Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mosaicking Images with High Motion Parallax with Application to Video Compression

Image mosaicking has been a focus of attention of many researchers in recent years. Mosaicking methods which exist today are merely unable to construct mosaics from images taken with large motion parallax. The idea is resembles some kind of layered mosaicking. The proposed method uniformly distributes the parallax mismatch between consecutive frames in the whole mosaic. In this paper, we have shown the results of the developed algorithm on two consecutive frames, as well as the result obtained on a set of frames. Although the resulted mosaic gets a bit blurry by using a set of frames with high motion parallax, it can be completely useable for video compression where the mosaic is used to compute the residuals. The proposed algorithm is much faster than the existing methods which tend to have computation time of several seconds to several minutes. Besides, a multi-resolution version of the algorithm is introduced will lessens the computation time considerably. The obtained results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Micro-force sensing in a micro-robotic system

Microrobots are the result of increasing research activities at the border between microsystem technology and robotics. Today, robots with dimensions of a few cm/sup 3/ can be developed. Like conventional robots, microrobots represent a complex system that usually contains several different types of actuators and sensors. The measurement of gripping forces is the most important sensor application in micro-manipulation besides visual servoing to protect the parts from excessive surface pressures and thereby damage the object during the assembly process. In this paper suitable force sensing methods are described, and a concept for the measurement of gripping forces in micro-robotics with AFM cantilevers is introduced. Furthermore, the signal processing and haptic interface used are presented.
Table recognition evaluation and combination methods

In this paper, we propose a new approach of document analysis and recognition (DAR) based on the combination of OCR systems. The proposed approach aims to improve the document recognition by combining the result of several OCR systems according to their performances. We focus our attention, in this paper, on the table combination. We start by presenting the results of the evaluation of OCR system in the table block recognition. Then, we present our table combination method. We are interested in both table structure and table content.
Psychology: A precious security tool

A dental prosthesis component container and display system for containing sterile dental prostheses and components thereof for convenient use by a dentist or oral surgeon comprising a resiliently flexible envelope in a component box, the dental prosthesis component being inside the resiliently flexible envelope, the resiliently flexible envelope being under bending stress such that when the top of the component box is opened such stress is relieved by extension of the envelope through the open top is disclosed.
Discovery of rare protein‐coding genes in model methylotroph Methylobacterium extorquens AM1

Proteogenomics involves the use of MS to refine annotation of protein‐coding genes and discover genes in a genome. We carried out comprehensive proteogenomic analysis of Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 (ME‐AM1) from publicly available proteomics data with a motive to improve annotation for methylotrophs; organisms capable of surviving in reduced carbon compounds such as methanol. Besides identifying 2482(50%) proteins, 29 new genes were discovered and 66 annotated gene models were revised in ME‐AM1 genome. One such novel gene is identified with 75 peptides, lacks homolog in other methylobacteria but has glycosyl transferase and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis protein domains, indicating its potential role in outer membrane synthesis. Many novel genes are present only in ME‐AM1 among methylobacteria. Distant homologs of these genes in unrelated taxonomic classes and low GC‐content of few genes suggest lateral gene transfer as a potential mode of their origin. Annotations of methylotrophy related genes were also improved by the discovery of a short gene in methylotrophy gene island and redefining a gene important for pyrroquinoline quinone synthesis, essential for methylotrophy. The combined use of proteogenomics and rigorous bioinformatics analysis greatly enhanced the annotation of protein‐coding genes in model methylotroph ME‐AM1 genome.
Silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis.

Exposure to coal mine dust and/or crystalline silica results in pneumoconiosis with initiation and progression of pulmonary fibrosis. This review presents characteristics of simple and complicated coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) as well as pathologic indices of acute and chronic silicosis by summarizing results of in vitro, animal, and human investigations. These results support four basic mechanisms in the etiology of CWP and silicosis: a) direct cytotoxicity of coal dust or silica, resulting in lung cell damage, release of lipases and proteases, and eventual lung scarring; b) activation of oxidant production by pulmonary phagocytes, which overwhelms the antioxidant defenses and leads to lipid peroxidation, protein nitrosation, cell injury, and lung scarring; c) activation of mediator release from alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells, which leads to recruitment of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages, resulting in the production of proinflammatory cytokines and reactive species and in further lung injury and scarring; d) secretion of growth factors from alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells, stimulating fibroblast proliferation and eventual scarring. Results of in vitro and animal studies provide a basis for proposing these mechanisms for the initiation and progression of pneumoconiosis. Data obtained from exposed workers lend support to these mechanisms. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5Figure 6
Experience in Teaching OOAD to Various Students

The paper elaborates on experiences and lessons learned from the course on objectoriented analyses and design at the Faculty of Sciences, Novi Sad. The course on OOAD is taught to students of computer science and to the students of mathematical programme. Conclusions made in this paper are based on results of students’ assignments as well as results of conducted survey. In the paper we identify a set of issues concerning teaching modelling and UML. It is noticed that difficulties in mastering OOAD arise primarily from the absence of appropriate real case studies from the field of designing information systems. In order to overcome this problem, students worked on their own homework projects which include all phases of software development. Concerning the results of survey it is noticed that OOAD course should be taught in different manners regarding previous knowledge of students. Suggestions how to teach OOAD to students of computer science and to students of other programmes are given in this paper.
Moduli spaces of Chern-Simons quiver gauge theories and AdS(4)/CFT(3)

We analyze the classical moduli spaces of supersymmetric vacua of 3D N=2 Chern-Simons quiver gauge theories. We show quite generally that the moduli space of the 3D theory always contains a baryonic branch of a parent 4D N=1 quiver gauge theory, where the 4D baryonic branch is determined by the vector of 3D Chern-Simons levels. In particular, starting with a 4D quiver theory dual to a 3-fold singularity, for certain general choices of Chern-Simons levels this branch of the moduli space of the corresponding 3D theory is a 4-fold singularity. Our results lead to a simple general method, using existing 4D techniques, for constructing candidate 3D N=2 superconformal Chern-Simons quivers with AdS{sub 4} gravity duals. As simple, but nontrivial, examples, we identify a family of Chern-Simons quiver gauge theories which are candidate AdS{sub 4}/CFT{sub 3} duals to an infinite class of toric Sasaki-Einstein seven-manifolds with explicit metrics.
Targeted Retrieval and Analysis of Five Neandertal mtDNA Genomes

Economic Ancient DNA Sequencing Analysis of ancient DNA is often limited by the availability of ancient material for sequencing. Briggs et al. (p. 318; see the news story by Pennisi) describe a method of ancient DNA sequence retrieval that greatly reduces shotgun sequencing costs while avoiding the many difficulties associated with direct PCR-based approaches. They generated five complete and one near-complete Neandertal mitochondrial DNA genomes, which would have been economically impossible with a simple shotgun approach. Analysis of these genomes shows that Neandertal populations had a much smaller effective population size than modern humans or great apes. Targeted sequencing improves Neandertal mitochondrial DNA retrieval and reveals low diversity among individuals. Analysis of Neandertal DNA holds great potential for investigating the population history of this group of hominins, but progress has been limited due to the rarity of samples and damaged state of the DNA. We present a method of targeted ancient DNA sequence retrieval that greatly reduces sample destruction and sequencing demands and use this method to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of five Neandertals from across their geographic range. We find that mtDNA genetic diversity in Neandertals that lived 38,000 to 70,000 years ago was approximately one-third of that in contemporary modern humans. Together with analyses of mtDNA protein evolution, these data suggest that the long-term effective population size of Neandertals was smaller than that of modern humans and extant great apes.
Regressão da linguagem, desenvolvimento sociocomunicativo e perfil sintomatológico de crianças com transtorno do espectro autista

In some cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in the first years of life occurs the loss of newly acquired words, a phenomenon called "language regression". To investigate this phenomenon three studies were developed. The first one aimed to review the literature on regression. It was noticed a gap of theoretical explanations about the phenomenon and its impact on the overall development of individuals with ASD. The next study intended to identify the characteristics of regression and symptomatology of children with ASD. The loss of skills occurred in 20% of the children. The abilities of directing attention and reciprocal conversation, among others, were more impaired. The third study investigated the effect of language regression on the subsequent social-communicative development of preschool children with ASD. It was not observed any statistically significant difference in this developmental area, between the groups with and without language regression. The findings of these researches are discussed in light of the socio-pragmatic approach.
Levels of Organochlorine Pesticides and Heavy Metals in Surface Waters of Konya Closed Basin, Turkey

The concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), including α-, β-, γ-, and δ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, endrin ketone, endosulfan I, endosulfan II, endosulfan sulfate, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDT, methoxychlor, chlordane I, chlordane II, and heavy metals, such as As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Ni in surface water samples from the Konya closed basin were determined to evaluate the level of contamination. Among all HCH isomers, β-HCH is the main isomer with a concentration range of 0.015–0.065 μg/L. DDE, DDD, and DDT were almost determined in all samples, in which DDE isomer had the highest concentration ranged from not detected to 0.037 μg/L. In all studied OCPs, aldrin showed the highest concentration at 0.220 μg/L. The concentrations of heavy metals in water samples were observed with order: Mn < Cu < Ni < As < Cr < Fe. In some samples, As, Fe, and Cr concentrations exceeded the drinking water quality recommended by EU, US EPA, WHO, and Turkish Regulation, while Cu, Ni, and Mn concentrations are below the guideline values. The levels of both OCPs and heavy metals were also compared with other previously published data.
Genetic Effects of Captive Breeding Cause a Rapid, Cumulative Fitness Decline in the Wild

Captive breeding is used to supplement populations of many species that are declining in the wild. The suitability of and long-term species survival from such programs remain largely untested, however. We measured lifetime reproductive success of the first two generations of steelhead trout that were reared in captivity and bred in the wild after they were released. By reconstructing a three-generation pedigree with microsatellite markers, we show that genetic effects of domestication reduce subsequent reproductive capabilities by ∼40% per captive-reared generation when fish are moved to natural environments. These results suggest that even a few generations of domestication may have negative effects on natural reproduction in the wild and that the repeated use of captive-reared parents to supplement wild populations should be carefully reconsidered.
The Leader's New Role: Looking to the Growth of Teachers.

lems together more effectively. Maintaining a collaborative culture. In collaborative school cultures, staff members often talk, observe, critique, and plan together. Norms of collective responsibility and continuous improvement (Little 1982. Hargreaves 1990) encourage them to teach one another how to teach better. Our case study of 12 improving schools (Leithwood and Jantzi 1991) identified a number of strategies used by their leaders to assist teachers in building and maintaining collaborative profes sional cultures. These strategies included involving staff members in collaborative goal setting and reducing teachers' isolation by creating time for joint planning. Bureaucratic mecha nisms were used to support cultural changes; for example, leaders selected new staff members who were already committed to the school's mission and priorities. These school leaders actively communicated the school's cultural norms, values, and beliefs in their day-to-day interper sonal contacts; and they also shared power and responsibility with others through delegation of power to school improvement "teams" within the school. Fostering teacher development. One of our studies (Leithwood et al. 1991) suggests that teachers' motivation for development is enhanced when they adopt a set of internalized goals for professional growth. This process is facilitated when they become involved in establishing a school mission they feel strongly committed to. School leaders can do their part by helping to ensure that such growth goals are clear, explicit, and ambitious enough to be challenging but not unrealistic. Feedback from colleagues about discrepancies between their goals for growth and their current practices can be especially helpful. School leaders can further enhance teachers' development when they give them a role in solving nonroutine prob lems of school improvement within a school culture that values continuous professional growth. Improving group problem solving. Staff members sometimes want to and often have to work harder in order to bring about any meaningful school improvement. Transformational lead ership is valued by some because it stimulates them to engage in new activities beyond classrooms and put forth that "extra effort" (Sergiovanni 1991). But our third study of transfor mational school leaders uncovered practices they used primarily to help staff members work smarter, not harder (Leithwood and Steinbach 1991). In this study of how such leaders solved problems in collaboration with teachers during staff meetings, we found that they ensured a broader range of perspectives from which to interpret the problem by actively seeking different interpretations, being explicit about their own interpretations, and placing individual problems in the larger perspective of the whole school
Role for metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) in the pathogenesis of fragile X syndrome

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have been implicated in a diverse variety of neuronal functions. Studies reviewed here indicate that exaggerated signalling through mGluR5 can account for multiple cognitive and syndromic features of fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism. Since a reduction of mGluR5 signalling can reverse fragile X phenotypes, these studies provide a compelling rationale for the use of mGluR5 antagonists for the treatment of fragile X and related disorders.
Communities of Trust in Tactical Coalition Networks

The need for information exchange between security domains has traditionally been approached through the use of guards and security labels. Although these technologies are thoroughly researched and exist in mature implementations, they offer simplistic approaches with several shortcomings. In this paper, we build on the "guard" model and present a framework for trusted information exchange which accommodates a wider range of use cases, network topologies, and authorization models. Our approach can be used on a range of practical levels, down to dismounted soldiers and sensor networks. Central to this framework are the concepts of Communities of Trust and Policy Enforcement Points.
A modified impulse controller for improved accuracy of robots with friction

This paper presents a modified impulse controller to improve the steady state positioning of a SCARA robot having characteristics of high non-linear friction. A hybrid control scheme consisting of a conventional PID part and an impulsive part is used as a basis to the modified controller. The impulsive part uses short width torque pulses to provide small impacts of force to overcome static fiction and move a robot manipulator towards its reference position. It has been shown that this controller can greatly improve a robot’s accuracy. However, the system in attempting to reach steady state will inevitably enter into a small limit cycle whose amplitude of oscillation is related to the smallest usable impulse. It is shown in this paper that by modifying the impulse controller to adjust the width of successive pulses, the limit cycle can be shifted up or down in position so that the final steady state error can be even further reduced.
An importance sampling method with applications to rare event probability

It usually takes long time to simulate rare event using traditional Monte Carlo method, while importance sampling techniques can effectively reduce the simulation time and improve simulation efficiency. A new implementation for importance sampling method to estimate rare event probability in simulation models is proposed in this paper, in which the classical exponential change of measure is adopted to construct the family of importance sampling distributions, and the optimal importance sampling distribution is obtained by minimizing the variance of importance sampling estimator. Numerical experiment has been conducted and the result indicates that the method can effectively estimate the rare event probability.
The alternative complement pathway revisited

• Introduction • Methods to study and modify the alternative pathway ‐ Inhibition by monoclonal antibodies ‐ Knockout models • Influence of AP amplification on the effect of specific activation of the other initial pathways ‐ Direct activation versus amplification ‐ Mechanisms of amplification • Properdin ‐ Control protein in the AP amplification loop ‐ Recognition molecule in AP • Influence of AP in deficiency states ‐ Factor H deficiency and variants ‐ C2 bypass in CP and LP ‐ Properdin deficiency • Complement in sepsis • Concluding remarks
Length-weight relationship in adult huchen Hucho hucho (L., 1758) from Drina River, Serbia

Huchen Hucho hucho from the Drina River (Serbia) revealed recently the decrease in breakpoint values for both standard length (Sl) and weight (w) in relation to the values recorded in 1999 from 110 cm to 98.4 cm and from 16.5 kg to 10.5 kg, respectively. That might indicate to the change in certain population parameters that could have an influence to the growth in the adult period of life.
Effect of bonding pressure on transducer ultrasonic propagation in thermosonic flip chip bonding

As one of the key bonding parameters for thermosonic flip chip bonding, bonding pressure plays an important role for the bonding process. Moreover, as the load of the ultrasonic transducer system, bonding pressure affects directly the process of ultrasonic propagation, so it will influence the bonding quality. In this paper, in the condition that the bonding pressure was tuned regularly, the impedance characteristics of ultrasonic transducer were measured by a impedance analyzer, and the ultrasonic energy was measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer, and the shear bonding strengths at different bonding pressure settings were attained. It is shown that when the bonding pressure increases, the resonance frequency and resistance of transducer will increase, while the conductance and ultrasonic energy will turn down, and a stable and satisfied bondability can be found at a moderate pressure window. The impedance model for ultrasonic transducer was created by an equivalent circuit, and used to analyze the experimental effect of bonding pressure on ultrasonic propagation for transducer
Engineering consent: The renaissance of mass communications research in politics.

This paper was written in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. While the election itself was without parallel in living memory, the spectacle that followed, namely, the regular appearance of the candidates and their spokespersons on network television to cast their individual " spin " on breaking events, was utterly predictable. The need to play to the public even spread to the U.S. Supreme Court. The day after their decision in Bush v. Gore, Justice Thomas, in the course of a televised appearance with high school students, claimed that partisanship was irrelevant to the Court's modus operandi. As Election 2000 well illustrates, there have been fundamental changes to the American political process over the last fifty years. " Media politics " is now central, while the importance of political institutions traditionally entrusted with organizing and aggregating public preferences (political parties and interest groups) have correspondingly declined in importance. Today, the use-even manipulation-of the mass media to promote political objectives is not only standard practice, but in fact is essential to survival.
Driver mutations in the mitogen‐activated protein kinase pathway: the seeds of good and evil

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