Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust DT CWT-Based DIBR 3D Video Watermarking Using Chrominance Embedding

The popularity of 3D video is increasing daily due to the availability of low-cost 3D televisions and high-speed Internet access. However, currently the contents of 3D video can be distributed illegally without any protection. For views generated using a depth-image-based rendering technique, not only the left and right views can be distributed as 3D content, but also the center, left, or right views individually as 2D content. As digital video watermarking is a possible way of protecting these views from unauthorized distribution, in this paper, we propose a digital watermarking method for depth-image-based rendered 3D video. In this method, the watermark is embedded in both of the chrominance channels of a YUV representation of the center view using the dual-tree complex wavelet transform. Then, the left and right views are generated from the watermarked center view and depth map using a depth-image based rendering technique. Finally, the watermark can be extracted from the center, left, and right views in a blind fashion without using the original unwatermarked center, left, or right views. This watermark is robust to geometric distortions, such as upscaling, rotation and cropping, downscaling to an arbitrary resolution, and the most common video distortions, including lossy compression and additive noise. Due to the approximate shift invariance characteristic of the dual-tree complex wavelet transform, the technique is robust against distortions in the left and right views generated using depth-image based rendering. The proposed method can also survive baseline distance adjustment and both 2D and 3D camcording.
Detecção e localização de falhas via observadores de estado e de ordem reduzida

Um dos fatores do grande interesse no desenvolvimento de novas tecnicas de deteccao de falhas e devido ao aumento da demanda da industria em relacao a seguranca de seus sistemas, sendo eles supervisionados e monitorados para que as falhas sejam sanadas o mais rapido possivel e que os disturbios em operacao normal nao causem uma deterioracao da performance dos mesmos. Neste trabalho, desenvolveu-se uma metodologia para deteccao e localizacao de falhas em sistemas mecânicos utilizando observadores de estado de ordem reduzida. O metodo pode reconstruir os estados nao medidos ou os valores provenientes de pontos de dificil acesso no sistema. Os parâmetros de interesse sujeitos a falhas sao escolhidos, projetando-se um observador global otimizado para analise de todo o sistema considerando possiveis perturbacoes aleatorias na excitacao, na resposta e falhas nos sensores. Projeta-se tambem observadores robustos a estes parâmetros de interesse, que localizam possiveis falhas ou irregularidades no sistema. Para os componentes que necessitem de um acompanhamento periodico devido as suas grandes solicitacoes ou falhas constantes, montam-se observadores com um sistema de alarmes que gera uma curva de tendencias em um sistema automatico para deteccao e localizacao de falhas desenvolvido neste trabalho. Para os sistemas simulados e experimental, fez-se analises da performance transiente e em regime permanente, excitando-se os sistemas com forca impulsiva, forca senoidal, ruido aleatorio, combinacoes dos mesmos, etc. Os resultados foram bons quando comparados com outros metodos e pode-se tambem verificar os resultados atraves de uma bancada de testes Abstract
A Survey of New Directions in Database System

Summary form only given, as follows. As database system research evolves, there are several enduring themes. One, of course, is how we deal with the largest possible amounts of data. A less obvious theme is optimization ? it is an essential ingredient of all modern forms of database system. Because we deal with large volumes of data, we are often forced to process that data in regular ways. But when operations are uniform, there is an opportunity for the use of very-high-level languages, of which SQL is the primary example. However, to make a very-high-level language effective, we need to optimize it well, that is, produce effective query plans from all sorts of queries. In this talk, we shall review the principal directions in which modern database research is going, and in each case talk a bit about the optimization problems. Stream management systems are one very important new area. Another is peer-to-peer database systems. Integration of heterogeneous information, especially in virtual databases, is also a major challenge. XML, XQUERY, and semistructured data in general form yet another research opportunity.
Logic Databases and the Meaning of Change

This report gives account of the seminar on Logic Databases and The Meaning of Change , held at the marvelous conference and research center of Dagstuhl, in the last week of September 1996. The seminar attracted a total of 36 invited researchers in the ﬁeld, from 14 countries. Each of the participants contributed to the seminar by giving talks, demonstrations and/or participating in lively discussions which followed upon every presentation. Particular highlights included talks on the Situation Calculus (Monday), on Transaction Logic (Tuesday), on Active Databases (Wednesday), as well as on Abductive, Inductive and other, more involved inference techniques. Not surprisingly, the most frequently addressed topics are named by the keywords Updates, Transactions
Obesity and the heart: redefinition of the relationship

Although obesity is an important cardiovascular risk factor, growing evidence shows that obesity is not always related to an unfavourable cardio‐metabolic profile or poor cardiac outcomes. Recent studies show that excess fat even in the absence of comorbidities (uncomplicated obesity) can lead to adaptive cardiac morphological and functional changes. Uncomplicated obesity represents a well‐defined clinical entity that should be carefully considered and followed up. The existence of metabolically healthy subjects presenting a lower prevalence of cardiac modifications and risk factors strongly suggests that a redefinition of obesity based on regional fat distribution indices like waist‐to‐hip ratio instead of body mass index is warranted.
Macroevolution of Specificity in Cyanolichens of the Genus Peltigera Section Polydactylon (Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota).

Patterns of specificity among symbiotic partners are key to a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of symbiotic systems. Specificity of mutualistic partners, within a widespread monophyletic group for which all species are sampled has rarely been explored. Here, we assess the level of specificity between the cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungus (mycobiont) from the genus Peltigera, section Polydactylon, and its cyanobacterial partner Nostoc (cyanobiont). The mycobiont and cyanobiont phylogenies are inferred from five nuclear loci and the rbcLX region, respectively. These sequences were obtained from 206 lichen thalli, representing ca. 40 closely related Peltigera species sampled worldwide, doubling the number of known species in this group. We found a broad spectrum of specificity for both partners ranging from strict specialists to generalists. Overall, mycobionts are more specialized than cyanobionts by associating mostly with one or a few Nostoc phylogroups, whereas most cyanobionts associate frequently with several Peltigera species. Specialist mycobionts are older than generalists, supporting the hypothesis that specialization of mycobionts to one or few cyanobionts, is favored through time in geographic areas where species have been established for long periods of time. The relatively recent colonization of a new geographic area (Central and South America) by members of section Polydactylon is associated with a switch to a generalist pattern of association and an increased diversification rate by the fungal partner, suggesting that switches to generalism are rare events that are advantageous in new environments. We detected higher genetic diversity in generalist mycobionts. We also found that Peltigera species specialized on a single Nostoc phylogroup have narrower geographical distributions compared with generalist species. [Cyanobiont; lichen symbiosis; multilocus phylogeny; mutualistic interactions; mycobiont; photobiont; species delimitation. ].
The relationship of parenting style to self-reported mental health among two subcultures of Chinese.

The results of this investigation with 127 youths (aged 16-22 years) from mainland China supported the association of recalled parent's styles (assessed by the EMBU) with adolescents' self-evaluated health status (measured by the SCL-90). Many psychosomatic symptoms and lower scores on indexes of general mental health were significantly related to higher levels of parental rejection and denial, punishing tendency, overprotection and overinvolvement and to lower levels of parental emotional warmth and comprehension. The association between parenting style and mental health status of adolescents can be generalized across genders and across the two Chinese subcultures studied (Han and Kejia ethnical groups) with moderate to fairly high confidence. The mental health status of participants suggests some differences between different subcultures or genders on several variables of the SCL-90.
Effects of the conformationally restricted GABA analogues, Cis‐and Trans‐4‐aminocrotonic acid, on GABA neurotransmission in primary neuronal cultures

The effects of the GABA analogues, cis‐ and trans‐4‐aminocrotonic acid (ACA) on GABAA receptor function and GABA uptake, together with the presence of ρ‐1 subunit mRNA and putative GABAC receptors, were studied in primary cultures of neocortical neurons and cerebellar granule cells. Both isomers induced a Cl‐ influx, which was inhibited by bicuculline, t‐butylbicyclophosphorothionate (TBPS), picrotoxinin (PTX), and γ‐hexachlorocyclohexane (γ‐HCH or lindane). [3H]‐flunitrazepam binding was also increased by both isomers and this increase was inhibited by bicuculline. In neocortical neurons, the trans‐isomer completely inhibited the [3H]GABA uptake, whereas the cis‐isomer produced only a 25% inhibition at the highest concentration used. The possible presence of GABAC receptors was investigated only in neocortical cultures by using RT‐PCR in order to detect the presence of the mRNA encoding the ρ‐1 subunit which assembles to form homooligomeric Cl‐ channels. The results presented here show that ρ‐1 subunits, and thus GABAC receptors, may represent a very minor population of GABA receptors in these neuronal preparations. We conclude that both GABA analogues may act as agonists at the GABAA receptors, although with very different potencies. J. Neurosci. Res. 57:95–105, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Lagrangian heuristic algorithm for the time‐dependent combined network design and routing problem

During the planning of communication networks, the routing decision process (distributed and online) often remains decoupled from the network design process, that is, resource installation and allocation‐planning process (centralized and offline). To reconcile both processes and take into account demand variability, we generalize the capacitated multicommodity fixed charge network design class of problems by including different types of fixed costs (installation and maintenance costs) and variable costs (routing costs) but also variable traffic demands over multiple periods. However, conventional integer programming methods can typically solve only small to medium size instances of this problem. Two major difficulties are encountered when using commercial solvers to solve the associated mixed integer programs: (i) problems are large scale and even solving the linear relaxation of the problem can be challenging; and (ii) the solver hardly find good feasible solutions for medium to large scale instances. As an alternative, we propose a Lagrangian approach for computing a lower bound by relaxing the flow conservation constraints such that the Lagrangian subproblem itself decomposes by node. Though this approach yields one subproblem per network node, solving the Lagrangian dual by means of the bundle method remains a complex computational tasks. However, it always provides a lower bound on the optimal solution. Moreover, based on this relaxation, we propose a Lagrangian heuristic that makes the approach more robust than a black‐box usage of a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) solver. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 69(1), 110–123 2017
Identification of Group A Porcine Rotavirus Strains Bearing a Novel VP4 (P) Genotype in Italian Swine Herds

ABSTRACT The VP4 gene of a G5 Italian porcine rotavirus strain, 344/04-1, was nontypeable by PCR genotyping. The amino acid sequence of the full-length VP4 protein had low identity (≤76.6%) with the homologous sequences of representative strains of the remaining P genotypes, providing evidence for a novel P genotype.
Effect of the antiprogestin RU486 on uterine sensitivity to oxytocin in ewes in late pregnancy.

The effect of RU486, a synthetic progesterone receptor antagonist, on basal uterine prostaglandin (PG) release and release in response to oxytocin injection has been investigated in late-pregnant sheep (days 135-140 of gestation). Fifteen hours after i.m. injection of RU486 (50 mg; n = 5) or vehicle alone (n = 4), bolus injections of oxytocin (50, 500 and 5000 mU) were administered via a uterine artery ipsilateral to the pregnant uterine horn at 2-hourly intervals. Utero-ovarian vein concentrations of 13,14-dihydro-15-keto PGF2 alpha (PGFM) and PGE2 were determined before and during oxytocin stimulation. Basal concentrations of both PGFM and PGE2 were significantly (P < 0.001) increased in ewes 15 h after RU486 administration compared with ewes receiving vehicle alone. Concentrations of PGFM, but not PGE2, increased significantly (P < 0.001) following injection of each dose of oxytocin in both treated and untreated animals. The response to oxytocin, measured both as the area under the curve and as the peak height of PGFM release, was significantly (P < 0.05) greater in RU486-treated ewes. There was no significant effect of oxytocin on the area or peak height of PGE2 response in either RU486-treated or control animals. These results demonstrate that treatment of late-pregnant ewes with RU486 results in an increase in basal uterine PGFM and PGE2 as well as oxytocin-stimulated PGFM release.
Using Simulation to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines

Nurses in health care today need to practice from an evidence base. There are many models to guide nurses in using the evidence in their practice; however, often nurses rely on their own mental processes to deliver care and do not rely on protocols or guidelines. The challenge often is not to teach the correct evidence-based practice guideline but to support the nurse to incorporate the guidelines into daily practice. Simulation is a method that can be used in an overall strategy to diffuse evidence-based practice guidelines at the point of care delivery.
The Ocean’s Role in Continental Climate Variability and Change

A characteristic feature of global warming is the land‐sea contrast, with stronger warming over land than over oceans. Recent studies find that this land‐sea contrast also exists in equilibrium global change scenarios, and it is caused by differences in the availability of surface moisture over land and oceans. In this study it is illustrated that this land‐sea contrast exists also on interannual time scales and that the ocean‐land interaction is strongly asymmetric. The land surface temperature is more sensitive to the oceans than the oceans are to the land surface temperature, which is related to the processes causing the land‐sea contrast in global warming scenarios. It suggests that the ocean’s natural variability and change is leading to variability and change with enhanced magnitudes over the continents, causing much of the longer-time-scale (decadal) global-scale continental climate variability. Model simulations illustrate that continental warming due to anthropogenic forcing (e.g., the warming at the end of the last century or future climate change scenarios) is mostly (80%‐90%) indirectly forced by the contemporaneous ocean warming, not directly by local radiative forcing.
15-27 GHz pseudo-noise UWB transmitter for short-range automotive radar in a production SiGe technology

Short-range radar is a technology that potentially can help to enhance road safety. Recently, in the USA as well as in Europe, frequency bands around 24 GHz have been opened up for automotive radar applications. This paper describes an ultra-wideband (UWB) transmit path in a production 0.25 /spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS IC technology. The UWB signal is generated by means of biphase modulation of a 24 GHz carrier with a pseudo-noise data signal. When no digital modulation signal is applied, the IC can be used for FM-CW modulation. The transmit path supports pseudo-noise biphase modulation up to 2 Gb/s data rates and generates an unmodulated output power between 2 and 5 dBm differentially for frequencies between 15-27 GHz. The 0.80/spl times/0.66 mm/sup 2/ IC dissipates 168 mW from a 3.3V supply.
Chlorophyll Biosynthetic Reactions during Senescence of Excised Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv IB 65) Leaves

The chlorophyll (Chl) biosynthetic reactions were monitored during senescence of dark-incubated excised barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv IB 65) leaves floated in double-distilled water or kinetin solution. Kinetin abolished the degradation of Chl but failed to check the net degradation of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide), suggesting that different sets of enzymes, i.e. kinetin sensitive and insensitive, are responsible for the degradation of Chl and Pchlide, respectively. Upon exposure of the leaves to light, the dark-accumulated Pchlide was efficiently phototransformed to chorophyllide (Chlide), even on the 7th d of dark incubation, demonstrating that the activity of Pchlide reductase, one of the late enzymes of the Chl biosynthetic pathway, is not substantially affected during senescence. The senescing leaves continued to synthesize Pchlide and Chlide until the 7th d, although at a reduced rate (20% of the 1st d). The decline of the rate of synthesis of Pchlide and Chlide is due to the loss of activity of two early enzymes of the Chl biosynthetic pathway, i.e. 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase and porphobilinogen deaminase. Kinetin substantially checked the loss of activity of these two enzymes.
Una perspectiva para el análisis de la práctica del profesor de matemáticas : implicaciones metodológicas

Analizar la practica del profesor de matematicas conlleva explicitar un modelo de aprendizaje del estudiante (construccion de conocimiento matematico) y generar herramientas analiticas que permitan explicarla de manera coherente con el modelo de aprendizaje asumido. En este articulo introducimos la herramienta analitica «modelacion de mecanismos de construccion de conocimiento» para realizar dicho analisis e incorporamos la nocion de «vineta» como una manera de hacer explicito este proceso de analisis.
Measuring blood pressure: A call to bare arms?

For over 100 years, the dominant method of blood pressure measurement in the clinic was the use of a stethoscope and sphygmomanometer. The “gold standard” mercury-filled sphygmomanometer was so ingrained in medical practice that its unit of measurement, millimetres of mercury (mm Hg), was one of
Aspectos del procesamiento y de la adquisición de oraciones completivas con verbos de cognición y su relación con el desarrollo del raciocinio sobre falsas creencias

Este trabajo presenta los resultados de un estudio realizado con el objeto de evaluar si el desempeno de los ninos en pruebas de memoria para complementos permite prever su actuacion en una tarea clasica de falsas creencias. Fueron realizados cinco experimentos con 25 ninos que adquieren el portugues brasileno con edades comprendidas entre los 2;10 y los 3;9 anos (promedio: 3;6). El experimento 1 constituye una replica de la tarea de memoria para complementos clasica; con la diferencia de que fueron manipuladas variables que tradicionalmente son contrabalanceadas (tipo de verbo (decir/pensar) y tipo de oracion interrogativa (corta/larga). Los experimentos restantes evaluaron las demandas en el procesamiento del elemento Q-movido versus in situ; la comprension de factualidad/factitividad; la produccion de completivas y las habilidades relacionadas con las falsas creencias. Los resultados sugieren que un buen desempeno en pruebas de memoria para completivas no seria condicion suficiente para la comprension de falsas creencias.
Noise-induced sidebranching in the three-dimensional nonaxisymmetric dendritic growth.

We consider the time-dependent behavior of sidebranching deformations taking into account the actual nonaxisymmetric shape of the needle crystal. The Green's function of the linearized problem is presented by a functional integral with the help of the Mullins-Sekerka local spectrum. For the short-wavelength perturbations the functional integral can be calculated by the steepest descent method, where the Green's function behavior is determined by the extremal trajectories governed by Hamilton equations. The local spectrum plays the role of the Hamilton's function. As in the axisymmetric approach [J.S. Langer, Phys. Rev. A 36, 3350 (1987)], noise-induced wave packets generated in the tip region grow in amplitude, and spread and stretch as they move down the sides of the dendrite producing a train of sidebranches. The amplitude grows exponentially as a function of (\ensuremath{\Vert}Z${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Vert}}}^{2/5}$/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}^{1/2}$), where \ensuremath{\Vert}Z\ensuremath{\Vert} is the distance from the dendritic tip and \ensuremath{\sigma} is the stability parameter. The important result is that the amplitude of the sidebranches for the anisotropic needle crystal grows faster than for the axisymmetric paraboloid shape [in the latter case it grows exponentially but only as a function of (\ensuremath{\Vert}Z${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Vert}}}^{1/4}$/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}^{1/2}$)]. We argue that this effect can resolve the puzzle that experimentally observed sidebranches have much larger amplitudes than can be explained by thermal noise in the framework of the axisymmetric approach. The coarsening behavior of sidebranches in the nonlinear regime is briefly discussed.
CALL FOR PAPERS Integrative and Translational Physiology: Integrative Aspects of Energy Homeostasis and Metabolic Diseases Homeostatic regulation of protein intake: in search of a mechanism

in search of a mechanism. organisms must procure adequate nutrition by negotiating an environment in which both the quality and quantity of food vary markedly. Recent decades have seen marked progress in our understanding of neural regulation of feeding behavior. However, this progress has occurred largely in the context of energy intake, despite the fact that food intake is inﬂuenced by more than just the energy content of the diet. A large number of behavioral studies indicate that both the quantity and quality of dietary protein can markedly inﬂuence food intake. High-protein diets tend to reduce intake, low-protein diets tend to increase intake, and rodent models seem to self-select between diets in order to meet protein requirements and avoid diets that are imbalanced in amino acids. Recent work suggests that the amino acid leucine regulates food intake by altering mTOR and AMPK signaling in the hypothalamus, while activation of GCN2 within the anterior piriform cortex contributes to the detection and avoidance of amino acid-imbalanced diets. This review focuses on the role that these and other signaling systems may play in mediating the homeostatic regulation of protein balance, and in doing so, highlights our lack of knowledge regarding the physiological and neurobiological mechanisms that might underpin such a regulatory phenomenon.