense of belonging/association, and 76% benefitted with leadership skills. In terms of gender, 79% of the males benefitted from self-confidence, 90% benefitted with a feeling of physical well being, 78% benefitted with a sense of accomplishment, and 81% benefitted with respect for others. Eighty-five percent were satisfied with their overall academic experience and 73% with satisfied with their overall experiences with other student services programs and activities. Males scored higher than females when it came to reporting the following benefits from participating in recreational activities: feeling of physical well-being, sports skills, fitness, physical strength, stress reduction, and balance/coordination. Although limitations to the study exist, the results provide further evidence that students report that participating in campus recreational sports has an impact on their benefits and their satisfaction with their academic experience and their experiences with students' services programs and other activities. This is a finding that can only serve to increase the practitioner's understanding of those who use such facilities and programs. More studies are needed to further examine the benefits of campus recreational facilities and programs on African American students.
Will Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy Guided by Electrophysiology Study Survive in the New Millennium?

"The best laid schemes of mice and men", said the poet Robert Bums, "often go astray (aft gang aglay). " Electrophysiologic study of the human heart based on precision recording of the electrical activity of the heart (1) and the reproduction under direct observation of clinical cardiac arrhythmias by programmed stimulation (2,3) entered the field of arrhythmology in the late 1960s. The procedure disseminated and evolved quickly in complexity and power and has continued to evolve to a highly refined state most evident in the applications in radiation frequency catheter ablation. The early uses were diagnostic and mechanistic and included studies of the mode of action of specific pharmacologic agents in relation to specific arrhythmia mechanisms. At a meeting in Liege, Belgium in 1976, Wu and co-workers presented the results of a study entitled "Chronic Electrophysiologic Study in Patients with Recurrent Paroxysmal Tachycardia: A New Method for Developing Successful Oral Antiarrhythmic Therapy," which was published as a chapter in the book, Reentrant Arrhythmias edited by Henri Kulbertus (4). This chapter described the use of serial electrophysiologic studies to assess the ability of spe-
Web Accessibility in Romania: The Conformance of Municipal Web Sites to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The accessibility of public administration web sites is a key quality attribute for the successful implementation of the Information Society. The purpose of this paper is to present a second review of municipal web sites in Romania that is based on automated accessibility checking. A number of 60 web sites were evaluated against WCAG 2.0 recommendations. The analysis of results reveals a relatively low web accessibility of municipal web sites and highlights several aspects. Firstly, a slight progress in web accessibility was noticed as regarded the sample evaluated in 2010. Secondly, the number of specific accessibility errors is varying across the web sites and the accessibility is not preserved in time. Thirdly, these variations suggest that an accessibility check before launching a new release for a web page is not a common practice.
Microwave Signatures of Snow on Sea Ice: Observations

Part of the Earth Observing System Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) Arctic sea ice validation campaign in March 2003 was dedicated to the validation of snow depth on sea ice and ice temperature products. The difficulty with validating these two variables is that neither can currently be measured other than in situ. For this reason, two aircraft flights on March 13 and 19, 2003, were dedicated to these products, and flight lines were coordinated with in situ measurements of snow and sea ice physical properties. One flight was in the vicinity of Barrow, AK, covering Elson Lagoon and the adjacent Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The other flight was farther north in the Beaufort Sea (about 73degN, 147.5degW) and was coordinated with a Navy ice camp. The results confirm the AMSR-E snow depth algorithm and its coefficients for first-year ice when it is relatively smooth. For rough first-year ice and for multiyear ice, there is still a relationship between the spectral gradient ratio of 19 and 37 GHz, but a different set of algorithm coefficients is necessary. Comparisons using other AMSR-E channels did not provide a clear signature of sea ice characteristics and, hence, could not provide guidance for the choice of algorithm coefficients. The limited comparison of in situ snow-ice interface and surface temperatures with 6-GHz brightness temperatures, which are used for the retrieval of ice temperature, shows that the 6-GHz temperature is correlated with the snow-ice interface temperature to only a limited extent. For strong temperature gradients within the snow layer, it is clear that the 6-GHz temperature is a weighted average of the entire snow layer
Factors associated with onset of sexual intercourse among never-married adolescents (10-19) in Uganda

This paper investigates factors associated with onset of vaginal or penetrative sex among nevermarried adolescents in Uganda. The investigations are based on data sourced from the Straight Talk Evaluation Survey comprising 2,133 records. The likelihood of sexual onset during adolescence was modeled using a logistic regression on adolescents, demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and behavioral factors. In the results, nearly one in eight adolescents (12.2%) had initiated sexual intercourse before age 19. The odds of sexual onset were higher among adolescents at later ages, male, out-of-school, those involved at large in activities that predispose risky behavior and adolescents with a relatively high level of knowledge on reproductive health and HIV issues. Further, reduced odds of sexual onset were noted among adolescents with a progressive attitude towards pre-marital sex. In light of the findings, early sex education focusing on clarification of core values related to pre-marital sex, control in exposure to risky behavior through increased parental involvement and prioritizing schooling particularly among girls were interventions suggested.
Physiologic Correlates of the Voice Onset Time Boundary in Primary Auditory Cortex (A1) of the Awake Monkey: Temporal Response Patterns

Behavioral studies in animals support the view that categorical, phonetic phenomena are based upon specific response properties of the auditory system. This study investigated physiologic responses reflecting the phonetic parameter of voice onset time (VOT). We examined multiunit activity (MUA) in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of awake monkeys elicited by the consonant-vowel syllables /da/ and /ta/ that varied in VOT from 0 to 60 msec. Two temporal response patterns encode VOT. The first pattern contains responses time-locked to stimulus onset and to the onset of voicing. In 10 of 17 electrode penetrations that display this pattern, MUA reflects the VOT perceptual boundary by containing a prominent response to voicing onset only for /ta/ stimuli. The second pattern contains responses phase-locked to the periodic portion of the syllables. MUA exhibiting this temporal pattern does not display categorical-like properties. We conclude that specific temporal response patterns in A1 reflect the perceptual boundary for VOT and may represent a physiologic correlate for categorical perception of this phonetic parameter.
Serum-Induced Keratinization Processes in an Immortalized Human Meibomian Gland Epithelial Cell Line

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate a human meibomian gland epithelial cell line (HMGEC) as a model for meibomian gland (patho)physiology in vitro. Methods HMGEC were cultured in the absence or presence of serum. Sudan III lipid staining, ultrastructural analysis and lipidomic analyses were performed. Impedance sensing, desmoplakin 1/2 mRNA and cytokeratin (CK) 1, 5, 6, 14 levels were evaluated. Serum containing medium supplemented with higher serum, glucose, an omega-3 lipid cocktail, eicosapentaenoic acid or sebomed medium were investigated for lipid accumulation and ultrastructural morphology. Results Lipid droplet accumulation in HMGEC was induced by serum containing media after 1 day, but decreased over time. Cultivation in serum induced desmosome and cytokeratin filament formation. Desmoplakin 1/2 gene levels were significantly upregulated after 1d of serum treatment. Furthermore, the normalized impedance increased significantly. Lipidome analysis revealed high levels of phospholipids (over 50%), but very low levels of wax ester and cholesteryl esters (under 1%). Stimulation with eicosapentaenoic acid increased lipid accumulation after one day. Conclusion Serum treatment of HMGEC caused lipid droplet formation to some extent but also induced keratinization. The cells did not produce typical meibum lipids under these growth conditions. HMGEC are well suited to study (hyper)keratinization processes of meibomian gland epithelial cells in vitro.
Imprisoned Fathers: The Children's View

Children are frequently the forgotten victims of a parent's imprisonment. Their relationships with their imprisoned fathers have been particularly neglected in research and their own voices seldom represented. National research which examined in depth the parenting role of imprisoned fathers contained an important investigation of children's views and experiences and this is summarised here with brief reflections on the implications for sentencers, prison visiting, school and social support systems.
The Effect of the Cosmic Web on Cluster Weak Lensing Mass Estimates

In modern hierarchical theories of structure formation, rich clusters of galaxies form at the vertices of a weblike distribution of matter, with filaments emanating from them to large distances and with smaller objects forming and draining in along these filaments. The amount of mass contained in structure near the cluster can be comparable to the collapsed mass of the cluster itself. As the lensing kernel is quite broad along the line of sight around cluster lenses with typical redshifts zl = 0.5, structures many megaparsecs away from the cluster are essentially at the same location as the cluster itself, when considering their effect on the cluster's weak lensing signal. We use large-scale numerical simulations of structure formation in a Λ-dominated cold dark matter model to quantify the effect that large-scale structure near clusters has upon the cluster masses deduced from weak lensing analysis. A correction for the scatter in possible observed lensing masses should be included when interpreting mass functions from weak lensing surveys.
Storytelling for Empowerment for Latino Teens

Latino adolescents are disproportionately impacted by HIV, but researchers have documented few programs to prevent and reduce HIV risk. The Storytelling for Empowerment (SFE) HIV StoryBook was designed with an innovative ecodevelopment approach combining empowerment, family communication, and positive cultural identity. A mixed method design used both a randomized control group design, as well as grounded theory coding of semi-structured focus group interviews. For the quantitative method, a total of 96 adolescents (85% Latino, M age = 12.2) were randomized to either the SFE HIV StoryBook condition or a control condition and then tested at baseline and at 4 months post-baseline. Study findings indicated that teens who participated in the HIV StoryBook condition maintained sexual abstinence, increased their ability to communicate about sex, increased their intention to stop sexual advances, and increased their HIV prevention knowledge. For the qualitative method, seven focus groups of 38 participants, including staff, madres, teen participants, and graduates created rich description. Axial coding produced emergent themes, including an appreciation for the culturally affirming curriculum, increased family communication, and the embodiment by teens resulting in restraint and integrity. Results indicate that SFE has promise to stem HIV infections.
Accounting Students' Perception on Pursuing Professional Examination

Prior studies indicate that people’s perception have an important influence on their career decisions. This study explores the accounting students’ perceptions on professional examination and the factors that influence their decisions to take the exam. Questionnaires were distributed to final year accounting students of a public university in Malaysia. About 103 questionnaires were completed and usable for the purpose of the study. Regression analysis was employed to analyse the data . The results indicate that about 70% of the respondents plan to work immediately after graduating, and only about 28% of the respondents really have the intention to pursue professional qualification. Among others, the findings reveal that the job security and stability, and opportunities for advancement as well as the students’ perception towards the profession are the three main variables found to be significant in influencing the accounting students’ decision to pursue professional examination. The results of the study appear to suggest that the educators and universities must play their role to positively influence and motivate the students to pursue professional examination. The favourable information about the profession may attract the potential students to take the challenge.