Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gamut Mapping in Munsell Constant Hue Sections

The problem of gamut mapping is of interest in achieving an optimum color reproduction whenever a translation from one device (source) to another device (destination) is requested and the source gamut differs from destination gamut. For printing applications, if the ICC profile specifications are used, gamut mapping is applied to build the color tables that characterize the printing device. Within this approach, the color reproduction performance depends (among other factors) on the ability of the profile to include an efficient mapping method between the device independent color space (referred as the profile connection space, or PCS) and the reproduction device space. In order to map the out of gamut colors to the colors that can be reproduced on an output device, several mapping methods have been proposed. Most of them use a constant angle section in the CIELAB color space [1-6]. Within this section, different strategies can be used according to the reproduction intent. However the constant angle section in the CIELAB space only approximates the constant perceptual hue. Several studies reported perceptual hue shifts along constant angle section in CIELAB [4-6]. This is why, mapping in constant hue angle in CIELAB space may not give satisfactory performances for certain hue values. Figure 1 shows in CIELAB space the perceptual hue shift with the variation of lightness [7]. The oblique lines (i.e. segment (1)-(2)) drawn on the exterior of the hue circle illustrate the hue shift in CIELAB for different lightness levels. The end of the oblique segment closer to the achromatic center of CIELAB section points to the Munsell hue for lightness 2 to 4 (i.e. marked as (1)). The other end of the oblique segment (marked as (2)) points to the same Munsell hue for the lightness 6 to 8. As the segment deviates more from the direction of a hue, the hue shift is larger. For example, the constant hue angle for Munsell 5P hue covers 7 degrees in the CIELAB (a*, b*) plane with the variation of Munsell lightness from 4 to 8. Performing gamut mapping in CIELAB constant angle section can result in perceptual hue error. This error is larger if the mapping procedure modifies the lightness of the mapped color. To overcome the hue shift, we proposed to perform the gamut mapping in a more uniform space. We pick up for this experiment a space that results from re-mapping the CIELAB coordinate system based on the constraints imposed by the Munsell renotation system. In the Munsell renotation system the colors progress from top to bottom
Towards Scalable Web Documents

Article summary. The current Web is running into serious scalability problems. The standard solution is to apply techniques like caching, replication, and distribution. Unfortunately, as the variety of Web applications continues to grow, it will be impossible to find a single solution that fits all needs. The authors advocate a different approach to tackling scaling problems. Instead of seeking a general-purpose solution, they argue that it makes more sense to look at each Web document separately. For each document, three issues need to be addressed: placement of replicas, required coherence, and best coherence protocol. The authors examine each of these issues, and identify the alternatives. However, forcing developers to decide on the best alternatives will turn the Web into an unworkable system. Therefore, a number of possible ways to reduce complexity is indicated. Also, the authors briefly discuss a wide-area infrastructure that can be used as a flexible basis for developing per-document solutions.
Evolution and Selection of Quantitative Traits

Quantitative traits—be they morphological or physiological characters, aspects of behavior, or genome-level features such as the amount of RNA or protein expression for a specific gene—usually show considerable variation within and among populations. Quantitative genetics, also referred to as the genetics of complex traits, is the study of such characters and is based on mathematical models of evolution in which many genes influence the trait and in which non-genetic factors may also be important. Evolution and Selection of Quantitative Traits presents a holistic treatment of the subject, showing the interplay between theory and data with extensive discussions on statistical issues relating to the estimation of the biologically relevant parameters for these models. Quantitative genetics is viewed as the bridge between complex mathematical models of trait evolution and real-world data, and the authors have clearly framed their treatment as such. This is the second volume in a planned trilogy that summarizes the modern field of quantitative genetics, informed by empirical observations from wide-ranging fields (agriculture, evolution, ecology, and human biology) as well as population genetics, statistical theory, mathematical modeling, genetics, and genomics. Whilst volume 1 (1998) dealt with the genetics of such traits, the main focus of volume 2 is on their evolution, with a special emphasis on detecting selection (ranging from the use of genomic and historical data through to ecological field data) and examining its consequences. This extensive work of reference is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of evolutionary biology, genetics, and genomics. It will also be of particular relevance and use to plant and animal breeders, human geneticists, and statisticians.
Hepatic and Peripheral Insulin Sensitivity and Diabetes Remission at 1 Month After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery in Patients Randomized to Omentectomy

OBJECTIVE Early after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), there is improvement in type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by insulin resistance. We determined the acute effects of RYGB, with and without omentectomy, on hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivity. We also investigated whether preoperative diabetes or postoperative diabetes remission influenced tissue-specific insulin sensitivity after RYGB. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied 40 obese (BMI 48 ± 8 kg/m2) participants, 17 with diabetes. Participants were randomized to RYGB alone or in conjunction with omentectomy. Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps with isotopic-tracer infusion were completed at baseline and at 1 month postoperatively to assess insulin sensitivity. RESULTS Participants lost 11 ± 4% of body weight at 1 month after RYGB, without an improvement in peripheral insulin sensitivity; these outcomes were not affected by omentectomy, preoperative diabetes, or remission of diabetes. Hepatic glucose production (HGP) and the hepatic insulin sensitivity index improved in all subjects, irrespective of omentectomy (P ≤ 0.001). Participants with diabetes had higher baseline HGP values (P = 0.003) that improved to a greater extent after RYGB (P = 0.006). Of the 17 participants with diabetes, 10 (59%) had remission at 1 month. Diabetes remission had a group × time effect (P = 0.041) on HGP; those with diabetes remission had lower preoperative and postoperative HGP. CONCLUSIONS Peripheral insulin sensitivity did not improve 1 month after RYGB, irrespective of omentectomy, diabetes, or diabetes remission. Hepatic insulin sensitivity improved at 1 month after RYGB and was more pronounced in patients with diabetes. Improvement in HGP may influence diabetes remission early after RYGB.
African-American Aesthetic of Dress: Current Manifestations

This paper presents support for an African-American aesthetic of dress that has its roots in West African culture. The objectives were to determine (a) how an African-American aesthetic of dress is currently manifested and (b) the values and attitudes relative to that aesthetic. An afrocentric methodology that employs an interpretative paradigm was used in the study. This methodology assumes a culturally centered analysis of discourse in which human actions, emotions, and attitudes are interpreted and understood within the context of the culture of the speaker and listener. Protocol resulting from in-depth interviews with 45 female and male informants was interpreted in order to obtain an understanding of an African-American aesthetic of dress. The aesthetic consists of four elements: The affinity for "high affect" colors; "style" or individual expression; improvisations and exotic features; and the tendency to dress up. These elements are supported by metaphysical beliefs congruent with the African ethos of unity and oneness.
Properties and cellular effects of particulate matter from direct emissions and ambient sources

ABSTRACT The pollution of particulate matter (PM) is of great concern in China and many other developing countries. It is generally recognized that the toxicity of PM is source and property dependent. However, the relationship between PM properties and toxicity is still not well understood. In this study, PM samples from direct emissions of wood, straw, coal, diesel combustion, cigarette smoking and ambient air were collected and characterized for their physicochemical properties. Their expression of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and levels of inflammatory cytokines (i.e., tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) was measured using a RAW264.7 cell model. Our results demonstrated that the properties of the samples from different origins exhibited remarkable differences. Significant increases in ROS were observed when the cells were exposed to PMs from biomass origins, including wood, straw and cigarettes, while increases in TNF-α were found for all the samples, particularly those from ambient air. The most important factor associated with ROS generation was the presence of water-soluble organic carbon, which was extremely abundant in the samples that directly resulted from biomass combustion. Metals, endotoxins and PM size were the most important properties associated with increases in TNF-α expression levels. The association of the origins of PM particles and physicochemical properties with cytotoxic properties is illustrated using a cluster analysis.
A Meta Analysis on Risks of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Toxoplasma gondii Infection

Objective Quantified risks of congenital Toxoplasma gondii infection and abnormal pregnancy outcomes following primary maternal infection were evaluated with meta- analysis based on published studies. Methods The related literatures were searched in multiple literature databases regardless of languages. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the risks of vertical transmission of Toxoplasma gondii and abnormal pregnancy outcomes following primary maternal infection with meta-analysis. Results 53 of the 2632 searched literatures were included in our analysis. The incidence of abnormal pregnancy outcomes in T. gondii infected pregnant women (infected group) was significantly higher than that in the uninfected pregnant women (control group) (OR = 5.10; 95% CI, 3.85–6.75). Toxoplasma gondii infection rate in the abnormal-pregnancy-outcome group was significantly higher than in the normal-pregnancy group (OR = 3.71; 95% CI, 3.31–4.15). The pooled rate of vertical transmission was 20% (95% CI, 15%–26%) in maternal infection of T. gondii. The incidences of vertical transmission in women who were infected in the first, second or third trimester of pregnancy were 5% (95%CI, 2%–16%), 13% (95%CI, 7%–23%), and 32% (95%CI, 24%–41%), respectively. The rates of vertical transmission in women who were treated with spiramycin-only, PSF (pyrimethamine + sulfadiazine + folinic acid) or PS (pyrimethamine + sulfadiazine) combined with spiramycin, or other untypical treatments were 13% (95%CI, 7%–22%), 13%(95%CI, 7%–25%), and 24%(95%CI, 18%–32%), respectively. Conclusions Toxoplasma gondii infection can result in adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women. The pooled rate of vertical transmission was 20% in maternal infection and the incidences of vertical transmission increased in the first, second or third trimester of pregnancy. The pooled rates of transmission in groups treated with spiramycin-only, PSF or PS combined with spiramycin, or other untypical treatments were not significantly different.
Nanocourses: a short course format as an educational tool in a biological sciences graduate curriculum.

Traditional courses for graduate students in the biological sciences typically span a semester, are organized around the fundamental concepts of a single discipline, and are aimed at the needs of incoming students. Such courses demand significant time commitment from both faculty and course participants; thus, they are avoided by a subset of the academic science community. Course length and the high barrier to course development are inhibitory to the creation of new courses, especially in emerging areas of biology that may not merit a full-semester approach. Here, we describe the implementation of a new, graduate-level course format, created to allow for rapid development of courses, provide meaningful educational experiences for both junior and senior graduate students and other members of our community, and increase the breadth of faculty involvement in teaching. These courses are greatly abbreviated, and thus termed "nanocourses. " Based on experience from the first three semesters, nanocourses seem to accomplish the initial goals that we set. Importantly, nanocourses engaged students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and others, thus providing a new mechanism to educate our community in response to rapid advances in biology. In our view, nanocourses are a useful tool that can supplement graduate-level curricula in varied ways.
Creating value-in-use through marketing interaction: the exchange logic of relating, communicating and knowing

This article elaborates and extends the Vargo and Lusch (2004a) service-dominant (S-D) logic thesis. Three linked exchange-enablers and their potential for improving value-in-use are discussed: first, relationships to give structural support for the creation and application of knowledge resources (relating); second, communicative interaction to develop these relationships (communicating); and third, the knowledge needed to improve the customer's service experience (knowing). These activities are integrated within an augmented S-D exchange model, and the implications for co-creating value are discussed. Finally, the argument is put that a customer's value-in-use begins with the enactment of value propositions, and the development of reciprocal value propositions is discussed in the context of the notion of sustainable betterment.
The obligations and common ground structure of practical dialogues

In this paper a theory of dialogue structure of tas k oriented conversations and its associated tagging scheme are presented. The theory introduces two linguistic str uctures supporting the dialogue that, following tra ditional terminology, we call the obligations and common ground. The theory is illustrated with the detailed an alysis of a transaction. We also describe the empirical work su pporting the theory, as well as an evaluation task. The paper is concluded with a reflection on the relation of the present theory to traditional notions of obligation s and grounding, its relation to a more general theory of discourse and conversation and its potential application to t he construction of spoken natural language systems.
Analysis of Twitter Traffic based on Renewal Densities

In this paper we propose a novel approach for Twitter traffic analysis based on renewal theory. Even though twitter datasets are of increasing interest to researchers, extracting information from message timing remains somewhat unexplored. Our approach, extending our prior work on anomaly detection, makes it possible to characterize levels of correlation within a message stream, thus assessing how much interaction there is between those posting messages. Moreover, our method enables us to detect the presence of periodic traffic, which is useful to determine whether there is spam in the message stream. Because our proposed techniques only make use of timing information and are amenable to downsampling, they can be used as low complexity tools for data analysis.
Online non-rigid structure-from-motion based on a keyframe representation of history

Non-rigid structure-from-motion in an on-line setting holds many promises for useful applications, and off-line reconstruction techniques are already very advanced. Literature has only recently started focusing on on-line reconstruction, with only a handful of existing techniques available. Here we propose a novel method of history representation which utilizes the advances in off-line reconstruction. We represent the history as a set of keyframes, a representative subset of all past frames. This history representation is used as side-information in the estimation of individual frames. We expand the history as previously unseen frames arrive and compress it again when its size grows too large. We evaluate the proposed method on some test sequences, focusing on a human face in a conversation. While on-line algorithms can never perform as well as off-line methods as they have less information available, our method compares favourably to the state of the art off-line methods.
Critical success factors for executive information systems usage in organisations

Executive Information Systems (EIS) are computer-based information systems (CBIS) designed to provide executives with easy on-line access to internal and external information relevant to their business success factors. The aim of EIS is to bring relevant information from the external environment and all parts of an organisation and present it in a way that is meaningful to executives. Hence, to improve the performance of executives’ tasks, a significant number of organisations have invested heavily in EIS projects. Although executives presided over and authorised investment in EIS projects to support their roles, the majority of executives are unenthusiastic about using EIS because of the design flaws and failures of these systems. Due to this, the actual engagement with EIS by executives is relatively small. Although the failures of EIS in organisations can be linked to social, cultural, psychological and organisational factors rather than technical factors alone, previous research studies on EIS usage have focused on the overall benefits, pattern and frequency of use, impacts and emergence of EIS. Research efforts for key determinants of user acceptance and use of EIS have been constrained by a lack of appropriate reference theory and key variables. Further, research studies on the actual engagement of EIS by executives are rather limited in number or scope. Given this gap, this study aims to investigate and examine the cultural, social, individual and organisational critical success factors that might explain executives’ behaviour to adopt and use EIS. Further, the study aims to establish the relative importance of these variables in determining user acceptance and the use of EIS in the organisational setting.
Field Independence and Central Computing Space

CASE, ROBBIE, and GLOBERSON, TAMAR. Field Independence and Central Computing Space. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 772-778. According to Pascual-Leone, an important component of field independence and/or analytic intelligence is the tendency to use a large central computing space in approaching a cognitive task. The present study provided a preliminary test of this hypothesis. 7 tests were administered to 43 8-year-olds: 4 analytic field measures, 2 measures of central computing space, and 1 attention-concentration item with a high demand for central computing space. When submitted to factor analysis, the correlation matrix revealed essentially the pattern predicted on the basis of Pascual-Leone's model: 2 distinct yet substantially correlated factors emerged, with the first 4 measures showing significant loadings only on the first factor, and the last 3 measures showing significant loadings only on the second. The results were interpreted as providing preliminary support for PascualLeone's position, and as suggesting implications for research in cognitive development, education, and neuropsychology.
A Causal Model of Hospital Structure

This article investigates whether hospital organizations evidence similar structural characteristics as do more traditional bureaucratic organizations. A causal model of organizational structure was ap plied to a sample of hospitals. Estimates of the causal model were used to access the similarity between structural arrangements within hos pitals and those reported for nonprofessional organizations. Results indicate that theoretical models of organizational structure are rele vant to professional organizations. Hospitals resemble more tradi tional bureaucratic organizations in that larger size and more specialization create more reliance upon formalization and automa tion as impersonal mechanisms of control. However, it is suggested that formalization may not be incompatible with professionalism, and that the use of professional standards and rules represents an ex tension of professionalization within the hospital and serves to elimi nate the need for personal supervision and control.
SHP-2 Positively Regulates Myogenesis by Coupling to the Rho GTPase Signaling Pathway

ABSTRACT Myogenesis is an intricate process that coordinately engages multiple intracellular signaling cascades. The Rho family GTPase RhoA is known to promote myogenesis, however, the mechanisms controlling its regulation in myoblasts have yet to be fully elucidated. We show here that the SH2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-2, functions as an early modulator of myogenesis by regulating RhoA. When MyoD was expressed in fibroblasts lacking functional SHP-2, muscle-specific gene activity was impaired and abolition of SHP-2 expression by RNA interference inhibited muscle differentiation. By using SHP-2 substrate-trapping mutants, we identified p190-B RhoGAP as a SHP-2 substrate. When dephosphorylated, p190-B RhoGAP has been shown to stimulate the activation of RhoA. During myogenesis, p190-B RhoGAP was tyrosyl dephosphorylated concomitant with the stimulation of SHP-2's phosphatase activity. Moreover, overexpression of a catalytically inactive mutant of SHP-2 inhibited p190-B RhoGAP tyrosyl dephosphorylation, RhoA activity, and myogenesis. These observations strongly suggest that SHP-2 dephosphorylates p190-B RhoGAP, leading to the activation of RhoA. Collectively, these data provide a mechanistic basis for RhoA activation in myoblasts and demonstrate that myogenesis is critically regulated by the actions of SHP-2 on the p190-B Rho GAP/RhoA pathway.
The Obamachine: Technopolitics 2.0

ABSTRACT The proliferation of online campaign content has brought an end to an era of broadcast media dominance over U.S. national politics and has resulted in the drastic reconstruction of the traditional fundraising mechanisms of American politics. Since the mid-1990s, there have been growing discussions on Internet activism and how new media has impacted participatory democracy and social justice in the United States. The increased usage of the Internet in political campaigning has also impacted some of the foundational ways that politics has historically been conducted in the United States. This article analyzes a framework posited by Andrew Chadwick, which conceptualizes the ways in which e-democracy is transformative for political engagement. Further, this article argues that during the 2008 presidential campaign, president-elect Barack Obama attained unprecedented success through the utilization of the Internet as a primary vehicle for his political campaign. Obama's innovative approach to U.S. politicking has led to one of the most transformative eras in U.S. political history and is an extraordinary example of a new, online, political machine—the Obamachine.