Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VR Color Grading using Key Views

Color grading is a crucial step in film post-production for defining the creative intent and giving a particular look and feel to the content. In the context of VR, no adapted solutions exist yet for color grading 360° imagery, leading to cumbersome work-arounds and costing precious production time. To enable colorists to work on 360° content without modifying their existing workflows, we introduce the concept of key views---representative rectilinear views extracted from the 360° scene through a visual attention analysis. Key views can be edited independently using traditional color grading approaches. Our solution then seamlessly propagates the edits to the rest of the sphere, allowing for localized grading to be applied but without requiring the use of masks or windows.
Some Key Researches on SiC Device Technologies and their Predicted Advantages

SiC has proven to be a good candidate as a material for next generation power semiconductors. To analyse the advantages of SiC based power devices over their silicon counterparts, a high volume and standard application segment such as the 400 to 480VAC line rated motor drives is considered to be ideal. From this viewpoint, the present research work has focussed on 1200V class device technologies. 4H-SiC based MOSFET and SBD structures have been considered to be the best fit device configurations for the targeted application category. New SiC-MOSFET/SBD structures have been developed aiming at high power density applications. Performance details of such newly fabricated SiC devices, along with their evaluation under actual operating conditions, are also introduced. Gourab Majumdar, Power Device Works, and Tatsuo Oomori, Advanced Technology R&D Centre, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan
Shy trout grow faster: exploring links between personality and fitness-related traits in the wild

In many animals, individual differences in behavior show remarkable consistency across situations and contexts (i.e., animal personality and behavioral syndromes). Studies on the association between personality traits and fitness-related measures in nature are, however, important to clarify the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. Here, we tested for correlations between 3 behavioral axes in brown trout (Salmo trutta) parr: exploration tendency, behavioral flexibility, and aggressiveness. Next, we tested how these individual behaviors relate to social dominance and performance under natural conditions (growth, survival, and movement). We found support for behavioral syndromes in brown trout with less explorative individuals being less aggressive and showing more flexible behavior. In addition, these low-explorative personality types grew faster than bolder conspecifics in the wild. Standardized aggression in the laboratory was a poor indicator of social dominance, and neither of these 2 traits affected performance in the wild. These results challenge the view that personality traits can be predicted by constant associations with life-history trade-offs (e.g., boldness is linked with rapid growth). Moreover, our findings suggest that fitness predictions from laboratory measures of behavior should be made with caution and ideally tested in nature. Key words: aggressiveness and cryptic prey, animal personality, behavioral flexibility, behavioral syndrome, dominance, exploration tendency, life history, fitness. [Behav Ecol]
Functional Data Analysis in Action

These notes describe our analyses of data collected from Michael Newton, Department of Biostatistics, University of Wisconsin, in November 1998. We recording him juggling 3, 4, and 5 balls as well as bowling pins. Our goal was to model the movement of his hands during juggling by a relatively simple second order di erential equation. This study was a follow-up on our earlier work on handwriting (Ramsay, 1999), where a second order linear di erential equation was able to account well for pen movement during the writing a complex piece of Chinese script. The larger aim of these studies is to shed light on the way in which the brain controls movement during complex task. A di erential equation permits the study of the dynamics of this process, and ts simultaneously a number of derivatives as well as the position data. Since neural control, leading to muscle contraction, must, by the laws of mechanics, have a direct impact on acceleration, di erential equations seems to be a natural modeling framework. The analyses in this report use the techniques for functional data analysis described in Ramsay and Silverman (1997), and the software in Matlab and S-PLUS available at the Internet site ego.psych.mcgill.ca/pub/ramsay/FDAfuns.
Three-dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo method for slider air bearings

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used to solve the three-dimensional nano-scale gas film lubrication problem between a gas bearing slider and a rotating disk, and this solution is compared to the numerical solution of the compressible Reynolds equations with the slip flow correction based on the linearized Boltzmann equation as presented by Fukui and Kaneko [molecular gas film lubrication (MGL) method] [ASME J. Tribol. 110, 253 (1988)]. In the DSMC method, hundreds of thousands of simulated particles are used and their three velocity components and three spatial coordinates are calculated and recorded by using a hard-sphere collision model. Two-dimensional pressure profiles are obtained across the film thickness direction. The results obtained from the two methods agree well with each other for Knudsen numbers as large as 35 which corresponds to a minimum spacing of 2 nm. The result for contact slider is also obtained by the DSMC simulation and presented in this paper.
“Cunt”: On the perception and handling of verbal dynamite by L1 and LX users of English

Abstract “Cunt” is currently one of the most offensive words in the English language and is usually censored in the English press and media. The present study looks firstly at differences between 1159 first (L1) and 1165 foreign (LX) users of English in their perceived understanding of the word, its perceived offensiveness and their self-reported frequency of use. Secondly, it considers the relationships between the dependent variables and a number of psychological, sociobiographical and linguistic profile variables. The findings suggest that LX users are less sure about the exact meaning of the word, underestimate its offensiveness and use it less frequently than L1 users. Links between understanding of the word and its perceived offensiveness vary for L1 and LX users. High levels of Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism were linked to more frequent use of the word, as were lower levels of education, a younger age, being a male and working in a swearing-rich environment for both L1 and LX users. Variation in the group of LX users was linked to age of onset of acquisition of English, context of acquisition, self-reported oral proficiency, frequency of use of English and having lived in an English-speaking environment.
Upper Thermal Limits to Migration in Adult Chinook Salmon: Evidence from the Klamath River Basin

Abstract Temperature-sensitive transmitters and archival tags allowed precise measurement of adult Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha responses to high water temperatures and other environmental variables in the Klamath River basin during 2004 and 2005. Mean daily river temperatures upon initiation of upriver migration by adult Chinook salmon after a period of thermally induced migration inhibition ranged from 21.8°C to 24.0°C (mean = 22.9°C). During the first week (168 h) of migration, mean average body temperature was 21.9°C, mean average minimum daily body temperature was 20.6°C, and mean average maximum daily body temperature was 23.1°C. Temperatures above these levels appeared to completely block migration in almost all circumstances. Migration was inhibited at lower mean daily river temperatures during periods of increasing river temperatures than during periods of declining river temperatures. The ability of adult Chinook salmon to correctly gauge the onset of periods of declining or inclining.
Human Capital Formation and Foreign Direct Investment: Is it a nonlinear relationship?

The purpose of this work is to determine impact of human capital (HC) formation on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Mexico, where there is a lack of these kind studies. The main contribution is to test a nonlinear relationship between HC-FDI with a panel data regression. The panel was constructed for the 32 Federal States in the period of 2007-2012, it is controlled for the larger States (in GDP) and US border States with a dummy variable. Test consist in a nonlinear relationship of tertiary and postgraduate enrollment over FDI with Random Effects, where also a cointegration analysis is done with the Levin and Lin (LL), and the Im, Pesaran and Shin (IPS) tests to validate the long term relationship. Implica tions are important for Federal States, to configure an appropriate combination of tertiary and postgraduate critical mass of HC to attract FDI inflows.
Short UV-C Treatment Prevents Browning and Extends the Shelf-Life of Fresh-Cut Carambola

In this work, we selected a short UV-C treatment for fresh-cut carambola and assessed its efficacy in supplementing the benefits of low temperature storage. UV-C treated (6.0, 10.0, and 12.5 kJ m−2) carambola slices showed reduced deterioration compared to control fruit. Treatment with a dose of 12.5 kJ m−2 UV-C was more effective in maintaining quality and was selected for subsequent experiments evaluating the combination of UV-C and refrigeration on fruit storability and physical, chemical, and microbiological properties. Short UV-C exposure reduced weight loss and electrolyte leakage. UV-C treated carambola slices presented higher phenolic antioxidants than control after 21 d at 4°C and showed no alterations in soluble solids or titratable acidity. UV-C exposure also reduced the counts of molds, yeast, and aerobic mesophilic bacteria. UV-C treated fruit showed a fresh-like appearance even after 21 d as opposed to control carambola which presented spoilage and extensive browning symptoms. The reduction of fruit browning in UV-C treated fruit was not due to reduction in phenylalanine-ammonia lyase (PAL) and/or peroxidase (POD), but rather through polyphenol oxidase (PPO) inhibition and improved maintenance of tissue integrity.
An Experimental Economics Approach to Analyzing Price Discovery in Forward and Spot Markets

Abstract Laboratory experiments are used to generate data that facilitate investigation of pricing behavior in forward and spot markets. Results suggest a tendency for prices in a spot market to converge to levels higher than those in a forward market. The difference in these market environments is the supply schedule. Buyers in a spot market are aware that supply is inelastic and become relatively aggressive bidders. Forward markets have a relatively elastic supply schedule and buyers fare better. This may motivate firms to promote forward markets and/or vertically integrate in the procurement of inputs.
Some days are better than others : lessons learned from Uganda's first results-based financing pilot

In 2003, the Government of Uganda launched a pilot performance-based contracting scheme designed to improve the quality of and access to health services at private not-for-profit (PNFP) health facilities. In addition to performance incentives, facilities were given freedom to decide how to allocate resources. The latter innovation had a discernible positive impact on health facility performance, but the former, the incentives, did not. This brief explores the design and implementation issues behind the failure of the incentives and shows that while incentives matter, the success of results-based financing (RBF) programs is not inevitable. They require significant investment and careful design and implementation. The good news, though, is that enormous improvements can be had for free, by granting facilities the ability to choose how to spend their money.
World Bank Policy Lending and the Quality of Public Sector Governance

This study investigates the impact of World Bank development policy lending for public sector governance on the quality of public sector management and institutions. The World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessments (CPIA) are used to measure the latter, the study considers only policy conditions targeted at improvements in those areas. The analysis uses a comprehensive country-year panel data set of aid receiving-countries and finds a significant and inverse U-shaped effect of public sector conditions on the quality of public sector governance. For most observed values in the data, the impact is positive, but it turns negative beyond a value of 80 conditions. At that point, the predicted CPIA score is about 0.25 point (0.3 standard deviation) higher than with zero conditions. For most observations, the number of cumulative conditions is below 80, so the estimated effect of more conditions is generally positive. The analysis corrects for potential endogeneity and shows that the results are robust to sample restrictions, the use of an alternative governance measure, and the inclusion of an extended set of control variables. Falsification tests are also consistent with a causal interpretation from conditions to quality of public sector governance. The paper shows that conditions related to public financial management and tax reforms are more effective than those related to anti-corruption or civil service and administrative reform, where progress requires changing the behavior of a larger set of “deconcentrated” actors. The paper concludes by describing some innovative ideas in the Bank’s ambitious new public sector management strategy that could improve the effectiveness of its support for public sector governance reform.
Purification and properties of Rhizobial DehL expressed in Escherichia coli

The Rhizobium sp. DehL was produced by heterologous expression of the cloned gene in Escherichia coli. DehL enzyme was purified to homogeneity and characterized. The molecular weights were estimated to be 61 and 31 kDa by gel filtration and DS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDSPAGE), respectively, suggesting that the enzyme is a dimer. The purified enzyme was specific to the Lisomer monochloropropionate (L-2CP) and dichloroacetate (DCA). This protein was not able to act on 2,2-dichloropropionate (2,2DCP) and trichloroacetate (TCA). The estimated kinetic data indicated that this enzyme has high affinity to its specific substrates. By searching protein amino acid sequence database, the predicted amino acid sequence of DehL showed a high level of homology to those Lspecific monochloropropionate (D,L-2CP) dehalogenase of Rhizobium sp. NHG3 with 53% sequence identity. The amino acid sequence of DehL showed low level sequence identity to those of Class 1D dehalogenases, suggesting DehL from Rhizobium sp. may belong to different group of dehalogenase classification preferably Class 1L dehalogenase.
Sequence Variation in the Melanocortin-1 Receptor Gene (Mc1r) Does Not Explain Variation in the Degree of Melanism in a Widespread Amphibian

Variation in nucleotide sequence of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (Mc1r) is associated with melanism in several mammalian, avian and reptilian species, but no attempts have been made to understand the genetic underpinnings of melanism in amphibians. We isolated the complete coding sequence (945 bps) of Mc1r from the common frog (Rana temporaria) and compared the predicted amino acid sequence with that of fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. We investigated associations between nucleotide substitutions and the level of dorsal melanism among 28 individuals from two populations with pronounced differences in melanism. According to our results, the transmembrane regions of Mc1r are conserved across vertebrates. In the population comparison, we only found five nucleotide sites with synonymous substitutions; none is being associated with the level of melanism. Our results suggest that either other genes or regulatory regions outside the coding sequence of Mc1r are responsible for expression of melanism in R. temporaria.
Circle-preserving functions of spheres

Suppose a function of the standard sphere S2 into the standard sphere S2+m, m > 0, sends every circle into a circle but is not a circlepreserving biection of S2. Then the image of the function must lie in a five-point set or, if it contains more than five points, it must lie in a circle together with at most one other point. We prove the local version of this theorem together with a generalization to n dimensions. In the generalization, the significance of 5 is replaced by 2n + 1. There is also proved a 3-dimensional result in which, compared to the n-dimensional theorem, we are allowed to weaken the structure assumed on the image set of the function.
Optimization of Balking and Reneging Queue with VacationInterruption under -Policy

This paper analyzes a finite buffer multiple working vacations queue with balking, reneging, and vacation interruption under -policy. In the working vacation, a customer is served at a lower rate and at the instants of a service completion; if there are at least customers in the queue, the vacation is interrupted and the server switches to regular busy period otherwise continues the vacation. Using Markov process and recursive technique, we derive the stationary system length distributions at arbitrary epoch. Various performance measures and some special models of the system are presented. Cost analysis is carried out using particle swarm optimization and quadratic fit search method. Finally, some numerical results showing the effect of model parameters on key performance measures of the system are presented.
Enteric methane emissions in response to ruminal inoculation of Propionibacterium strains in beef cattle fed a mixed diet

The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of Propionibacterium strains to mitigate enteric methane (CH4) emissions in beef heifers fed a mixed diet. An experiment was conducted with 16 ruminally cannulated beef heifers fed a basal diet consisting of 60 : 40 barley silage : barley grain (DM basis). Treatments included: (1) Control, (2) Propionibacterium freudenreichii T114, (3) P. thoenii T159, and (4) P. freudenreichii T54. Strains (1 × 1011 colony forming units) were administered daily directly into the rumen before feeding. No treatment effects were observed for DM intake (P = 0.90), mean ruminal pH (P = 0.50) and total volatile fatty acids (P = 0.44). However, compared with the Control, proportions of individual volatile fatty acids changed with acetate being less with Propionibacterium T159 (P = 0.02), whereas ruminal isobutyrate (P < 0.01) and acetate : propionate ratio (P = 0.04) were greater with Propionibacterium T114. Total daily enteric CH4 production averaged 188 g/day and was not affected by Propionbacterium strains (P = 0.51). Methane yield averaged 22 g/kg of DMI intake and tended to be greater with Propionibacterium strains (P = 0.08). The relative abundance of total Propionibacteria was greater with the inoculation of Propionibacterium T159 relative to the Control heifers (P = 0.04). In conclusion, inoculation of Propionibacterium T159 decreased ruminal acetate proportion and Propionibacterium T114 increased acetate : propionate ratio. However, inoculated strains failed to lower total CH4 emissions possibly due to the inability of Propionibacterium strains to elevate ruminal propionate concentrations.
NEAR-INFRARED THERMAL EMISSION FROM TrES-3b: A Ks-BAND DETECTION AND AN H-BAND UPPER LIMIT ON THE DEPTH OF THE SECONDARY ECLIPSE

We present H- and Ks-band photometry bracketing the secondary eclipse of the hot Jupiter TrES-3b using the Wide-field Infrared Camera on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. We detect the secondary eclipse of TrES-3b with a depth of 0.133+0.018−0.016% in the Ks band (8σ)—a result that is in sharp contrast to the eclipse depth reported by de Mooij & Snellen. We do not detect its thermal emission in the H band, but place a 3σ limit of 0.051% on the depth of the secondary eclipse in this band. A secondary eclipse of this depth in Ks requires very efficient day-to-nightside redistribution of heat and nearly isotropic reradiation, a conclusion that is in agreement with longer wavelength, mid-infrared Spitzer observations. Our 3σ upper limit on the depth of our H-band secondary eclipse also argues for very efficient redistribution of heat and suggests that the atmospheric layer probed by these observations may be well homogenized. However, our H-band upper limit is so constraining that it suggests the possibility of a temperature inversion at depth, or an absorbing molecule, such as methane, that further depresses the emitted flux at this wavelength. The combination of our near-infrared measurements and those obtained with Spitzer suggests that TrES-3b displays a near-isothermal dayside atmospheric temperature structure, whose spectrum is well approximated by a blackbody. We emphasize that our strict H-band limit is in stark disagreement with the best-fit atmospheric model that results from longer wavelength observations only, thus highlighting the importance of near-infrared observations at multiple wavelengths, in addition to those returned by Spitzer in the mid-infrared, to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the energy budgets of transiting exoplanets.
Direct-acting antivirals and hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence and recurrence in hepatitis C virus-related liver cirrhosis: fact or finction

Since the widespread adoption of new direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), the approach to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has changed profoundly as almost all patients can be cured regardless of the stage of their liver disease. On the other hand, there are a few conflicting reports on the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring and recurring in patients given DAA-based therapy. The present review focuses on the latest and most relevant literature providing evidence on the occurrence and recurrence of HCC after HCV antiviral treatment with the new DAAs. Retaining the distinction between HCC occurrence and recurrence, we also discuss its patterns of presentation and speculate on the possible pathogenic mechanisms. We offer our personal viewpoints on this important issue, which has kept clinicians second-guessing in real-world clinical practice, when dealing with HCV eradication in the setting of advanced liver disease in this interferon-free era.