Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-precision online markerless stereo extrinsic calibration

Stereo cameras and dense stereo matching algorithms are core components for many robotic applications due to their abilities to directly obtain dense depth measurements and their robustness against changes in lighting conditions. However, the performance of dense depth estimation relies heavily on accurate stereo extrinsic calibration. In this work, we present a real-time markerless approach for obtaining high-precision stereo extrinsic calibration using a novel 5-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) and nonlinear optimization on a manifold, which captures the observability property of vision-only stereo calibration. Our method minimizes epipolar errors between spatial per-frame sparse natural features. It does not require temporal feature correspondences, making it not only invariant to dynamic scenes and illumination changes, but also able to run significantly faster than standard bundle adjustment-based approaches. We introduce a principled method to determine if the calibration converges to the required level of accuracy, and show through online experiments that our approach achieves a level of accuracy that is comparable to offline marker-based calibration methods. Our method refines stereo extrinsic to the accuracy that is sufficient for block matching-based dense disparity computation. It provides a cost-effective way to improve the reliability of stereo vision systems for long-term autonomy.
Complex Blind Source Extraction From Noisy Mixtures Using Second-Order Statistics

A class of second-order complex domain blind source extraction algorithms is introduced to cater for signals with noncircular probability distributions, which is a typical case in real-world scenarios. This is achieved by employing the so-called augmented complex statistics and based on the temporal structures of the sources, thus permitting widely linear (WL) predictability to be the extraction criterion. For rigor, the analysis of the existence and uniqueness of the solution is provided based on both the covariance and the pseudocovariance and for both noise-free and noisy cases, and serves as a platform for the derivation of the algorithms. Both direct solutions and those requiring prewhitening are provided based on a WL predictor, thus making the methodology suitable for the generality of complex signals (both circular and noncircular). Simulations on synthetic noncircular sources support the uniqueness and convergence study, followed by a real-world example of electrooculogram artifact removal from electroencephalogram recordings in real time.
Sintering of Nickel-Bonded Titanium Carbides

powder compacts, sintering temperature and time are probably most important. Dimensional change, which generally occurs during sintering, is considered-as a measure to describe the process of sintering and has been extensively studied on the solid phase sintering for practical or theoretical purposes . Little studies have been done, however, on the sintering in the presence of a liquid phase. The most precise method for studying the dimensional change of a compact is to measure the dimensions of compacts heat-treated at various temperatures for different lengths of time, but such a technique is highly time-consuming . In the present study, the change in length of a compact was measured with a dilatometer as heated at a constant rate. The method is simple, direct and most suitable for studying the sintering process in the presence of a liquid phase, since the additional dimensional change by the solidification of a liquid phase may cause an erroneous result in the former technique. The purpose of this paper is to study the behavior of change in length of a compact during sintering and to determine the optimum conditions for sintering of TiC-Ni cermets , A dilatometer for studying the sintering process of TiC-Ni cermets must be usable up to about 1600°C . The principal part of a dilatometer for high temperature use has been made with graphite , sapphire or silicon carbide. Recrystallized silicon carbide was re-
Katharina Sailer : Searching the eBay Marketplace

This paper proposes a framework for demand estimation with data on bids, bidders’ identities, and auction covariates from a sequence of eBay auctions. First the aspect of bidding in a marketplace environment is developed. Form the simple dynamic auction model with IPV and private bidding costs it follows that if participation is optimal the bidder searches with a ”reservation bid” for low-price auctions. Extending results from the empirical auction literature and employing a similar two-stage procedure as has recently been used when estimating dynamic games it is shown that bidding costs are non-parametrically identified. The procedure is tried on a new data set. The median cost is estimated at less than 2% of transaction prices.
Testing of oscillating circuits ODE solving methods

This paper exploits Duffing equation and discusses some numerical methods to solve it. Numerical calculation's errors of the amplitude and the period of free oscillations of a large time interval of codes TR, BDF, and RADAU5 are computed. Publications describe a plurality of stiff test problems. The highly oscillating problems is known much less. Duffing equation can serve as test concurrently stiff and oscillating problem.
Entropy metrics used for video summarization

New methods for detecting shot boundaries in video sequences and for extracting key frames using metrics based on information theory are proposed. The method for shot cut detection relies on the mutual information and the joint entropy between the frames. It can detect cuts, fade-ins and fade-outs. The detection technique was tested on TV video sequences having different types of shots and containing significant object and camera motion inside the shots. It is demonstrated that the method detects both fades and abrupt cuts with high accuracy. The method for key frame extraction is using the mutual information. We show that it captures satisfactorily the visual content of the shot.
Minimized Power Consumption for Scan-Based BIST

Power consumption of digital systems may increase significantly during testing. In this paper, systems equipped with a scan-based built-in self-test like the STUMPS architecture are analyzed, the modules and modes with the highest power consumption are identified, and design modifications to reduce power consumption are proposed. The design modifications include some gating logic for masking the scan path activity during shifting, and the synthesis of additional logic for suppressing random patterns which do not contribute to increase the fault coverage. These design changes reduce power consumption during BIST by several orders of magnitude, at very low cost in terms of area and performance.
A novel selective 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 inhibitor prevents human adipogenesis

Glucocorticoid excess increases fat mass, preferentially within omental depots; yet circulating cortisol concentrations are normal in most patients with metabolic syndrome (MS). At a pre-receptor level, 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) activates cortisol from cortisone locally within adipose tissue, and inhibition of 11β-HSD1 in liver and adipose tissue has been proposed as a novel therapy to treat MS by reducing hepatic glucose output and adiposity. Using a transformed human subcutaneous preadipocyte cell line (Chub-S7) and human primary preadipocytes, we have defined the role of glucocorticoids and 11β-HSD1 in regulating adipose tissue differentiation. Human cells were differentiated with 1·0 μM cortisol (F), or cortisone (E) with or without 100 nM of a highly selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitor PF-877423. 11β-HSD1 mRNA expression increased across adipocyte differentiation (P<0·001, n=4), which was paralleled by an increase in 11β-HSD1 oxo-reductase activity (from nil on day 0 to 5·9±1.9 pmol/mg per h on day 16, P<0·01, n=7). Cortisone enhanced adipocyte differentiation; fatty acid-binding protein 4 expression increased 312-fold (P<0·001) and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 47-fold (P<0·001) versus controls. This was abolished by co-incubation with PF-877423. In addition, cellular lipid content decreased significantly. These findings were confirmed in the primary cultures of human subcutaneous preadipocytes. The increase in 11β-HSD1 mRNA expression and activity is essential for the induction of human adipogenesis. Blocking adipogenesis with a novel and specific 11β-HSD1 inhibitor may represent a novel approach to treat obesity in patients with MS.
Which role for nitric oxide in symbiotic N2-fixing nodules: toxic by-product or useful signaling/metabolic intermediate?

The interaction between legumes and rhizobia leads to the establishment of a symbiotic relationship characterized by the formation of new organs called nodules, in which bacteria have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2) via the nitrogenase activity. Significant nitric oxide (NO) production was evidenced in the N2-fixing nodules suggesting that it may impact the symbiotic process. Indeed, NO was shown to be a potent inhibitor of nitrogenase activity and symbiotic N2 fixation. It has also been shown that NO production is increased in hypoxic nodules and this production was supposed to be linked – via a nitrate/NO respiration process – with improved capacity of the nodules to maintain their energy status under hypoxic conditions. Other data suggest that NO might be a developmental signal involved in the induction of nodule senescence. Hence, the questions were raised of the toxic effects versus signaling/metabolic functions of NO, and of the regulation of NO levels compatible with nitrogenase activity. The present review analyses the different roles of NO in functioning nodules, and discusses the role of plant and bacterial (flavo)hemoglobins in the control of NO level in nodules.
Adaptive content control for communication amongst cooperative automated vehicles

Cooperative automated vehicles exchange information to assist each other in creating a more precise and extended view of their surroundings, with the aim of improving automated-driving decisions. This paper addresses the need for scalable communication among these vehicles. To this end, a general communication framework is proposed through which automated cars exchange information derived from multi-resolution maps created using their local sensing modalities. This method can extend the region visible to a car beyond the area directly sensed by its own sensors. An adaptive, probabilistic, distance-dependent strategy is proposed that controls the content of the messages exchanged among vehicles based on performance measures associated with the load on the communication channel.
Joint Design of Precoder and Backhaul Quantizer in Cooperative Cognitive Radio Networks

In cooperative cognitive radio networks (CRNs), multiple secondary base stations are managed by a central unit (CU) via finite-capacity backhaul links, which performs joint encoding and precoding of the messages intended for the secondary users (SUs). In this paper, the limitation of backhaul links is handled with the implementation of compression strategies, by which precoding is followed at the CU. In particular, focusing on underlay cooperative CRNs, we propose the joint optimal design of precoding and backhaul quantization with the aim of maximizing the sum throughput of the secondary network under limited backhaul capacity, transmit power, and interference power constraints. Furthermore, both perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI) available at the CU are considered. In the imperfect-CSI case, the uncertainty of the channels is explicitly accounted for via a robust or worst-case optimization formulation. The proposed algorithmic solutions leverage rank relaxation and majorization-minimization programming, whose performances are evaluated via numerical results.
Public Opinion Polling with Twitter

Solicited public opinion surveys reach a limited subpopulation of willing participants and are expensive to conduct, leading to poor time resolution and a restricted pool of expert-chosen survey topics. In this study, we demonstrate that unsolicited public opinion polling through sentiment analysis applied to Twitter correlates well with a range of traditional measures, and has predictive power for issues of global importance. We also examine Twitter's potential to canvas topics seldom surveyed, including ideas, personal feelings, and perceptions of commercial enterprises. Two of our major observations are that appropriately filtered Twitter sentiment (1) predicts President Obama's job approval three months in advance, and (2) correlates well with surveyed consumer sentiment. To make possible a full examination of our work and to enable others' research, we make public over 10,000 data sets, each a seven-year series of daily word counts for tweets containing a frequently used search term.
c-Abl Tyrosine Kinase Regulates Serum-induced Nuclear Export of Diacylglycerol Kinase α by Phosphorylation at Tyr-218*

Background: c-Abl and DGKα are important enzymes for many cellular processes. However, substrates of c-Abl and the regulation mechanism of DGKα are not fully understood. Results: c-Abl directly phosphorylates DGKα at Tyr-218. Conclusion: The c-Abl phosphorylation regulates the serum-induced nuclear export of DGKα. Significance: The c-Abl phosphorylation contributes to the spatio-temporal regulation of DGKα. c-Abl is a tyrosine kinase involved in many cellular processes, including cell cycle control and proliferation. However, little is known about its substrates. Here, we show that c-Abl directly phosphorylates diacylglycerol kinase α (DGKα), an important regulator of many cellular events through its conversion of diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid. We found that DGKα was transported from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in response to serum starvation, and serum restoration induced the nuclear export of the enzyme to the cytoplasm. This serum-induced export involves two tyrosine kinases, c-Src and c-Abl. The latter, c-Abl, is activated by c-Src, phosphorylates DGKα, and shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm in a direction opposite to that of DGKα in response to serum restoration. Moreover, an in vitro phosphorylation assay using purified mutants of DGKα identified Tyr-218 as a site of phosphorylation by c-Abl. We confirmed these results for endogenous DGKα using an antibody specific for phospho-Tyr-218, and this phosphorylation was necessary for the serum-induced export of DGKα. These results demonstrate that the nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of DGKα is orchestrated by tyrosine phosphorylation by the Src-activated tyrosine kinase c-Abl and that this phosphorylation is important for regulating the function of cytoplasmic and/or nuclear DGKα.
CoRE: A Context-Aware Relation Extraction Method for Relation Completion

We identify relation completion (RC) as one recurring problem that is central to the success of novel big data applications such as Entity Reconstruction and Data Enrichment. Given a semantic relation ℜ, RC attempts at linking entity pairs between two entity lists under the relation ℜ. To accomplish the RC goals, we propose to formulate search queries for each query entity α based on some auxiliary information, so that to detect its target entity β from the set of retrieved documents. For instance, a pattern-based method (PaRE) uses extracted patterns as the auxiliary information in formulating search queries. However, high-quality patterns may decrease the probability of finding suitable target entities. As an alternative, we propose CoRE method that uses context terms learned surrounding the expression of a relation as the auxiliary information in formulating queries. The experimental results based on several real-world web data collections demonstrate that CoRE reaches a much higher accuracy than PaRE for the purpose of RC.
QEEG Measures in Huntington's Disease: A Pilot Study

Structural brain changes as measured with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are associated with progression of Huntington’s Disease (HD), a trinucleotide repeat neurodegenerative disorder. Neurophysiological measures may offer additional biomarkers of the onset and progression of brain disease. We used quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) power measures to assess resting state brain function in 27 HD subjects and 15 healthy controls. Those QEEG features that distinguished between HD subjects and healthy controls were examined in relation to illness severity, using Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) subscales, as well as to the number of CAG repeats in the HD cohort. HD subjects showed a global increase in delta power as compared to controls, even when examining unmedicated HD subjects only (n = 13), or premanifest HD subjects only (n = 3). HD subjects also showed loss of the normal anterior-posterior (AP) gradient of relative alpha and delta power. Relative alpha AP gradient loss was associated with lower Total Functional Capacity (TFC) and greater cognitive dysfunction. Relative delta AP gradient loss was associated with lower TFC, more severe motor symptoms, and greater number of CAG repeats. Overall, results suggest that QEEG power measures may capture perturbations of brain function that are related to functional status as well as to underlying genetic repeat expansion in HD. Pilot data in the three premanifest HD subjects are consistent with the hypothesis that brain functional abnormalities may be detectable even in premanifest gene carriers. Cross-sectional findings suggest that QEEG measures may be biomarkers of HD progression; prospective studies in larger samples are needed to confirm these findings and test hypotheses regarding underlying mechanisms.
Visualization System Requirements for Data Processing Pipeline Design and Optimization

The rising quantity and complexity of data creates a need to design and optimize data processing pipelines—the set of data processing steps, parameters and algorithms that perform operations on the data. Visualization can support this process but, although there are many examples of systems for visual parameter analysis, there remains a need to systematically assess users’ requirements and match those requirements to exemplar visualization methods. This article presents a new characterization of the requirements for pipeline design and optimization. This characterization is based on both a review of the literature and first-hand assessment of eight application case studies. We also match these requirements with exemplar functionality provided by existing visualization tools. Thus, we provide end-users and visualization developers with a way of identifying functionality that addresses data processing problems in an application. We also identify seven future challenges for visualization research that are not met by the capabilities of today's systems.
Poverty-related stressors and HIV/AIDS transmission risks in two South African communities

Community stress associated with poverty is related to health risks and poor health outcomes. Perceived community stress is specifically related to HIV transmission risk behaviors in the United States, but research bas not examined these relationships in southern Africa, the region of the world with the highest rates of HIV infection and among the greatest poverty. Men (N=464) and women (N=531) living in impoverished adjacent communities distinguished by race (e.g., indigenous African and Coloured) completed anonymous surveys of perceptions of 10 poverty-related community stressors and measures of HIV risk-related behaviors. Indigenous African and Coloured communities differed in their perceptions of stressors, with Africans consistently viewing the 10 community stressors as more serious problems. In addition, perceived seriousness of lacking basic living resources was related to higher risk for HIV among Africans. Perceived community stress was also related to alcohol and drug use, but substance use did not mediate the association between perceived community stress and HIV risks. In the Coloured community, perceived community stressors were related to drug use, but percived community stressors were not associated with HIV risks. These findings extend the findings of previous research to show that povertyrelated stressors are associated with HIV transmission risks in some poverty-stricken communities and that these associations are not mediated by substance use.
Characterization and Prediction of Cracks in Coated Materials: Direction and Length of Crack Propagation in Bimaterials

The behaviour of materials is governed by the surrounding environment. The contact area between the material and the surrounding environment is the likely spot where different forms of degradation, particularly rust, may be generated. A rust prevention treatment, like bluing, inhibitors, humidity control, coatings, and galvanization, will be necessary. The galvanization process aims to protect the surface of the material by depositing a layer of metallic zinc by either hot-dip galvanizing or electroplating. In the hot-dip galvanizing process, a metallic bond between steel and metallic zinc is obtained by immersing the steel in a zinc bath at a temperature of around 460°C. Although the hot-dip galvanizing procedure is recognized to be one of the most effective techniques to combat corrosion, cracks can arise in the intermetallic δ layer. These cracks can affect the life of the coated material and decrease the lifetime service of the entire structure. In the present paper the mechanical response of hot-dip galvanized steel submitted to mechanical loading condition is investigated. Experimental tests were performed and corroborative numerical and analytical methods were then applied in order to describe both the mechanical behaviour and the processes of crack/cracks propagation in a bimaterial as zinc-coated material.
Within‐female plasticity in sex allocation is associated with a behavioural polyphenism in house wrens

Sex allocation theory assumes individual plasticity in maternal strategies, but few studies have investigated within‐individual changes across environments. In house wrens, differences between nests in the degree of hatching synchrony of eggs represent a behavioural polyphenism in females, and its expression varies with seasonal changes in the environment. Between‐nest differences in hatching asynchrony also create different environments for offspring, and sons are more strongly affected than daughters by sibling competition when hatching occurs asynchronously over several days. Here, we examined variation in hatching asynchrony and sex allocation, and its consequences for offspring fitness. The number and condition of fledglings declined seasonally, and the frequency of asynchronous hatching increased. In broods hatched asynchronously, sons, which are over‐represented in the earlier‐laid eggs, were in better condition than daughters, which are over‐represented in the later‐laid eggs. Nonetheless, asynchronous broods were more productive later within seasons. The proportion of sons in asynchronous broods increased seasonally, whereas there was a seasonal increase in the production of daughters by mothers hatching their eggs synchronously, which was characterized by within‐female changes in offspring sex and not by sex‐biased mortality. As adults, sons from asynchronous broods were in better condition and produced more broods of their own than males from synchronous broods, and both males and females from asynchronous broods had higher lifetime reproductive success than those from synchronous broods. In conclusion, hatching patterns are under maternal control, representing distinct strategies for allocating offspring within broods, and are associated with offspring sex ratios and differences in offspring reproductive success.