Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Data‐Driven Shape Interpolation and Morphing Editing

Shape interpolation has many applications in computer graphics such as morphing for computer animation. In this paper, we propose a novel data‐driven mesh interpolation method. We adapt patch‐based linear rotational invariant coordinates to effectively represent deformations of models in a shape collection, and utilize this information to guide the synthesis of interpolated shapes. Unlike previous data‐driven approaches, we use a rotation/translation invariant representation which defines the plausible deformations in a global continuous space. By effectively exploiting the knowledge in the shape space, our method produces realistic interpolation results at interactive rates, outperforming state‐of‐the‐art methods for challenging cases. We further propose a novel approach to interactive editing of shape morphing according to the shape distribution. The user can explore the morphing path and select example models intuitively and adjust the path with simple interactions to edit the morphing sequences. This provides a useful tool to allow users to generate desired morphing with little effort. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using various examples.
Coupled power and thermal simulation and its applications

Power is rapidly becoming the primary design constrain for systems ranging from server computers to handhelds. In this paper we study microarchitecture-level power modeling and management with temperature and voltage scaling. We develop an accurate temperature-dependent leakage power model and efficient temperature calculation, and show that leakage energy and total energy can be different by up to 10X and 30% for temperatures between 35C and 110C, respectively. Given the growing significance of leakage power and its sensitive dependence on temperature, no power modeling at microarchitecture is accurate without considering dynamic temperature calculation. Furthermore, we discuss a new thermal runaway phenomenon induced by the temperature dependent leakage power and show that in the near future thermal runaway could be a severe problem. We also study the microarchitecture level coupled power and thermal management by clock gating and novel active cooling techniques. We show that with thermal constraints, clock gating can increase maximum system clock by up to 1.5X and reduce leakage energy by up to 68.5% compared to the cases without clock gating, and active cooling techniques providing smaller thermal resistance can further increase the maximum clock by a factor of 2.44X .
Partial Reversal of Obesity-Induced Insulin Resistance Owing to Anti-Inflammatory Immunomodulatory Potential of Flaxseed Oil

The present study was designed to assess the potential of supplementation of diet with Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum, L.) oil (FXO), on obesity-related inflammation and reversal of obesity-induced insulin resistance. Swiss Albino mice, C57bl/6 mice and co-culture of 3T3-L1 adipocytes – RAW 264.7 macrophages to mimick obese adipose tissue environment were used for the study. Oral gavage of FXO at concentrations of 4, 8 or 16 mg/kg body weight (bwt) for 4 weeks or high-fat diet (HFD, 60% energy as fat) supplemented with dietary FXO (4, 8 or 16 mg/kg bwt) was given to the mice. FXO was characterised using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry. FXO supplemented HFD-fed mice (4 mg/kg bwt exhibited reduced adiposity index, serum glucose levels and triglycerides (8 and 16 mg/kg bwt) and improvement in insulin sensitisation (4, 8 and 16 mg/kg bwt) when compared with HFD mice. The co-culture showed a dose-dependent shift in cytokines towards anti-inflammatory (IL-4) state, with a decrease in pro-inflammatory TNF-α (p < 0.05). For immunomodulatory studies a dose-dependent increase (p < 0.05) was observed in antigen-specific levels of Th2 (IL-4) cytokine, serum anti-ova IgG1 and IgE levels. Suppression in anti-ova IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgG3 and antigen-specific Th1 cytokines like TNF-α and IFN-γ significantly (p < 0.05) was observed at 16 mg/kg bwt dosage. The results indicate that FXO exhibits an anti-inflammatory immunomodulatory potential and may partially relieve symptoms of obesity-associated insulin resistance.
A Sinister Bias for Calling Fouls in Soccer

Distinguishing between a fair and unfair tackle in soccer can be difficult. For referees, choosing to call a foul often requires a decision despite some level of ambiguity. We were interested in whether a well documented perceptual-motor bias associated with reading direction influenced foul judgments. Prior studies have shown that readers of left-to-right languages tend to think of prototypical events as unfolding concordantly, from left-to-right in space. It follows that events moving from right-to-left should be perceived as atypical and relatively debased. In an experiment using a go/no-go task and photographs taken from real games, participants made more foul calls for pictures depicting left-moving events compared to pictures depicting right-moving events. These data suggest that two referees watching the same play from distinct vantage points may be differentially predisposed to call a foul.
Staffing ratios and quality: an analysis of minimum direct care staffing requirements for nursing homes.

OBJECTIVE To study the impact of minimum direct care staffing (MDCS) requirements on nurse staffing levels, nurse skill mix, and quality. DATA SOURCES U.S. nursing home facility data from the Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) System merged with MDCS requirements. STUDY DESIGN; Facility-level outcomes of nurse staffing levels, nurse skill mix, and quality measures are regressed on the level of nurse staffing required by MDCS requirements in the prior year and other controls using fixed effect panel regression. Quality measures are care practices, resident outcomes, and regulatory deficiencies. DATA EXTRACTION METHOD Analysis used all OSCAR surveys from 1999 to 2004, resulting in 17,552 unique facilities with a total of 94,371 survey observations. PRINCIPLE FINDINGS The effect of MDCS requirements varied with reliance of the nursing home on Medicaid. Higher MDCS requirements increase nurse staffing levels, while their effect on nurse skill mix depends on the reliance of the nursing home on Medicaid. MDCS have mixed effects on care practices but are generally associated with improved resident outcomes and meeting regulatory standards. CONCLUSIONS MDCS requirements change staffing levels and skill mix, improve certain aspects of quality, but can also lead to use of care practices associated with lower quality.
Inferring UI patterns with Inductive Logic Programming

This paper presents an approach to infer UI patterns existent in a web application. This reverse engineering process is performed in two steps. First, execution traces are collected from user interactions using the Selenium software. Second, the existing UI patterns within those traces are identified using Machine Learning inference with the Aleph ILP system. The paper describes and illustrates the proposed methodology on a case study over the Amazon web site.
Small RNAs and extracellular vesicles in filarial nematodes: From nematode development to diagnostics

Parasitic nematodes have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to communicate with their hosts in order to survive and successfully establish an infection. The transfer of RNA within extracellular vesicles (EVs) has recently been described as a mechanism that could contribute to this communication in filarial nematodes. It has been shown that these EVs are loaded with several types of RNAs, including microRNAs, leading to the hypothesis that parasites could actively use these molecules to manipulate host gene expression and to the exciting prospect that these pathways could result in new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Here, we review the literature on the diverse RNAi pathways that operate in nematodes and more specifically our current knowledge of extracellular RNA (exRNA) and EVs derived from filarial nematodes in vitro and within their hosts. We further detail some of the issues and questions related to the capacity of RNA‐mediated communication to function in parasite–host interactions and the ability of exRNA to enable us to distinguish and detect different nematode parasites in their hosts.
Association of Betel Nut with Carcinogenesis: Revisit with a Clinical Perspective

Abstract Betel nut (BN), betel quid (BQ) and products derived from them are widely used as a socially endorsed masticatory product. The addictive nature of BN/BQ has resulted in its widespread usage making it the fourth most abused substance by humans. Progressively, several additives, including chewing tobacco, got added to simple BN preparations. This addictive practice has been shown to have strong etiological correlation with human susceptibility to cancer, particularly oral and oropharyngeal cancers. The PUBMED database was searched to retrieve all relevant published studies in English on BN and BQ, and its association with oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Only complete studies directly dealing with BN/BQ induced carcinogenesis using statistically valid and acceptable sample size were analyzed. Additional relevant information available from other sources was also considered. This systematic review attempts to put in perspective the consequences of this widespread habit of BN/BQ mastication, practiced by approximately 10% of the world population, on oral cancer with a clinical perspective. BN/BQ mastication seems to be significantly associated with susceptibility to oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Addition of tobacco to BN has been found to only marginally increase the cancer risk. Despite the widespread usage of BN/BQ and its strong association with human susceptibility to cancer, no serious strategy seems to exist to control this habit. The review, therefore, also looks at various preventive efforts being made by governments and highlights the multifaceted intervention strategies required to mitigate and/or control the habit of BN/BQ mastication.
Thermomechanical Behavior of Wheat Gluten Films: Effect of Sucrose, Glycerin, and Sorbitol

Glass transition temperature (T g ) and mechanical and water vapor barrier properties of wheat gluten films containing glycerin, sucrose, glycerin-sucrose, and glycerin-sorbitol were studied. Glycerin and sucrose were immiscible; the wheat gluten film containing both solutes showed two separate thermal transitions (-58 o C and -5 o C, respectively). The low temperature (low-T) transition (-58 o C) was due to a glycerin-rich region. The low-T tan δ peak height influenced the tensile strength and elongation linearly and the water vapor permeability (WVP) curvilinearly. However, the T g failed to change with solute composition and exhibited low correlation with barrier and mechanical properties. Initial addition of glycerin increased the WVP dramatically. Sucrose decreased the WVP (only slightly), but resulted in a rigid and fragile film. The gluten-glycerin-sorbitol film at a ratio of 15:3:3 (w/w), 16.7% moisture (wb), showed a single effective T g (-42 o C) and intermediate values for tensile strength, percent elongation, and WVP, which were between those of the 15:6:0 and 15:4:2 gluten-glycerin-sucrose films
Naptime data meetings to increase the math talk of early care and education providers

ABSTRACT Classroom conversations about mathematics—math talk—between early care and education providers and young children have been associated with growth in mathematical thinking. However, professional development opportunities to learn about math teaching and learning are limited in many community-based child development centers. New approaches that are less costly and time consuming are needed to support providers in planning and implementing rich math experiences for young children. Professional development activities that are offered within the work site and during work hours may be most feasible for a large percentage of community-based programs. The purpose of this study was to design and test the impact of brief, data-based staff meetings during naptime in child care classrooms on providers’ math interactions with their students. Findings indicate that such meetings increase participants’ math talk in specific domains and predict growth in children’s math abilities 6 months later. The potential of naptime data meetings to enhance math interactions and other areas of professional practice are discussed. Future directions for additional research are recommended.
Denoising based Vector Approximate Message Passing

The denoising-based approximate message passing (D-AMP) methodology, recently proposed by Metzler, Maleki, and Baraniuk, allows one to plug in sophisticated denoisers like BM3D into the AMP algorithm to achieve state-of-the-art compressive image recovery. But AMP diverges with small deviations from the i.i. d. -Gaussian assumption on the measurement matrix. Recently, the vector AMP (VAMP) algorithm has been proposed to fix this problem. In this work, we show that the benefits of VAMP extend to D-VAMP.
Revision of the Chinese Facial Affective Picture System

Objective:To extend the native Chinese Facial Affective Picture System to provide materials for further research on emotion.Methods:The experiments used convenience sampling.One hundred students from the acting and directing department of two art colleges in Beijing were selected as the expresser.And 100 students were recruited from two colleges in Beijing as the raters.Seven types of facial expression pictures including anger,disgust,fearful,sadness,surprised,happy and peaceful were collected from expressers.Then,the type was judged and the pictures were assessed with a 9-point scale by college student raters.The experiment 1 was to expand all emotional types of pictures on the basis of Chinese facial expression materials that produced by our group.One hundred students from the drama club of three colleges in Beijing were selected as the expresser.And each of 10 elderly and children expresser was selected from a community of Beijing.Then,another 100 students were recruited from two colleges in Beijing as the raters.Experiment 2 further expanded the number of negative pictures(such as anger,disgust,fear,sadness)and added some pictures of other age groups.Results:Totally 870 representative facial expression pictures of 7 emotion types were obtained with an identity rate and intensity point for each picture including 74 anger faces,47 disgust faces,64 fear faces,95 sadness faces,120 surprise faces,248 happiness faces and 222 neutral facial expressions.Conclusion:The present study has established the reliable Chinese Facial Affective Picture System.The facial expression pictures in our system are representative materials for emotion research in the future.It requires further study to improve the native facial expression system.
Chapter 2 The Kallikrein – Kinin Pathways in Hypertension and Diabetes

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of mortality worldwide. Hypertension and diabetes are the two major risk factors in the development of cardiac hypertrophy, ischemic heart disease, and cardiac failure. In Kuwait, high rate of prevalence of hypertension and diabetes has been documented. Previous studies have indicated altered activities of the BK-generating components in hypertension and diabetes. Bradykinin is pharmacologically active polypeptide that can promote both cardiovascular and renal function, for example, vasodilation, natriuresis, diuresis, and release of nitric oxide (NO). In addition, B2 kinin receptors are present in the cardiac endothelial cells which may enhance the biosynthesis and release of NO. It has been demonstrated that reduced urinary (renal) kallikrein levels may be associated with the development of high blood pressure in humans and spontaneously hypertensive and diabetic rats. The BK may produce its pharmacological effects via NO and cyclic GMP release. Furthermore, it is established that the BK has cardioprotective actions in myocardial ischemia and can prevent left ventricular hypertrophy. Also, transgenic mice carrying tissue kallikrein gene and overexpressing tissue kallikrein had reduced blood pressure. NO synthase and renal tissue kallikrein are both involved in blood pressure regulation. The ability of kallikrein gene delivery and the use of kinin B2 receptor agonists to produce a wide spectrum of beneficial effects make it a powerful candidate in treating hypertension, cardiovascular, and renal diseases. Strategies that activate kinin receptors might be applicable to the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Increased plasma prekallikrein levels in diabetic patients may serve as an indicator of developing hypertension and renal damage. Also high plasma and urine concentrations of tissue kallikrein may cause higher glucose levels in the blood. J. N. Sharma (&) P. Narayanan Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Health Sciences Centre, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait e-mail: j.n. sharma@hsc.edu. kw J. N. Sharma (ed.), Recent Developments in the Regulation of Kinins, Progress in Drug Research 69, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-06683-7_2, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 15
L'effet des troubles de la personnalité sur la réponse au traitement béhavioural-cognitif du trouble panique avec agoraphobie

This study measures the effect of personality disorders on the efficacy of treatment of agoraphobia. Forty-one patients suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia are evaluated for the presence of a personality disorder (according to DSM-III-R criteria) before the onset of treatment. The treatment consists in 14 sessions of behavioural cognitive therapy. Various measures of agoraphobic avoidance are obtained before (pre-test) and after the end of treatment (post-test, three month follow-up). Effect of treatment reaches statistical and clinical significance for all patients. Grouping of patients according to presence or absence of personality disorder shows no significant difference between the groups before or after treatment on scores of agoraphobia. A subgroup of patients with dependent personality disorder does not differ on measures of agoraphobic avoidance from patients without personality disorders or with other personality disorders. The discussion points out methodological limitations, differences in our study from other studies regarding the effect of personality on the treatment outcome of panic disorder with agoraphobia, as well as possibilities for future studies.
Maternal And Fetal Serum Levels Of Organochlorine Compounds In Cases Of Premature Rupture Of Membranes

Blood residue levels of some organochlorine pesticides (DDT and its analogues, lindane, dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide) and polychlorinated biphenyls were measured in maternal and cord blood in 20 cases of premature rupture of fetal membranes at term and in 15 matched controls. No evidence of a possible organochlorine compounds role in the pathogenesis of premature rupture of the membrane was found.
Point Based Representations for Hierarchical Environments

The advent of advanced graphics technologies and improved hardware has enabled the generation of highly complex models with huge number of triangles. Point-based representations and rendering have emerged as viable representations for high-quality models in this scenario. These methods have been demonstrated only on high resolution, compact objects so far. They have to be adapted to environments that extend over large areas to be considered serious representations. In this paper, we present an adaptation of the point-based representation to large, hierarchical environments. We show how point-based data can be generated by sampling polygon-based representations. We also show the combination of an object hierarchy and multiresolution point representations and develop rendering algorithms for the same. The multiresolution representation is constructed during the generation process. We then show a hybrid representation in which the more complex portions of the environment are represented using points and others using the original polygon-based representation. This produces better rendering performance by keeping large, flat regions as triangles. We demonstrate the method on the model of the Fatehpur Sikri which has 14000 objects with over 500,000 triangles
Web Usability : A Fuzzy Approach to the Navigation Structure Enhancement in a Website System, Case of Iranian Civil Aviation Organization Website

— With the proliferation of World Wide Web, development of web-based technologies and the growth in web content, the structure of a website becomes more complex and web navigation becomes a critical issue to both web designers and users. In this paper we define the content and web pages as two important and influential factors in website navigation and paraphrase the enhancement in the website navigation as making some useful changes in the link structure of the website based on the aforementioned factors. Then we suggest a new method for proposing the changes using fuzzy approach to optimize the website architecture. Applying the proposed method to a real case of Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) website, we discuss the results of the novel approach at the final section.
石川 正俊 ( 東大 ) 3 D Object Representation Using a Tangible Screen ©

We introduce prototype system for interactive exploration of volumetric data using a tangible screen, called ”Volume Slicing Display. ” The system tracks the shape and the position of a screen on 3D space using a custom monocular high-speed vision system, then projects the corresponding slice of a 3D virtual object on the screen surface in real time. This experimental interface thus enables users to feel as if 3D virtual objects co-exist in real space, as well as to explore them interactively.
Does Online Customer Experience Affect the Performance of E-commerce Firms ? 1

Claims have often been made, most notably by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, that the quality of the online customer experience in terms of Website ease of use, selection of goods offered, quality of customer service, the effectiveness of virtual community building, and site personalization are crucial to the success of e-commerce firms. Using scorecards of online customer experience provided by Gomez Advisors, we find that a 1% increase in the composite score of various dimensions of online customer experience is associated with a 1.66% increase in traffic reach and a 0.84% increase in revenues for the average e-commerce firm. However, investing resources in online customer experience does not appear to be cost-beneficial in the short-run. This is because a 1% increase in the composite score of online experience is associated with a 0.91% increase in operating expenses and a 2.11% decrease in net income for the average firm. Moreover, investors do not appear to believe that the quality of online experiences provides a sustainable advantage in the long run as evidenced by the absence of significant associations between online experience scores and market to book ratios. We also investigate whether there are statistically detectable differences in the customer experience scores of pure Internet firms when compared to those of their clicks and mortar counterparts. Although the average pure Internet firm provides a better online customer experience than the average clicks and mortar firm, this dominance is restricted to 6 of the 19 industries examined. Our study suggests that superior online experience can give pure Internet firms only a transient competitive edge in the battle for the domination of e-commerce.