Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online multiperson tracking with occlusion reasoning and unsupervised track motion model

We address the problem of multi-target tracking in realistic crowded conditions by introducing a novel dual-stage online tracking algorithm. The problem of data-association between tracks and detections, based on appearance, is often complicated by partial occlusion. In the first stage, we address the issue of occlusion with a novel method of robust data-association, that can be used to compute the appearance similarity between tracks and detections without the need for explicit knowledge of the occluded regions. In the second stage, broken tracks are linked based on motion and appearance, using an online-learned linking model. The online-learned motion-model for track linking uses the confident tracks from the first stage tracker as training examples. The new approach has been tested on the town centre dataset and has performance comparable with the present state-of-the-art.
What is hindering progress? The marginalization of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights in Brazil and Chile

The paper draws on the cases of Brazil and Chile to consider the lack of progress towards securing better health outcomes for women in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). At first glance, these poor outcomes for women appear surprising, given that both countries represent middle-income countries where significant developments have occurred towards ensuring universal access to healthcare services. Yet, a more nuanced analysis uncovers the historically constructed gender regimes and policy legacies within relevant institutions that act to limit progress. The discussion in the paper specifically focuses on the evolution of the health sector in the two countries, the role of the medical profession and the influence of the Catholic Church, which, we argue, have been key to constraining women's SRHR in Brazil and Chile.
Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges, and Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions

Introduction: The Politics and Challenges of Providing Peacekeepers - Alex J. Bellamy and Paul D. Williams PART I: CONTEXT 1. Contemporary Patterns in Peace Operations, 2000-2010 2. Token Troop Contributions to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations PART II: THE PERMANENT FIVE 3. United States of America 4. The United Kingdom 5. France 6. The People's Republic of China 7. The Russian Federation PART III: TOP CONTRIBUTORS (2000-10) 8. Bangladesh 9. India 10. Pakistan 11. Nigeria 12. Ghana 13. Nepal 14. Uruguay PART IV: RISING CONTRIBUTORS? 15. Brazil 16. Turkey 17. South Africa 18. Japan PART V: CONCLUSIONS 19. Explaining the National Politics of Peacekeeping 20. UN Force Generation: Key Lessons and Future Strategies Index
Extraction of embedded dispersion characteristics

A de-embedding method is presented which allows to extract the dispersion characteristics of embedded periodic wave guiding structures. It is shown that the only required reference standard is a Thru dummy. Except symmetry, no further requirements on the dummy are requested. Particularly, the Thru does not need to possess a certain network topology, like T or π-shaped network. Furthermore, no equivalent circuit needs to be assumed. By adding an additional Line standard S-parameters may also be determined.
An empirical investigation of Greek firms' compliance to IFRS disclosure requirements

This study investigates the compliance of Greek firms to IFRS disclosure requirements. Using a checklist based on the disclosure requirements contained on the proposed standard for SMEs, a compliance score was calculated for a sample of 32 listed and non-listed Greek firms. Subsequently, univariate tests and a multivariate regression model were run to investigate what firm characteristics (listing status, sector, size, profitability) may be related to the extent of compliance. On average, firms comply with about two-thirds of the disclosure requirements. Compliance is positively and significantly influenced by listing status, while the univariate analysis indicated that the larger firms exhibit higher compliance rates. Results are of particular interest to accounting regulators who set disclosure requirements and capital market participants. However, the small size of the sample limits the power of the statistical analysis. The paper empirically investigates the compliance with IFRS requirements and ultimately on the quality of financial statements.
Why Do Different Countries Use Different Currencies?

During long periods of history, countries have pegged their currencies to an international standard (such as gold or the U.S. dollar), severely restricting their ability to create money and affect output, prices, or government revenue. Nevertheless, countries generally have maintained their own currencies. The paper presents a model where agents have heterogeneous preferencesthat are private informationover goods of different national origin. In this environment, it may be optimal for countries to have different currencies; we also identify conditions where separate national currencies do not expand the set of optimal allocations. Implications for a currency union in Europe are discussed.
Impact of Hair Cell Preservation in Cochlear Implantation: Combined Electric and Acoustic Hearing

Objective: This article reviews some of the potential benefits of preserving low-frequency residual hearing using a short-electrode cochlear implant. Both the status of the inner ear and acoustic characteristics of speech cues are important factors. How does the magnitude of the potential benefits depend on the candidacy criteria for implantation with a hearing-preservation electrode? Background: Previous research has demonstrated that preserving residual hearing in cochlear implantation can provide significant advantages for the understanding of speech in background noise as well as for the aesthetic qualities of music and other sounds. Developing optimal candidacy guidelines for these devices is a current goal. Methods: In a large group of patients with Hybrid (acoustic + electric) cochlear implant, performance in the recognition of speech in background of other talkers is measured and compared with patients with traditional long-electrode implant. In addition, a number of patient characteristics are compared to success with the short-electrode implant. Results: Age and duration of hearing loss are found to be predictive factors for the success of the short-electrode approach. Conclusion: Optimal criterion for candidacy for the use of the short-electrode versus a traditional long electrode can improve the outlook for patients with severe-to-profound high-frequency hearing loss.
The Determination of IgG Subclass Concentrations in Serum by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay: Establishment of Age-Related Reference Ranges for Cord Blood Samples, Children Aged 5–13 Years and Adults

We describe a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the measurement of immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses in serum. The microtitre plate is coated directly with diluted samples, standards or controls, blocked with phosphate-buffered saline containing 1% Tween to prevent non-specific protein binding to the plate, and each subclass assigned with specific mouse monoclonal antibody. The specific antibody is detected with alkaline-phosphatase linked anti-globulin and the colour development of the paranitrophenyl phosphate indicator reagent is measured at 405 nm until the highest concentration of standard gives an absorbance in excess of 1·4. Coefficients of variation measured at three concentration levels were less than 7% for within-assay variation and less than 10% for between-assay variation. Regression analysis of total IgG with the sum of the measured IgG subclasses gave a correlation coefficient of 0·932 (P < 0·001). The assay has been used to establish age-related reference ranges for serum IgG subclasses; these are found to be slightly different from those established for radioimmunodiffusion methods. Our study does not confirm the previously reported absence of IgG4 in normal individuals.
Income Distribution and Social Expenditures: A Cross-National Perspective

We assemble data from several different sources to examine the cross-national effects of inequality and trust on social expenditures. We find that the inequality between the middle classes and the poor (as measured by the 50/10 percentile ratio) has a small, positive impact but inequality between the ends of the distribution and middle class (measured by the 90/50 percentile ratio) has a large and negative impact on social spending. Different measures of trust are shown to have a large and positive impact on spending, implying that more cohesive, trusting societies are more willing to share economic resources with others not so fortunate. Our results therefore suggest that as the "rich" become more distant from the middle and lower classes, they find it easier to opt out of public programs and to buy substitutes in the private market. This implies that over time rising inequality will erode support for social institutions and social support that provides insurance against income loss, upward mobility and equal opportunity.
Determinants of Firm Failure: Empirical Evidence from China

During the economic transition, Chinese industries are highly dynamic, with substantial firm entry and failure. This study investigates the driving forces of firm failure in China. Based on the annual survey of industrial firms during 1998-2007, this study first describes the patterns of firm failure. On average, less productive and older firms are more likely to fail, while firms with governmental supports are more likely to survive. Statistical results based on the linear probability model for panel data indicate that market competition crowds out less productive firms. Competition domi- nates learning effects and imposes challenges on the survival of older firms. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between firm age and firm failure. Local supportive policies such as subsidies and banking loans can reduce the chance of firm failure. Governmental policies also moderate the impact of productivity and firm age on firm failure. The findings from this study enrich the understanding of industrial dynamics in the transitional China.
EFFECTS OF INHALED AEROSOLIZED ILOPROST AND INHALED NO ON PULMONARY CIRCULATION AND EDEMA FORMATION IN OVINE LUNG INJURY

Although inhaled NO (iNO) has been shown to lower pulmonary pressures and edema accumulation in experimental acute lung injury, its clinical use has been questioned because of a lack of improvement in outcome, rebound phenomena, and potential toxicity. We investigated the effects of aerosolized iloprost, a stable prostacyclin analogue, compared with iNO on pulmonary pressures and lung edema in 20 female sheep with oleic acid lung injury. The most effective dose of iloprost was determined in healthy animals before the experiment. Anesthetized and ventilated sheep received a central venous oleic acid infusion and were continuously infused with Ringer lactate to achieve a positive fluid balance (5 mL·kg−1·h−1). In the iNO group (n = 6), iNO (20 ppm) was administered continuously for 8 h. Animals in the iloprost group (n = 6) received aerosolized iloprost (40 μg 2 h−1). Animals in the control group (n = 6) had no further intervention. Oleic acid infusion was associated with impaired oxygenation, pulmonary hypertension, and lung edema in all groups. Although iNO significantly decreased pulmonary vascular resistance index, effective pulmonary capillary pressure, and extravascular lung water index, these parameters were unaffected by iloprost. Oxygenation index (Pao2/Fio2) increased significantly both during NO and iloprost inhalation but also tended to improve in the control group over time. In contrast to iNO, the investigated dose of iloprost was ineffective to attenuate acute lung injury-induced changes in pulmonary hemodynamics and lung edema in this experimental model.
Tourism ‘non-entrepreneurship’ in peripheral destinations: a case study of small and medium tourism enterprises on Bornholm, Denmark

Geographers have increasingly criticized the absence of theoretical rigour characterizing studies of the tourism production system. Tourism entrepreneurship is one related research area that has not received the level of attention it deserves. Additionally, the role that innovation plays in small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) has not been examined in depth. This paper focuses on a study of entrepreneurial activity among SMTEs in a peripheral region, namely the Danish island of Bornholm. The study is based on thirty in-depth, non-random, structured interviews with owners of tourism-related enterprises. An examination of the key characteristics of these SMTEs provides evidence that most can be described as ‘gap-fillers’, companies operated by so-called ‘constrained’ or ‘non-entrepreneurs’, which do not display evidence of having adopted significant product or process innovations. Among the key barriers to innovation identified are the extreme seasonality plaguing the island’s tourist industry and, related to this, the uncompetitive nature of the existing tourist industry.
Swelling of biological and semiflexible polyelectrolytes

We have developed a theoretical model of swelling of semiflexible (biological) polyelectrolytes in salt solutions. Our approach is based on separation of length scales which allowed us to split a chain’s electrostatic energy into two parts that describe local and remote electrostatic interactions along the polymer backbone. The local part takes into account interactions between charged monomers that are separated by distances along the polymer backbone shorter than the chain’s persistence length. These electrostatic interactions renormalize chain persistence length. The second part includes electrostatic interactions between remote charged pairs along the polymer backbone located at distances larger than the chain persistence length. These interactions are responsible for chain swelling. In the framework of this approach we calculated effective chain persistence length and chain size as a function of the Debye screening length, chain degree of ionization, bare persistence length and chain degree of polymerization. Our crossover expression for the effective chain’s persistence length is in good quantitative agreement with the experimental data on DNA. We have been able to fit experimental datasets by using two adjustable parameters: DNA ionization degree (α = 0.15–0.17) and a bare persistence length (lp = 40–44 nm).
Happy people manage better in adverse services

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the formation of service perceptions in services that are stressful and unpleasant for customers, e.g. healthcare services. The authors set out to show that customers' happiness, here conceptualized as a stable perception of happiness one has towards one's life, predicts how customers manage adverse services.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a survey in a healthcare setting and analyzed the data with partial least square modeling.Findings – The results show that happiness is indirectly linked, through mood, to perceived service quality, trust and service outcome. Thus, the results suggest that happy consumers are less vulnerable to distress in adverse services.Practical implications – The findings indicate that, to enable service providers to offer adequate support in adverse service situations, service management would benefit from taking into account different customers' different levels of happiness. It is recommended that providers o.
Gains from Trade and Total Factor Productivity across Economies

This article studies and measures the gains from openness and the e¤ects of international trade policy on productivity and output levels. It is assumed an economy with two tradable and non-storable intermediate goods, used in the production of a non-tradable nal good. The solution of the static trade and factor allocation problem generates implicitly a mapping between factor endowments and nal output, which is then used as an exogenous production function. We nd that for very poor economies gains from trade are sizable and in many cases more than 50% of their per capita income. Most of these countries have high tari¤s but enjoy most of their potential gains from trade as their factor endowment is very di¤erent from that of the rich countries that they trade with. However, there are a group of lowto-middle income countries (e.g., India and Pakistan), with sizeable potential gains from trade, and for whom barriers to trade imply a signi cant loss.
In silico analysis of human Toll‐like receptor 7 ligand binding domain

Toll‐like receptors recognizing pathogen‐associated molecular patterns are preface actors for innate immunity. Among them TLR7 is a transmembrane protein playing very crucial role in the signaling pathways involved in innate immunity by recognizing viral ssRNA and specific small molecule agonists. The unavailability of experimental 3D structure of this receptor till date hampers the focused exploration of TLR7 interaction with its ligands. However, several proteins possessing high homology domain enabled us to construct a reliable 3D model of hTLR7 ECD, which was employed to generate the homodimer model using protein–protein docking strategy. Further molecular docking studies between developed homodimer model and ligands were performed to explore the most preferred site of hTLR7 ECD interacting with ligands. The comparative analysis of docking energies and protein–ligand interactions of all the ligands revealed resiquimod as the prominent agonist. Furthermore, molecular interactions between protein–ligand complexes suggested LRR15 and LRR16 region of hTLR7 ECD as the most preferential site for ligand binding. The Ser434 and Gly437 of LRR15 region of hTLR7 were found to be conserved with Drosophila Toll protein. The obtained complex model may lead to a better understanding of TLR7 functioning along with its inheritance from invertebrates to mammals.
The valuation of patents using third-party data: the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index

ABSTRACT This study is the first investigation of the ability of the financial marketplace to value patent assets via exploiting the informational content of a widely quoted stock market patent index known as the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index (OT 300). The results suggest that the OT 300 ‘works,’ in the sense that the index generates buy-and-hold returns economically and statistically in excess of those of the market as a whole as well as a specially created 300-firm benchmark portfolio composed of other very liquid patent-holding firms.
Expatriates' hesitation and the localization of Western business operations in China

Many foreign firms intend to localize their business operations in China. The incumbent expatriates' ability and willingness to bring about their own replacement is crucial. However, expatriates could be less than enthusiastic about the prospect of making themselves redundant. They may not be mentally prepared for such an endeavour, considering themselves unable or unwilling to localize, impeding such a process. To examine this proposition, a mail survey was directed to Western business expatriates in China. Results showed that there was a negative relationship between localization and expatriates' unwillingness to localize, because they prefer to stay on or are of the opinion that localization is not necessary. However, expatriates' perceived inability to localize was not associated with localization. Considering oneself unsuitable to train locals or that it is not one's job to train local employees did not seem to obstruct localization as expected. Implications for firms intending to localize their business operations in China are discussed in detail.
An energy efficient leader election algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks

Leader election is a very important problem, not only in wired networks, but in mobile, ad hoc networks as well. In this paper, we propose a solution based on the omega failures detector. The algorithm is highly adaptive with ad hoc networks in the sense that it can tolerate intermittent failures, such as link failures, sudden crash or recovery of mobile nodes, network partitions, and merging of connected network components associated with ad hoc networks. In addition, the algorithm reduces the number of exchanged messages to make it energy efficient. The paper also presents proofs of correctness to exhibit the fairness of this algorithm.
REV1 and DNA polymerase zeta in DNA interstrand crosslink repair

DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) are covalent linkages between two strands of DNA, and their presence interferes with essential metabolic processes such as transcription and replication. These lesions are extremely toxic, and their repair is essential for genome stability and cell survival. In this review, we will discuss how the removal of ICLs requires interplay between multiple genome maintenance pathways and can occur in the absence of replication (replication‐independent ICL repair) or during S phase (replication‐coupled ICL repair), the latter being the predominant pathway used in mammalian cells. It is now well recognized that translesion DNA synthesis (TLS), especially through the activities of REV1 and DNA polymerase zeta (Polζ), is necessary for both ICL repair pathways operating throughout the cell cycle. Recent studies suggest that the convergence of two replication forks upon an ICL initiates a cascade of events including unhooking of the lesion through the actions of structure‐specific endonucleases, thereby creating a DNA double‐stranded break (DSB). TLS across the unhooked lesion is necessary for restoring the sister chromatid before homologous recombination repair. Biochemical and genetic studies implicate REV1 and Polζ as being essential for performing lesion bypass across the unhooked crosslink, and this step appears to be important for subsequent events to repair the intermediate DSB. The potential role of Fanconi anemia pathway in the regulation of REV1 and Polζ‐dependent TLS and the involvement of additional polymerases, including DNA polymerases kappa, nu, and theta, in the repair of ICLs is also discussed in this review. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An Experimental Analysis of Modifications to the Centralized Milk Quota Exchange System in Quebec

"Using experimental economics, this paper tests the potential impacts of modifying the centralized quota exchange system in Quebec with the intent of decreasing the quota price while minimizing negative impacts on auction effectiveness. Two separate treatments are applied to a uniform price auction similar to that employed in Quebec. The first treatment is an exclusion (5% or 15%) of the highest buyer bids and seller offers. The second is a tax (2% or 10%) on all units offered for sale that remain unsold. Various combinations of the two treatments are also tested. The results suggest that exclusion of the highest bids and offers can decrease the price of the quota and that a 15% exclusion rate is more effective than a 5% rate. The tax alone has little impact on quota price. The combination of the two treatments generates a more marked reduction in both the number of exchanges and the price of the quota than when the tax or the exclusion is applied individually. However, the combination of treatments results in a greater loss of economic efficiency. In all cases, relatively small market price reductions are realized at the expense of substantial losses in economic efficiency. " Copyright (c) 2008 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.