Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quick-VDR: out-of-core view-dependent rendering of gigantic models

We present a novel approach for interactive view-dependent rendering of massive models. Our algorithm combines view-dependent simplification, occlusion culling, and out-of-core rendering. We represent the model as a clustered hierarchy of progressive meshes (CHPM). We use the cluster hierarchy for coarse-grained selective refinement and progressive meshes for fine-grained local refinement. We present an out-of-core algorithm for computation of a CHPM that includes cluster decomposition, hierarchy generation, and simplification. We introduce novel cluster dependencies in the preprocess to generate crack-free, drastic simplifications at runtime. The clusters are used for LOD selection, occlusion culling, and out-of-core rendering. We add a frame of latency to the rendering pipeline to fetch newly visible clusters from the disk and avoid stalls. The CHPM reduces the refinement cost of view-dependent rendering by more than an order of magnitude as compared to a vertex hierarchy. We have implemented our algorithm on a desktop PC. We can render massive CAD, isosurface, and scanned models, consisting of tens or a few hundred million triangles at 15-35 frames per second with little loss in image quality.
Ultrasound Findings in Hand Joints Involvement in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis and Its Correlation with Clinical DAS28 Score

Objective. To determine the frequency of the various ultrasound findings in hand joints in patients with psoriatic arthritis and correlate grayscale and Power Doppler ultrasonography findings with Disease Activity Score 28. Methods. This prospective study was performed in 30 patients. Ultrasound evaluation of 28 joints of both hands was undertaken and various findings were recorded including synovial hypertrophy, Power Doppler abnormality, soft tissue thickening, tendonitis, joint effusion, periosteal reaction, and erosions. Composite ultrasound scores and Disease Activity Score 28 were calculated and compared. Spearman correlation was used to see relationship between the ultrasound and DAS28 scores. Results. Ultrasound detected more abnormalities in the hand joints than did clinical examination. The frequency of various ultrasound abnormalities was as follows: Synovial hypertrophy was seen in 100%, Power Doppler abnormality suggesting hypervascularity was seen in 36.7%, soft tissue thickening was seen in 66.7%, periosteal reaction was seen in 33.3%, erosions were seen in 30% (mostly in DIP and PIP joints), and flexor tendonitis was seen in 6.7% of patients. Significant correlation was found between Disease Activity Score 28 and grayscale joint score (GSJS) (Spearman's ρ: 0.499; P: 0.005), grayscale joint count (GSJC) (ρ: 0.398; P: 0.029), and Power Doppler joint score (PDJS) (ρ: 0.367; P: 0.046). There was a statistically significant difference between remission and low disease activity group and moderate disease activity group in terms of GSJC, GSJS, PDJC, and PDJS (P < 0.05). These ultrasound measures were higher in moderate disease activity zone patients. Conclusion. Ultrasound is a useful modality for the objective assessment of psoriatic arthritis. Ultrasound including Power Doppler can be used as a modality for assessment of severity of psoriatic arthritis as it correlates with the clinical scoring.
Across the Grain: Learning from Reform Initiatives in Undergraduate Education

Over the past decade I have been privileged to watch and participate in a diverse array of change initiatives directed toward improving undergraduate teaching and learning. The topics addressed by these initiatives range from using technology to restructure pedagogy, through collaborative learning and assessment, to accreditation reform and the development of new tools for determining academic quality. Settings have been equally diverse, ranging from efforts located individual classrooms, through comprehensive institution-level change projects, to activities designed to alter the external structures of accountability and incentives that help shape institutional behavior. Some of these initiatives were undertaken in partnership with the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE). Virtually all are or were supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Dual active bridge DC-DC converter using both full and half bridge topologies to achieve high efficiency for wide load

This papar proposes which the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter changes between Full Bridge (FB) converter's operation and Half Bridge (HB) converter's operation on the secondary side of the high frequency transformer depending on the output power. With the HB converter operation's, the iron loss of the transformer becomes small because the secondary voltage of the transformer becomes half compared to the FB converter's operation. In addition, Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) is achieved at the light load. Therefore, the proposed circuit can obtain the high efficiency for the wide load by the changing the HB and the FB converter's operation depending on the output power. In this paper, the changing point between the HB and the FB converter is derived using the loss calculation. The validity of the proposed circuit is verified by 800-W prototype. From the experimental results, it is confirmed that the proposed circuit has the two local maximum efficiencies which are 92.9% and 93.4% at the light load and the heavy load using the proposed circuit.
Predictors of Overall Perceived Health in Patients With Heart Failure

Background:Overall perceived health (OPH) is a powerful and independent predictor of negative health outcomes and low health-related quality of life. Overall perceived health is conspicuously low in patients with heart failure (HF). Objective:The purpose of this study was to determine the key predictors of OPH in persons with HF and explore possible mediating relationships. Methods:This cross-sectional predictive correlational study was a secondary analysis of an existing data set. Individual characteristics, biophysiological variables, physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, and physical and social functioning were identified from the Wilson and Cleary Model and tested as predictors of OPH in a 5-step hierarchical regression analysis. Results:The sample (n = 265) was primarily male (64.2%) and white (61.9%), with a mean age of 62 years, and had at least a high school education and a household income enough or more than enough to meet needs. Most (69.1%) had systolic dysfunction, and 78.5% were New York Heart Association class III or IV. The final model containing 15 predictors explained 39.2% of the variance in OPH. Six variables were significant independent predictors of OPH: perceived sufficiency of income, social functioning, comorbid burden, symptom stability, race, and the interaction of gender and social functioning, the last indicating social functioning as a stronger predictor for men than for women. In a multiple mediation analysis, the effects of shortness of breath and fatigue on OPH were mediated by physical and social functioning. Gender moderated the effect of fatigue through social functioning. Conclusions:These variables explained a significant portion of the variance in OPH and can be used to target individuals at risk for low OPH and to tailor interventions. If OPH is low, a focus on patient symptoms and ability to participate in life activities is appropriate, with particular attention to social functioning in men.
Holographic algorithms: from art to science

We develop the theory of holographic algorithms. We definea basis manifold and give characterizations of algebraic varieties of realizable symmetric generators and recognizers on this manifold. We present a polynomial time decision algorithm for the simultaneous realizability problem. Using the general machinery we are able to giveunexpected holographic algorithms for some counting problems, modulo certain Mersenne type integers. These counting problems are P-complete without the moduli. Going beyond symmetric signatures, we define d-admissibility and d-realizability for general signatures, and give a characterizationof 2-admissibility.
Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by a dysregulated immune response to infection. Interestingly, sepsis mortality increases with acute kidney injury (AKI) and patients with AKI worsen with sepsis. It is interesting to note that most of the clinical trials on sepsis treatment that derived from the results of translational researches are a failure. This is, in part, because of the complexity of human sepsis in comparison with animal models. Another reason for the failure-translation might be the improper matching of the animal models to the individual patient. It is possible that the main mechanism of sepsis induction in each patient with the variety causes of sepsis might be different. Indeed, immune response to sepsis depends on genetic background, route of immune activation, and organisms. Thus, sepsis treatment classified by “mechanistic approach” to individual patient might be more proper than the classification with “sepsis severity”. Specific treatment of sepsis in individual patient according to the specific immune response characteristic might be a more proper translational strategy. Indeed, the understanding in immune response pattern of sepsis and sepsis pathophysiology is necessary for “sepsis mechanistic approach”. Then, we conclude most of the topics and our hypothesis regarding SA-AKI in this review.
Ultrasound-guided percutaneous fine-needle aspiration of 545 focal pancreatic lesions.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy and short-term complication rate of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytologic sampling of focal pancreatic lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed 545 consecutive ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytologic sampling procedures for focal pancreatic lesions from January 2004 through June 2008. The procedures were performed with a 20- or 21-gauge needle. The onsite cytopathologist evaluated the appropriateness of the sample and made a diagnosis. We reviewed the final diagnosis and the radiologic and medical records of all patients for onset of complications during or within 7 days of the procedure. RESULTS The study sample included 262 women and 283 men (mean age, 62 years; range, 25-86 years). The head or uncinate process of the pancreas was the location of 63.0% of the lesions, and 35.2% of the lesions were located in the body or tail of the pancreas. The site of 10 lesions (1.8%) was not specified. Sampling was diagnostic in 509 of the 545 cases (93.4%). Excluding the 36 nondiagnostic samples, ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytologic sampling had 99.4% sensitivity, 100% specificity, and 99.4% accuracy. In 537 of the 545 cases (98.5%), the procedure was uneventful. In two cases, abdominal fluid was found after the procedure that was not present before the procedure. Six patients experienced postprocedural pain without abnormal findings at subsequent imaging. No major complications occurred. CONCLUSION Ultrasound-guided cytologic sampling is safe and accurate for the diagnosis and planning of management of focal pancreatic lesions. With a cytologist on site, the rate of acquisition of samples adequate for diagnosis is high, reducing the need for patient recall.
Parametrices and dispersive estimates for Schrödinger operators with variable coefficients

In this article we consider variable coefficient time dependent Schr\"odinger evolutions in ${\Bbb R}^n$. Using phase space methods we construct outgoing parametrices and prove Strichartz type estimates globally in time. This is done in the context of $C^2$ metrics which satisfy a weak asymptotic flatness condition at infinity.
EXPERIENCES WITH EXPERIMENTS IN AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE ENVIRONMENTS

The development of activity recognition techniques relies on the availability of datasets of gestures to train and validate the proposed methods. In this work we introduce and describe a new dataset for activity recognition. The dataset is made up of 8 scenarios from everyday life and includes 17 activities composed of a total of 64 gestures. Each scenario has been repeated 10 times by 2 users. All activities and gestures are labeled. 5 different sensing modalities are implemented by using body worn and environmental sensors and smart objects. The paper describes our considerations in setting up the testbed and performing the experiments to record the dataset, our experiences with recording the data and discusses possible research questions to be tackled with the dataset.
Using comparative human descriptions for soft biometrics

Soft biometrics is a new form of biometric identification which utilizes labeled physical or behavioral traits. Although these traits intuitively have less discriminatory capability than mensurate approaches, they offer several advantages over traditional biometric techniques. Soft biometric traits can be typically described as labels and measurements which can be understood by people, allowing retrieval and recognition based solely on human descriptions. Although being a key component of eyewitness evidence, conventional human descriptions can be considered to be unreliable. A novel method of obtaining human descriptions will be introduced which utilizes visual comparisons between subjects. The Elo rating system is used to infer relative measurements of subjects' traits based on the comparative human descriptions. This innovative approach to obtaining human descriptions has been shown to counter many problems associated with categorical (absolute) labels. The resulting soft biometric signatures have been demonstrated to be robust and allow accurate retrieval of subjects in video data and show that elapsed time can have little effect on comparative descriptions.
Patient-focused research supported practices in an intensive family therapy unit

The aim of this study is to explain how families evaluate and describe the use of two measures, the session rating scale and the outcome rating scale, in order to monitor therapeutic work. This study is methodologically based on modifications of methodical hermeneutics and consensual qualitative research. The results confirm the feasibility of these scales although some difficulties were identified. The analysis of the family interviews identified four conversational processes: communicating, focusing, structuring and exploration. These arise through the application of the scales, indicating their usefulness as conversational tools. In general, it is suggested that all the measurements and tools applied can be seen as therapeutic tools that are especially useful for establishing conversations and strengthening collaboration between service users and therapists. This brings the practice of monitoring therapeutic work into close contact with postmodern-oriented forms of therapy.
Identifying sleep disturbances in Huntington’s disease using a simple disease-focused questionnaire

Sleep disturbances have been shown to affect patients with various neurological diseases, including Huntington’s disease (HD). We therefore aimed to develop a sleep questionnaire that could be used by clinicians to help identify sleep disturbances in patients with the disease. Design A detailed questionnaire was used that was modelled on recent sleep questionnaires used for Parkinson’s disease patients, and developed after consultation with sleep specialists. This questionnaire contained 45 questions that focused on different sleep-related issues such as duration, quality of sleep, abnormal nocturnal behaviour and quality of life. Setting Questionnaires were either completed in the home environment or in clinic. Participants 66 patients, 38 carers and 60 non-carers were recruited. Measurements & Results Various sleep-related difficulties were identified in a significantly greater proportion of HD patients compared to control subjects, with both quality and quantity of sleep being affected. Conclusions Disturbed sleep in HD may contribute towards the deterioration of the patient’s ability to do activities of daily living and have a significantly deleterious effect on the quality of life of both patients and carers. This simple questionnaire should aid the clinician by providing subjective insight into the patient’s sleep patterns that could enable more effective, individual-specific treatment to be instigated and ultimately improve quality of life.
Finite Embeddability Property for Residuated Groupoids Zuzana Haniková and Rostislav Horč́ık

A very simple proof of the finite embeddability property for residuated distributivelattice-ordered groupoids and some related classes of algebras is presented. In particular, this gives an answer to the question posed in [3, Problem 4.2]. The presented construction allows for improvement of the upper bound on the complexity of the decision procedure for the universal theory of residuated distributive-lattice-ordered groupoids, given in [5]; for chains in the class, a tight bound can be obtained.
On the Achievable Rate of Bistatic Modulated Rescatter Systems

In ambient rescatter communications, devices convey information by modulating and rescattering the radio frequency signals impinging on their antennas. In this correspondence, we consider a system consisting of a legacy modulated continuous carrier multiple-input-multiple-output link and a multiantenna modulated rescatter (MRS) node, where the MRS node modulates and rescatters the signal generated by the legacy transmitter. The receiver seeks to decode both the original message and the information added by the MRS. We show that the achievable sum rate of this system exceeds that which the legacy system could achieve alone. We further consider the impact of channel estimation errors under the least squares channel estimation and study the achievable rate of the legacy and MRS systems, where a linear minimum mean square error receiver with successive interference cancellation is utilized for joint decoding.
The pSKILLS experience : Using modern Educational Programming Languages to revitalise computer science teaching

Engaging learners has never been more challenging as ICT provides an ever-increasing array of hardware and applications designed to stimulate and motivate interest and absorption. Educationalists are faced with opportunities to select the platform and environment that address the needs of the lifelong learner, from student to administrator, that includes the curriculum moving from knowledge transmission to knowledge construction. This paper presents the first tangible results by a two-years project (PSKILLS) aiming at enabling computer science teachers in secondary education to exploit modern educational programming languages. The project is set in the context of student-centered pedagogical settings, in order to contribute to making their courses effective, creative and attractive. Several surveys at international level were conducted: to ascertain the current state of students and teachers training in computer sciences; to evaluate existing pedagogical approaches best suited to the computer science teaching; to identify, between available Educational Programming Languages, the most suitable one to be used for the training activities of the project. On the basis of the identified training needs, a suggested common curriculum was created and recommendations for the adaptation of national computer science curricula were produced based on the use of the selected EPL, Scratch. The adapted curriculum would cover all core programming concepts with an intuitive user interface that can be easily understood by beginners to programming. Training Scenario Templates focusing on the pedagogically-driven use of EPLs were conceived to provide training scenarios for teachers training to design, plan, and orchestrate learning activities that are intended to increase students’ motivation and engagement. The templates are to be used with an array of tools including the Multimedia Open Learning Environment (MOLE), which is the learning support platform used for the establishment of the training infrastructure, managing courses, supporting learning processes and communities through the Web.
Spin dynamics in the square-lattice antiferromagnet.

We apply the Schwinger boson mean-field theory to the square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet at low temperatures. For spin (1/2 we confirm the renormalized classical behavior of the correlation length kappa/sup -1/(T) without appealing to spin-wave theory. We also present a detailed calculation of the dynamical structure factor. A quasielastic peak is featured near q = (.pi.,.pi.), while for chemically bondq-(.pi.,.pi.)chemically bond>>kappa, spin-wave ridges appear. The uniform susceptibility interpolates between spin-wave results at T = 0 and the high-temperature series of Rushbrooke and Wood. Our theory is distinct from theories in which fermionic spinon excitations determine the low-temperature spin dynamics.
Modeling ecological traps for the control of feral pigs

Ecological traps are habitat sinks that are preferred by dispersing animals but have higher mortality or reduced fecundity compared to source habitats. Theory suggests that if mortality rates are sufficiently high, then ecological traps can result in extinction. An ecological trap may be created when pest animals are controlled in one area, but not in another area of equal habitat quality, and when there is density-dependent immigration from the high-density uncontrolled area to the low-density controlled area. We used a logistic population model to explore how varying the proportion of habitat controlled, control mortality rate, and strength of density-dependent immigration for feral pigs could affect the long-term population abundance and time to extinction. Increasing control mortality, the proportion of habitat controlled and the strength of density-dependent immigration decreased abundance both within and outside the area controlled. At higher levels of these parameters, extinction was achieved for feral pigs. We extended the analysis with a more complex stochastic, interactive model of feral pig dynamics in the Australian rangelands to examine how the same variables as the logistic model affected long-term abundance in the controlled and uncontrolled area and time to extinction. Compared to the logistic model of feral pig dynamics, the stochastic interactive model predicted lower abundances and extinction at lower control mortalities and proportions of habitat controlled. To improve the realism of the stochastic interactive model, we substituted fixed mortality rates with a density-dependent control mortality function, empirically derived from helicopter shooting exercises in Australia. Compared to the stochastic interactive model with fixed mortality rates, the model with the density-dependent control mortality function did not predict as substantial decline in abundance in controlled or uncontrolled areas or extinction for any combination of variables. These models demonstrate that pest eradication is theoretically possible without the pest being controlled throughout its range because of density-dependent immigration into the area controlled. The stronger the density-dependent immigration, the better the overall control in controlled and uncontrolled habitat combined. However, the stronger the density-dependent immigration, the poorer the control in the area controlled. For feral pigs, incorporating environmental stochasticity improves the prospects for eradication, but adding a realistic density-dependent control function eliminates these prospects.
Magnetic Properties Evaluation of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel Sheets Under Bending Stress

This paper investigates the influences of bending stress and annealing on magnetic properties of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets. Grain-oriented electrical steel sheets under different levels of bending stress are measured. The actual wound core transformer model that applied those magnetic properties is analyzed. The influences of bending stress and annealing on the behavior of the flux of an actual wound core transformer made by rolling electrical steel sheets are verified.