Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geometry-Adaptive Block Partitioning for Intra Prediction in Image & Video Coding

Many modern video coding strategies, such as the H.264/AVC standard, use quadtree-based partition structures for coding intra macroblocks. Such a structure allows the coding algorithm to adapt to the complicated and non-stationary nature of natural images. Despite the adaptation flexibility of quadtree partitions, recent studies have shown that these are not efficient enough (in terms of rate-distortion performance) when images can be locally modeled as 2D piecewise-smooth signals. These observations motivate us to investigate the use of geometry based block partitioning for modeling intra data in video coding. In particular, in this paper, we study in detail the use of geometry-adaptive intra models, where wedgelet like discontinuities are used in order to define separate coding regions where different statistical/waveform modeling tools can be used. In order to implement this idea, we extend the existing H.264/AVC intra coding scheme by introducing two additional geometric modes: INTRA16X16GEO, and INTRA8X8GEO. Experimental results show that significantly improved R-D performance is achieved.
Sarton and Vernadsky

George Sarton's name is known to all historians of science; quite different is the case of Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945). Vernadsky is well known to specialists as a prominent twentieth-century scientist. His theory of the biosphere and biogeochemical processes of the earth has acquired great significance in modern science, influencing such new branches of it as genetic mineralogy, radiogeology, hydrogeochemistry, geochemistry, and biogeochemistry. Vernadsky's theory of the biosphere and of the universal role of living matter enabled him to create a well-balanced theory of the historical development of the earth. He showed most convincingly that the emergence of life on the earth involved radical changes in all the geospheres-lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. Vernadsky also held that the development of science and technology made human activity equivalent to geological factors in its effects, so that it became a universal phenomenon, affecting global processes. The enormous influence of human activity on nature requires indisputably, according to Vernadsky, that a scientific government of society be established and new forms of the organization of society and its relations with nature be found, if we are to preserve our civilization. Vernadsky alluded not only to production and practical activities, but to the social sphere as well, including the destructive and dangerous consequences of wars, the spread of fascism, and distrust and hostility among peoples. All this is known, at least to specialists. Until recently, however, it has usually escaped attention that V. I. Vernadsky was also active as a historian of science. It is important to study Vernadsky's works in the history of science not only because he was a major scientist but also because many of his ideas on the field and the methodology of its research still possess significance today. Finally, the analysis of Vernadsky's works helps to restore a major period in the historiography of the history of science, one that is little developed as yet, but is important for the further advancement of the history of science as a scientific discipline.
Efficient regression calibration for logistic regression in main study/internal validation study designs with an imperfect reference instrument.

An extension to the version of the regression calibration estimator proposed by Rosner et al. for logistic and other generalized linear regression models is given for main study/internal validation study designs. This estimator combines the information about the parameter of interest contained in the internal validation study with Rosner et al.'s regression calibration estimate, using a generalized inverse-variance weighted average. It is shown that the validation study selection model can be ignored as long as this model is jointly independent of the outcome and the incompletely observed covariates, conditional, at most, upon the surrogates and other completely observed covariates. In an extensive simulation study designed to follow a complex, multivariate setting in nutritional epidemiology, it is shown that with validation study sizes of 340 or more, this estimator appears to be asymptotically optimal in the sense that it is nearly unbiased and nearly as efficient as a properly specified maximum likelihood estimator. A modification to the regression calibration variance estimator which replaces the standard uncorrected logistic regression coefficient variance with the sandwich estimator to account for the possible misspecification of the logistic regression fit to the surrogate covariates in the main study, was also studied in this same simulation experiment. In this study, the alternative variance formula yielded results virtually identical to the original formula. A version of the proposed estimator is also derived for the case where the reference instrument, available only in the validation study, is imperfect but unbiased at the individual level and contains error that is uncorrelated with other covariates and with error in the surrogate instrument. Replicate measures are obtained in a subset of study participants. In this case it is shown that the validation study selection model can be ignored when sampling into the validation study depends, at most, only upon perfectly measured covariates. Two data sets, a study of fever in relation to occupational exposure to antineoplastics among hospital pharmacists and a study of breast cancer incidence in relation to dietary intakes of alcohol and vitamin A, adjusted for total energy intake, from the Nurses' Health Study, were analysed using these new methods. In these data, because the validation studies contained less than 200 observations and the events of interest were relatively rare, as is typical, the potential improvements offered by this new estimator were not apparent.
Lightning induced voltages on power lines: a new statistical approach

The indirect lightning performances of distribution lines are related to two main aspects: the induced overvoltages calculation and the statistical treatment of the obtained results. In the paper, both the aspects are treated. In particular, an exact closed form solution will be used to calculate the induced overvoltage, and the consequent statistical treatment will be carried out taking into account all the random parameter involved in the analysis, which is a more complete approach with respect to the usual one adopted in literature.
The Design and Implementation of a Lightweight Management Framework for Non-volatile Memory

The disk is always the bottleneck of storage system for decades. The emergency of non-volatile memory, such as Phase Change Memory, Spin-Transfer Torque and Memristors provides an opportunity to improve the performance of storage system due to its comparable access speed like DRAM. However, existing storage systems are designed and optimized for disk, directly replacing disk with the non-volatile memory will make the software latency become the major bottleneck. In order to address the problem and to improve the performance of non-volatile memory based system, we design and implement a lightweight management framework for non-volatile memory. The framework is composed of a user-level library and a kernel-level file system for non-volatile memory, called NVMFS. Unlike current storage systems, the framework provides a relative short I/O path and a dedicated file system for non-volatile memory. The upper-level applications can load library dynamically in the framework to access NVMFS on non-volatile memory. We have implemented the prototype of the framework in Linux kernel and evaluated the performance of the framework through the standard benchmark.
Contribution to reconstruction of third degree rectovestibular lacerations in mares

The study was conducted on ten mares suffering from third degree rectovestibular laceration. Four uterine washes were performed in all cases by using diluted betadine (mixing 5ml of betadine antiseptic solution in 1 liter of sterile saline) to control vaginal and uterine infections before surgery. Surgical repair of third degree rectovestibular laceration was done by one-stage Goetz technique after four to six weeks of initial injury, with the lateral dissection continued extensively until the two flaps were created and brought to the midline without any tension. Primary healing occurred in all cases without significant complications. The obtained results indicate that mares with third degree rectovestibular lacerations are candidates for uterine wash and one-stage Goetz technique with excessive lateral continuation of the flap.
Remember Where You Came From: On The Second-Order Random Walk Based Proximity Measures

Measuring the proximity between different nodes is a fundamental problem in graph analysis. Random walk based proximity measures have been shown to be effective and widely used. Most existing random walk measures are based on the first-order Markov model, i.e., they assume that the next step of the random surfer only depends on the current node. However, this assumption neither holds in many real-life applications nor captures the clustering structure in the graph. To address the limitation of the existing first-order measures, in this paper, we study the second-order random walk measures, which take the previously visited node into consideration. While the existing first-order measures are built on node-to-node transition probabilities, in the second-order random walk, we need to consider the edge-to-edge transition probabilities. Using incidence matrices, we develop simple and elegant matrix representations for the second-order proximity measures. A desirable property of the developed measures is that they degenerate to their original first-order forms when the effect of the previous step is zero. We further develop Monte Carlo methods to efficiently compute the second-order measures and provide theoretical performance guarantees. Experimental results show that in a variety of applications, the second-order measures can dramatically improve the performance compared to their first-order counterparts.
Centrifugal elutriation: Separation of spermatogenic cells on the basis of sedimentation velocity

Various types of cells from the testes of mice and hamsters were separated according to differences in sedimentation velocity by centrifugal elutriation, a counterflow centrifugation technique. Approximately 3 × 108 cells, prepared from six mouse testes or from one hamster testis, were separated into 11 fractions in less than two hours as compared to the 4–5 hours required for sedimentation at unit gravity (“Staput”). Fractions enriched in elongated spermatids and spermatozoa (100%), stages 1–8 spermatids (69%) and pachytene spermatocytes (58%) were obtained from mouse testis dispersions. Similarly enriched fractions were obtained from hamster cells. A single fraction enriched in stages 1–8 spermatids (mouse) was prepared in less than 30 minutes. As many as 2 × 109 cells were separated in a single procedure. Spermatogenic cells exhibited no evidence of structural damage with trypan blue and phase microscopy, and recovery was essentially 100%. Centrifugal elutriation had no effect on sperm motility or on the plating efficiency of CHO cells.
Rolling Tachyon in Anti-de Sitter Space-Time

We study the decay of the unstable D-particle in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time using worldsheet boundary conformal field theory methods. We test the open string completeness conjecture in a background for which the phase space available is only field-theoretic. This could present a serious challenge to the claim. We compute the emission of closed strings in the AdS3× S 3 × T 4 background from the knowledge of the exact corresponding boundary state we construct. We show that the energy stored in the brane is mainly converted into very excited long strings. The energy stored in short strings and in open string pair production is much smaller and finite for any value of the string coupling. We find no "missing energy" problem. We compare our results to those obtained for a decay in flat space-time and to a background in the presence of a linear dilaton. Some remarks on holographic aspects of the problem are made.
Three-dimensional blind deconvolution of ultrasound images

Three-dimensional ultrasound images are blurred by the ultrasound pulse through the convolution between the 3-D tissue signal and the 3-D pulse. The blurring reduces the spatial resolution of the 3-D ultrasound images and, consequently, their diagnostic value. This paper presents a method for 3-D blind homomorphic deconvolution of medical 3-D ultrasound images to improve their spatial resolution. The blind estimate of the 3-D pulse is necessary because the pulse changes in spatial extent and frequency composition as it passes through the tissues and because the pulse is not separable in its spatial dimensions. The method was tested on a 3-D image of a phantom with anechoic spheres of known size in a uniform diffuse scattering matrix. The spheres were clearly better defined and had volumes much closer to the true volume in the deconvolved image than in the original image.
Locating Impropriety: Street Drinking, Moral Order, and the Ideological Dilemma of Public Space

Drawing on research in urban sociology, cultural geography, and social psychology, this paper explores some of the moral rules that govern social relations in public places. In particular, we consider how certain practices become classified as everyday incivilities—infractions of the moral order that sustains public life. In order to develop this notion, we draw illustrations from an ongoing research project that is investigating social attitudes towards "street drinking," an activity that has led to the creation of "alcohol-free zones" in over 100 British cities during the past decade. As an emergent theme, this research has suggested that the classification of street drinking as either acceptable or unacceptable conduct is contingent upon the social construction of public space that users invoke. This theme is discussed in the context of wider struggles over citizenship and social control in the public domain—struggles manifest within "ideological dilemmas" (Billig et al., 1988) over the limits of free conduct, the tension between open and closed public spaces, and the attempt to distinguish "admissible" from "inadmissible" publics.
PRO gate and Sideward Movement

(3) a. [to John leave] (building the embedded IP) b. [John1 [to John1 leave] (moving John to the Spec IP) c. [wants[John1 [to John1 leave]] (building the matrix VP) d. [John1 [wants[John1 [to John1 leave]]] (moving John to the Spec VP) e. [John1 [John1 wants[John1 [to John1 leave]]]] (building TP and moving John to its Spec) f. [John1 [John1 wants[John1 [to John1 leave]]]] (deleting all copies but one)
An improved collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on factor of credit

Traditional collaborative filtering algorithm is a weighted average prediction algorithm based on nearest neighbors' ratings. Besides similarity between users, trust and credit are also parameters to affect recommendation. This paper proposes a computational model of credit factor and then a collaborative filtering algorithm based on it. This model is based on trust factor and takes credit model as the basic elements. This proposed algorithm further improves the validity and accuracy of the recommendation.
The dual diaphragm pump

This paper reports a major advancement in gas pumping at micro- and meso-scale, made possible by the newly developed, electrostatically actuated, dual-diaphragm pump (DDP). The DDP uses a conformal pumping chamber and two electrostatically actuated, structured diaphragms, to achieve perfect rectification. The DDP demonstrates flow rates of about 30 ml/min and a power consumption of about 8 mW at an overall pump volume of about 1.5/spl times/1.5/spl times/0.1 cm/sup 3/. The DDP is fully symmetrical, having true bidirectional operation; has essentially zero dead space; and is fully scalable. For increased throughput the individual pumping channels can be built in 1D, 2D and 3D arrays. This feature allows the optimization of the individual pumping channel for best performance under electrostatic actuation, but allows scaling of the pumping rate to the desired level. Arrays of 2/spl times/3/spl times/5 pumps have been successfully demonstrated. A DDP array pumping 4 liters per minute will be about 4 times smaller in volume and will use about 4 times less power than the most advanced commercially available air pumps.
The social motivations of reversal: Raised bought in New York City English

Abstract This article presents a variationist analysis of the bought vowel in New York City English (NYCE) and finds that it has reversed the trajectory of change outlined in Labov (1966). An acoustic analysis of production data from sixty-four native residents of the Lower East Side demonstrates that bought is lowering in apparent time, a change led by young people, white and Jewish speakers, and the middle classes. A second source of data comes from perceptions of raised bought gathered from a matched guise experiment, which highlights an indexical field (Eckert 2008) of social meanings for raised bought that comprise a ‘classic New Yorker’ persona: an older, white ethnic New Yorker from the outer boroughs who is mean and aloof. Taken together, the data suggest that bought's reversal is motivated by its contemporary social meanings. (bought, New York City English, dialectology, variationism, sound change, social meaning, perception, sociophonetics)*
Turbo channel estimation and equalization of STBC-OFDM system over time-varying wireless channels

This paper presents an iterative (turbo) channel estimation and turbo equalization when orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been concatenated to space-time block code (STBC) over time-varying multipath Rayleigh fading channels. Based on the Kalman filter channel estimator, soft-input-soft-output (SISO) minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizer and a maximum posterior probability (MAP) decoder, the channel estimate can be improved for each iteration by using soft information feedback from the decoder. Computer simulations show good estimation and tracking by the Kalman filter with only a few training (pilot) symbols even when signals experience deep fading. It is observed from simulations that the overall system performance can be improved by 4dB after 14 iterations compared to non-iterative channel estimation and equalization. The proposed method is shown to obtain fast channel estimation and low complexity turbo equalization which are requirements in time-varying fading channels.
Trait-impulsivity moderates the relationship between rumination and number of major depressive episodes among cigarette smokers

Background. Despite the high prevalence of major depression among cigarette smokers, little is known about biobehavioral mechanisms that increase smokers' susceptibility to depression. Aims. The present study examined whether trait-impulsivity would moderate the relationship between rumination and number of past major depressive episodes (MDEs) among smokers (N = 128). Method. Data were derived from baseline screening questionnaires and structured diagnostic interviews of two studies examining emotional responses of smokers with a history of major depression compared with smokers without depression histories. Results. As predicted, the interaction between rumination and trait-impulsivity was a significant predictor of MDE recurrence (β = 0.259, p = 0.001, R 2 change = 0.063). Post hoc analyses tested rumination's association with past MDEs among those with high and low levels of impulsivity. Rumination predicted the number of diagnosed past MDEs among those with high levels of impulsivity (β = 0.408, p = .
Cognitive tracks of cultural inheritance: how evolved intuitive ontology governs cultural transmission

"Acquired culture" depends on social transmission and displays salient cross-cultural variability. It seems unconnected to adaptive fitness. It is, however, constrained by evolved properties of the mind. Recurrent-not necessarily universal-fea­ tures of acquired culture can be explained by taking into account the early development and constraining power of intuitive ontology, a set of principled domain-specific inferential capacities. These allow us to predict recurrent trends in domains as diverse as folk-psychology, representations of natural kinds, the uses of literacy, the acquisition of scientific beliefs, and even the limiting-case of religious ontologies. In all these domains the notion of cultural transmission along domain­ specific cognitive tracks governed by intuitive ontology is supported by independent psychological evidence and provides testable explanations for recurrent features in the anthropological record. [evolution, culture, cultural universals, cognitive development, evolutionary psychologyJ
Nonlinear analysis of noise in current-steering variable gain amplifiers

This paper investigates the difference between the small-signal noise figure and the noise figure in the presence of a large signal at the input of a current-steering variable gain pair. The mechanism of noise generation in the presence of a large signal at the emitters of the current-steering pair is analyzed for single-ended and differential operation. An analytical equation for the large-signal noise figure is derived. The results are applied to a cable TV IF amplifier and compared to measured data.
Molecular dynamics for fermions

The time-dependent variational principle for many-body trial states is used to discuss the relation between the approaches of dierent molecular dynamics models to describe indistinguishable fermions. Early attempts to include eects of the Pauli principle by means of nonlocal potentials as well as more recent models which work with antisymmetrized many-body states are reviewed under these premises.
454 Pyrosequencing analyses of forest soils reveal an unexpectedly high fungal diversity.

* Soil fungi play a major role in ecological and biogeochemical processes in forests. Little is known, however, about the structure and richness of different fungal communities and the distribution of functional ecological groups (pathogens, saprobes and symbionts). * Here, we assessed the fungal diversity in six different forest soils using tag-encoded 454 pyrosequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS-1). No less than 166 350 ITS reads were obtained from all samples. In each forest soil sample (4 g), approximately 30 000 reads were recovered, corresponding to around 1000 molecular operational taxonomic units. * Most operational taxonomic units (81%) belonged to the Dikarya subkingdom (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). Richness, abundance and taxonomic analyses identified the Agaricomycetes as the dominant fungal class. The ITS-1 sequences (73%) analysed corresponded to only 26 taxa. The most abundant operational taxonomic units showed the highest sequence similarity to Ceratobasidium sp. , Cryptococcus podzolicus, Lactarius sp. and Scleroderma sp. * This study validates the effectiveness of high-throughput 454 sequencing technology for the survey of soil fungal diversity. The large proportion of unidentified sequences, however, calls for curated sequence databases. The use of pyrosequencing on soil samples will accelerate the study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of fungal communities in forest ecosystems.