Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SurfaceFusion: unobtrusive tracking of everyday objects in tangible user interfaces

Interactive surfaces and related tangible user interfaces often involve everyday objects that are identified, tracked, and augmented with digital information. Traditional approaches for recognizing these objects typically rely on complex pattern recognition techniques, or the addition of active electronics or fiducials that alter the visual qualities of those objects, making them less practical for real-world use. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology provides an unobtrusive method of sensing the presence of and identifying tagged nearby objects but has no inherent means of determining the position of tagged objects. Computer vision, on the other hand, is an established approach to track objects with a camera. While shapes and movement on an interactive surface can be determined from classic image processing techniques, object recognition tends to be complex, computationally expensive and sensitive to environmental conditions. We present a set of techniques in which movement and shape information from the computer vision system is fused with RFID events that identify what objects are in the image. By synchronizing these two complementary sensing modalities, we can associate changes in the image with events in the RFID data, in order to recover position, shape and identification of the objects on the surface, while avoiding complex computer vision processes and exotic RFID solutions.
Dating the Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth glaciations using contemporaneous subglacial hydrothermal systems

The presence of Paleoproterozoic glacial diamictites deposited at low latitudes on different continents indicates that three or four worldwide glaciations occurred between 2.45 and 2.22 Ga. During that time period, the first atmospheric oxygen rise, known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), occurred, implying a potential connection between these events. Herein we combine triple oxygen isotope systematics and in situ and high-precision U-Pb zircon ages of mafic intrusions to date two episodes of snowball Earth glaciations. Subglacial hydrothermal alteration was induced by intrusions of high- Mg and high-Fe gabbros during the early Paleoproterozoic rifting on the Baltic Shield, which at the time was located at low latitudes. The low d18O values of hydrothermally altered rocks associated with these intrusions are attributed to high-temperature isotopic exchange between hot rock and glacial meltwater, indicating the presence of glacial ice globally. The triple oxygen isotope approach is used here to show that the d18O of glacial meltwaters during the dated episodes of snowball Earth glaciation was approximately –40 permil VSMOW (Vienna standard mean ocean water). High-Mg gabbro intrusions and associated low-d18O hydrothermally altered rocks formed during the earliest episode of snowball Earth glaciation between 2.43 and 2.41 Ga. High-Fe gabbro from the Khitoostrov locality (Karelia, Russia) hosts a d18O value of −27.3 permil and is dated here at 2291 ± 8 Ma. This age is interpreted to reflect the interaction between the intrusion and glacial meltwaters during the third Paleoproterozoic glaciation, which occurred after the GOE.
Semantics-preserving dimensionality reduction: rough and fuzzy-rough-based approaches

Semantics-preserving dimensionality reduction refers to the problem of selecting those input features that are most predictive of a given outcome; a problem encountered in many areas such as machine learning, pattern recognition, and signal processing. This has found successful application in tasks that involve data sets containing huge numbers of features (in the order of tens of thousands), which would be impossible to process further. Recent examples include text processing and Web content classification. One of the many successful applications of rough set theory has been to this feature selection area. This paper reviews those techniques that preserve the underlying semantics of the data, using crisp and fuzzy rough set-based methodologies. Several approaches to feature selection based on rough set theory are experimentally compared. Additionally, a new area in feature selection, feature grouping, is highlighted and a rough set-based feature grouping technique is detailed.
Innnitary Logic and Inductive Deenability over Finite Structures

The extensions of rst-order logic with a least xed point operator (FO + LFP) and with a partial xed point operator (FO + PFP) are known to capture the complexity classes P and PSPACE respectively in the presence of an ordering relation over nite structures. Recently, Abiteboul and Vianu [Abiteboul and Vianu, 1991b] investigated the relationship of these two logics in the absence of an ordering, using a machine model of generic computation. In particular, they showed that the two languages have equivalent expressive power if and only if P = PSPACE. These languages can also be seen as fragments of an in nitary logic where each formula has a bounded number of variables, L! 1! (see, for instance, [Kolaitis and Vardi, 1990]). We investigate this logic of nite structures and provide a normal form for it. We also present a treatment of the results in [Abiteboul and Vianu, 1991b] from this point of view. In particular, we show that we can write a formula of FO + LFP that de nes an ordering of the Lk1! types uniformly over all nite structures. One consequence of this is a generalization of the equivalence of FO + LFP and P from ordered structures to classes of structures where every element is de nable. We also settle a conjecture mentioned in [Abiteboul and Vianu, 1991b] by showing that FO + LFP is properly contained in the polynomial time computable fragment of L! 1! , raising the question of whether the latter fragment is a recursively enumerable class.
A Discrete-Time Model for Uncompensated Single-Channel Fiber-Optical Links

An analytical discrete-time model is introduced for single-wavelength polarization multiplexed nonlinear fiber-optical channels based on the symmetrized split-step Fourier method (SSFM). According to this model, for high enough symbol rates, a fiber-optic link can be described as a linear dispersive channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and a complex scaling. The variance of this AWGN noise and the attenuation are computed analytically as a function of input power and channel parameters. The results illustrate a cubic growth of the noise variance with input power. Moreover, the cross effect between the two polarizations and the interaction of amplifier noise and the transmitted signal due to the nonlinear Kerr effect are described. In particular, it is found that the channel noise variance in one polarization is affected twice as much by the transmitted power in that polarization than by the transmitted power in the orthogonal polarization. The effect of pulse shaping is also investigated through numerical simulations. Finally, it is shown that the analytical performance results based on the new model are in close agreement with numerical results obtained using the SSFM for a symbol rate of 28 Gbaud and above.
Non-A, non-B Hepatitis

NANB hepatitis, almost certainly a syndrome due to several different viral agents, with different incubation periods and routes of transmission, has emerged as the predominant form of PTH and a major cause of chronic liver disease in developed countries. Pending isolation and characterization of the agents, much of our knowledge remains inferential, and basic virologic studies thus command the highest priority among investigations of this disease.
Properties and Carbon and Nutrient Storage Potential of Forest Soils in a Highland Community Forest, Chiang Mai Province

This study investigated the soil properties and potentials of carbon and nutrient storages in soil at Ban Huay Khaw Leeb (HKL) community Forest, Mae Wang district, Chiang Mai province. Three soil pits were made and soil samples were taken along soil profiles for analysis of physical and chemical properties. Results showed that the soil textures in this forest were sandy clay loam, and the density of the surface soil was very low to moderately low and moderately low to medium in deeper soils. The soil reaction was strongly and moderately acids. The organic matter was medium to very high in surface soil and medium to very low in deeper soils. The average amounts of organic matter, carbon and nitrogen storages in 2 m soil depth were 413.34 259.19, 239.74 150.33, and 20.77 12.95 Mg ha -1 respectively, whereas available P, extractable K, Ca, Mg, and Na amounts were: 90.13 33.72, 3650.46 809.61, 1139.32 387.23, 467.01 54.86, and 168.19 63.30 kg ha -1 respectively The differences of parent rocks, community forest management, and utilization by villagers affected soil properties and the amounts of carbon and nutrient storage in this soil. คณสมบตของดนปาไมและศกยภาพการสะสมคารบอน-ธาตอาหารของปาชมชนในพนทสง จงหวดเชยงใหม ศกษาสมบตดนและศกยภาพการสะสมคารบอนและธาตอาหารในดนปาชมชนบานหวยขาวลบ อำเภอแมวาง จงหวดเชยงใหม สมขดหลมดนจำนวน 3 หลม เกบตวอยางดนตามความลกเพอศกษาสมบตทางกายภาพและเคม พบวาเนอดนเปนดนรวนเหนยวปนทราย ดนบนมความหนาแนนคอนขางตำถงตำมากและคอนขางตำถงปานกลางในดนทลกลงไป ปฏกรยาดนเปนกรดปานกลางถงกรดจด ดนบนมปรมาณอนทรยวตถปานกลางถงสงมากและมปรมาณปานกลางถงตามากในดนทลกลงไป ปรมาณอนทรยวตถ คารบอนและไนโตรเจนในดนลก 2 เมตร มคา 413.34259.19, 239.74150.33 และ 20.7712.95 Mg ha -1 ตามลำดบ ขณะทปรมาณฟอสฟอรสทเปนประโยชน โพแทสเซยม แคลเซยม แมกนเซยมและโซเดยมทสกดได มคาตามลำดบ คอ 90.1333.72, 3650.46809.61, 1139.32387.23, 467.0154.86 และ 168.1963.30 kg ha -1 วตถตนกำเนดดน การจดการปาชมชนและการใชประโยชนของคนในชมชนมผลใหสมบตดนและปรมาณการสะสมคารบอนและธาตอาหารในดนมความแตกตางกน
Noninvasive quantitative fluorodeoxyglucose PET studies with an estimated input function derived from a population-based arterial blood curve.

The authors have developed a technique to estimate input functions from a population-based arterial blood curve in positron emission tomography (PET) studies with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). A standardized pump injection was used in 34 subjects. A population-based blood curve was generated based on the first 10 subjects. In the remaining 24 subjects, an estimated input function (EIFa) was obtained by scaling the population-based curve with two arterial blood samples, one obtained at 10 minutes and the other at 45. Time integrals for EIFa and the real arterial input function (RIF) were in excellent agreement (r = .998, P < .0001). Cerebral metabolic rates for glucose calculated with EIFa and RIF and the autoradiographic method also correlated excellently (r = .992, P < .0001). Analogous correlations were achieved with arterialized venous samples as scaling factors. These results suggest that individually scaled, population-derived input functions may serve as an adequate alternative to continuous arterial blood sampling in quantitative FDG-PET imaging.
Bounds on the Throughput Performance of PU2RC and Its Application in Mode Switching

In this paper, the problem of mode switching in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast channels utilizing the Per-User Unitary Rate Control (PU2RC) transmission scheme is considered. Since there is no mathematical expression for the achievable rate of the PU2RC systems, it is proposed to approximate them using proper bounds. It is shown that certain simple feedback distributions will lead to tight bounds on the achievable rates of the PU2RC systems. The proposed bounds are used for the calculation of mode-switching points and maximization of the system rate under different multiplexing order conditions. The asymptotic behavior of the preferred modes is also studied under high-signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and low-SNR conditions, and it is shown that the single-user transmission mode is the preferred mode for both regimes.
Outcome of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Hematological Malignancies

Introduction Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a potentially curative treatment modality for hematological malignancies. We evaluated the outcome of patients suffering from hematological malignancies, including acute leukemias, chronic myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome after allogeneic transplantation. Methods All patients having hematological malignancies with HLA identical sibling donors who underwent allogeneic transplantation were included. Pre-transplant workup consisted of complete blood counts, evaluation of liver, kidneys, lungs, infectious profile, chest X-ray, paranasal sinus roentgenograms and dental review. Donors were given G-CSF at a dose of 5-10 μg/kg/twice daily for five days prior to harvest. The conditioning regimens included cyclophosphamide, busulfan and total body irradiation. Results A total of 41 allogeneic transplants were performed for hematological malignancies from April 2004 to December 2012. There were 31 males and 10 females. Median age ± SD was 28 ± 11.7 years (range 8 – 54 years). A mean of 7.7×108±1.5 mononuclear cells/kg were infused (range:6.2-9.2×108/kg). The median time to white cell recovery was 19±4 days (range:15-23 days). Transplant related mortality was 19.5%. The median overall survival was 53.6 months. Overall survival at a median follow up of 37 months was 67%. Conclusion Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment option in patients with hematological malignancies. Our outcomes are comparable with results from neighboring countries as well as the western world.
Morphology and Composition of the Helix Nebula

We present new narrowband filter imagery in Hα and [N II] λ6584, along with UV and optical spectrophotometry measurements from 1200 to 9600 Å of NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, a nearby, photogenic planetary nebula of large diameter and low surface brightness. Detailed models of the observable ionized nebula support the recent claim that the Helix is actually a flattened disk whose thickness is roughly one-third its diameter, with an inner region containing hot, highly ionized gas that is generally invisible in narrowband images. The outer visible ring structure is of lower ionization and temperature and is brighter because of a thickening in the disk. We also confirm a central star effective temperature and luminosity of 120,000 K and 100 L☉, and we estimate a lower limit to the nebular mass to be 0.30 M☉. Abundance measurements indicate the following values: He/H=0.12 (± 0.017), O/H=4.60×10-4 (± 0.18), C/O=0.87 (± 0.12), N/O=0.54 (± 0.14), Ne/O=0.33 (± 0.04), S/O=3.22 × 10-3 (± 0.26), and Ar/O=6.74 × 10-3 (± 0.76). Our carbon abundance measurements represent the first of their kind for the Helix Nebula. The S/O ratio that we derive is anomalously low; such values are found in only a few other planetary nebulae. The central star properties, the supersolar values of He/H and N/O, and a solar level of C/O are consistent with a 6.5 M☉ progenitor that underwent three phases of dredge-up and hot bottom burning before forming the planetary nebula.
Smart Pump Technology: What We Have Learned

Intravenous infusion may present the greatest preventable medication administration error risk to hospitalized patients. Smart pumps can provide clinical decision support at the bedside for nurses who are administering intravenously administered medications with the potential to significantly reduce medication errors and subsequent patient harm. However, implementations of smart pumps have yielded mixed results and mixed perceptions of their ability to actually decrease error. To realize the potential of smart pumps, there must exist a clear understanding of how these devices are being integrated into healthcare organizations, specifically nursing practice. The purpose of this article was to describe current smart pump evaluation studies and to suggest areas of future evaluation focus.
Channel reliability in turbo-coded DS/CDMA systems under Rayleigh fading channels

This work proposes a general equation for the channel reliability (Lc) of DS/CDMA turbo coding systems under fading Rayleigh channels and multiple access interference. The proposed reliability equation is suitable for low, medium as well as high signal-noise ratio (SNR) system operation conditions. The Lc equation is established as a function of the ratio of active users and the processing gain (loading system, Q) and SNR from fitting of Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) performance results. The suggested Lc equation propitiated a lower error rate performance over all SNR operation regions when compared with the previous literature results, considering different loading and coding rate conditions.
Generalizing Dimensionality in Combinatory Categorial Grammar

We extend Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) with a generalized notion of multidimensional sign, inspired by the types of representations found in constraint-based frameworks like HPSG or LFG. The generalized sign allows multiple levels to share information, but only in a resource-bounded way through a very restricted indexation mechanism. This improves representational perspicuity without increasing parsing complexity, in contrast to full-blown unification used in HPSG and LFG. Well-formedness of a linguistic expressions remains entirely determined by the CCG derivation. We show how the multidimensionality and perspicuity of the generalized signs lead to a simplification of previous CCG accounts of how word order and prosody can realize information structure.
Update on the management of severe hypertriglyceridemia – focus on free fatty acid forms of omega-3

High levels of plasma triglycerides (TG) are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, often associated with anomalies in other lipids or lipoproteins. Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), particularly at very high levels, significantly increases also the risk of acute pancreatitis. Thus, interventions to lower TG levels are required to reduce the risk of pancreatitis and cardiovascular disease. Several strategies may be adopted for TG reduction, including lifestyle changes and pharmacological interventions. Among the available drugs, the most commonly used for HTG are fibrates, nicotinic acid, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (usually a mixture of eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA). These last are available under different concentrated formulations containing high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, including a mixture of EPA and DHA or pure EPA. The most recent formulation contains a free fatty acid (FFA) form of EPA and DHA, and exhibits a significantly higher bioavailability compared with the ethyl ester forms contained in the other formulations. This is due to the fact that the ethyl ester forms, to be absorbed, need to be hydrolyzed by the pancreatic enzymes that are secreted in response to fat intake, while the FFA do not. This higher bioavailability translates into a higher TG-lowering efficacy compared with the ethyl ester forms at equivalent doses. Omega-3 FFA are effective in reducing TG levels and other lipids in hypertriglyceridemic patients as well as in high cardiovascular risk patients treated with statins and residual HTG. Currently, omega-3 FFA formulation is under evaluation to establish whether, in high cardiovascular risk subjects, the addition of omega-3 to statin therapy may prevent or reduce major cardiovascular events.
Health, Mental Health and Labor Productivity: The Role of Self-Reporting Bias

This paper relates physical and mental health status to labor force participation and compares these relationships among self-report and proxy respondents. Previous research has conjectured that self-reports of health status may lead to an upward bias in the estimated effect of health on labor productivity because subjects who are out of the labor force may be more likely to understate their health status so as to justify their lack of employment. Also, we integrate mental health into our study by using two alternative approaches-logistic regression analysis and propensity scoring methods. We find that among the cohort of self-reporters, physical health has a substantially stronger impact on labor productivity than mental health; precisely the opposite patterns were obtained when physical and mental health status were reported by proxy respondents. These results suggest the self-reports may lead to a bias in estimating labor productivity costs of physical versus mental health on labor force participation by overestimating the importance of good physical health and underestimating the role of good mental health. This in turn suggests that the benefits of more generous mental health insurance benefits may have been underappreciated in the medical policy debates.
Intraspecific diversity and ecological zonation in coral-algal symbiosis.

All reef-building corals are obligately associated with photosynthetic microalgal endosymbionts called zooxanthellae. Zooxanthella taxonomy has emphasized differences between species of hosts, but the possibility of ecologically significant zooxanthella diversity within hosts has been the subject of speculation for decades. Analysis of two dominant Caribbean corals showed that each associates with three taxa of zooxanthellae that exhibit zonation with depth--the primary environmental gradient for light-dependent marine organisms. Some colonies apparently host two taxa of symbionts in proportions that can vary across the colony. This common occurrence of polymorphic, habitat-specific symbioses challenges conventional understanding of the units of biodiversity but also illuminates many distinctive aspects of marine animal-algal associations. Habitat specificity provides ecological explanations for the previously documented poor concordance between host and symbiont phylogenies and the otherwise surprising lack of direct, maternal transmission of symbionts in many species of hosts. Polymorphic symbioses may underlie the conspicuous and enigmatic variability characteristic of responses to environmental stress (e.g., coral "bleaching") and contribute importantly to the phenomenon of photoadaptation.
Investigating the applicability of user models for motion-impaired users

This paper considers the differences between users with motion-impairments and able-bodied users when they interact with computers and the implications for user models. Most interface design and usability assessment practices are based on explicit or implicit models of user behaviour. This paper studies the applicability of an existing interface design user model to motion-impaired users for the relatively straightforward task of button activation. A discussion of the empirical results is provided and the paper concludes that there are significant differences between the behaviour of motion-impaired users and the accepted modelling theory.
Random maximum margin hashing

Following the success of hashing methods for multidimensional indexing, more and more works are interested in embedding visual feature space in compact hash codes. Such approaches are not an alternative to using index structures but a complementary way to reduce both the memory usage and the distance computation cost. Several data dependent hash functions have notably been proposed to closely fit data distribution and provide better selectivity than usual random projections such as LSH. However, improvements occur only for relatively small hash code sizes up to 64 or 128 bits. As discussed in the paper, this is mainly due to the lack of independence between the produced hash functions. We introduce a new hash function family that attempts to solve this issue in any kernel space. Rather than boosting the collision probability of close points, our method focus on data scattering. By training purely random splits of the data, regardless the closeness of the training samples, it is indeed possible to generate consistently more independent hash functions. On the other side, the use of large margin classifiers allows to maintain good generalization performances. Experiments show that our new Random Maximum Margin Hashing scheme (RMMH) outperforms four state-of-the-art hashing methods, notably in kernel spaces.