Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local Feature Based on Moment Invariants for Blurred Image Matching

This paper presents a new local feature scheme for image matching between a strongly blurr ed image and a non-blurred image. In recent years, a lot of local feature schemes have been proposed to improve the i mage matching performances. However, as far as the authors know, there are no local features which are robust to str ong blur. In this paper, blur moment invariants are introduced into a local feature scheme. These blur moment invariants are robust to strong blur when they are used as global features. However, they cannot be used as a local feature. In this paper, we dig into this problem and clarify the reason why they cannot be used as a local feature. After that, we pr opose a new local feature scheme based on this study. Experimental re sults show that the proposed scheme is more effecti ve and suitable for blurred image matching than any other existing local feature schemes.
Hyperform: using extensibility to develop dynamic, open, and distributed hypertext systems

An approach to flexible hyperbase (hypertext database) support predicated on the notion of extensibility is presented. The extensible hypertext platform (Hyperform) implements basic hyperbase services that can be tailored to provide specialized hyperbase support. Hyperform is based on an internal computational engine that provides an objectoriented extension language which allows new data model objects and operations to be added at runtime. Hyperform has a number of built-in classes to provide basic hyperbase features such as concurrency control, notification control (events), access control, version control and search and query. Each of these classes can be specialized using multiple inheritance to form virtually any type of hyperbase support needed in next generation hypertext systems. This approach greatly reduces the effort required to provide high quality customized hyperbase support for distributed hypertext applications. Hyperform is implemented and operational in Unix environments. This paper describes the Hyperform approach, discusses its advantages and disadvantages, and gives examples of simulating the HAM and the Danish HyperBase in Hyperform. Hyperform is compared with related work from the HAM generation of hyperbase systems and the current status of the project is reviewed.
Characterization of Amylolytic Enzyme Activities Associated with the Hyperthermophilic Archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus

The hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus produces several amylolytic enzymes in response to the presence of complex carbohydrates in the growth medium. These enzyme activities, α-glucosidase, pullulanase, and α-amylase, were detected in both cell extracts and culture supernatants. All activities were characterized by temperature optima of at least 100°C as well as a high degree of thermostability. The existence of this collection of activities in P. furiosus suggests that polysaccharide availability in its growth environment is a significant aspect of the niche from which it was isolated.
Integrative analysis for identifying joint modular patterns of gene-expression and drug-response data

MOTIVATION The underlying relationship between genomic factors and the response of diverse cancer drugs still remains unclear. A number of studies showed that the heterogeneous responses to anticancer treatments of patients were partly associated with their specific changes in gene expression and somatic alterations. The emerging large-scale pharmacogenomic data provide us valuable opportunities to improve existing therapies or to guide early-phase clinical trials of compounds under development. However, how to identify the underlying combinatorial patterns among pharmacogenomics data are still a challenging issue. RESULTS In this study, we adopted a sparse network-regularized partial least square (SNPLS) method to identify joint modular patterns using large-scale pairwise gene-expression and drug-response data. We incorporated a molecular network to the (sparse) partial least square model to improve the module accuracy via a network-based penalty. We first demonstrated the effectiveness of SNPLS using a set of simulation data and compared it with two typical methods. Further, we applied it to gene expression profiles for 13 321 genes and pharmacological profiles for 98 anticancer drugs across 641 cancer cell lines consisting of diverse types of human cancers. We identified 20 gene-drug co-modules, each of which consists of 30 cell lines, 137 genes and 2 drugs on average. The majority of identified co-modules have significantly functional implications and coordinated gene-drug associations. The modular analysis here provided us new insights into the molecular mechanisms of how drugs act and suggested new drug targets for therapy of certain types of cancers. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION A matlab package of SNPLS is available at http://page.amss.ac.cn/shihua.zhang/ CONTACT : zsh@amss.ac.cn SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Structural characterization of the Get4/Get5 complex and its interaction with Get3

The recently elucidated Get proteins are responsible for the targeted delivery of the majority of tail-anchored (TA) proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum. Get4 and Get5 have been identified in the early steps of the pathway mediating TA substrate delivery to the cytoplasmic targeting factor Get3. Here we report a crystal structure of Get4 and an N-terminal fragment of Get5 from Saccharomyces cerevisae. We show Get4 and Get5 (Get4/5) form an intimate complex that exists as a dimer (two copies of Get4/5) mediated by the C-terminus of Get5. We further demonstrate that Get3 specifically binds to a conserved surface on Get4 in a nucleotide dependent manner. This work provides further evidence for a model in which Get4/5 operates upstream of Get3 and mediates the specific delivery of a TA substrate.
Crystallization and structural analysis of bullfrog red cell L‐subunit ferritins

Ferritin is a 24 subunit protein that controls biomineralization of iron in animals, bacteria, and plants. Rates of mineralization vary among members of the ferritin family, particularly between L and H type subunits of animal ferritins which are differentially expressed in various cell types. To examine ferritin from a highly differentiated cell type and to clarify the relationship between ferritin structure and function, bullfrog red cell L ferritin has been cloned, overexpressed in E. coli, and crystallized under two conditions. Crystals were obtained at high ionic strength in the presence of MnCl2 at a concentration comparable to that of the protein and in the presence of MgCl2 at a concentration much higher than that of the protein. Under both crystallization conditions, the crystals are tetragonal bipyramids in the space group F432 with unit cell dimensions a=b=c= 182 ± 0.5 Å. Crystals obtained in the presence of manganese and ammonium sulfate diffract to 1.9 Å, while those obtained in the presence of magnesium and sodium tartrate diffract to 1.6 Å. Isomorphous crystals have been obtained under similar conditions for a site‐directed mutant with a reduced mineralization rate in which Glu−57, −58, −59, and −61 are all replaced by Ala. The structure of wild type L‐subunit with magnesium has been solved by molecular replacement using the calcium salt of human liver H subunit (Lawson et al., Nature (London) 349:541–544, 1991) as the model. The crystallographic R factor for the 6–2.2 Å shell is 0.21. The overall fold of human H and bullfrog L ferritins is similar with an rms difference in backbone atomic positions of 0.97 Å. The largest structural differences occur in the D helix and the loop connecting the D and E helices of the four helix bundle. Because red cell L ferritin and liver H ferritin show differences in both rates of mineralization and three‐dimensional structure, more detailed comparisons of these structures are likely to shed new light on the relationship between conformation and function. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hidden Victims in Social Work Practice with Traumatized Populations: Predictive Factors of Secondary Traumatic Stress for Social Workers in New York City

When social workers empathically engage with their clients' traumatic recollections, they sometimes experience strong emotional reactions, such as grief or rage. These reactions may reflect secondary traumatic stress, i.e. negative emotional reactions resulting from knowledge of traumatizing events experienced by others. Many clinical social workers in New York City who provided counseling, debriefing and support to 9/11/01 witnesses, survivors, victims' family members, and rescue workers were at risk for developing secondary traumatic stress, with such risk elevated by their personal experiences of stress during and following the terrorist attacks. This study explored predictive factors of secondary traumatic stress for social workers assisting 9/11/01 clients, including extent of exposure to traumatized clients, and protective factors that were tested as direct and interactive (buffering) influences. These effects were tested controlling for demographic factors (age, marital status, income, hours per week in the field, and years in the field). Data, in which Doctoral and MSW level members of the Manhattan Chapter of the NASW (N=1257) were surveyed, were drawn from the Post 9/11/01 Quality of Professional Practice Survey (Tosone & Moore, 2007), yielding a 38% return rate (N=481). The primary independent variable, exposure to trauma in practice was measured by a block of three indicators: being 9/11/01 mental health provider/total work hours of exposure to 9/11/01 related events, percent of time working with traumatized clients generally, and number of different types of trauma client worked with. Hierarchical multiple regressions of secondary traumatic stress symptoms included a block of controls, the exposure block, and additional protective variables (receiving supervision, peer support, family and friend support, disaster training before and after 9/11/01) examined separately for their direct and interactive effects with exposure. The results indicated that social workers' level of exposure to traumatized clients significantly increased secondary traumatic stress. Also, peer support marginally buffered the negative consequences of trauma exposure. Further, older and more experienced social workers had somewhat lower levels of secondary traumatic stress, at least in part because they had less exposure to traumatized clients; older and more experienced workers may have been more negatively impacted by exposure to traumatized clients. The results have implications for all direct providers who may experience secondary traumatic stress symptoms: administrators and practitioners in social agencies, clinics, and hospitals; the findings also apply to students in schools of social work who need to learn how to effective treat traumatized clients.
The Role and System Characteristics of Internet-Voting in the Republic of South Africa : Looking Inside a Multi-cultural , Nascent Democracy

Submitted to the 11 th Annual CCRIS meeting as a research in progress paper. Abstract Investigating the unique circumstance of the cultural changes in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), this study propose a cultural dependent model of the adoption of electronic voting (eVoting). The need for research in RSA dealing with culture and software design, adoption, and use has been noted as critical by the practitioner community but has to date been almost entirely overlooked by academics. The proposed theoretical model combines TAM and Trust with Hofstede's cultural dimensions to shed light on this process in this unique set of cultures. Further, the study is exploratory in an attempt to identify subcultures where differences are seen in an attempt to target future investigations. Details on this ongoing research are discussed.
Evidence-Based Approaches to Pain in Advanced Cancer

Pain is a source of suffering in most advanced cancer patients, but many effective treatments exist. We updated previous systematic reviews on cancer pain treatment with targeted literature searches. Addressing pain involves comprehensive assessment, including other symptoms and sources of distress and barriers to pain management, and investigating potential etiologies and oncological emergencies when potential benefits exceed burdens. Initial treatment may involve acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, although opioids should be considered quickly if not effective or for severe pain. The initial approach also includes education and psychosocial interventions as appropriate. Neuropathic pain and bony pain may require specific interventions if initial treatment is not effective; the best evidence supports the use of gabapentin and single-fraction radiation, respectively. Potential spinal cord compression requires urgent evaluation and treatment. Most cancer pain can be effectively addressed with an evidence-based approach of medications, nonpharmacological approaches, and interventions when appropriate.
Nucleoporin98-96 Function Is Required for Transit Amplification Divisions in the Germ Line of Drosophila melanogaster

Production of specialized cells from precursors depends on a tightly regulated sequence of proliferation and differentiation steps. In the gonad of Drosophila melanogaster, the daughters of germ line stem cells (GSC) go through precisely four rounds of transit amplification divisions to produce clusters of 16 interconnected germ line cells before entering a stereotypic differentiation cascade. Here we show that animals harbouring a transposon insertion in the center of the complex nucleoporin98-96 (nup98-96) locus had severe defects in the early steps of this developmental program, ultimately leading to germ cell loss and sterility. A phenotypic analysis indicated that flies carrying the transposon insertion, designated nup98-962288, had dramatically reduced numbers of germ line cells. In contrast to controls, mutant testes contained many solitary germ line cells that had committed to differentiation as well as abnormally small clusters of two, four or eight differentiating germ line cells. This indicates that mutant GSCs rather differentiated than self-renewed, and that these GSCs and their daughters initiated the differentiation cascade after zero, or less than four rounds of amplification divisions. This phenotype remained unaffected by hyper-activation of signalling pathways that normally result in excessive proliferation of GSCs and their daughters. Expression of wildtype nup98-96 specifically in the germ line cells of mutant animals fully restored development of the GSC lineage, demonstrating that the effect of the mutation is cell-autonomous. Nucleoporins are the structural components of the nucleopore and have also been implicated in transcriptional regulation of specific target genes. The nuclear envelopes of germ cells and general nucleocytoplasmic transport in nup98-96 mutant animals appeared normal, leading us to propose that Drosophila nup98-96 mediates the transport or transcription of targets required for the developmental timing between amplification and differentiation.
Venous Thromboembolism in Elderly High-Risk Medical Patients

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) causes significant morbidity and mortality in hospitalized medical populations; however, medical patients do not currently receive thromboprophylaxis beyond their hospital stay. We reviewed the real-life occurrence of VTE-related care for 100 days post-hospitalization in Calgary, Canada. Using medical visit records with a unique patient identifier number applied throughout the city’s hospitals, 989 high-risk patients were selected for review. Almost three-quarters of the elderly patients received appropriate prophylaxis while in hospital, and only 2% received prophylaxis on discharge. Over the 100-day follow-up, 21% of the patients presented with clinically suspected VTE, of which 3.8% had confirmed VTE. Patients with multiple risk factors (≥3) had the highest frequency of confirmed VTE (≥6.1%). This study suggests that the actual rate of VTE-related follow-up care in patients post-hospitalization is high in the first 100 days, particularly among those who have multiple risk factors, warranting consideration of extended thromboprophylaxis in this population.
On the $\kappa$-$\mu$/Gamma Generalized Multipath/ Shadowing Fading Distribution

This work is devoted to the formulation and derivation of the $\kappa-\mu$/gamma distribution which corresponds to A physical fading model. This distribution is composite and is based on the well known $\kappa-\mu$ generalized multipath model and the gamma shadowing model. A special case of the derived model constitutes the $\kappa-\mu$ Extreme/gamma model which accounts for severe multipath and shadowing effects. These models provide accurate characterisation of the simultaneous occurrence of multipath fading and shadowing effects. This is achieved thanks to the remarkable flexibility of their named parameters which render them capable of providing good fittings to experimental data associated with realistic communication scenarios. This is additionally justified by the fact that they include as special cases the widely known composite fading models such as Rice/gamma, Nakagami-m/gamma and Rayleigh/gamma. Novel analytic expressions are derived for the envelope and power probability density function of these distributions which are expressed in a relatively simple algebraic form which is convenient to handle both analytically and numerically. As a result, they can be meaningfully utilized in the derivation of numerous vital measures in investigations related to the analytic performance evaluation of digital communications over composite multipath/shadowing fading channels.
Channel Estimation for OFDMA Uplink: a Hybrid of Linear and BEM Interpolation Approach

We consider the channel estimation for the subband orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) uplink. The channel for each subband is modeled by combing the linear and Fourier basis-expansion functions. Based on this mode, a two-dimensional interpolation approach is proposed for the channel estimation, which is carefully investigated in terms of estimation error and pilot placement
Racial or ethnic differences in allele frequencies of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and their influence on response to methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis

Background: The anti-folate drug methotrexate (MTX) is commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Objective: To determine the allele frequencies of five common coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene in African-Americans and Caucasians with rheumatoid arthritis and controls to assess whether there are differences in allele frequencies among these ethnic or racial groups and whether these SNPs differentially affect the efficacy or toxicity of MTX. Methods: Allele frequencies in the 677, 1298 and 3 additional SNPs in the MTHFR coding region in 223 (193 Caucasians and 30 African-Americans) patients with rheumatoid arthritis who previously participated in one of two prospective clinical trials were characterised, and genotypes were correlated with the efficacy and toxicity of MTX. Another 308 subjects with rheumatoid arthritis who participated in observational studies, one group predominantly Caucasian and the other African-American, as well as 103 normal controls (53 African-Americans and 50 Caucasians) were used to characterise allele frequencies of these SNPs and their associated haplotypes. Results: Significantly different allele frequencies were seen in three of the five SNPs and haplotype frequencies between Caucasians and African-Americans. Allele frequencies were similar between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and controls of the same racial or ethnic group. Frequencies of the rs4846051C, 677T and 1298C alleles were 0.33, 0.11 and 0.13, respectively, among African-Americans with rheumatoid arthritis. Among Caucasians with rheumatoid arthritis, these allele frequencies were 0.08 (p<0.001 compared with African-Americans with rheumatoid arthritis), 0.30 (p = 0.002) and 0.34 (p<0.001), respectively. There was no association between SNP alleles or haplotypes and response to MTX as measured by the mean change in the 28-joint Disease Activity Score from baseline values. In Caucasians, the 1298 A (major) allele was associated with a significant increase in MTX-related adverse events characteristic of a recessive genetic effect (odds ratio 15.86, 95% confidence interval 1.51 to 167.01; p = 0.021), confirming previous reports. There was an association between scores of MTX toxicity and the rs4846051 C allele, and haplotypes containing this allele, in African-Americans, but not in Caucasians. Conclusions: : These results, although preliminary, highlight racial or ethnic differences in frequencies of common MTHFR SNPs. The MTHFR 1298 A and the rs4846051 C alleles were associated with MTX-related adverse events in Caucasians and African-Americans, respectively, but these findings should be replicated in larger studies. The rs4846051 SNP, which is far more common in African-Americans than in Caucasians, can also be proved to be a useful ancestry informative marker in future studies on genetic admixture.
The power of play: The potentials and pitfalls in healing narratives of BDSM

About the book: Psychological and medical perspectives on sadomasochism (SM) have historically been concerned with understanding it as a form of psychopathology. In the past (but still often today) studies of SM have been concerned with extreme and most often non-consensual acts. More recently, however, there has been growing interest in exploring the meaning of sadomasochism in non-pathological ways. Safe, Sane and Consensual includes work from across the social sciences exploring a variety of aspects of SM from a non-pathological perspective. There are discussions of the history and culture of SM, medical and legal understandings, along with theory and original research on the topic. There are also sections on SM and psychotherapy and writing on bridging the academic/activist divide. The book includes contributions from an international group of academics, practitioners and activists and represents some of the most recent cutting edge work in the field by leading scholars.
Diffusion Coefficient and Interfacial Tension with Addition of Silica Nanoparticles in CO2-Surfactant-Water-Hexane for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Using Molecular Dynamic Simulation

Dynamic simulation for investigating the interactions of molecules that involved carbon dioxide (CO2), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), water (H2O), hexane and silica nanoparticles (SiO2) in terms of diffusion coefficient and interfacial tension (IFT) were conducted at 298 K and 383 K for three different systems which consists of three layers (L1-L2-L3); CO2-water-water/hexane (S1), CO2-water/SDS-water/hexane (S2) and CO2-water/SDS/SiO2-water/hexane (S3). Analyses of the mean square displacement (MSD) showed that higher curve definition was obtained at 383 K than 298 K system, indicates higher mobility of the molecules. The diffusion coefficient of all CO2, SiO2, SDS and hexane molecules in all systems were higher at 383 K than 298 K due to heat supplied that energized the molecules and enhanced their diffusivity at the elevated temperature. The IFT between L1-L2 (I1) and L2-L3 (I2) determined from the pressure tensor data, decreased from 36.3 to 16.13 mN/m and 42.35 to 6.45 mN/m, respectively for S1 with the increment of temperature. Addition of SDS surfactant further decreased the I1 and I2 from 25.67 to 11.83 mN/m and 29.95 to 9.46 mN/m, respectively for S2 when the temperature increased. The IFT reduced significantly from 25.67 to 0.57 mN/m and 29.95 to 1.13 mN/m for I1 and I2, respectively at 298 K with addition of SiO2 into SDS-Water i.e. S3. The addition of SiO2 and SDS further reduced the interfacial tension due to the part taken by SiO2 and SDS in disrupting the closely linked hydrogen bond between water molecules at the interphase.