Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty model of the gradient constraint and quantitative reliability measures of optical flow

When computing optical flow based on a gradient method, the quantitative uncertainty model of the gradient constraint is indispensable for deriving quantitative reliability measures of optical flow. Although the gradient constraint has been considered to be derived from the Taylor expansion of image intensity, such an interpretation has several drawbacks in the estimation of uncertainty. In this paper, another interpretation of the gradient constraint is presented based on least squares approximation, and a quantitative uncertainty model is derived from it. Quantitative estimation of the uncertainty of the gradient constraint enables accurate computation of optical flow and provides quantitative reliability measures of optical flow. The validity of the proposed model and the quantitative reliability measures are verified through experiments. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Syst Comp Jpn, 30(7): 9–17, 1999
The role of developmental levels in examining the effect of subject types on the production of auxiliary is in young english-speaking children.

PURPOSE Prior work (Guo, Owen, & Tomblin, 2010) has shown that at the group level, auxiliary is production by young English-speaking children was symmetrical across lexical noun and pronominal subjects. Individual data did not uniformly reflect these patterns. On the basis of the framework of the gradual morphosyntactic learning (GML) hypothesis, the authors tested whether the addition of a theoretically motivated developmental measure, tense productivity (TP), could assist in explaining these individual differences. METHOD Using archival data from 20 children between age 2;8 and 3;4 (years;months), the authors tested the ability of 3 developmental measures (TP; finite verb morphology composite, FVMC; mean length of utterance, MLU) to predict use of auxiliary is with different subject types. RESULTS TP, but not MLU or FVMC, significantly improved model fit. Children with low TP scores produced auxiliary is more accurately with pronominal subjects than with lexical subjects. The facilitative effect of pronominal subjects on the production of auxiliary is, however, was not found in children with high TP scores. CONCLUSION The finding that the effect of subject types on the production accuracy of auxiliary is changed with children's TP is consistent with the GML hypothesis.
Effects of a high-protein ketogenic diet on hunger , appetite , and weight loss in obese men feeding ad libitum 1 – 3

Background: Altering the macronutrient composition of the diet influences hunger and satiety. Studies have compared highand low-protein diets, but there are few data on carbohydrate content and ketosis on motivation to eat and ad libitum intake. Objective: We aimed to compare the hunger, appetite, and weightloss responses to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate [(LC) ketogenic] and those to a high-protein, medium-carbohydrate [(MC) nonketogenic] diet in obese men feeding ad libitum. Design: Seventeen obese men were studied in a residential trial; food was provided daily. Subjects were offered 2 high-protein (30% of energy) ad libitum diets, each for a 4-wk period—an LC (4% carbohydrate) ketogenic diet and an MC (35% carbohydrate) diet—randomized in a crossover design. Body weight was measured daily, and ketosis was monitored by analysis of plasma and urine samples. Hunger was assessed by using a computerized visual analogue system. Results: Ad libitum energy intakes were lower with the LC diet than with the MC diet [P 0.02; SE of the difference (SED): 0.27] at 7.25 and 7.95 MJ/d, respectively. Over the 4-wk period, hunger was significantly lower (P 0.014; SED: 1.76) and weight loss was significantly greater (P 0.006; SED: 0.62) with the LC diet (6.34 kg) than with the MC diet (4.35 kg). The LC diet induced ketosis with mean 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations of 1.52 mmol/L in plasma (P 0.036 from baseline; SED: 0.62) and 2.99 mmol/L in urine (P 0.001 from baseline; SED: 0.36). Conclusion: In the short term, high-protein, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets reduce hunger and lower food intake significantly more than do high-protein, medium-carbohydrate nonketogenic diets. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;87:44 –55.
The role of design in product innovation : a study of design and technical clusters in portable computers

The paper highlights the importance of design in product innovation, using portable computers as an empirical case study. This is an attempt to redress the balance in the innovation and product technology literature, which has overwhelmingly focused on hardware technologies (technical characteristics) of products. Principal components analysis is used to identify clusters of design characteristics and as well as technical characteristics on a data set of portable computer designs in the period 1993 to 1997. The shadow prices which consumers pay for these clusters are then estimated using hedonic price methods. The findings indicate that a limited set of core design and technology characteristics can explain the significant proportion of the demand price for portable computers. The findings have important implications for product innovation management, and the applied methods provide a powerful tool for the measurement and estimation of core design and technical features.
Different Involvement of Extracellular Matrix Components in Small and Large Arteries During Chronic NO Synthase Inhibition

In essential hypertension, conduit arteries present hypertrophic remodeling (increased cross-sectional area), whereas small arteries undergo eutrophic remodeling. The involvement of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and de-adhesion proteins, such as tenascin-C and thrombospondin, has been relatively well characterized in large artery remodeling, but their contribution is not known in small artery remodeling. Rats received N&ohgr;-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME; 50 mg/kg per day) in their drinking water on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28. Arterial MMP-2 activity was measured by ELISA, whereas levels of tenascin-C and thrombospondin were assessed by Western blotting. To determine the involvement of MMPs, additional l-NAME rats received the nonselective MMP inhibitor doxycycline (30 mg/kg per day) on days 7, 14, and 28. Already, at day 1, pressure was elevated. Media/lumen ratio of mesenteric arteries and the aorta increased gradually to reach significance at 28 days. However, the cross-sectional area increased only in the aorta, confirming the heterogeneous remodeling process. In small arteries, MMP-2 activity increased after 7 and 14 days of treatment and returned to baseline at 28 days, whereas the elevation was more progressive but sustained in the aorta. The level of thrombospondin paralleled that of MMP-2 in small arteries, whereas tenascin-C levels declined rapidly and stayed below control values. Doxycycline blunted large artery remodeling but had no influence on the development of eutrophic remodeling despite elevation of MMP-2 activity in the process. Thus, in contrast to large artery hypertrophic remodeling, in which the contributions of cellular de-adhesion and matrix breakdown is manifest, the contribution of MMPs in eutrophic remodeling appears less crucial.
No More Controversial than a Gardening Display?: Provision of LGBT-Related Fiction to Children and Young People in U.K. Public Libraries

This article reports the findings of a study on the provision of LGBT-related fiction to children and young people in U.K. public libraries and on library staff attitudes to this material. The term “LGBT” stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans, with “trans” being an umbrella term used to encompass transgender and transsexual people, cross-dressers, and other gender-variant people. The research used a mixed-methods approach, comprising a checklist study, in which a list of books was checked against the catalogs of two participating library authorities; staff focus groups in these authorities; and a questionnaire distributed nationwide via professional listservs. Opinions were also gathered from young LGBT people and LGBT parents through focus groups and interviews. The research showed clear room for improvement in provision in the two authorities studied, particularly as regard to picture books, books with trans content, books in different formats, and books from less mainstream authors and publishers. Library staff members showed generally positive attitudes toward this material, but there were some areas of concern, notably relating to the quality of materials, provision of materials to younger children, and the possibility of parental complaint. The study provides a much-needed preliminary insight into the subject and highlights areas for improvement.
Identifying main obstacles for statistical machine translation of morphologically rich South Slavic languages

This publication has emanated from research supported by the QT21 project – European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant number 645452 as well as a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under grant number SFI/12/RC/2289. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.
Recursive Ascent Parsing

The parsing problem is ubiquitous in Computer Science. Perhaps that is part of the reason it has been used so frequently to illustrate the power of continuations and monads. It is often the case, though, that the parser examples of continuation passing style and monads are top-down parsers. I intend to show that the continuation passing style of programming naturally leads to bottom-up or recursive ascent parsers. The programming language Scheme will be used to code example parsers.
CREATIVITY, SUBJECTIVE PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES AND ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Between 1962 and 2003, 27 experimental studies have explored the relationship between creativity and psi. These suggest there is something about artistic populations that is psi-conducive. Of ten free-response studies working with artistic populations, four found that compared to non-artists, artists obtained a significantly higher hit rate (e.g., Moss, 1969). The remaining six studies used the ganzfeld paradigm, each obtaining above chance psi-scoring, with hit rates between 30% and 50% (MCE=25%), and an overall hit rate of 40% (e.g., Morris, Summers & Yin, 2003). These artistic populations obtained higher hit rates than the general populations of ganzfeld studies  for which a recent meta-analysis estimates a hit rate of 30% (Bem, Palmer & Broughton, 2001). However, the interpretation that this psi-success is due to the creativeness of the participants is questionable  it is confounded by other potential characteristics of these populations, such as extraversion, self-confidence, open-belief systems or a willingness to introspect, and the experimenter effect. Artistic involvement alone is not a measure of creativity. Creativity is commonly defined as a process whereby a novel product emerges, something that is original and also valuable or adaptive (e.g., Boden, 1996). Research using psychometric measures of creativity as correlates of psi-success (e.g. divergent thinking) have had mixed success (there are more significant outcomes with non-artistic populations) and contradictory outcomes (suggesting that creativity may be associated with magnitude of psi) (e.g. Roe, Anowarun & Mckenzie, 2001). Creativity is a poly-faceted, heterogenous construct, with low convergent validity between its various measures (Hocevar, 1981). Interpretation of its relationship to psi has been further hindered by this complexity, particularly when different measures of creativity have been used in isolation, as Palmer (1978) noted. This study sought to clarify the relationship between creativity and psi by asking if different dimensions of creativity relate differentially to the likelihood of having subjective paranormal experiences (SPEs) and to a proclivity to experience altered states of consciousness (ASCs). This expanded upon the work of Kennedy, Kanthamani and Palmer (1994) who found incidence of SPEs to be significantly correlated with rating artistic creativity as an important purpose in life (r=.20, p=.04).
CADDY project, year 3: The final validation trials

This paper described the basic concept behind the second and final validation trials of the Cognitive Autonomous Diving Buddy (CADDY) system. The CADDY system is composed of three components: autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) named BUDDY, and a diver. CADDY aims to establish an innovative setup between a diver and companion autonomous robots (underwater and surface) that exhibit cognitive behaviour by adapting to diver's physical state, and actions, thereby improving overall diving experience by assisting the diver. Although certain problems were encountered during trials, the collected data and experience were valuable to identify potential improvements. Most importantly, divers felt safe and comfortable working and interacting with a robotic BUDDY thus achieving the primary goal.
Transcription Factor SCL Is Required for c-kit Expression and c-Kit Function in Hemopoietic Cells

In normal hemopoietic cells that are dependent on specific growth factors for cell survival, the expression of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor SCL/Tal1 correlates with that of c-Kit, the receptor for Steel factor (SF) or stem cell factor. To address the possibility that SCL may function upstream of c-kit, we sought to modulate endogenous SCL function in the CD34+ hemopoietic cell line TF-1, which requires SF, granulocyte/macrophage colony–stimulating factor, or interleukin 3 for survival. Ectopic expression of an antisense SCL cDNA (as-SCL) or a dominant negative SCL (dn-SCL) in these cells impaired SCL DNA binding activity, and prevented the suppression of apoptosis by SF only, indicating that SCL is required for c-Kit–dependent cell survival. Consistent with the lack of response to SF, the level of c-kit mRNA and c-Kit protein was significantly and specifically reduced in as-SCL– or dn-SCL– expressing cells. c-kit mRNA, c-kit promoter activity, and the response to SF were rescued by SCL overexpression in the antisense or dn-SCL transfectants. Furthermore, ectopic c-kit expression in as-SCL transfectants is sufficient to restore cell survival in response to SF. Finally, enforced SCL in the pro–B cell line Ba/F3, which is both SCL and c-kit negative is sufficient to induce c-Kit and SF responsiveness. Together, these results indicate that c-kit, a gene that is essential for the survival of primitive hemopoietic cells, is a downstream target of the transcription factor SCL.
Dietary restriction but not angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade improves DNA damage-related vasodilator dysfunction in rapidly aging Ercc1Δ/- mice.

DNA damage is an important contributor to endothelial dysfunction and age-related vascular disease. Recently, we demonstrated in a DNA repair-deficient, prematurely aging mouse model (Ercc1Δ/- mice) that dietary restriction (DR) strongly increases life- and health span, including ameliorating endothelial dysfunction, by preserving genomic integrity. In this mouse mutant displaying prominent accelerated, age-dependent endothelial dysfunction we investigated the signaling pathways involved in improved endothelium-mediated vasodilation by DR, and explore the potential role of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Ercc1Δ/- mice showed increased blood pressure and decreased aortic relaxations to acetylcholine (ACh) in organ bath experiments. Nitric oxide (NO) signaling and phospho-Ser1177-eNOS were compromised in Ercc1Δ/- DR improved relaxations by increasing prostaglandin-mediated responses. Increase of cyclo-oxygenase 2 and decrease of phosphodiesterase 4B were identified as potential mechanisms. DR also prevented loss of NO signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells and normalized angiotensin II (Ang II) vasoconstrictions, which were increased in Ercc1Δ/- mice. Ercc1Δ/- mutants showed a loss of Ang II type 2 receptor-mediated counter-regulation of Ang II type 1 receptor-induced vasoconstrictions. Chronic losartan treatment effectively decreased blood pressure, but did not improve endothelium-dependent relaxations. This result might relate to the aging-associated loss of treatment efficacy of RAS blockade with respect to endothelial function improvement. In summary, DR effectively prevents endothelium-dependent vasodilator dysfunction by augmenting prostaglandin-mediated responses, whereas chronic Ang II type 1 receptor blockade is ineffective.
Unsupervised Human Activity Detection with Skeleton Data from RGB-D Sensor

Human activity recognition is an important functionality in any intelligent system designed to support human daily activities. While majority of human activity recognition systems use supervised learning, these systems lack the ability to detect new activities by themselves. In this paper, we report the results of our investigation of unsupervised human activity detection with features extracted from skeleton data obtained from RGBD sensor. Unlike activity recognition, activity detection does not provide the label however attempts to distinguish one activity from another. This paper demonstrates a suitable set of features to be used with K-means clustering to distinguish different activities from a pool of unlabeled observations. The results show 100% F0.5-score were achieved for six out of nine activities for one of the subjects at low frame rate, while F0.5-score of 71.9% was achieved on average for all activities by four subjects.
Scaling Dark Energy in a Five-Dimensional Bouncing Cosmological Model

We consider a five-dimensional Ricci flat bouncing cosmological model in which the four-dimensional induced matter contains two components at late times — the cold dark matter (CDM) + baryons and dark energy. We find that the arbitrary function f(z) contained in the solution plays a similar role as the potential V(ϕ) in quintessence and phantom dark energy models. To resolve the coincidence problem, it is generally believed that there is a scaling stage in the evolution of the universe. We analyze the condition for this stage and show that a hyperbolic form of the function f(z) can work well in this property. We find that during the scaling stage (before z ≈ 2), the dark energy behaves like (but not identical to) a cold dark matter with an adiabatic sound speed and px ≈ 0. After z ≈ 2, the pressure of the dark energy becomes negative. The transition from deceleration to acceleration happens at zT ≈ 0.8 which, as well as other predictions of the 5D model, agrees with current observations.
How we refactor, and how we know it

Much of what we know about how programmers refactor in the wild is based on studies that examine just a few software projects. Researchers have rarely taken the time to replicate these studies in other contexts or to examine the assumptions on which they are based. To help put refactoring research on a sound scientific basis, we draw conclusions using four data sets spanning more than 13 000 developers, 240 000 tool-assisted refactorings, 2500 developer hours, and 3400 version control commits. Using these data, we cast doubt on several previously stated assumptions about how programmers refactor, while validating others. For example, we find that programmers frequently do not indicate refactoring activity in commit logs, which contradicts assumptions made by several previous researchers. In contrast, we were able to confirm the assumption that programmers do frequently intersperse refactoring with other program changes. By confirming assumptions and replicating studies made by other researchers, we can have greater confidence that those researchers' conclusions are generalizable.
Effect of Organ Culture on Noradrenaline- Evoked Contraction, Calcium Signalling and TRPC Expression in Rat Mesenteric Artery

The aim of this study was to explore the changes evoked by organ culture in the signalling pathways activated by noradrenaline in rat resistance mesenteric artery. Contractile responses and calcium signalling were significantly more sensitive to noradrenaline in arteries cultured for 48–72 h in the absence of growth factors compared to fresh arteries. Both calcium release activated by noradrenaline in calcium-free solution and calcium entry measured after the addition of external calcium were higher in cultured arteries than in fresh tissue. Blockers of non-selective cation channels (SKF-96365, flufenamic acid, Gd3+) more potently inhibited noradrenaline contraction in cultured arteries than in fresh ones. The src kinase inhibitors genistein or PP2 normalised the increased contraction and the increased calcium release evoked by noradrenaline in cultured arteries. In cultured arteries, trpc1 (transient receptor potential canonical 1) mRNA expression was decreased by 47 ± 8% (n = 5, p < 0.05), while trpc6 mRNA expression was increased by 92 ± 24% (n = 5, p < 0.05) in comparison with non-cultured arteries. Immunofluorescence analysis of protein expression confirmed the up-regulation of TRPC6 protein after culture. These results indicate that mesenteric artery culture results in src kinase-dependent increase in the responses to noradrenaline and in a change in cation channel activity, which could contribute to the increased contraction.
PhishSafe: leveraging modern JavaScript API's for transparent and robust protection

The term "phishing" describes a class of social engineering attacks on authentication systems, that aim to steal the victim's authentication credential, e.g., the username and password. The severity of phishing is recognized since the mid-1990's and a considerable amount of attention has been devoted to the topic. However, currently deployed or proposed countermeasures are either incomplete, cumbersome for the user, or incompatible with standard browser technology. In this paper, we show how modern JavaScript API's can be utilized to build PhishSafe, a robust authentication scheme, that is immune against phishing attacks, easily deployable using the current browser generation, and requires little change in the end-user's interaction with the application. We evaluate the implementation and find that it is applicable to web applications with low efforts and causes no tangible overhead.
Preliminarily phytochemical screening and in vivo safety evaluation of ethanolic extract of Hemidesmus indicus (Linn.)

ABSTRACT Objectives: Phytochemical and safety evaluation of Hemidesmus indicus (Linn.) of Apocynaceae family was performed to establish justification of its therapeutic significance in traditional medicine. Material and methods: Phytochemical analysis of leaf, stem and root was done according to standardized protocols. For determination of no-observed-adverse-effect-level female rats were randomized into 5 groups of 6 animals each administered with root extract at 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg/ kg for 7 days. Blood was collected by retro orbital puncture for serum biochemical parameters. Choleretic activity was done by intraduodenal administration of H. indicus root extract (400 mg/kg). Results: H. indicus revealed presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, carbohydrate, glycosides, proteins, flavonone, flavone and flavonol, polyphenolic contents and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity. Root extract showed highest amount of phytochemicals in comparison to leaf and stem. No significant difference was observed in alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, albumin, urea, uric acid, creatinine, triglycerides and cholesterol after treatments. Choleretic activity of H. indicus showed insignificant upsurge in bile ﬂow and bile solids. Conclusions: H. indicus possess phytochemicals responsible for its antioxidant and choleretic activity. Furthermore, administration of H. indicus root extracts up to 800 mg/kg is safe for in vivo studies in rats.