Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A contrast-based model of achromatic transparency

One of the most compelling examples of image segmentation is the perception of transparency: the visual system decomposes the 2D pattern of image intensities into the surfaces in the background and the transparent medium that partially obscures the background (see Fig. 1). How the visual system accomplishes the decomposition is not clear but it has been suggested that the link between perceived transparency and image intensities might be contrast [1], [2].
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MOTION OF LONG BUBBLES IN INCLINED TUBES

The relative motion of single long air bubbles suspended in a constant liquid flow in inclined tubes has been studied experimentally. Specially designed instrumentation, based on the difference in refractive properties of air and liquid with respect to infrared fight, has been constructed and applied to measure bubble propagation rates. A series of experiments were performed to determine the effect of tube inclination on bubble motion with liquid Reynolds and Froude numbers, and tube diameter as the most important parameters. Particular aspects of the flow are described theoretically, and model predictions were found to compare well with observations. A correlation of bubble and average liquid velocities, based on a least squares fit to the data is suggested. Comparisons with other relevant models and data are also presented. The classical problem of determining the propagation rate of a long bubble through stagnant liquid in a vertical tube has been studied extensively by Dumitrescu (1943), Davies & Taylor (1949), and Goldsmith & Mason (1962). When surface tension effects are negligible, and Po "~ PL it is easily shown from dimensional analysis that the bubble velocity is proportional to (gD) v2. Based on the assumption of potential flow around the bubble nose, Dumitrescu obtained a series expansion for the bubble velocity, yielding a value of 0.350 for the proportionality coefficient, in excellent agreement with his own and later experimental results. Davies & Taylor (1949) independently obtained similar theoretical results, but retaining the first term, only, in the series expansion, their value of 0.328 for the coefficient is somewhat too low. Zukoski (1966) experimentally investigated the influence of viscosity and surface tension on bubble velocity for different tube inclination angles. In particular the combined effects of surface tension and inclination angle are superbly demonstrated. For all inclinations the effect of surface tension is to reduce the bubble velocity more than (gD) ~/2 when the tube diameter is reduced, and to finally bring the bubble to rest, altogether. Wallis (1969) presents a review of accumulated data in terms of three dimensionless groups, representing inertia, viscous and surface tension effects. Thus the classical problem is rather well understood for all inclinations, although an analytical solution is only available for purely inertial or viscous flow in vertical tubes. For the more general problem of long bubble propagation through a non-stationary liquid, no theoretical solution is available. In case of laminar liquid flow with additional assumptions on bubble shape, approximate solutions may be found, Happel & Brenner (1965), but in general recourse has to be made to simple empirical correlations. For vertical tubes with a diameter of 2.59 cm, Nicklin et al. (1962) found that for Reynolds numbers in the range (8-50). l0 3 the bubble velocity is very well correlated by
Spatial and temporal variability of snow depth and ablation rates in a small mountain catchment

The spatio-temporal variability of the mountain snow cover determines the avalanche danger, snow water storage, permafrost distribution and the local distribution of fauna and flora. Using a new type of terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), which is particularly suited for measurements of snow covered surfaces, snow depth, snow water equivalent (SWE) and melt rates have been monitored in a high alpine catchment during an ablation period. This allowed for the first time to get a high resolution (2.5 m cell size) picture of spatial variability and its temporal development. A very high variability in which maximum snow depths between 0-9 m at the end of the accumulation season was found. This variability decreased during the ablation phase, although the dominant snow deposition features remained intact. The spatial patterns of calculated SWE were found to be similar to snow depth. Average daily melt rate was between 15 mm/d at the beginning of the ablation period and 30 mm/d at the end. The spatial variation of melt rates increased during the ablation rate and could not be explained in a simple manner by geographical or meteorological parameters, which suggests significant lateral energy fluxes contributing to observed melt. It could be qualitatively shown that the effect of the lateral energy transport must increase as the fraction of snow free surfaces increases during the ablation period.
Why RSA? A Pedagogical Comment

One of the most widely used cryptographic algorithms is the RSA algorithm in which a message m encoded as the remainder c of m modulo n, where n and e are given numbers – forming a public code. A similar transformation c mod n, for an appropriate secret code d, enables us to reconstruct the original message. In this paper, we provide a pedagogical explanation for this algorithm. 1 RSA Algorithm: A Pedagogical Puzzle RSA algorithm: a brief reminder. In many computer transaction, the communicated message is encoded, to avoid eavesdropping. This happens, e.g., every time a credit card information is passed over to some website. In most of such cases, a special RSA algorithm is used to encode the message m; see, e.g., [1]. In this algorithm, two specially selected and publicly available numbers n and e are used to encode the message. The encoded message c has the form of the remainder c = m mod n. The number n is usually at least 100 decimal digits long, and the number e is similarly large. For such large numbers, it is not feasible to compute m simply as m · . ·m, by starting with m and e− 1 times multiplying the result by m. Instead, the following much faster algorithm is performed. First, the number e is represented in the binary form, as the sum of powers of two: e = 21 + 22 + . + 2p for some k1 > k2 > . > kp. For example, 1110 is represented as 10112 = 2 3 + 2 + 2 = 8 + 2 + 1.
Senior Tourists' Purchasing Decisions in Group Package Tour

ABSTRACT The senior demographic group is growing rapidly. Family decision-making research has frequently examined relationships between husbands and wives across stages and subdecisions. To supplement previous research, this study examines how different roles' influence over the decision-making stages when the senior tourist participates in a group package tour. A total of 293 senior tourists from Taiwan were surveyed and asked to indicate the amount of influence each family member and ‘others’ had. Results showed that husbands tend to have the most influence in the final purchase, and one interesting finding is that ‘others’ exhibit the highest degree of influence in the information search stage. In addition, the husband shows more influence in 9 subdecisions, and as family income level rises there is a rise in the likelihood of husband dominating with respect to the group package tour. Finally, implications for tourism marketers and areas for future research are discussed.
Stylized Facts for Extended HEAVY/GARCH models and MEM: the importance of asymmetries, power transformations, long memory, structural breaks and spillovers

This paper studies and extends the HEAVY model. Our main contribution is the enrichment of the model with asymmetries, power transformations and long memory -fractionally integrated or hyperbolic. The conclusion that the lagged realized measure does all the work at moving around the conditional variance of stock returns, while it holds in the benchmark speci cation, it does not hold once we allow for asymmetric, power and long memory e¤ects, since we nd that the two power transformed conditional variances are signi cantly a¤ected by the lagged power transformed squares of negative returns. Other ndings are as follows. First, hyperbolic memory ts the model of the realized measure better, whereas fractional integration is more suitable for modelling the conditional variance of the returns. Second, the augmentation of the HEAVY framework with the Garman-Klass range-based volatility estimator further improves the forecasting accuracy of the volatility process. Third, the structural breaks applied to the trivariate system capture the time-varying behavior of the parameters, in particular during and after the global nancial crisis of 2008. Keywords: Asymmetries, HEAVY and GARCH models, nancial crisis, high-frequency data, hyperbolic long memory, MEM, power transformations, realized variance, structural breaks. JEL Classi cation Codes: C32; C58; G15; F3 Address for correspondence: Menelaos Karanasos, Economics and Finance, Brunel University London, UB8 3PH, UK; email: menelaos.karanasos@brunel.ac. uk, tel: +44(0)1895265284, fax: +44 (0)1895269770.
Morfometrijske i ekološke značajke šare poljarice, Hierophis gemonensis (Laurenti, 1768)

Sara poljarica, Hierophis gemonensis, monotipska je vrsta zmije iz porodice guževa (lat. Colubridae). Naseljava suha kamenita stanista mediteranske klime od Slovenije, Hrvatske, BiH, Crne Gore, Albanije do zapadne i istocne Grcke, kao i mnoge otoke Jadranskog i Jonskog mora i Karpate Grcke. Cilj ovog rada je odrediti morfometrijske i meristicke znacajke sare poljarice te njenu tocnu distribuciju u Hrvatskoj. U sklopu zadanog potrebno je utvrditi prisutnost spolnog dimorfizma te postoje li statisticki znacajne razlike u mjerama uzorka sacuvanih u etanolu i živih jedinki mjerenim tokom terenskih istraživanja. Istraživanje se vrsilo na uzorku od 50 jedinki sacuvanih u 70%-tnom etanolu i 51 živih jedinki premjerenih tijekom terenskih istraživanja. Za svaku jedinku su zabilježena 3 meristicka i 14 morfometrijskih obilježja. Spolni dimorfizam je potvrđen u meristickim i morfometrijskim znacajkama.
Estrutura de prática e freqüência de "feedback" extrínseco na aprendizagem de habilidades motoras

O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar os efeitos de diferentes estruturas de pratica e frequencias de "feedback" extrinseco na aprendizagem de habilidades motoras. Foram participantes 144 criancas entre 11 e 12 anos de idade. A tarefa foi o saque por cima do voleibol, executada com o objetivo de fazer com que a bola acertasse o centro de um alvo redondo localizado no lado oposto da quadra. As criancas foram distribuidas em oito grupos que resultaram da combinacao das praticas constante, aleatoria, constante-aleatoria e aleatoria-constante com as frequencias de "feedback" extrinseco de 100% e 33%. O "feedback" extrinseco manipulado foi o conhecimento de performance (CP), sendo que o mesmo foi baseado em uma lista de hierarquia de fornecimento de CP. A pratica aleatoria sozinha e em combinacao com a pratica constante foi manipulada em termos de diferentes regioes do saque. O estudo envolveu duas fases: estabilizacao e adaptacao, com a execucao de 130 e 30 tentativas, respectivamente. As variaveis dependentes referiram-se a pontuacao relativa a meta do saque e ao padrao de movimento. Utilizou-se para analises intragrupo o teste de Friedman e para as analises entre grupos o teste Kruskal Wallis. Os resultados mostraram que nao houve melhora no desempenho durante a fase de estabilizacao e que na fase de adaptacao o desempenho de todos os grupos foi piorado, em relacao a fase anterior. Sendo assim, os resultados nao permitem concluir sobre os efeitos de diferentes estruturas de pratica e frequencias de "feedback" extrinseco, uma vez que nao foi constatada ocorrencia de aprendizagem.
N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)Retinamide Inhibits Invasion, Suppresses Osteoclastogenesis, and Potentiates Apoptosis through Down-regulation of IκBα Kinase and Nuclear Factor-κB–Regulated Gene Products

N -(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide [4-HPR], a synthetic retinoid, has been shown to inhibit tumor cell growth, invasion, and metastasis by a mechanism that is not fully understood. Because the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) has also been shown to regulate proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells, we postulated that 4-HPR modulates the activity of NF-κB. To test this postulate, we examined the effect of this retinoid on NF-κB and NF-κB–regulated gene products. We found that 4-HPR potentiated the apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and chemotherapeutic agents, suppressed TNF-induced invasion, and inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis, all of which are known to require NF-κB activation. We found that 4-HPR suppressed both inducible and constitutive NF-κB activation without interfering with the direct DNA binding of NF-κB. 4-HPR was found to be synergistic with Velcade, a proteasome inhibitor. Further studies showed that 4-HPR blocked the phosphorylation and degradation of IκBα through the inhibition of activation of IκBα kinase (IKK), and this led to suppression of the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of p65. 4-HPR also inhibited TNF-induced Akt activation linked with IKK activation. NF-κB–dependent reporter gene expression was also suppressed by 4-HPR, as was NF-κB reporter activity induced by TNFR1, TRADD, TRAF2, NIK, and IKK but not that induced by p65 transfection. The expression of NF-κB–regulated gene products involved in antiapoptosis (IAP1, Bfl-1/A1, Bcl-2, cFLIP, and TRAF1), proliferation (cyclin D1 and c-Myc), and angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor, cyclooxygenase-2, and matrix metalloproteinase-9) were also down-regulated by 4-HPR. This correlated with potentiation of apoptosis induced by TNF and chemotherapeutic agents.
Psychogenic (Functional) Jaw-Opening Dystonia: Three Case Reports and a Comparison of Symptomatic Jaw-Opening Dystonia Associated with Organic Causes in the Literature

Background: Jaw-opening dystonia is very rarely reported, and involuntary jaw-opening dystonia as an initial manifestation of psychogenic (functional) movement disorder has not yet been reported. This study aimed to report unusual cases of psychogenic (functional) jaw-opening dystonia and to compare the clinical patterns between organic and psychogenic (functional) jaw-opening dystonia. Method: We enrolled three psychogenic (functional) movement disorder patients presenting involuntary severe jaw-opening dystonia as an initial manifestation. Moreover, we review previously reported cases and analyze the clinical pattern of organic psychogenic (functional) jaw-opening dystonia in comparison with our cases. Results: Among 10 cases, including our cases, the most common pattern of organic jaw-opening dystonic symptoms was the sustained pattern. By contrast, all three patients with psychogenic (functional) jaw-opening dystonia presented with a paroxysmal pattern. The major neuro-radiologically associated localizations of organic jaw-opening dystonia were the cerebellum and basal ganglia. Sensory feedback or “sensory tricks” were only observed in organic jaw-opening dystonia. Conclusion: The results of this clinically investigative study may provide support for the differential diagnosis of jaw-opening dystonia between organic and psychogenic (functional) etiologies. Additionally, if paroxysmal jawopening dystonia combined with inconsistent, incongruous hyperkinetic movement symptoms is present, diagnosis of a psychogenic (functional) movement disorder should be considered.
Role of the Matrix Metallo-Proteinases in the Cellular Re-Modeling in a Glaucoma Model System in Rat

Glaucoma is a degenerative and progressive pathology involving the optic nerve with consequent loss of the visual field: it is a particularly severe ocular affection constituting the second cause of blindness in the world. This disease may occur at any age even though it is more frequently found in senior people (Quigley, 1987; Morgan, 2000). Five different types of the disease have been described: two of them are defined as primary open angle or, alternatively, closed angle, which is possibly the most common one (Joseph & Grienson, 1994). Retinal gangliar cells were reported to be the ones mainly damaged by the disease as shown in classical studies by Quigley (Quigley et al., 1998). The disease causes a reduction of the axons forming the optic nerve (Capaccioli et al., 1998). The etiology of glaucoma may be due to two different types of damage: either mechanical or ischemic. In any case, it is commonly accepted that an increased intraocular pressure represents a major risk factor in the development of the disease, and actually, it may be one of the principal causes (Quigley et al., 1994; De Gregorio et al., 1997; Sommers et al., 1991; Friedman et al., 2004). Under the clinical point of view, the increase of pressure is apparently attributable to the alteration of the ocular hydrodynamics, which determines a normal efflux of the aqueous humor from the anterior chamber. Different types of glaucoma exist in particular, in the case of the open angle glaucoma, the lack of efflux depends particularly on obstructions in the trabecular network, while the primary closed angle glaucoma involves a modification the irido-corneal angle. Other ocular pathologies exist where the vitreous efflux is altered but, in these cases, the pathology is defined as secondary glaucoma: also in this pathological condition, the open and the closed angle have been described. In any case, the elevated intraocular pressure seems to be the most relevant pathogenic phenomenon determining the neuropathy although it may be not the only one (Quigley et al., 1994; De Gregorio et al., 1997; Sommers et al., 1991). With respect to this, the synergic action of other factors seems to be proved by the existence of glaucomatous pathologies occurring in conditions of normal ocular pressure: however, a reduced retinal and optic nerve perfusion could play a role due to a deficient blood delivery to these ocular structures. The immunological aspect of the disease should be also considered: for instance in glaucoma patients several auto-immuno
DESIGN AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF AN INPUT SHAPING FILTER IN THE Z -PLANE

Abstract A variety of input shaper has been proposed to reduce the residual vibration of flexible structures. However, the complexity to solve the non-linear simultaneous equations increases due to addition of the constraints to improve the robustness of an input shaper. In this paper, by proposing a graphical approach which places the shaper zeros on the z -plane, the input shaper could conveniently be designed even if the constraints are added for further robustness. Furthermore, it is shown that the proposed method could be accommodated with the variations of both natural frequency and damping ratio. With a mass–damper–spring model, a better performance is obtained using the proposed new multi-hump input shaper.
Elizabeth Dexter Hay (1927–2007)

Elizabeth Dexter Hay studied the cellular processes that affect development of embryos in the US during the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In 1974, Hay showed that the extracellular matrix, a collection of structural molecules that surround cells, influences cell behavior. Cell growth, cell migration [2] , and gene expression are influenced by the interaction between cells and their extracellular matrix. Hay also discovered a phenomenon later called epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a process that occurs during normal embryo and adult development in which epithelial cells, cells that line external and internal surfaces of the body, transform into mesenchymal stem cells [3] , connective tissue cells that are capable of turning into other cell types. Hay's work helped researchers explain normal developmental processes and enabled research into abnormal processes that can cause developmental defects and diseases. cell behavior. Cell growth, cell migration, and gene expression are influenced by the interaction between cells and their extracellular matrix. Hay also discovered a phenomenon later called epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a process that occurs during normal embryo and adult development in which epithelial cells, cells that line external and internal surfaces of the body, transform into mesenchymal stem cells, connective tissue cells that are capable of turning into other cell types. Hay's work helped researchers explain normal developmental processes and enabled research into abnormal processes that can cause developmental defects and diseases.
Multimodel Discrete Second Order Sliding Mode Control: Stability Analysis and Real Time Application on a Chemical Reactor

The variable structure control is principally characterized by its robustness with respect to the system’s modeling uncertainties and external disturbances (Decarlo et al. (1988); Filippov (1960); Lopez & Nouri (2006); Utkin (1992)). Sliding Mode Systems are a particular case of the Variable Structure Systems (VSS). They are feedback systems with discontinuous gains switching the system’ s structure according to the state evolution, in order to maintain the trajectory within some specified subspace called the sliding surface (Utkin (1992)). However, the application of this control law is confronted to a serious problem. In fact, sliding mode necessitates an infinite switching frequency which is impossible to realize in numerical applications because of the calculation time and of the sensors dynamics that can not be neglected. The discontinuous control generates in that case oscillations on the state and on the switching function (Utkin (1992)). Owing to the many advantages of the digital control strategy (Ben Abdennour et al. (2001)), the discretization of the sliding mode control (SMC) has become an interesting research field. Unfortunately, the chattering phenomenon is more obvious in this case, because the sampling rate is more reduced. Many approaches have been suggested in order to resolve this last problem. Most of them propose a reduction in the oscillation amplitude at cost of the robustness of the control law (Utkin et al. (1999)). In the eighties, a new control technique, called high order sliding mode control, have been investigated. Its main idea is to reduce to zero, not only the sliding function, but also its high order derivatives. In the case of the r-order slidingmode control, the discontinuity is applied on the (r-1) derivative of the control. The effective control is obtained by (r-1) integrations and can, then, be considered as a continuous signal. In other words, the oscillations generated by the discontinuous control are transferred to the higher derivatives of the sliding function. This approach permits to reduce the oscillations amplitude, the notorious sliding mode systems robustness remaining intact (Levant (1993)). Another problem of the SMC is its vulnerability to external disturbances, parametric variations and non linearity, essentially, during the reaching phase. A solution to this problem, based on the multimodel approach, was proposed by the authors in (Mihoub et al. (2009a)). The combination of the multimodel approach and the second order discrete sliding mode control (2-DSMC) allows resolving both the chattering problem and the vulnerability during Multimodel Discrete Second Order Sliding Mode Control: Stability Analysis and Real Time Application on a Chemical Reactor 25