Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Object Recognition By Scale Space Feature Tracking And Subtemplate Matching

A method to recognize 3D objects by detecting features at multiple scales and subtemplate matching is proposed. Since surface reconstruction is not required, great save in computing time is possible. Depth map data of an object is first smoothed by Gaussian filtering at the coarsest scale and the Gaussian curvature at each point is computed. Extremal points are determined and an extremal point region(EPR) associated with each extremal point is defined. A spherical window which is invariant with rotation in 3-space is used to extract a surface patch around each extremal point for subtemplate matching. Processing and subtemplate matching are repeated at next finer scale to resolve ambiguities. Since the EPRs at different scales form an organized tree, computing effort is saved at this step by applying 2D scale-space tracking to limit the search regions for extremal points. If necessary, this step may be repeated at still finer scales until the effect of noise is significant, or the finest of resolution is reached. The method is suitable for irregular-shaped object recognition and early experiments using real data are very encouraging.
Dynamics of the Transition from a Thin Accretion Disk to an Advection-dominated Accretion Flow

We consider an optically thin advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) that is connected at a finite transition radius to an outer optically thick, geometrically thin disk. We include turbulent energy transport and examine ADAF models that satisfy the following boundary conditions at the transition radius: (1) the temperature of the gas is much lower than the virial temperature, (2) the rotation is super-Keplerian, and (3) the net radial flux of energy is outward. We numerically solve the height-integrated viscous hydrodynamic equations with these boundary conditions. We find that the Bernoulli parameter is positive for a wide range of radius, indicating that outflows may be possible from ADAFs. Turbulent energy transport enhances the Bernoulli parameter. We compare our numerical global solutions with two published analytical solutions. We find that the solution of Honma represents the transition region well, while the self-similar solution of Narayan & Yi works better away from the transition. However, neither analytical solution is able to represent the density or angular momentum profile in the inner region of the ADAF, where the flow makes a sonic transition.
Research on the Investment Strategy Based on Option Volatility Smiles

Under the Black-Scholes efficient market assumptions, the implied volatility of options should be constant when the option value state and the remaining maturity period change. However, in the real world, the implied volatility of options in different value states will show smile pattern with given remaining maturity period. Numerous empirical studies have found that implied volatility smile slopes have significant predictive function for stock market returns. Based on this, this paper selects the historical trading data of SSE 50 ETF options to verify the existence of option volatility smile in Chinese capital market. And uses the tilt degree of implied volatility as a stock risk premium factor to select stocks, as to obtain a portfolio with excess returns. This paper portrays the morphological characteristics of option implied volatility, as well as confirms the existence of option volatility smile in Chinese capital market. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the tilt of the smile has significant predictive function for the underlying market trend. Finally, this paper constructs an investment strategy using the tilt degree of the implied volatility smile as an indicator. The findings of this study will help investors to select stocks and construct portfolios based on implied volatility in order to obtain higher returns.
Mechanism and Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone tumor, often occurring in children and adolescents. The etiology of most patients is unclear, and the current conventional treatment methods are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical resection. However, the sensitivity of osteosarcoma to radiotherapy and chemotherapy is low, and the prognosis is poor. The development of new and useful treatment strategies for improving patient survival is an urgent need. It has been found that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress (ERS) affects tumor angiogenesis, invasion, etc. By summarizing the literature related to osteosarcoma and ERS, we found that the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway activated by ERS has a regulatory role in osteosarcoma proliferation, apoptosis, and chemoresistance. In osteosarcoma, the UPR pathway plays an important role by crosstalk with autophagy, oxidative stress, and other pathways. Overall, this article focuses on the relationship between ERS and osteosarcoma and reviews the potential of drugs or gene targets associated with ERS for the treatment of osteosarcoma.
Characteristic spectra of Munsell colors

The 1257 reflectance spectra of the chips in the Munsell Book of Color—Matte Finish Collection (Munsell Color, Baltimore, Md., 1976) were measured with a rapid acousto-optic spectrophotometer. Measured spectra were sampled from 400 to 700 nm at 5-nm intervals. The correlation matrix of this sample set was formed, and the characteristic vectors of this matrix were computed. It is shown, contradictory to earlier recommendations [ Psychon. Sci.1, 369 ( 1964)], that as many as eight characteristic spectra are needed to achieve good representation for all spectra.
Fintech, foreign bank presence and inclusive finance in Africa: Using a quantile regression approach

Abstract Africa is one of the continents with the least inclusive finance. However, with increasing use of mobile phones for financial services or financial technology (Fintech), there are improved opportunities to ‘bank the unbanked”. Also, there is a significant increase in both the presence of foreign banks and Fintech usage. Hence, we examine the moderating role of foreign bank presence on the Fintech-inclusive finance nexus over the period, 2000–2018. The results show that foreign bank presence does not directly affect inclusive finance, but increases the link between Fintech and inclusive finance. We recommend that African countries need to provide the conducive environment improving the use of Fintech.
A radical embodied perspective of autism: towards ethical, and inclusive views for cognitive diversities

Autism Spectrum Disorders have been defined as a group of developmental conditions that affect the capacity to interact with the physical and social environment, among others. A core feature of autism is the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors that vary in complexity, form, and frequency throughout life history. These core features have traditionally been defined as impairments that interfere with communication competence. From an embodied approach, however, these actions could be seen as characteristic ways of interacting with the world. In this sense, we take an enactive and embodied approach to cognition in which we conceive cognitive agents as sensorimotor systems whose perception-action occurs in terms of affordances. This framework provides an integrative view of autism considering affectivity, perception, action, exploration, and interaction within a complex and dynamic dimension. Following this, we propose different applications based on embodied, intercultural, and feminist epistemologies, to understand and participate with autistic and cognitively diverse populations. The change in theoretical and methodological paradigms within embodied cognitive science towards autism and other cognitive diversities and how they engage with the world can lead to more comprehensive, integrative, and bioethical approaches.
The EffecTs of Amlodipine and other Blood PREssure Lowering Agents on Microvascular FuncTion in Small Vessel Diseases (TREAT-SVDs) trial: Study protocol for a randomised crossover trial

Background: Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for cerebral small vessel diseases (SVDs). Yet, it is unknown whether antihypertensive drug classes differentially affect microvascular function in SVDs. Aims: To test whether amlodipine has a beneficial effect on microvascular function when compared to either losartan or atenolol, and whether losartan has a beneficial effect when compared to atenolol in patients with symptomatic SVDs. Design: TREAT-SVDs is an investigator-led, prospective, open-label, randomised crossover trial with blinded endpoint assessment (PROBE design) conducted at five study sites across Europe. Patients aged 18 years or older with symptomatic SVD who have an indication for antihypertensive treatment and are suffering from either sporadic SVD and a history of lacunar stroke or vascular cognitive impairment (group A) or CADASIL (group B) are randomly allocated 1:1:1 to one of three sequences of antihypertensive treatment. Patients stop their regular antihypertensive medication for a 2-week run-in period followed by 4-week periods of monotherapy with amlodipine, losartan and atenolol in random order as open-label medication in standard dose. Outcomes: The primary outcome measure is cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) as determined by blood oxygen level dependent brain MRI signal response to hypercapnic challenge with change in CVR in normal appearing white matter as primary endpoint. Secondary outcome measures are mean systolic blood pressure (BP) and BP variability (BPv). Discussion: TREAT-SVDs will provide insights into the effects of different antihypertensive drugs on CVR, BP, and BPv in patients with symptomatic sporadic and hereditary SVDs. Funding: European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme. Trial registration: NCT03082014.
MicroRNAs: A Link between Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is among the most common cancers in women, second to skin cancer. Mammary gland development can influence breast cancer development in later life. Processes such as proliferation, invasion, and migration during mammary gland development can often mirror processes found in breast cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small, non-coding RNAs, can repress post-transcriptional RNA expression and can regulate up to 80% of all genes. Expression of miRNAs play a key role in mammary gland development, and aberrant expression can initiate or promote breast cancer. Here, we review the role of miRNAs in mammary development and breast cancer, and potential parallel roles. A total of 32 miRNAs were found to be expressed in both mammary gland development and breast cancer. These miRNAs are involved in proliferation, metastasis, invasion, and apoptosis in both processes. Some miRNAs were found to have contradictory roles, possibly due to their ability to target many genes at once. Investigation of miRNAs and their role in mammary gland development may inform about their role in breast cancer. In particular, by studying miRNA in development, mechanisms and potential targets for breast cancer treatment may be elucidated.
Impact of Fried Frailty Phenotype on Postoperative Outcomes After Durable Contemporary Mechanical Circulatory Support: A Single-Center Experience

Background Frailty is prevalent in advanced heart failure patients and may help distinguish patients at risk of worse outcomes. However, the effect of frailty on postoperative clinical outcomes is still understudied. Therefore, we aim to study the relationship between frailty and postoperative clinical outcomes in patients undergoing long-term mechanical circulatory support (MCS). Methods Forty-six patients undergoing durable MCS (left ventricular assist device and total artificial heart) placement at our medical center were assessed for frailty pre-implant. Frailty was defined as ≥ 3 physical components of the Fried frailty phenotype. Our primary endpoint is 1 year of survival post-implant. Secondary endpoints include 30-day all-cause rehospitalization, pump thrombosis, neurological event (stroke/transient ischemic attack), gastrointestinal bleeding, and driveline infection within 12 months post-MCS support. Results Of the 46 patients, 32 (69%) met the criteria for frailty according to Fried. The cohort’s median age was 67.0 years. The frail group had statistically significant lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (11% vs. 20%, P = 0.017) and lower albumin (3.5 vs. 4.0 g/dL, P = 0.021). The frail cohort also had significantly higher rates of comorbid chronic kidney disease (47% vs. 7%, P = 0.016). There were no differences between the frail vs. non-frail group in terms of 30-day readmission rates (40% vs. 39%, P = 0.927) and 1-year post-intervention survival (log-rank, P = 0.165). None of the other secondary endpoints reached statistical significance, although the incidence of gastrointestinal bleed (24% vs. 16%, P = 0.689) and pump thrombosis (8% vs. 0%, P = 0.538) were higher in the frail group. Conclusions Preoperative Fried frailty was not associated with readmission at 30 days, mortality at 365 days, and other postoperative outcomes in long-term durable MCS patients. Findings may need further validation in larger studies.
NURSING CONSULTATION TEACHING IN NURSES' TRAINING: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY

Objective: to identify the Brazilian scientific production about Nursing consultation teaching in nurses' training. Method: a descriptive study of a bibliometric nature conducted in the portal of Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde and in PubMed from April to May 2021, with the following inclusion criteria: full articles, in Portuguese or English, published from 2009 to 2020. Results: a total of 13 studies were identified, of which four were published in a B2 journal from the Northeast region, although with predominance of papers from the South region (38.46%), with the experience report type standing out. The most frequently observed themes were related to the teaching methodologies, especially the active ones with use of technological tools. “Nursing consultation” was not found to be one of the most frequent keywords. Conclusion: by verifying the incipience of the production on the theme, this study provides subsidies for expanding this knowledge area, reverberating in improvements in Nursing consultation teaching and in nurses' training.
Yield and Volatility of Tesla Stock under the Normalized Covid-19 Pandemic

Due to the changing national and local policies worldwide caused by the raging situation of COVID-19, the car chip supply chain across the world has been impacted severely. This paper assesses the yield and volatility of, an American automobile and clean energy company, Tesla’s stock price with the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic. To study the changes in yield and volatility of the selected stock price with two influencing factors, which are exchange rate (USD to CNY) and automobile chip shortage, a VAR model and an ARMA-GARCH model are used in this research. Empirical results indicate that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the exchange rate has a negative impact on Tesla’s stock return as well as enlarging its volatility, when the previous stock price has been considered as a significant implication on its hereafter price.
From visualization to discovery, a transdisciplinary framework to re-engineer engineering practices

One way business students apply theoretical knowledge and enhance their decision-making skills is by using digital simulators and seldomly in real life due to the strategic and economic nature of the consequences involved. Besides, engineering students practice their knowledge and skills in laboratories and or actual companies, in many cases, due to the economic and tactical nature of the decisions involved. Due to the COVID pandemic starting in 2020, many engineering schools closed their laboratory access while companies also paused their students' involvement. Hence, many engineering faculties searched for new ways to keep educational schedules and standards. The contribution of this work supplies a transdisciplinary framework (involving faculty, students, and practitioners) to redesign engineering practices to achieve and improve pre-pandemic learning levels. A Six Sigma experience using a web-based Virtual Reality production facility illustrates the framework through three iterations: one-way information flow, two-way interaction with limited capabilities, and complex systems simulations to explore sophisticated challenges. Results show that students experience a more substantial engagement in these novel practices where they expose themselves to challenges that, in many cases, could not be possible in a real-life experience due to safety and economic consequences.
Study of Optimal Adaptive Rule in Testing Composite Hypothesis

Abstract In this article on sequential adaptive testing, we have studied the optimal allocation between two populations for testing a composite hypothesis involving the parameters, with the goal of decreasing allocation of one of the treatments to the order of the logarithm of the sample size while decreasing the probability of incorrect selection to zero. We have proved the result for large sample sizes both mathematically and by simulation studies.
The Impact of Human Capital on Enterprise Management

China is the country with the largest population in the world. It has abundant human resources, but it is very scarce in terms of human capital, which is lower than that of the most developed countries. The scarcity of human capital directly affects the enterprise growth. Human capital plays a key role in the operation and development of enterprises. Giving internal employees of businesses full credit for the value of their human capital may act as a powerful engine for their growth. Human capital indicates the market’s demand for labor and the value that labor may provide to the economy, whereas human resources reflect the number and caliber of laborers in a nation. It has to do with how supply and demand on the market are changing. Investment in human resources produces human capital. This paper discussed an all-encompassing notion of human capital, as well as it’s required conditions of transformation of human resources into human capital. It also emphasizes the integration of human capital within a dynamic multi-loop nexus of social capital, learning, and knowledge management. In addition, the characteristics of human capital management in modern enterprises and the feasibility of human resource transforming into human capital were also discussed. The transformation of human resources into human capital shows that labor has played its own role in the production system. The employee is not only an important condition for enterprise growth, but it can also promote the progress of science and technology and increase the efficiency of the productivity.
Development of Bi-2223 magnetic separation system

A prototype of a cryocooler cooled Bi-2223 magnet system for magnetic separation was constructed. The magnet system has 200 mm room temperature bore and generates fields higher than 1T in 11-liter room temperature space. The magnet was tested at various temperatures and excitation speeds. The magnet was cyclically excited up to 1.7 T at the speed of 1.7 T/min with various periodic times. The temperature gradually increased with the number of excitations, however, the temperature saturated at 28-38 K for the periodic times longer than 9 min, and stable operation of the magnet was obtained. A demonstration of magnetic separation of aquatic slurry containing fine /spl alpha/-hematite paramagnetic particle was performed by using ferromagnetic stainless steel fibers as a magnetic filter. Almost 100% of hematite particles were successfully separated from the slurry.
Bézout SP-Domains

SP-domains were first introduced by Vaughan and Yeagy (1978) as generalizations of Dedekind domains. In particular, they showed that an SP-domain is an almost Dedekind domain. Later, Olberding (2005) gave a complete characterization of SP-domains within the class of almost Dedekind domains. This article characterizes Bézout SP-domains using the order structure of the group of divisibility of an integral domain. We use this information to construct a Bézout SP-domain with zero Jacobson radical.
Metal Ions Removal from Contaminated Water Using Membranes Functionalized with Ionic Liquids

The present work studies the efficiency of new innovative quaternized polysulfone (PSFQ)/ionic liquid (IL) membranes in the treatment process of water containing cadmium ions (Cd(II)). The design and development of the polysulfone membranes with morphology tailored by the use of ILs (Cyphos 101 IL and Aliquat 336) was based on the rheological study of the casting solutions that dictated the optimal compositions of ILs and facilitated the preparation of the membranes for performance tests. Thus, according to the variation of the rheological functions obtained (G′, G″), it was demonstrated that Aliquat 336 has better compatibility with PSFQ, facilitating the workability of the solution and improving the final properties of the membranes relative to Cyphos 101 IL. However, the casting solutions consisting of 5 wt. % Ph-IL and 15 wt. % Am-IL content produce membranes with superior physico-chemical properties. Also, the surface chemistry and morphology analysis of the membranes obtained were investigated in order to understand the relationship between the PSFQ and ILs, as well as their surface properties, as indicators for their future applications. Additionally, the results obtained from the kinetic studies regarding Cd(II) removal from aqueous solutions and the amount of Cd(II) accumulated onto the membranes showed that the ILs enhance the filtration efficiency of the membranes studied and underlined the positive effect of IL in the structure of the quaternized polysulfone membranes. A content of 15 wt. % Aliquat 336 in PSFQ membranes shows the best properties for Cd(II) removal from aqueous solutions; the maximum amount of Cd(II) accumulated on the membrane studied was 3300 mg/m2. This behaviour was maintained for two cycles of washing/filtration, and then the efficiency decreased by 20%. The results obtained showed that the membranes functionalized with ionic liquid could be used efficiently in the treatment of water containing trace concentration of cadmium.
Weight optimization of truss structures by using genetic algorithms

Lightweight structures, especially trusses, have attracted a tremendous attention due to their extensive applications in the construction of infrastructures. Optimizing the shape and cross-sectional topology of truss members is essential since the truss systems are widely used in engineering routines. These systems form the framework of structures like bridges, steel halls for industry and trade, and towers. For the scope of this research, genetic algorithms were used for weight optimization of truss structures. This paper aims to optimize truss structures for finding optimal cross-sectional area. To optimize the cross-sectional area, all members were selected as design variables, with the structure’s weight being the objective function. The restrictions related to the change of the location of the nodes and the tension in the members were the looked-upon problems, the permissible values of which were determined under the circumstances of the problem. In addition, the resulting optimized model which masses for sizing, shape, and topology or their combinations, were compared.
A Descriptor Systems Approach to Robust Exponential Stability of Networked Control Systems

Abstract In this paper, we consider a class of networked control systems (NCSs) with norm-bounded uncertainties. Using the continuous modeling method, the NCSs can be described as delayed differential equations (DDEs), which can be viewed as a general form of the NCSs model, where the effect of the network-introduced delay and data packet dropout are simultaneously considered. Robust exponential stability criterion are derived based on a delay-dependent method. Robust output feedback controller can also be determined by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities.