Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Radial Sampling of the OSA Uniform Color Scales

The OSA Uniform Color Scales were derived using a unique geometry for the physical samples. Regular rhombohedral packing allows each sample to be compared to twelve other equally distant samples. While this sampling scheme provides an efficient geometry for sample comparison and allows multiple cleavage planes, it obscures the underlying perceptual attributes. However, it is relatively straightforward to compute a radial sampling of data points in OSA. This radial sampling results in a distance from the achromatic axis and an angular quantity and can be used to compare other color spaces. This paper presents a method and considerations for computing the radial sampling. The utility of this data is demonstrated by comparing the perceptual uniformity of five different color spaces. Introduction Color spaces and color order systems provide a means to organize and describe color. A uniform color space is one in which equal differences in any part of the space correspond to equal perceptual differences. There is an abundance of prior and ongoing research in the area of uniform color spaces. The OSA Uniform Color Scales or UCS is one such color space and was the result of extensive psychophyisical investigation and other considerations. The UCS exists both as physical samples and in equation form. The samples are based on a regular rhombohedral sampling scheme. This sampling results in twelve equally spaced neighbors for any given color and yields the closest uniform three dimensional sampling. This sampling scheme has a number of advantages, including visualization of color differences along multiple cleavage planes and efficient sampling for psychophysical evaluation. However this sampling scheme can make it more difficult to visualize color space uniformity. For example the OSA UCS space has been compared to other color spaces and color order systems, such as CIELAB or the Munsell Book of Color, or as a qualitative demonstration of perceptual uniformity for a physiologically based system of photometry and colorimetry. However the radial structure of the Munsell Book of Color and the regular rhombohedral structure of the OSA UCS can make visual comparisons difficult. However, aside from computational considerations there is no specific limitation or restriction on calculating alternative sampling schemes for the OSA UCS. This paper reviews the OSA UCS, the forward transformations and then proposes a radial sampling of the OSA UCS. Finally as an example of how this data can be used, the CIELAB, CIELUV, CIECAM97s, IPT and CIECAM02 color spaces are compared to each other using the radial OSA UCS data.
Collective Learning, Tacit Knowledge and Regional Innovative Capacity

LAWSON C. and LORENZ E. (1999) Collective learning, tacit knowledge and regional innovative capacity, Reg. Studies 33 , 305-317 . The paper reviews key ideas in the firm capabilities literature and shows how they can be usefully extended to develop a conception of collective learning among regionally clustered enterprises. The paper also explores the relationship between codifiable and tacit knowledge in the innovation process, and investigates the claim that tacit knowledge, because it is difficult to transfer in the absence of labour mobility, may constitute a basis for sustained regional competitive advantage. The closing section uses case study material based on Minneapolis and Cambridge to illustrate the importance for innovation of a regional capability for combining and integrating diverse knowledge, and of the sources of such capabilities as pre-conditions for successful high technology regions. LAWSON C. et LORENZ E. (1999) L'apprentissage collectif, la connaissance implicite et la capacite regionale a innover, Reg. Studies 33 , 305-317 . Puisant dans la documentation qui traite des competences de l'entreprise, l'article fait la critique des idees cle et montre comment on peut les elargir afin de developper une conception de l'apprentissage collectif parmi des entreprises regroupees sur le plan regional. L'article examine aussi le rapport entre les connaissances explicite et implicite dans le processus d'innovation, et cherche a verifier l'affirmation que la connaissance puisse servir de base a l'avantage competitif regional soutenu, parce qu'il s'avere difficile de la transferer, faute de mobilite de la maind'oeuvre. A partir des etudes de cas de Minneapolis et de Cambridge, la derniere partie montre l'importance pour l'innovation de la capacite regionale a combiner et a integrer des connaissances diverses, et des origines de telles competences comme prealables a la reussite des regions a la pointe de la technologie. LAWSON C. und LORENZ E. (1999) Kollekt (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
Comparison of the Mechanisms of Drug Resistance among HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the most prevalent deadly chronic viral diseases. HIV is treated by small molecule inhibitors. HBV is treated by immunomodulation and small molecule inhibitors. HCV is currently treated primarily by immunomodulation but many small molecules are in clinical development. Although HIV is a retrovirus, HBV is a double-stranded DNA virus, and HCV is a single-stranded RNA virus, antiviral drug resistance complicates the development of drugs and the successful treatment of each of these viruses. Although their replication cycles, therapeutic targets, and evolutionary mechanisms are different, the fundamental approaches to identifying and characterizing HIV, HBV, and HCV drug resistance are similar. This review describes the evolution of HIV, HBV, and HCV within individuals and populations and the genetic mechanisms associated with drug resistance to each of the antiviral drug classes used for their treatment.
Investigation on energy efficiency of OFDM-based two-stage cooperative multicast with CP combining

This paper focuses on the energy efficiency of two-stage cooperative multicast with CPC (CP combining). Aiming to provide a coverage of 95%, cooperative multicast with SC (selective combining) has been analytically investigated and a power saving of 43% can be achieved compared with conventional one-stage multicast [9]. However, CP combining which is more practical can provide a stronger received signal than SC and thus is expected to be able to provide further energy saving. Assuming high user density, analysis is carried out on the coverage performance of OFDM based two-stage cooperative multicast with CPC, which is decided by the BS (base station) transmission power at the 1st stage and the number and locations of MRs (mobile relays) at the 2nd stage. Given a fixed coverage, it is difficult to obtain the BS transmission power and MR scheme that provide the optimal total power consumption. Therefore, two sub-optimal schemes are proposed, i.e., BS coordination and MR coordination, which are based on the schemes for cooperative multicast with SC [9] and reduce the BS transmission power and the number of MRs, respectively. Numerical results show that with BS and MR coordination, cooperative multicast with CPC can save 9% and 17% compared to that with SC, respectively. Moreover, MR coordination provides more uniform coverage than BS coordination. Simulations are carried out to verify the numerical results. It is shown that MR coordination provides better coverage than BS coordination for all investigated user densities and the performance gap increases as the density decrease.
Characterization of cutaneous and articular sensory neurons

Background A wide range of stimuli can activate sensory neurons and neurons innervating specific tissues often have distinct properties. Here, we used retrograde tracing to identify sensory neurons innervating the hind paw skin (cutaneous) and ankle/knee joints (articular), and combined immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology analysis to determine the neurochemical phenotype of cutaneous and articular neurons, as well as their electrical and chemical excitability. Results Immunohistochemistry analysis using RetroBeads as a retrograde tracer confirmed previous data that cutaneous and articular neurons are a mixture of myelinated and unmyelinated neurons, and the majority of both populations are peptidergic. In whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons, voltage-gated inward currents and action potential parameters were largely similar between articular and cutaneous neurons, although cutaneous neuron action potentials had a longer half-peak duration (HPD). An assessment of chemical sensitivity showed that all neurons responded to a pH 5.0 solution, but that acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) currents, determined by inhibition with the nonselective acid-sensing ion channel antagonist benzamil, were of a greater magnitude in cutaneous compared to articular neurons. Forty to fifty percent of cutaneous and articular neurons responded to capsaicin, cinnamaldehyde, and menthol, indicating similar expression levels of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), and transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8), respectively. By contrast, significantly more articular neurons responded to ATP than cutaneous neurons. Conclusion This work makes a detailed characterization of cutaneous and articular sensory neurons and highlights the importance of making recordings from identified neuronal populations: sensory neurons innervating different tissues have subtly different properties, possibly reflecting different functions.
Research and Implementation of DPA-resistant SMS4 Block Cipher

Masking is the general method used to resist Differential Power Analysis. It makes power consumption independent of the intermediate values by XORing all the intermediate values with random values or fixed values. Fixed-value masking is faster and requires less RAM than random-value masking. The present paper proposes a fixed-value mask algorithm for SMS4 to resist power analysis attacks
Scale Dependent Intermittency and Conformal Invariance in Turbulence

We present a conformal theory for intermittent scalar fields. As an example, we consider the energy flux from large to small scales in the developed turbulent flow. The conformal correlation functions are found in the inertial range of scales. In the simplest case, the theory leads to the log-normal model. Parameters of the model are expressed via integrals of the conformal correlation functions. Non-Gaussian conformal correlation functions of high order are studied.
Measuring the size of the hidden economy in Canada

This paper presents some preliminary results relating to the size of the hidden economy in Canada. There appears to have been very little formal analysis of this phenomenon in the context of the Canadian economy in the past, but, internationally, there has been a wealth of work published for different countries, especially the United States and many European countries. These studies have used a variety of techniques to measure the size of the hidden economy, the most sophisticated of which is the MIMIC model approach. This modeling technique recognizes the inherent invisibility of the hidden economy and it is the method that is employed in this paper. The MIMIC model uses information contained within relevant indicator and causal variables to estimate an ordinal time-path of the size of the hidden economy over the sample period (1976 to 1995). The index series is easily converted into a cardinal time-path by using an average of the estimates of the Canadian hidden economy obtained in other studies to create a “benchmark” for the series. The end result is a time-path for the hidden economy, expressed as a percentage of measured real GDP. By allowing for different combinations of causal and indicator variables in the model, three separate yet very similar time-paths are presented. The results suggest that the size of the hidden economy in Canada for 1995 is approximately 15% of GDP. MEASURING THE SIZE OF THE HIDDEN ECONOMY IN CANADA: A LATENT VARIABLE/MIMIC MODEL APPROACH Lindsay M. Tedds University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia #14-606 MacLaren Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1R 5K9 (FAX: (613) 995-7090; Voice: (613) 992-9878; Email: Tedds.Lindsay@fin.gc. ca)
The Confirmatory Role of Mandatory Accounting: Accounting as a Disciplinary Mechanism for Managers' Estimates and Analysts' Forecasts

This paper explores the interaction between information systems. More specifically, the paper empirically investigates whether higher quality of accounting information enhances the quality of information from other sources, in particular, managers and analysts. In general, managers face incentives to optimistically bias the forward-looking statements they release about their company. Future accounting information will confirm or undermine current voluntary disclosures provided by managers, thereby disciplining managers’ current forward-looking statements. Higher quality of accounting information better reveals systematic optimistic bias in managers’ disclosures and therefore imposes higher costs on such behavior. Similarly, under the view that analysts also face incentives to optimistically bias their information, this confirmatory role of accounting applies to analysts as well. Two measures of accounting quality are used to capture two dimensions of accounting quality that are most relevant for the confirmatory role of accounting: reliability and the extent of earnings management. I predict and find that higher accounting quality is negatively associated with the optimistic bias in managers’ estimates and analysts’ forecasts. The paper also addresses the question of whether the importance of accounting as a disciplinary mechanism increases with the intensity of incentives to optimistically bias the information. The empirical findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the negative relation between the magnitude of the optimistic bias and the accounting quality measures is more pronounced when intense incentives to bias the information are present. Additional empirical tests provide evidence that the 3 days abnormal return around managers’ forecast is significantly lower for firms with lower accounting quality, suggesting that market participants correct, at least partially, for the higher optimistic bias in managers’ forecasts of firms with lower accounting quality. Finally, I find that managers’ decision to issue an earnings guidance is negatively related to the accounting quality measures.
A Study of the Relationship among Self-Efficacy , Attribution , Goal Setting , and Mechanics Achievement in Department of Mechanical Engineering Students on Taiwan

purpose of this study was to examine the impact of attribution on Mechanics (Statics & Dynamics) self-efficacy and the relationships among goal setting, self-efficacy, and Mechanics achievement in Department of Mechanical Engineering students. 345 freshmen in a Technology University were used as participants in this two-year longitudinal study. Results show that the beneficial attributers possessed higher self-efficacy than individuals with less beneficial attribution. Further, it was shown that Mechanical Engineering students with higher self-efficacy achieved better proficiency level during the consecutive Mechanics proficiency test every half-year. Meanwhile, those with higher self-efficacy are likely to set higher goal level for the subsequent tests, and those with higher goal setting have performed better than those with lower goal setting. Together findings in this study show that the effective way to improve Mechanics performance in Mechanical Engineering students might lie in how to militate the beneficial attribution manners and increase the self-efficacy as well as set higher and reasonable goal level.
INTEGRAL and Magnetars

Thanks to INTEGRAL’s long exposures of the Galactic Plane, the two brightest Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14, have been monitored and studied in detail for the first time at hard-X/softgamma rays. SGR 1806-20, lying close to the Galactic Centre, and being very active in the past two years, has provided a wealth of new INTEGRAL results, which we will summarise here: more than 300 short bursts have been observed from this source and their characteristics have been studied with unprecedented sensitivity in the 15-200 keV range. A hardness-intensity anticorrelation within the bursts has been discovered and the overall NumberIntensity distribution of the bursts has been determined. The increase of its bursting activity eventually led to the December 2004 Giant Flare for which a possible soft gamma-ray (>80 keV) early afterglow has been detected with INTEGRAL. The deep observations allowed us to discover the persistent emission in hard X-rays (20-150 keV) from 1806-20 and 1900+14, the latter being in quiescent state, and to directly compare the spectral characteristics of all Magnetars (two SGRs and three Anomalous X-ray Pulsars) detected with INTEGRAL.
Elements Of Stochastic Modelling

Elements of Stochastic Modelling World Scientific This page is concerned with the stochastic modelling as applied to the insurance industry. For other stochastic modelling applications, please see Monte Carlo method and Stochastic asset models.For mathematical definition, please see Stochastic process. "Stochastic" means being or having a random variable.A stochastic model is a tool for estimating probability distributions of potential .
ROR1 and ROR2 in Human Malignancies: Potentials for Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapies require cellular protein expression that meets specific requirements that will maximize effectiveness, minimize off-target toxicities, and provide an opportunity for a therapeutic effect. The receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptors (ROR) are possible targets for therapy that may meet such requirements. RORs are transmembrane proteins that are part of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family. The RORs have been shown to play a role in tumor-like behavior, such as cell migration and cell invasiveness and are normally not expressed in normal adult tissue. As part of the large effort in target discovery, ROR proteins have recently been found to be expressed in human cancers. Their unique expression profiles may provide a novel class of therapeutic targets for small molecules against the kinase or for antibody-based therapies against these receptors. Being restricted on tumor cells and not on most normal tissues, RORs are excellent targets for the treatment of minimal residual disease, the final hurdle in the curative approach to many cancers, including solid tumors such as neuroblastoma. In this review, we summarize the biology of RORs as they relate to human cancer, and highlight the therapeutic approaches directed toward them.
Citicoline decreases phospholipase A2 stimulation and hydroxyl radical generation in transient cerebral ischemia

Neuroprotection by citicoline (CDP‐choline) in transient cerebral ischemia has been demonstrated previously. Citicoline has undergone several Phase III clinical trials for stroke, and is being evaluated for treatment of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Phospholipid degradation and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are major factors causing neuronal injury in CNS trauma and neurodegenerative diseases. Oxidative metabolism of arachidonic acid (released by the action of phospholipases) contributes to ROS generation. We examined the effect of citicoline on phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity in relation to the attenuation of hydroxyl radical (OH·) generation after transient forebrain ischemia of gerbil. PLA2 activity (requires mM Ca2+) increased significantly (P < 0.05) in both membrane (50.2 ± 2.2 pmol/min/mg protein compared to sham 35.9 ± 3.2) and mitochondrial fractions (77.0 ± 1.2 pmol/min/mg protein compared to sham 33.9 ± 1.2) after cerebral ischemia and 2 hr reperfusion in gerbil, which was significantly attenuated (P < 0.01) by citicoline (membrane, 39.9. ± 2.2 and mitochondria, 41.9 ± 3.2 pmol/min/mg protein). In vitro, citicoline and its components cytidine and choline had no effect on PLA2 activity, and thus citicoline as such is not a PLA2 inhibitor. Ischemia/reperfusion resulted in significant OH· generation (P < 0.01) and citicoline significantly (P < 0.01) attenuated their formation (expressed as 2,3‐dihydroxybenzoic acid/salicylate ratio; ischemia/24 hr reperfusion, 6.30 ± 0.23; sham, 2.56 ± 0.27; ischemia/24 hr reperfusion + citicoline, 4.85 ± 0.35). These results suggest that citicoline affects PLA2 stimulation and decreases OH· generation after transient cerebral ischemia. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Common pathways of hypercholesterolemia and hypertension leading to atherothrombosis: the need for a global approach in the management of cardiovascular risk factors

In the last years there has been increasing evidence suggesting that the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors must be done on a global rather than on a separate approach, because they have additive effects and share common pathways leading to atherothrombosis. Of special interest is the relationship between hypertension and dyslipidemia. An excessive activity of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), that plays an important role in hypertension, contributes to endothelial dysfunction, vascular inflammation and thrombosis. Dyslipidemia induces the same effects through similar mechanisms. In fact, combined therapy with statins and RAS modulators shows synergic beneficial effects in the treatment of atherosclerosis. Then, in the future, the traditional hypertension and dyslipidemia units should probably evolve into global cardiovascular risk management Units. Also, polypills combining antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs will make easier the treatment of these conditions. These changes would provide us the necessary tools to treat our patients in accordance with the current strategies of cardiovascular therapy and prevention.
Cohabitation and social background: trends observed for Swedish women born 1936-1960

An analysis of changes in family building patterns in Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s is presented. "The analysis is based on retrospectively collected life histories for 4300 Swedish women born between 1936 and 1960 interviewed in the Swedish Fertility Survey in the spring of 1981. " A review of the results from three previous studies is first presented. The results are based on analyses using a multiplicative hazard model which allows the effects of social background and region of residence during childhood and adolescence to be isolated. "Except for the marriage intensities which exhibit a clear regional pattern it is generally found that social background is of greater importance than the region where the woman grew up. This applies to start of first informal cohabitation birth of first child both outside of a sexual union and within a consensual union and separations from childless informal cohabitation. " (EXCERPT)
Family change and community life: exploring the links

Generally, it is assumed that the family plays a key role in creating social capital in the community. Recent concern about community decline has been linked to widespread changes that have occurred within family life. It is argued that family 'breakdown' is in part responsible for low levels of trust and engagement in community life. Based on data from the Institute's 2001 Families, Social Capital and Citizenship survey, this paper explores whether there is a link between changes in family life and community social capital, and the nature of any such link.