Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gravity-aware handheld Augmented Reality

This paper investigates how different stages in handheld Augmented Reality (AR) applications can benefit from knowing the direction of the gravity measured with inertial sensors. It presents approaches to improve the description and matching of feature points, detection and tracking of planar templates, and the visual quality of the rendering of virtual 3D objects by incorporating the gravity vector. In handheld AR, both the camera and the display are located in the user's hand and therefore can be freely moved. The pose of the camera is generally determined with respect to piecewise planar objects that have a known static orientation with respect to gravity. In the presence of (close to) vertical surfaces, we show how gravity-aligned feature descriptors (GAFD) improve the initialization of tracking algorithms relying on feature point descriptor-based approaches in terms of quality and performance. For (close to) horizontal surfaces, we propose to use the gravity vector to rectify the camera image and detect and describe features in the rectified image. The resulting gravity-rectified feature descriptors (GREFD) provide an improved precision-recall characteristic and enable faster initialization, in particular under steep viewing angles. Gravity-rectified camera images also allow for real-time 6 DoF pose estimation using an edge-based object detection algorithm handling only 4 DoF similarity transforms. Finally, the rendering of virtual 3D objects can be made more realistic and plausible by taking into account the orientation of the gravitational force in addition to the relative pose between the handheld device and a real object.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Percentage of the 2020 to 2023 City of London Net Property Tax Supported Budget Who we are: • Information Technology Services (ITS) is responsible for the planning, management and support of the City’s information technology, including hardware, software, network, printing, development, enterprise and business applications, core systems, service desk, data services, mobility, messaging and information security.
GetHFData: A R Package for Downloading and Aggregating High Frequency Trading Data from Bovespa

This paper introduces GetHFData, a R package for downloading, importing and aggregating high frequency trading data from the Brazilian financial market. Based on a set of user choices, the package GetHFData will download the required files directly from Bovespa’s ftp site and aggregate the financial data. The main objective of the publication of this software is to facilitate the computational effort related to research based on this large financial dataset and also to increase the reproducibility of studies by setting a replicable standard for data acquisition and processing. In this paper we present the available functions of the software, a brief description of the Brazilian market and several reproducible examples of usage.
Investigating idiosyncratic deals in the Indian hospitality industry

This paper, utilising the social exchange theory, examines the relationship between before hiring negotiation (ex-ante) and after hiring negotiation (ex-post), idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and employee reactions (i.e., motivation, commitment, work engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour). I-deals refer to voluntary, personalized agreements of a nonstandard nature negotiated between individual employees and their employers regarding terms that benefit each party. The hypotheses of the study were tested applying structural equation modelling on data collected from 275 employees working in 39 companies operating in the Indian hospitality industry. The findings show that although ex-ante and ex-post negotiations are interrelated, the negotiating special terms and conditions at the time of hire are less common than negotiating these terms and conditions while on job. Additionally, the findings indicate that ex-ante negotiation relates positively and more strongly to flexibility i-deals than to task and career i-deals, whilst ex-post negotiation relates positively but more strongly to career i-deals that to task and flexibility i-deals. The analysis also confirms the positive but differential effects of task, career and flexibility i-deals on employee reactions. Implications of the findings for both research and practice are discussed.
A new multistep interpolation method for carrier recovery in the presence of phase noise

The paper deals with pilot-aided carrier recovery in single-carrier systems. The system model considered in the paper includes the frequency offset and the phase noise that come from the local oscillators used for up/down-conversion. A multistep interpolation method is introduced to estimate the phase error assuming that a sequence of equally spaced pilot symbols is available. Our analysis takes the statistical character of phase noise into consideration and obtains the optimal coefficient of pilot to estimate the phase noise. The method proposed in the paper is compared with other method in the previous paper through simulation.
Hypothalamic Regulation of Liver and Muscle Nutrient Partitioning by Brain-Specific Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 1C in Male Mice

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) 1C, a brain-specific protein localized in the endoplasmic reticulum of neurons, is expressed in almost all brain regions. Based on global knockout (KO) models, CPT1C has demonstrated relevance in hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and in hypothalamic regulation of energy balance. Specifically, it has been shown that CPT1C is protective against high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO), and that CPT1C KO mice show reduced peripheral fatty acid oxidation (FAO) during both fasting and DIO. However, the mechanisms mediating CPT1C-dependent regulation of energy homeostasis remain unclear. Here, we focus on the mechanistic understanding of hypothalamic CPT1C on the regulation of fuel selection in liver and muscle of male mice during energy deprivation situations, such as fasting. In CPT1C-deficient mice, modulation of the main hypothalamic energy sensors (5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, Sirtuin 1, and mammalian target of rapamycin) was impaired and plasma catecholamine levels were decreased. Consequently, CPT1C-deficient mice presented defective fasting-induced FAO in liver, leading to higher triacylglycerol accumulation and lower glycogen levels. Moreover, muscle pyruvate dehydrogenase activity was increased, which was indicative of glycolysis enhancement. The respiratory quotient did not decrease in CPT1C KO mice after 48 hours of fasting, confirming a defective switch on fuel substrate selection under hypoglycemia. Phenotype reversion studies identified the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) as the main area mediating CPT1C effects on fuel selection. Overall, our data demonstrate that CPT1C in the MBH is necessary for proper hypothalamic sensing of a negative energy balance and fuel partitioning in liver and muscle.
Bioinformatic analysis of responsive genes in two-dimension and three-dimension cultured human periodontal ligament cells subjected to compressive stress.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Analyzing responses of human periodontal ligament cells to mechanical stress and mechanotransduction is important for understanding periodontal tissue physiology and remodeling. It has been shown that the cellular response to mechanical stress can vary according to the type and duration of force and to extracellular attachment conditions. This study investigated the gene-expression profile of human periodontal ligament cells cultured in two-dimension (2D) and three-dimension (3D) conditions after application of compressive stress for 2 and 48 h. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human primary periodontal ligament cells were obtained from premolars extracted for orthodontic purposes. Cells were cultured in a conventional 2D culture dish or in 3D collagen gel and compressive stress was applied for 2 and 48 h. Control cells were cultured under identical conditions but without the application of compressive stress. After the application of compressive stress, total RNA was extracted and a cDNA microarray was performed. Microarray data were analyzed using statistical methods, including david and gene set enrichment analysis to identify significant signaling pathways. Real-time PCR was performed for five mRNAs in order to confirm the cDNA microarray results. RESULTS The cDNA microarray analysis revealed that after application of compressive stress for 2 h, 191 and 553 genes showed changes in their expression levels in 2D and 3D cultured cells, respectively. After application of compressive stress for 48 h, 280 and 519 genes showed changes in their expression levels in 2D and 3D cultured cells, respectively. Euclidean clustering method was used to demonstrate the gene-expression kinetics. CONCLUSION Analysis of the results showed that several signaling pathways, including the MAPK pathway and the focal adhesion kinase pathway are relevant to the compressive force-induced cellular response. 2D and 3D cultured cells showed significantly different gene-expression profiles, suggesting that cellular attachment to extracellular matrix influences cellular responses to mechanical stresses.
Subversion of innate immune responses by bacterial hindrance of NF‐κB pathway

Bacterial infections cause substantial mortality and burden of disease globally. Induction of a strong innate inflammatory response is the first common host mechanism required for elimination of the invading pathogens. The host transcription factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) is essential for immune activation. Conversely, bacterial pathogens have evolved strategies to interfere directly with host cell signalling by regulating or mimicking host proteins. Given the key role of NF‐κB in the host inflammatory response, bacteria have expectedly developed virulence effectors interfering with NF‐κB signalling pathways. In this review, we explore the bacterial mechanisms utilized to prevent effective NF‐κB signalling, which in turn usurp the host inflammatory response.
The Gender Impact of Governance on the Financial Performance of the Listed Large Firms in Nigeria

This study investigates the importance of corporate governance to the performance of the firm and the implications of gender composition on the capital structure of Nigerian firms, using the panel data of large listed non-financial firms in Nigeria. The gender composition of Nigerian firms is dominated by male gender, with very few women in the board of companies. Capital structure was positively related to board compositions, while it was negatively related to board meetings, board size and gender composition. It was observed that the relationship between firmâ€™s performance and board size is positive and statistically significant, while there is negative relationship between the firmâ€™s performance and board composition, board meetings and gender composition . The small number of women on the board could not significantly affect the performance of the firm, therefore the need for change in board composition in favour of women.
Defining the gene: an evolving concept.

Some terms such as "life," "love," and "reality" defy adequate definition when relentlessly pursued through all their subtleties and complex exceptions. They are essential terms nevertheless and normal conversation would be impossible if each term were to bear its load of nuances and logical traps. So too the term "gene" presents a difficulty for simple definition when each generation of scientists finds new difficulties with older definitions that sufficed. For normal discourse the gene is the unit of heredity associated with a specific transmissible trait. In that vague sense it permits students to follow Mendel's laws; it enables geneticists to design genetic schemes for inserting or combining a variety of genetic traits in plasmids, fruit flies, maize, or humans; and it gives counselors the satisfaction that clients can grasp what will happen to their offspring if they reproduce with their spouses. For the scientist trying to understand how genes work, what they are associated with, and how they are organized both chemically and structurally, this simple level of the gene as the unit of heredity breaks down. It broke down as early as 1910 when the new term "gene" was competing with its sibling synonyms "unit character," "unit factor," "factor," "character unit," or Mendel's (1966) own "elemente. " The term "gene" arose from Darwin's (1 868) provisional theory of pangenesis, an erroneous theory of heredity, somewhat Lamarckian, that proposed minute units, gemmules, that floated from cell to cell and ended up as composites in the germinal tissue. De Vries took over the theory some 20 years later and developed a concept of "intracellular pangenesis. " The units (now renamed "pangenes") had the property of mutation, and vari-
Quantile-copula density forecast for wind power uncertainty modeling

A probabilistic forecast, in contrast to a point forecast, provides to the end-user more and valuable information for decision-making problems such as wind power bidding into the electricity market or setting adequate operating reserve levels in the power system. One important requirement is to have flexible representations of wind power forecast (WPF) uncertainty, in order to facilitate their inclusion in several problems. This paper reports results of using the quantile-copula conditional Kernel density estimator in the WPF problem, and how to select the adequate kernels for modeling the different variables of the problem. The method was compared with splines quantile regression for a real wind farm located in the U.S. Midwest.
On the dictionary compression for Java card environment

Java Card is a Java running environment developed for low-end embedded systems such as smart cards. In this context of scarce resources, ROM size plays a very important role and compression techniques help reducing program sizes as much as possible. Dictionary compression is the most promising technique and has been taken in consideration in this field by several authors. Java Card can adopt a dictionary compression scheme, substituting repeated sequences of bytecodes with new macros stored into a dictionary. This approach does not break the Java Card standard, but requires the use of an ad hoc Java virtual machine and an additional custom component in the converted applet (CAP) file. This paper presents two derived compaction techniques and discusses two scenarios: the first adopts an adaptive (dynamic) dictionary, while the second uses a static one. Although the base dictionary compression technique performs better with an adaptive dictionary, the two proposed techniques perform very close to the base one with a static dictionary. Moreover, we present a different compression mechanism based on re-engineering the CAP file through subroutines. This last technique achieves a higher compression rate, but it is fully compliant with the existing Java Card environments.
Doublecortin‐expressing cells in the ischemic penumbra of a small‐vessel stroke

A cortical lesion was induced by disrupting the medium‐size pial vessels, which led to a cone‐shaped cortical lesion and turned into a fluid‐filled cavity surrounded by a glial acidic fibrillary protein‐positive (GFAP+) glia limitans 21 days after injury. Therefore, it mimics conditions of lacunar infarctions, one of the most frequent human stroke pathologies. Doublecortin (DCX)‐positive cells were present in the neocortex and corpus callosum at the base of the lesion. The number of DCX‐positive cells in the corpus callosum was significantly increased from day 5 to day 14 compared with the control group. In contrast, there were no DCX‐positive cells in neocortex of control animals; the DCX‐positive cells appeared in the neocortex after lesioning and were maintained until 14 days postlesioning. Some of the DCX‐positive cells were also immunoreactive for βIII‐tubulin, another marker of immature neurons. They did not stain positively for markers of glia cells. The presence of these DCX‐positive cells near the lesion might indicate a migratory pathway for developing neuroblasts from the subventricular zone (SVZ) through the corpus callosum to the lesion. SVZ cells were labeled with a lipophilic molecule, 5‐ (and 6‐) carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) stereotaxical injections. Although rostral migratory stream and olfactory bulb were intensely labeled, no CFSE‐containing cells were found in the cortex beneath the lesion. These results do not support the idea that the DCX‐positive cells were originating from neural precursors of the SVZ, but they might be generated from local progenitor cells. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Circulating tumor cells: a novel prognostic factor for newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is incurable; its treatment is palliative. We investigated whether the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) predicts treatment efficacy, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) in patients with newly diagnosed MBC who were about to start first-line therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred seventy-seven patients with measurable MBC were enrolled onto a prospective study. Eighty-three of the 177 patients were entering first-line treatment, and these patients are the focus of this analysis. CTCs from 7.5 mL of whole blood drawn before treatment initiation (baseline) and monthly thereafter for up to 6 months were isolated and enumerated using immunomagnetics. RESULTS The mean (+/- standard deviation) follow-up time was 11.1 +/- 4.4 months (median, 12.2 months). Forty-three patients (52%) had > or = five CTCs at baseline. The median PFS was 7.2 months (95% CI, 4.9 to 9.4 months), and the median OS was more than 18 months. Patients with > or = five CTCs at baseline and at first follow-up (4 weeks) had a worse prognosis than patients with less than five CTCs (baseline: median PFS, 4.9 v 9.5 months, respectively; log-rank, P = .0014; median OS, 14.2 v > 18 months, respectively; log-rank, P = .0048; first follow-up: median PFS, 2.1 v 8.9 months, respectively; log-rank, P = .0070; median OS, 11.1 v > 18 months, respectively; log-rank, P = .0029). CTCs before and after the initiation of therapy were strong, independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION Detection of CTCs before initiation of first-line therapy in patients with MBC is highly predictive of PFS and OS. This technology can aid in appropriate patient stratification and design of tailored treatments.
Evidence-Based Soft Tissue Rheumatology: Epicondylitis and Hand Stenosing Tendinopathy

Lateral and medial epicondylitis represent overuse tendinopathies of wrist extensor and wrist flexor muscles, respectively. In lateral epicondylitis, a short-term therapeutic efficacy of glucocorticoid injection and limited evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture has been shown. De Quervain tendinopathy is caused by tendinous impingement by a thickened retinaculum. There is limited evidence on the efficacy of glucocorticoid injection in this condition. Trigger finger usually results from tendon entrapment beneath a thickened A1 flexor pulley. An association with hand tool use and diabetes has been shown in this condition, and there is evidence on the therapeutic efficacy of glucocorticoid injection. No other therapeutic modality has shown efficacy or has been assessed in a placebo-controlled clinical trial in these conditions. It can be concluded that epicondylitis and stenosing tendinopathy are readily diagnosed, and most patients recover with current therapies. However, still unsolved issues preclude a purely evidence-based approach to these entities.
Dietary patterns and risk for Crohn's disease in children

Background: Some dietary foods are considered protective (vegetables and fruits), whereas others (fatty foods) are thought to enhance the risk for Crohn's disease (CD). The evidence, however, is inconsistent. Methods: We postulated that specific dietary patterns may influence the risk for CD. A case‐control study was carried out. Newly diagnosed CD cases with population and/or hospital‐based controls ≤20 years were selected from 3 tertiary hospitals across Canada. Predisease diet was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) administered within 1 month of diagnosis. Factor analyses and unconditional logistic regression (adjusted) was used to determine gender‐specific dietary patterns and assess associated risks for CD. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated. Results: A total of 149 cases and 251 controls were included. The mean age (range) of the cases was 13.3 (2.6‐20 years). There were more boys (61.1%). Four dietary patterns each were observed among both boys and girls. Pattern 1 in girls, characterized by meats, fatty foods, and desserts, was positively associated with CD (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.6–14.2). Pattern 2, common to both boys and girls, was characterized by vegetables, fruits, olive oil, fish, grains, and nuts and was inversely associated with CD in both genders (girls: OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.9; boys: OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1–0.5). Conclusions: Our results suggest that specific dietary patterns could be associated with higher or lower risks for CD in children. Larger prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.