Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tree-structured Mesoscopic Surface Characterization for Kinematic Structure Estimation from 3D Video

: This paper presents a new approach to estimate the kinematic structure underlying a sequence of 3D dynamic surfaces reconstructed from multi-view video. The key idea is a mesoscopic surface characterization with a tree-structure constraint. Combined with di ﬀ erent levels of surface characterizations, namely macroscopic and microscopic characterizations, our mesoscopic surface characterization can cope with shape estimation errors and global topology changes of 3D surfaces from the real world to estimate kinematic structure. The macroscopic analysis focuses on global surface topology to perform temporal segmentation of 3D video sequence into topologically-coherent sub-sequences. The microscopic analysis operates at the mesh structure level to provide temporally consistent mesh structures using a surface alignment method on each of the topologically-coherent sub-sequences. Then, the mesoscopic analysis extracts rigid parts from the preprocessed 3D video segments to establish partial kinematic structures, and integrates them into a single uniﬁed kinematic model. Quantitative evaluations using synthesized and real data demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for kinematic structure estimation.
Visual peripersonal space centred on the face in humans.

A convergent series of studies in monkeys and man suggests that the computation of visual space is performed in several brain regions for different behavioural purposes. Among these multiple spatial areas, the ventral intraparietal cortex, the putamen and the ventral aspect of the premotor cortex (area 6) contain a system for representing visual space near the face (peripersonal space). In these cerebral areas some neurons are bimodal: they have tactile receptive fields on the face, and they can also be driven by visual stimuli located near the tactile field. The spatial correspondence between the visual and tactile receptive fields provides a map of near visual space coded in body-part-centred co-ordinates. In the present study we demonstrate for the first time the existence of a visual peripersonal space centred on the face in humans. In patients with right hemispheric lesions, visual stimuli delivered in the space near the ipsilesional side of the face extinguished tactile stimuli on the contralesional side (cross-modal visuotactile extinction) to the same extent as did an ipsilesional tactile stimulation (unimodal tactile extinction). Furthermore, a visual stimulus presented in the proximity of the contralesional side of the face improved the detection of a left tactile stimulus: i.e. under bilateral tactile presentation patients were more accurate to report the presence of a left tactile stimulus when a simultaneous visual stimulus was presented near the left side of the face. However, when visual stimuli were delivered far from the face, visuotactile extinction and visuotactile facilitation effects were dramatically reduced. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of a representation of visual peripersonal space coded in bodypart-centred co-ordinates, and they provide a striking demonstration of the modularity of human visual space.
Return To Experience And Initial Wage Level: Do Low Wage Workers Catch Up?

SUMMARY This paper estimates the relationship between initial wage and return to experience. We use a Mincer‐like wage model to non‐parametrically estimate this relationship allowing for an unobservable individual permanent effect in wages and unobservable individual return to experience. The relationship between return to experience and unobservable individual ability is negative when conditioning on educational attainment, while the relationship between return to experience and educational attainment is positive. We link our findings to three main theories of wage growth, namely search, unobserved productivity and learning, and human capital. We devise several empirical tests in order to separate the theories. We find evidence in favor of the unobserved productivity and learning model and mixed evidence regarding the search model. We find no evidence in support of the human capital model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modelling and visualising agent conversations Technical

The notion of conversations, and their associated conversation protocols, as abstract representations to be used to characterise extended agent message exchanges has been discussed in the agent community for several years now. However, there is still no consensus on an appropriate formal speciﬁcation for these abstractions. This paper describes a proposed formalism based on Petri Nets that is to be used for the modelling of complex, concurrent conversations between agents in a multi-agent system. The approach described in this paper can be used both to deﬁne simple conversation protocols and to deﬁne protocols for more complex conversations composed of a number of simpler conversations. With this method it is possible (a) to capture the concurrent characteristics of a conversation, (b) to capture the state of a complex conversation during runtime, and (c) to reuse a given conversation structure for processing multiple concurrent messages. It is also possible to monitor a conversation and to visualise, both online and off-line, the progress of a conversation. A prototype implementation of a system supporting predeﬁned conversation protocols as Petri Net models developed for the New Zealand Distributed Information Systems research platform is described.
An approach for locating segmentation points of handwritten digit strings using a neural network

An approach for segmentation of handwritten touching numeral strings is presented in this paper. A neural network has been designed to deal with various types of touching observed frequently in numeral strings. A numeral string image is split into a number of line segments while stroke extraction is being performed and the segments are represented with straight lines. Four types of primitive are defined based on the lines and used for representing the numeral string in more abstractive way and extracting clues on touching information from the string. Potential segmentation points are located using the neural network by active interpretation of the features collected from the primitives. Also, the run-length coding scheme is employed for efficient representation and manipulation of images. On a test set collected from real mail pieces, the segmentation accuracy of 89.1% was achieved, in image level, in a preliminary experiment.
Analysis and Design of Humanoid Robot Dance

Dance robot ornamental and interesting to conquer the world, researchers of different countries have established laboratory to research and design the robot dance movements of harmonious and beautiful. In this paper, the generalized coordinate method is utilized to construct a kinematics model for the sideways, forward and Split handstand movement of a humanoid robot. The designed robot can rise and dance with music.
Corporate Social Responsibility As Institutional Hybrids

This paper empirically examines the impact of societal context on constructsof corporate social responsibility (CSR). The empirical analysis is informed byneo-institutional theory, which conceptualizes CSR constructs as potential oractual institutions. A case study from the Danish business setting identifies thesteps that a project group of business actors took to develop a new CSR construct.The steps include the transfer and translation of a foreign institution in responseto a field-level problem, major events, and partial deinstitutionalization of anestablished CSR construct. The findings suggest that the new CSR construct is aninstitutional hybrid, a combination of foreign and familiar institutions that makea new CSR construct innovative, legitimate, and continuous with existing practicein the business setting. The paper proposes that CSR constructs are malleableinstitutional hybrids that are most easily implemented if tailored to the socialcontext. It concludes with implications for managers who want to select, designand implement CSR constructs in their own business settings.
Cavity-assisted backaction cooling of mechanical resonators

We analyze the quantum regime of the dynamical backaction cooling of a mechanical resonator assisted by a driven harmonic oscillator (cavity). Our treatment applies to both optomechanical and electromechanical realizations and includes the effect of thermal noise in the driven oscillator. In the perturbative case, we derive the corresponding motional master equation using the Nakajima–Zwanzig formalism and calculate the corresponding output spectrum for the optomechanical case. Then we analyze the strong optomechanical coupling regime in the limit of small cavity linewidth. Finally, we consider the steady state covariance matrix of the two coupled oscillators for arbitrary input power and obtain an analytical expression for the final mechanical occupancy. This is used to optimize the drive's detuning and input power for an experimentally relevant range of parameters that includes the resolved-sideband-limit ground state cooling regime.
Genetic Effects Conferring Heat Tolerance in a Cross of Tolerant × Susceptible Maize (Zea mays L.) Genotypes

Incessant rise in ambient temperature is threatening sustainability of maize productions, worldwide. Breeding heat resilient synthetics/hybrids is the most economical tool while lack of knowledge of gene action controlling heat and yield relevant traits in maize is hampering progress in this regard. The current study, therefore, was conducted using analyses of generation mean and variance, and narrow sense heritability (hn2) and genetic advance as percent of mean (GAM%). Initially, one hundred inbred lines were evaluated for cell membrane thermo-stability and grain yield per plant on mean day/night temperatures of 36.6°C/22.1°C in non-stressed (NS) and 42.7°C/25.7°C in heat-stressed (HS) conditions. From these, one tolerant (ZL-11271) and one susceptible (R-2304-2) genotypes were crossed to develop six basic generations, being evaluated on mean day/night temperatures of 36.1°C/22.8°C (NS) and 42.3°C/25.9°C (HS) in factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Non-allelic additive-dominance genetic effects were recorded for most traits in both conditions except transpiration rate, being controlled by additive epistatic effects in NS regime. Dissection of genetic variance into additive (D), dominance (H), environment (E) and interaction (F) components revealed significance of only DE variances in HS condition than DE, DFE and DHE variances in NS regime which hinted at the potential role of environments in breeding maize for high temperature tolerance. Additive variance was high for majority of traits in both environments except ear length in NS condition where dominance was at large. Higher magnitudes of σD,2 hn2 and GAM% for cell membrane thermo-stability, transpiration rate, leaf firing, ear length, kernels per ear and grain yield per plant in both regimes implied that simple selections might be sufficient for further improvement of these traits. Low-to-moderate GAM% for leaf temperature and 100-grain weight in both conditions revealed greater influence of genotype-environment interactions, indicating ineffective direct selection and advocating for further progeny testing. In conclusion, pyramiding of heritable genes imparting heat tolerance in maize is achievable through any conventional breeding strategy and generating plant material with lowest cellular injury and leaf firing, and higher transpiration rate, ear length, kernels per ear and grain yield per plant.
Speculations on AdS/CFT at all orders in 1/N

A simple ansatz is considered for the scalar field dependence of the part of the fourgraviton scattering amplitude in type IIB superstring theory in AdS5 × S that comes from the (Weyl tensor) term. This incorporates SL(2, ZZ) duality at every order of the α/L expansion (where L is the AdS5 scale). The relative coefficients in this series are determined, via the AdS/CFT correspondence, by the contribution of a single Yang–Mills instanton to the correlation function of four energy-momentum tensors in the N = 4 SU(N) Yang–Mills theory, which is known exactly for all values of N . The resulting series is not Borel summable, which suggests that some puzzling contributions that are nonperturbative in α/L = (g Y M N) (where g Y M is the Yang–Mills coupling constant) may be present in the complete expression.
Validation of the accuracy of needle placement as used in diagnostic local analgesia of the maxillary nerve for investigation of trigeminally mediated headshaking in horses

Diagnostic local anaesthesia of the maxillary nerve is a valuable aid in the diagnosis of trigeminally mediated headshaking in horses. Our objective is to validate the accuracy of needle placement in this procedure and to identify any correlation between accuracy of the technique and operator experience. Using a small volume of contrast medium, the procedure was performed bilaterally on 30 horse cadaver heads by three groups with different levels of experience with the technique. The location of deposition was then identified using computed tomography (CT). Contrast medium was deposited around the target site in 53.3% (32/60) of injections. An experienced operator succeeded in deposition around the target area significantly (p<0.05) more often (80%, 16/20) than did the less and non-experienced performers (40%, 16/40). A negative response to diagnostic local anaesthesia of the maxillary nerve does not disprove facial dysaesthesia as the cause of headshaking in that horse as a false negative response could arise due to failure to deposit local anaesthetic around the target area. Increased experience in performing the procedure decreases the probability of false negative results.
Retirement Savings Portfolio Management

We assess the welfare implications of alternative retirement plan investment options given that households may not invest according to optimal portfolio choice theory but may instead use simple decision rules. We simulate the performance of lifestyle, lifecycle, and other simple strategies for allocating retirement savings. We find that if investors use simple rules of thumb to choose investments, then the impact of these strategies on welfare depend to a large extent on the choice set they are offered. If larger choice sets cause them to undertake more risk, then risk tolerant individuals may tend to be made better off. If larger choice sets cause them to reduce suboptimally low levels of portfolio risk, then the increased choice set may make them substantially worse off. The welfare effects of plan designs that induce lifecycle investing, which tends to be conservative over the lifetime, therefore depend crucially on the counterfactual portfolio composition, as well as preferences and non-retirement wealth.
Mesenchymal stem cell mechanics from the attached to the suspended state : supporting material

Cell culture. Primary human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were obtained from the bone marrow of adult donors (Stem Cell Technologies and ReachBio LLC) and isolated and expanded by density gradient centrifugation and plating on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) [1]. PD1 was considered to be the first population doubling after identification of MSC colonies. Cells were cultured at 37◦C in a humidified atmosphere at 5% CO2 in proprietary media (Mesencult complete, basal media #5401 plus supplements #5402, Stem Cell Technologies, supplemented with 2 mM L-glutamine, VWR). Cells were frozen at passages 1 and 2 (P1 and P2) and later thawed, seeded at 2 × 103 cm−2, and expanded to P9 (at which point the typical observed doubling time of two days increased considerably as the cells became senescent). The media was exchanged the day after thawing and every four days thereafter. The cells were passaged (0.05% trypsin / 1 mM EDTA, Gibco) at 80% confluence (approximately every eight days) via a 1:4 split. PDs were determined by counting cell number at seeding with a hemacytometer; each passage corresponded to approximately two PDs. hMSCs from donor 1 were examined by both atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical stretching (OS). Cells from two additional donors (donors 2 and 3) were examined by OS specifically to investigate possible mechanical changes at PDs ≤ 6. Porcine MSCs (pMSCs) were isolated from porcine bone marrow and cultured in the same way as the hMSCs; these cells were frozen at P2 and later expanded to P8. These culture conditions are generally believed to avoid widespread differentiation of adult MSCs during long-term expansion subculture [1]. However, we note that some groups report occasional spontaneous osteodifferentiation [2] or increased expression of osteogenetic markers such as osteocalcin in expansion cultures [3], though others see decreased osteocalcin [4] and still others see little change in osteogenic gene expression over multiple passages [5]. Furthermore, we saw no visual or quantitative assay evidence (from inspection of phase contrast images for lipid vacuoles or mineralization, or from standard assays of alkaline phosphastase as an early marker of osteogenesis [1]) that would suggest that a considerable fraction of our MSCs were differentiating toward terminal lineages such as adipocytes or osteoblasts in the absence of deliberate chemical induction.
Information Technology In Innovation Activity Of The Firm: Theory And Synthesis

In light of information technology (IT) increasingly leading to enterprise transformation in contemporary firms, we aim to build a theory of IT-enabled capabilities in innovation activity of the firm. For so doing, we extensively review almost five hundred innovation studies in organization and IS literature and conduct a thematic analysis to identify theoretical underpinnings of innovation research. Based on a solid understanding of the literature, we then derive a typology of different perspectives on innovation activity to categorize the themes (theoretical underpinnings). From an angle of enterprise transformation, we view innovation as a form of organizational change aiming to improve certain organizational outcomes. Accordingly, innovation activity is characterized based on the theoretical underpinnings taking different perspectives about organizational change processes, such as resource lifecycle process, teleological search process, evolutionary adaptation process, and dialectical synthesis process. Corresponding to these perspectives, four IT-enabled capabilities are theorized: IT-enabled resource operation capability, IT-enabled objective management capability, IT-enabled knowledge absorption capability, and IT-enabled information transparency capability. We develop a theoretical framework with several propositions explaining how these IT-enabled capabilities facilitate innovation activity in different perspectives, and the mechanisms leading to certain organizational outcomes. Directions for future research are discussed.
Respectful research: Evidenced based steps to successfully working with Indigenous communities

It is an absolute privilege to conduct research in partnership with Indigenous people. That privilege carries significant responsibility to give and not just take. Good research is designed, from the outset, to ensure that the time and precious knowledge volunteered by Indigenous participants serves to create positive outcomes for their communities. Having worked and lived in Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia for nearly two decades, I have learned a great deal about how to conduct research that generates reciprocal benefits. It requires a clear focus on how research is conducted.
Consumption, Housing Rents and Housing Price: A Test of a Real Estate Pricing Model Using Hong Kong Data

The present study investigates whether Hong Kong's volatile real estate market is consistent with a non-linear consumption-based-asset-pricing model. It finds that the asset-pricing model is not rejected for some types of properties. However, the differentials between the returns to residential properties and risk-free rate are too large to be explained by the model. Copyright 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Real-time Nonintrusive Detection of Driver Drowsiness Final Report Prepared

Driver drowsiness is one of the major causes of serious traffic accidents, which makes this an area of great socioeconomic concern. Continuous monitoring of drivers' drowsiness thus is of great importance to reduce drowsiness-caused accidents. This proposed research developed a real-time, nonintrusive driver drowsiness detection system by building biosensors on the automobile steering wheel and driver's seat to measure driver's heart beat signals. Heart rate variability (HRV), a physiological signal that has established links to waking/sleepiness stages, is analyzed from the heat beat pulse signals for the detection of driver drowsiness. The novel design of measuring heat beat signal from biosensors on the steering wheel means this drowsiness detection system has almost no annoyance to the drivers, and the use of a physiological signal can ensure the drowsiness detection accuracy. The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. This report does not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Northland Advanced Government do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to this report.
A time-domain, level-dependent auditory filter: The gammachirp

A frequency-modulation term has been added to the gammatone auditory filter to produce a filter with an asymmetric amplitude spectrum. When the degree of asymmetry in this “gammachirp” auditory filter is associated with stimulus level, the gammachirp is found to provide an excellent fit to 12 sets of notched-noise masking data from three different studies. The gammachirp has a well-defined impulse response, unlike the conventional roex auditory filter, and so it is an excellent candidate for an asymmetric, level-dependent auditory filterbank in time-domain models of auditory processing.
10 The World Trading System and Implications of External Opening 1

The chapter begins by pointing out that external opening, which here means reductions in barriers to international trade, still has a long way to go. It reviews the evidence on the economic benefits from integration. It reports an econometric attempt to address a major concern regarding simultaneous causality between growth and trade: does openness lead to growth, or does growth lead to openness? We remove the complication of simultaneous causality by isolating variation in trade patterns that could be clearly attributed to geographical influences. The result indicates that the observed effect of trade on growth—an estimated 0.3 percent increase in income over 20 years for each . 01 increase in the ratio of trade to GDP—is not attributable to simultaneity. Next the chapter considers non-economic effects, taking the case of the environment. The evidence suggests that for some pollutants (such as SO2) trade can be on net beneficial, while for other environmental criteria (such as CO2) the reverse is true. A ready explanation is that when externalities arise primarily at the national level as with local air and water pollution, an adequate level of income and effective national governance are sufficient to enact regulation to protect the environment, but that in the increasingly important case of global externalities such as emissions of greenhouse gases, the free-rider problem prevents individual countries from acting on their own, in the absence of an effective international agreement.