Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Dynamic Range Image Tone Mapping with Edge Preserved Dithering

Current tone mapping technique for high dynamic range (HDR) image is limited by the gray scale of display screen. In this paper, we propose a novel tone mapping approach based on edge preserved dithering, which makes use of high resolution of display screen to breakthrough the gray scale limitation. To each HDR image, we first decompose its L* component to the ditherable patches and the unditherable patches. Then, we utilize linear programming to tone map the mean gray levels of the ditherable patches and the gray level of each pixel in the unditherable patches to an extended dynamic range. Finally, the gray levels of the tone mapped image are further narrowed to the required gray scale of display screen in which dithering is applied on ditherable patches. Experimental results show that edge preserved dithering can improve the distribution of the limited gray levels in the generated images and effectively reduce contouring and detail loss.
Urinary tract infection in the neurogenic bladder

There is a high incidence of urinary tract infection (UTI) in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract function. This results in significant morbidity and health care utilization. Multiple well-established risk factors unique to a neurogenic bladder (NB) exist while others require ongoing investigation. It is important for care providers to have a good understanding of the different structural, physiological, immunological and catheter-related risk factors so that they may be modified when possible. Diagnosis remains complicated. Appropriate specimen collection is of paramount importance and a UTI cannot be diagnosed based on urinalysis or clinical presentation alone. A culture result with a bacterial concentration of ≥103 CFU/mL in combination with symptoms represents an acceptable definition for UTI diagnosis in NB patients. Cystoscopy, ultrasound and urodynamics should be utilized for the evaluation of recurrent infections in NB patients. An acute, symptomatic UTI should be treated with antibiotics for 5–14 days depending on the severity of the presentation. Antibiotic selection should be based on local and patient-based resistance patterns and the spectrum should be as narrow as possible if there are no concerns regarding urosepsis. Asymptomatic bacteriuria (AB) should not be treated because of rising resistance patterns and lack of clinical efficacy. The most important preventative measures include closed catheter drainage in patients with an indwelling catheter and the use of clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) over other methods of bladder management if possible. The use of hydrophilic or impregnated catheters is not recommended. Intravesical Botox, bacterial interference and sacral neuromodulation show significant promise for the prevention of UTIs in higher risk NB patients and future, multi-center, randomized controlled trials are required.
Automatic Construction of a MultiWord Expressions Bilingual Lexicon: A Statistical Machine Translation Evaluation Perspective

Identifying and translating MultiWord Expressions (MWES) in a text represent a key issue for numerous applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially for Machine Translation (MT). In this paper, we present a method aiming to construct a bilingual lexicon of MWES from a French-English parallel corpus. In order to assess the quality of the mined lexicon, a Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) task-based evaluation is conducted. We investigate the performance of three dynamic strategies and of one static strategy to integrate the mined bilingual MWES lexicon in a SMT system. Experimental results shows that such a lexicon improves the quality of translation.
Orientation discrimination of single-stranded DNA inside the α-hemolysin membrane channel

We characterize the voltage-driven motion and the free motion of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) molecules captured inside the ≈1.5-nm α-hemolysin pore, and show that the DNA–channel interactions depend strongly on the orientation of the ssDNA molecules with respect to the pore. Remarkably, the voltage-free diffusion of the 3′-threaded DNA (in the trans to cis direction) is two times slower than the corresponding 5′-threaded DNA having the same poly(dA) sequence. Moreover, the ion currents flowing through the blocked pore with either a 3′-threaded DNA or 5′ DNA differ by ≈30%. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of our system reveal a microscopic mechanism for the asymmetric behavior. In a confining pore, the ssDNA straightens and its bases tilt toward the 5′ end, assuming an asymmetric conformation. As a result, the bases of a 5′-threaded DNA experience larger effective friction and forced reorientation that favors co-passing of ions. Our results imply that the translocation process through a narrow pore is more complicated than previously believed and involves base tilting and stretching of ssDNA molecules inside the confining pore.
INVESTIGATION OF THE DIELECTROPHORESIS EFFECT ON THE ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE OF DIELECTRIC LIQUID

This paper addresses the effect of the contaminant present in the power transformer oil. This transformer oil has been used as liquid insulation as well as heat dissipation in high voltage transformer. Recent, researchers have found that ester oil which vegetable-based oil is capable of outshining the disadvantages of mineral oil such as non-biodegradable and future scarcity as a potential replacement for liquid insulation. However, the performance of ester oil is still arguably, especially in DC energization case. In this present paper, the bridging experiment has been conducted in order to study the ester oil performance with the presence of contaminant under the influenced of DC electric field. This approach will show the effect of polarization and Dielectrophoresis (DEP) that create a conduction path between two different potential paths in the electric field and producing motion in the particles. As an effect of DEP, the contaminant tends to move towards the higher region electric field and may lead to a more serious problem, transformer failures. In total, Cellulose particle with two different conditions i.e. stirred and unstirred was investigated. A complete cellulose bridge is observed between two 13 mm sphere electrodes with 10 mm distance between them. The performance of dielectric properties is analysed by correlating the formation time and breakdown voltage results.
High Immunoglobulin G2 (IgG2) and Low IgG4 Levels Are Associated with Human Resistance to Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

ABSTRACT There is accumulating evidence for a role of immunoglobulin G (IgG) in protection against malarial infection and disease. Only IgG1 and IgG3 are considered cytophilic and protective against P. falciparum, whereas IgG2 and IgG4 were thought to be neither and even to block protective mechanisms. However, no clear pattern of association between isotypes and protection has so far emerged. We analyzed the isotypic distribution of the IgG response to conserved epitopes and P. falciparum blood-stage extract in 283 malaria-exposed individuals whose occurrence of infection and malaria attack had been monitored for about 1 year. Logistic regression analyses showed that, at the end of the season of transmission, high levels of IgG2 to RESA and to MSP2 epitopes were associated with low risk of infection. Indeed, IgG2 is able to bind FcγRIIA in individuals possessing the H131 allele, and we showed that 70% of the study subjects had this allele. Also, high specific IgG4 levels were associated with an enhanced risk of infection and with a high risk of malaria attack. Moreover, specific IgG2 and IgG3 levels, as well as the IgG2/IgG4 and IgG3/IgG4 ratios, increased with the age of subjects, in parallel with the protection against infection and disease. IgG4 likely competes with cytophilic antibodies for antigen recognition and may therefore block cytotoxicity mediated by antibody-activated effector cells. In conclusion, these results favor a protective role of IgG3 and IgG2, which may activate effector cells through FcγRIIA, and provide evidence for a blocking role of IgG4 in malarial infection and disease.
Bargaining and market behavior - essays in experimental economics

Part I: 1. Rational choice: the contrast between economics and psychology 2. Experimental tests of the endowment effect 3. Monetary rewards and decision costs in experimental economics 4. Fairness, effect on temporary and equilibrium prices in posted-offer markets Part II. Bargaining theory, Behavior and Evolutionary Psychology: 5. Preferences, property rights and anonymity in bargaining games 6. Social distance and other regarding behavior in dictator games 7. On expectations and monetary stakes in ultimatum games 8. Game theory and reciprocity in some extensive form experimental games 9. Behavioral foundations of reciprocity: experimental economics and psychology Part III. Institutions and Markets: 10. Reflections on some experimental market mechanisms for classical environments 11. Experimental methods in the political economy of exchange 12. Individual rationality, market rationality, and value estimation 13. Market contestability in the presence of sunk costs 14. The boundaries of competitive price theory: expectations, convergence and transaction cost 15. Off-floor trading, disintegration and the Bid-Ask spread in experimental markets 16. Bertrand-Edgeworth competition in experimental markets 17. An experimental examination of the Walrasian Tatonnement mechanism Part IV. Stock Markets and Bubbles: 18. Stock markets bubbles in the laboratory.
Community involvement and participation in tourism development : a Zimbabwe Study

This study seeks to provide insights into the extent of community involvement and participation in the tourism development trajectory within the urban community of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Face-to-face questionnaire surveys were administered to 384 adult members representing each household. The study revealed that communities were not adequately involved in terms of planning, decision making and participation in the development of tourism generally. Communities also perceive the benefits brought about by tourism to be confined to business and government officials as opposed to it being leveraged to the entire community. Communities acknowledge the potential of tourism to accrue benefits to them and express strong willingness to be involved in future development agendas. The paper advocates the need for a concerted effort to capacitate, educate and involve individuals and stakeholder groups in the efforts to remodel the tourism economy in Zimbabwe for long-term sustainability by adopting an innovative community based tourism approach.
A Computational Model for Object-based Visual Attention

Computational model for object-based visual attention is a hot research field. A computational model of object-based visual attention is proposed in this paper. This model mainly includes three key technologies which are perceptual objects extraction, attention value calculation of perceptual objects and focus of attention shift. Firstly spatial visual saliency of each pixel is calculated and a saliency map is generated. The most salient homogeneity regions are extracted based on their spatial visual saliency. The extracted salient regions can be considered as perceptual objects. Attention value of each perceptual object is computed according to its area, location and saliency. Then a hierarchical attention shift method is used in the proposed model. The proposed model has been tested on many natural images. Experiment results show that the proposed model is valid and the attention results are consistent with human visual system.
Critical Role of the Posterior Left Atrium in the Perpetuation of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation and the Hybrid Ablation Approach for Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Management: A Single-center Outcomes Study

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder and a growing major public health burden. AF ablation is considered to be the preferred rhythm control strategy for symptomatic drug-refractory paroxysmal and persistent AF (PRAF). To date, the long-term ablation success rates of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) for PRAF and longstanding PRAF (LS-PRAF) have not paralleled those of paroxysmal AF. Additional concomitant ablation strategies such as linear ablation lesions in the left and right atria; autonomic ganglionic plexi ablation; ablation directed by complex fractionated atrial electrograms; ablation of nonpulmonary vein (PV) triggers; radiofrequency ablation of the vein of Marshall; and, most recently, focal impulse and rotor ablation/modulation have shown modest improvement in terms of efficacy, but no reproducible outcomes. Here, we describe the critical role of the posterior left atrium (LA) and PV region in the development and progression of PRAF and LS-PRAF. We discuss the results of single-center outcomes data for convergent or hybrid AF ablation of the posterior LA and PV region (endocardial PVI + minimally invasive epicardial posterior LA ablation). This epicardial ablation approach, combined with endocardial ablation, is an option for patients with PRAF and LS-PRAF. More definitive clinical trials are needed.
Combining nonuniform sampling, hybrid super vector, and random forest with discriminative decision trees for action recognition

Trajectory-based features have become popular for action recognition and achieve the state-of-the-art results on a variety of datasets. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to improve the performance of action recognition. Specifically, we first apply the nonuniform sampling method to efficiently select features for given actions. The proposed hybrid super vector, namely fisher vector (FV) combined with vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD), is then employed to encode sampled trajectories. A random forest with discriminative decision trees, where every tree node is a discriminative classifier, is finally applied to predict action labels. We have achieved 88.2% in average accuracy on the UCF101 dataset, which outperforms the best results that have been reported in the literature.
Suppressing traffic-driven epidemic spreading by use of the efficient routing protocol

Despite extensive work on the interplay between traffic dynamics and epidemic spreading, the control of epidemic spreading by routing strategies has not received adequate attention. In this paper, we study the impact of an efficient routing protocol on epidemic spreading. In the case of infinite node-delivery capacity, where the traffic is free of congestion, we find that that there exist optimal values of routing parameter, leading to the maximal epidemic threshold. This means that epidemic spreading can be effectively controlled by fine tuning the routing scheme. Moreover, we find that an increase in the average network connectivity and the emergence of traffic congestion can suppress the epidemic outbreak.
Conceptual framework study of basic counting skills based dynamic visual architecture towards autistic children's development

For individual with autism, the opportunity to achieve self-determination may be critical to enhance their quality of life. To achieve self-determination and independence, autism patience need to comprehend the learning basic skill system. Since calculation is used in everyday living, understanding the basic calculation skills is one way individual with autism can help achieve independence. The important of calculation especially mathematics in everyday living should not be overlooked for children's with autism. The opportunities to be paid and purchase goods are ways individuals with disabilities can achieve autonomy and independence. For students with autism, learning basic counting skills are important not only for their academic careers but also for their future independence. Our study plans to investigate the counting basic skills based dynamic visual for students with autism that will potentially assist educators, facilitators and curriculum developers to create appropriate instrument and instructional programs to meet students' academic needs. A theoretical model for basic counting skills for autism children's development is to be proposed from the outcome of this study. The next step will be to validate the integrated model proposed which will be conducted through a series of hypothesis testing which includes improved enthusiasm, augmented sense of worth and enhanced analytical. Perhaps more importantly, this research may help students acquire the essential skills they will need for future independence.
Towards a Domain Independent Platform for Data Cleaning

We present a domain independent platform for data cleaning developed as part of the Data Cleaning project at Microsoft Research. Our platform consists of a set of core primitives and design tools that allow a programmer to develop sophisticated data cleaning solutions with minimal programming effort. Our primitives are designed to allow rich domain and application specific customizations and can efficiently handle large inputs. Our data cleaning technology has had significant impact on Microsoft products and services and has been successfully used in several real-world data cleaning applications.
Light Guide Plate Illumination with Blue Laser and Quantum Dot Emission

A Blue laser diode is used instead of LEDs to excite emission of Green and Red primaries from a strip of “quantum dot” materials at the edge of an LCD display light guide plate. Optical efficiency is improved by reflecting emission that would otherwise be lost. A phase randomizing deformable mirror is used to minimize speckle noise in the imagery.
A dual band CMOS power amplifier for an S/X band high resolution radar system

This paper presents a dual band CMOS power amplifier (PA) for an S/X band high resolution radar system. Reconfigurable band-switchable matching networks and a dual band Wilkinson power combiner (impedance transformer) are used for an output matching network. The PA is fabricated using a UMC 0.13 μm CMOS process. It provides a saturated output power of 24.8 dBm and 25.3 dBm with the power-added-efficiency (PAE) of 27.2 % and 36.4 % at 8.4 GHz and 3.0 GHz, respectively. The 3-dB bandwidth is 2.5 GHz (7.4-9.9 GHz) and 2.3 GHz (2.7-5.0 GHz). This amplifier achieves a fractional bandwidth of 29% and 60 % at each band, and shows suitable performance for use in a high resolution radar system.
Effect of Two Exosystem Structures on Output Regulation of The Rtac System

This paper presents results on the output regulation of a single-input multi-output (SIMO) rotationaltranslational actuator (RTAC) system. The results focus primarily on stability and robustness, which are studied in light of the presence of externally generated exogenous input signals. Two exosystem types were investigated and tested. Obtained results answers the question of asymptotic stabilization and tracking of a desired trajectory in the presence of a dynamic exosystem. The results confirmed the working theory of robust stabilization using output feedback techniques, borne out of differential-geometric observer design principles. The utilized design showed good stability results which compares favourably with existing works on RTAC stabilization.
Optical and Micro structural Studies on films of Pb ( NO 3 ) 2 filled PVA-PVP composite

Lead Nitrate (Pb(NO3)2) filled polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) composite films were prepared by solution casting method, with filler levels varying from 7.6 wt% up to 39.8 wt%. These films were characterized by using UV-Visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence microscope. The UV-Visible spectra showed incorporation of additional bands in the HOMO-LUMO bandgap, with increment of filler (Pb(NO3)2) content in the polymeric blend (PVA-PVP) matrix. Fluorescence microscope images reveal hexagonal patterns in the low and moderate range of filler concentration, varying from 7.6 wt% up to 19.9 wt%, and further increment of filler concentration leads to exaggeration of filler in the polymer matrix, for which fluorescence microscope images show no pattern. Width of absorption bands, as well as the edge of the optical absorption in the polymer films is measured from the optical spectra of the composite polymeric blends and their values are listed separately. Fluorescence spectra of composite films, with filler level varying from 7.6 wt% up to 24.8 wt% show decrease in intensity of photo-luminescence, whereas a further increase in filler content increases the fluorescence intensity. Surface morphology of the prepared Pb(NO3)2 filled PVA/PVP composite show significant variation; as the filler concentration in the polymer matrix increases, the surface roughness increases.
EXTENDING THE TASK-TECHNOLOGY FIT MODEL WITH SELF-EFFICACY CONSTRUCTS

MIS researchers have developed a number of models for studying the software utilization choices of end users, including the Task-Technology Fit Model and the Technology Acceptance Model. We are exploring the similarities and differences among these models with a goal of developing combined models with more explanatory power. This paper proposes a model that extends the task-technology fit model with a computer self-efficacy construct.
5-Azacytidine suppresses EC9706 cell proliferation and metastasis by upregulating the expression of SOX17 and CDH1

5-Azacytidine is a well-known anticancer drug that is clinically used in the treatment of breast cancer, melanoma and colon cancer. It has been reported that 5-azacytidine suppresses the biological behavior of esophageal cancer cells. However, corresponding mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, using Transwell invasion and cell proliferation assays, we demonstrated that 5-azacytidine significantly inhibited the metastasis and proliferation of EC9706 cells, and upregulated the expression of cadherin 1 (CDH1) and SRY-box containing gene 17 (SOX17). Moreover, the inhibition of the metastasis of the 5-azacytidine-treated EC9706 cells was impaired following transfection with siRNA targeting CDH1 (CDH1 siRNA), and the inhibition of cell proliferation was attenuated following the downregulation of SOX17 by siRNA targeting SOX17 (SOX17 siRNA). Furthermore, 5-azacytidine remarkably reduced the CDH1 and SOX17 promoter methylation levels, suggesting that 5-azacytidine upregulates the expression of SOX17 and CDH1 by inhibiting the methylation of the SOX17 and CDH1 promoter. The findings of our study confirm that 5-azacytidine suppresses the proliferation and metastasis of EC9706 esophageal cancer cells by upregulating the expression of CDH1 and SOX17. The expression levels of CDH1 and SOX17 negatively correlate with the promoter methylation levels. CDH1 and SOX17 are potential indicators of the clinical application of 5-azacytidine.
Psychiatric and Medical Comorbiditiesinpatients With Bipolar Disorder: A Hospital Based Study

A complex, chronic mood disorder involving repeated episodes of depression and mania/hypomania is referred as Bipolar disorder [1]. The two most common bipolar disorders are bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. The lifetime prevalence of MDD Is around 12.2% to 16.2% [2,3] while as the prevalence of bipolar disorder are significantly lower, ranging from 0.9% to 4.4%