Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust image alignment with multiple feature descriptors and matching-guided neighborhoods

This paper addresses two issues hindering the advances in accurate image alignment. First, he performance of descriptor-based approaches to image alignment relies on the chosen descriptor, but the optimal descriptor typically varies from image to image, or even pixel to pixel. Second, the neighborhood structure for smoothness enforcement is usually predefined before alignment. However, object boundaries are often better discovered during alignment. The proposed approach tackles the two issues by adaptive descriptor selection and dynamic neighborhood construction. Specifically we associate each pixel to be aligned with an affine transformation, and integrate the learning of the pixel-specific transformations into image alignment. The transformations serve as the common domain for descriptor fusion, since the local consensus of each descriptor can be estimated by accessing the corresponding affine transformation t allows us to pick the most plausible descriptor for aligning each pixel. On the other hand more object-aware neighborhoods can be produced by referencing the consistency between the learned affine transformations of neighboring pixels. The promising results on popular image alignment benchmarks manifests the effectiveness of our approach.
Special symplectic subgroup over integers arising as a factor of the braid group

There is a natural action of the braid group on the symmetric matrices with units on the diagonal, appearing in various fields as Singularity Theory, Frobenius Manifolds or Isomonodromic deformations of certain classes of linear differential systems. The problem of finding the finite orbits of this action for the case of non-degenerate three-dimensional matrices was solved and it was conjectured that the finite orbits on any non-degenerate matrices correspond to finite Coxeter groups and conjugacy classes of quasicoxeter elements in them. In the present work it is considered another extremal case of rank two matrices of arbitrary dimension. The problem of classification of the orbits in this case involves an examination of a linear representation of a factor of the braid group. It is shown that this linear group is a proper subgroup of finite index in the the symplectic group $Sp(2n,\Z)$ or the semidirect product $Sp(2n,\Z)\ltimes\Z^{2n}$. The orbits are classified and the indices of these subgroups are calculated.
Effect of dietary fat source and pellet binder on growth performance, prececal nutrient digestibility, and carcass traits in Ross 308 broilers

- This research aimed to compare the effect of two sources of fat and three levels of a pellet binder on pellet quality, growth performance, prececal nutrient digestibility, carcass, and economic traits in Ross 308 broilers. Two hundred and forty-day-old broiler chickens were applied in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with four replicates and ten birds in each replicate. The dietary treatments were two fat sources (soybean oil and fat powder) and three levels of a commercial binder named Glomatin® (0, 2, and, 4% in grower and 0, 3, and 6% in finisher diets). The data were subjected to the procedure of General Linear Models (GLM) of SAS, version 9.4 ( P ≤ 0.05). Birds fed the soybean oil-containing diet with the second level of Glomatin® binder (2% in grower and 3% in finisher diets respectively) showed the best feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the whole period, and the highest prececal dry matter digestibility, ether extract digestibility, and economic profit. It concluded that increasing the physical quality of the pellet diet by adding a binder in soybean oil-containing diets had an optimum level (2% in grower and 3% in finisher diets respectively). Over that optimum level, it could harm FCR, prececal nutrient digestibility, and finally
The overlooked role of discourse in breaking carbon lock‐in: The case of the German energy transition

Over the last 15 years, research on carbon lock‐in has investigated why decarbonization evolves so slowly in Western industrialized countries. In this paper, we argue that the role of discourses has been overlooked in the literature on carbon lock‐in. We argue that discourses are both part of lock‐in mechanisms and, using the concept of discursive turning points, important factors in explaining change. This implies that we need to carefully investigate the dominant discourses that constitute and justify the very technologies, institutions and behaviors of the status quo. For the case of the German energy transition, we demonstrate the importance of discursive turning points for overcoming carbon lock‐in, based on a literature review. Germany's long‐standing lock‐in of fossil fuels and nuclear power was undermined by the rise of the energy transition discourse. This discourse transitioned from a very marginal position to dominance through a number of factors, winning against the energy mix discourse. Over time the energy transition discourse became de‐radicalized. Coal has been able to defend its role in the German energy mix in the name of affordability and energy security. While renewables continue to grow, this happens alongside a remaining carbon lock‐in. We conclude that discursive lock‐in and discursive turning points are useful analytical tools that help to explain how the transition to renewable energies unfolds. In future research, the interaction between discursive lock‐ins and other types of lock‐in should be investigated.
Secondary prevention through cardiac rehabilitation: from knowledge to implementation. A position paper from the Cardiac Rehabilitation Section of the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation

Increasing awareness of the importance of cardiovascular prevention is not yet matched by the resources and actions within health care systems. Recent publication of the European Commission's European Heart Health Charter in 2008 prompts a review of the role of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) to cardiovascular health outcomes. Secondary prevention through exercise-based CR is the intervention with the best scientific evidence to contribute to decrease morbidity and mortality in coronary artery disease, in particular after myocardial infarction but also incorporating cardiac interventions and chronic stable heart failure. The present position paper aims to provide the practical recommendations on the core components and goals of CR intervention in different cardiovascular conditions, to assist in the design and development of the programmes, and to support healthcare providers, insurers, policy makers and consumers in the recognition of the comprehensive nature of CR. Those charged with responsibility for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, whether at European, national or individual centre level, need to consider where and how structured programmes of CR can be delivered to all patients eligible. Thus a novel, disease-oriented document has been generated, where all components of CR for cardiovascular conditions have been revised, presenting both well-established and controversial aspects. A general table applicable to all cardiovascular conditions and specific tables for each clinical disease have been created and commented.
Rare Mutations of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma: Frequencies and Relationship with Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Risk in the Mixed Ancestry Population from South Africa

Background. Genetic variants in the nuclear transcription receptor, PPARG, are associated with cardiometabolic traits, but reports remain conflicting. We determined the frequency and the clinical relevance of PPARG SNPs in an African mixed ancestry population. Methods. In a cross-sectional study, 820 participants were genotyped for rs1800571, rs72551362, rs72551363, rs72551364, and rs3856806, using allele-specific TaqMan technology. The homeostatic model assessment of insulin (HOMA-IR), β-cells function (HOMA-B%), fasting insulin resistance index (FIRI), and the quantitative insulin-sensitivity check index (QUICKI) were calculated. Results. No sequence variants were found except for the rs3856806. The frequency of the PPARG-His447His variant was 23.8% in the overall population group, with no difference by diabetes status (P = 0.215). The His447His allele T was associated with none of the markers of insulin resistance overall and by diabetes status. In models adjusted for 2-hour insulin, the T allele was associated with lower prevalent diabetes risk (odds ratio 0.56 (95% CI 0.31–0.95)). Conclusion. Our study confirms the almost zero occurrences of known rare PPARG SNPs and has shown for the first time in an African population that one of the common SNPs, His447His, may be protective against type 2 diabetes.
Information theoretical algorithm based on statistical models for blind identification of nonstationary dynamical systems

This paper presents an effective blind statistical identification technique for nonstationary nonlinear systems based on an information theoretical algorithm. This technique firstly extracts, from the output signals, the multivariate relationships in the Hilbert spaces by exploiting the separability properties of the signal outputs transformed by the Karhunen-Loève transform (KLT). Then, the algorithm methodologically clusters the stochastic surfaces in the Hilbert spaces using the self-organizing maps (SOMs) and further develops their best statistical model under the fixed-rank condition. The resulting blind identification of the statistical system model is based on marginal probability density functions (PDFs), whose convergence to the statistical system model based on Monte Carlo simulations has also been demonstrated by asymptotically vanishing the Kullback-Leibler divergences. A large number of simulations on both synthetic and real systems demonstrated the validity and the excellent performances of this technique that is irrespective of the system order, the stochastic surface topology, the true marginal PDFs, and the knowledge of the statistics of the noise superimposed to the output signals. Finally, this approach could also represent a suitable and promising technique for the noninvasive diagnosis of a large class of medical pathologies originated by unknown physiological factors (nonlinear compositions of unknown input signals) and/or when they are difficult or unpractical to measure.
Smith ScholarWorks Smith ScholarWorks

Many species of plants have evolved structures called phytotelmata that store water and trap detritus and prey. These structures house diverse communities of organisms, the inqui-line microbiome, that aids breakdown of litter and prey. The invertebrate and bacterial food webs in these systems are well characterized, but less is known about microbial eukaryotic community dynamics. In this study we focus on microbes in the SAR clade (Stramenopila, Alveolata, Rhizaria) inhabiting phytotelmata. Using small subunit rDNA amplicon sequencing from repeated temporal and geographic samples of wild and cultivated plants across the Northeast U.S.A. , we demonstrate that communities are variable within and between host plant type. Across habitats, communities from tropical bromeliads grown in a single room of a greenhouse were nearly as heterogeneous as wild pitcher plants spread across hundreds of kilometers. At the scale of pitcher plants in a single bog, analyses of samples from three time points suggest that seasonality is a major driver of protist community structure, with variable spring communities transitioning to more homogeneous communities that resemble the surrounding habitat. Our results indicate that protist communities in phytotelmata are variable, likely due to stochastic founder events and colonization/competition dynamics, leading to tremendous heterogeneity in inquiline microeukaryotic communities.
EFFECTIVENESS OF CAWTHORNE COOKSEY EXERCISE IN IMPROVING BALANCE FOR PATIENTS WITH DIZZINESS AND VERTIGO: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

: Dizziness is a variety of symptoms regarding disorders of spatial orientation and motion perception, which can affect objectively the ability to achieve a stable gaze, posture, and gait. Vertigo is a rotational, spinning perception of movement either of the self or surrounding objects that are either not occurring or is occurring differently from how it is perceived. This dizziness and vertigo can impair balance in adults leading to a high risk of falls. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of Cawthorne Cooksey exercise for improving balance in patients with vertigo and dizziness. Articles from five databases, published from 2003 to 2021 are searched following inclusion criteria: (1) Randomized controlled trials, (2) Patients with dizziness and vertigo with or without vestibular dysfunction, (3) patients having balance impairment, (4) Cawthorne Cooksey exercise as intervention, (5) Articles published in english. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria of this systematic review. The method for search strategy and quality of evidence is done by Prisma protocol for systematic review (2020) and PEDro (physiotherapy evidence database) scale, respectively. All the included randomized control trials proved to be good evidence quality. Valid outcome measures for balance and dizziness are used to assess the effectiveness of Cawthorne Cooksey exercises. Cawthorne Cooksey exercise is effective as a vestibular intervention protocol for improving balance in patients with dizziness and vertigo, provided a modified or multimodal form is used or used in combination with other effective intervention protocols.
The practical challenges of interference alignment

Interference alignment is a revolutionary wireless transmission strategy that reduces the impact of interference. The idea of interference alignment is to coordinate multiple transmitters so that their mutual interference aligns at the receivers, facilitating simple interference cancellation techniques. Since interference alignment's inception, researchers have investigated its performance and proposed several improvements. Research efforts have been primarily focused on verifying interference alignment's ability to achieve the maximum degrees of freedom (an approximation of sum capacity), developing algorithms for determining alignment solutions, and designing transmission strategies that relax the need for perfect alignment but yield better performance. This article provides an overview of the concept of interference alignment as well as an assessment of practical issues including performance in realistic propagation environments, the role of channel state information at the transmitter, and the practicality of interference alignment in large networks.
Real-time rendering of colour-shift effect of metallic materials

The directional-dependent effects of the materials are responsible for our perception of certain materials being realistic or not. Some materials consist of colour pigments, and these cause directional-dependent colour variations (or colour-shifts). For instance, we can observe a colour-shift effect of metallic materials, which means the changing of colour from metallic colour to pigment colour depending on the direction of incident illumination and direction of view. The most common criticism of existing analytical Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) models is that these models are inadequate to generate colour-shift effect of materials for realistic real-time rendering. This paper introduces a visually plausible shading model to generate colour-shift effect of metallic materials by modifying specular component with illumination and view dependent sheen. The developed shaders have intuitive parameters, which can generate different kinds of metallic effects for real-time rendering, including visually plausible gold, brass, silver, bronze and copper effects for real-time rendering.
Survivors Benefits and Conjugal Behavior. Evidence from the Netherlands

This paper investigates the impact of survivors insurance on marital behavior. We study the 1996 Dutch reform which considerably tightened eligibility rules to survivors’ beneﬁts. Exploiting a discontinuity in date of birth eligibility to survivors insurance and using a rich and exhaustive Dutch population administrative dataset, we carry out a regression discontinuity design and we ﬁnd no evidence of the reform on divorce probability. Exploring possible explanations for our zero-eﬀect result, we study how labor supply responses can compensate the income drop the reform induced. We ﬁnd a strong increase in the labor force participation of widows after the reform. However, this response does not completely oﬀset the decrease in income generated form the cut in survivors beneﬁts.
Acute stroke, Bayes’ theorem and the art and science of emergency decision-making

decisions (in fact, most decisions made in everyday life) are generated rapidly and unconsciously through the implicit system. Algorithms, protocols and checklists help to defend the practitioner from making poor decisions by directing them through a series of rigid unbiased evidence-based steps. In the process of developing these algorithms and protocols for an emergency situation, the time taken to follow the algorithm has to be balanced against the benefit it provides in the overall process. In the setting of acute ischemic stroke and the treatments of thrombolysis or thrombectomy, there are several important factors to consider when attempting to improve upon clinician decision-making.
Glacial/interglacial changes in southern Africa: Compound‐specific δ13C land plant biomarker and pollen records from southeast Atlantic continental margin sediments

This is part 2 of a study examining southwest African continental margin sediments from nine sites on a north‐south transect from the Congo Fan (4°S) to the Cape Basin (30°S) representing two glacial (MIS 2 and 6a) and two interglacial stages (MIS 1 and 5e). Contents, distribution patterns, and molecular stable carbon isotope signatures of long‐chain n‐alkanes (C27‐C33) and n‐alkanols (C22‐C32) as indicators of land plant vegetation of different biosynthetic types were correlated with concentrations and distributions of pollen taxa in sediments of the same time horizons. Selected single pollen type data reveal details of vegetation changes, but the overall picture is best illustrated by summing pollen known to predominantly derive from C4 plants or C4 plus CAM plants. The C4 plant signals in the biomarkers are recorded in the δ13C data and in the abundances of C31 and C33n‐alkanes, and the C32n‐alkanol. Calculated clusters of wind trajectories for austral summer and winter situations for the Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum afford information on the source areas for the lipids and pollen and their transport pathways to the ocean. This multidisciplinary approach provides clear evidence of latitudinal differences in leaf wax lipid and pollen composition, with the Holocene sedimentary data paralleling the current major phytogeographic zonations. The northern sites (Congo Fan area and northern Angola Basin) get most of their terrestrial material from the Congo Basin and the Angolan highlands dominated by C3 plants. Airborne particulates derived from the western and central South African hinterland dominated by deserts, semideserts, and savannah regions are rich in organic matter from C4 plants. As can be expected from the present and glacial positions of the phytogeographic zones, the carbon isotopic signatures of n‐alkanes and n‐alkanols both become isotopically more enriched in 13C from north to south. In the northern part of the transect the relative importance of C4 plant indicators is higher during the glacials than in the interglacials, indicating a northward extension of arid zones favoring grass vegetation. In the south, where grass‐rich vegetation merges into semidesert and desert, the difference in C4 plant indicators is small.
Influence of the air gap length on the magnetic core loss in large hydro generator

The electromagnetic modeling and simulation of existing hydro electrical generators in operation always requires a large number of variables to carry out an accurate study and to be able to properly validate the different test results. Simulation can be affected by many parameters, such as: The air gap size (the design air gap is always different from the operation air gap due to the thermal expansion) and its uniformity. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis taking into account the air gap length and the excitation current was performed. The sensitivity analysis based on finite element simulation results was performed on an existing large hydro generator of 122.6 MVA, 13.8 kV, 60 Hz, 60 poles with 504 slots, 120 rpm. The obtained results were compared to the certain measured parameters such as the air gap flux density, line current and magnetic core losses.
Research Directions for Service-Oriented Multiagent Systems

Today's service-oriented systems realize many ideas from the research conducted a decade or so ago in multiagent systems. Because these two fields are so deeply connected, further advances in multiagent systems could feed into tomorrow's successful service-oriented computing approaches. This article describes a 15-year roadmap for service-oriented multiagent system research.
Dynamic Behavior of Arabidopsis eIF4A-III, Putative Core Protein of Exon Junction Complex: Fast Relocation to Nucleolus and Splicing Speckles under Hypoxia[W]

Here, we identify the Arabidopsis thaliana ortholog of the mammalian DEAD box helicase, eIF4A-III, the putative anchor protein of exon junction complex (EJC) on mRNA. Arabidopsis eIF4A-III interacts with an ortholog of the core EJC component, ALY/Ref, and colocalizes with other EJC components, such as Mago, Y14, and RNPS1, suggesting a similar function in EJC assembly to animal eIF4A-III. A green fluorescent protein (GFP)-eIF4A-III fusion protein showed localization to several subnuclear domains: to the nucleoplasm during normal growth and to the nucleolus and splicing speckles in response to hypoxia. Treatment with the respiratory inhibitor sodium azide produced an identical response to the hypoxia stress. Treatment with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 led to accumulation of GFP-eIF4A-III mainly in the nucleolus, suggesting that transition of eIF4A-III between subnuclear domains and/or accumulation in nuclear speckles is controlled by proteolysis-labile factors. As revealed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis, the nucleoplasmic fraction was highly mobile, while the speckles were the least mobile fractions, and the nucleolar fraction had an intermediate mobility. Sequestration of eIF4A-III into nuclear pools with different mobility is likely to reflect the transcriptional and mRNA processing state of the cell.