Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spontaneous and driven responses of semicircular canal primary afferents in the unanesthetized pigeon.

Spontaneous activity from 120 vestibular semicircular canal (SC) primary afferents and driven responses from 20 SC primary afferents to 2.3-decade bandwidth (0.029-6.152 Hz) sum of sinusoidal angular rotations were characterized in 10 unanesthetized pigeons. The results were compared with those previously gathered from barbiturate anesthetized pigeons. The average spontaneous mean firing rate (MFR) of SC primary afferents in unanesthetized pigeons was found to be 168 impulses per second (I/s), n = 120, and is approximately 80% higher than that for SC primary afferents in anesthetized pigeons [93 I/s, n = 149 (Ref. 9) and 92 I/s, n = 124 (Ref. 22)]. The spontaneous discharge of SC primary afferents from unanesthetized pigeons was classified according to the coefficient of variation (CV) of 512-1,024 interspike intervals (ISIs) into regular (CV less than 0.1), intermediate (0.1 less than or equal to CV less 0.4), and irregular (0.4 less than or equal to CV) categories. The percentages of SC primary afferents falling within each CV category were similar for unanesthetized and anesthetized pigeons (22). The relation between the spontaneous mean ISI and its standard deviation (SD) for SC primary afferents in the unanesthetized pigeon is best described by a power function model, which provides a significantly better fit than does a linear model. The parameters of this power function model are similar for SC primary afferents in unanesthetized and anesthetized pigeons (10). The spontaneous ISIs of individual SC primary afferents in the unanesthetized pigeon were found to be distributed either normally, log-normally, or according to the first passage time of the Wiener-Levy (WL) process. The gain of anterior SC primary afferents at 0.25 Hz is similar for anesthetized (2.93 I X s-1 X deg-1 X s-1, n = 14) (11) and for unanesthetized (3.01 I X s-1 X deg-1 X s-1, n = 14) pigeons. Bode plots constructed from the responses to sum sinusoidal angular accelerations reveal that SC primary afferents in unanesthetized pigeons display a phase lead and gain enhancement at frequencies between 0.6 and 6 Hz. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Temporarily Red Light-Insensitive Mutant of Tomato Lacks a Light-Stable, B-Like Phytochrome

We have selected four recessive mutants in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) that, under continuous red light (R), have long hypocotyls and small cotyledons compared to wild type (WT), a phenotype typical of phytochrome B (phyB) mutants of other species. These mutants, which are allelic, are only insensitive to R during the first 2 days upon transition from darkness to R, and therefore we propose the gene symbol tri (temporarily red light insensitive). White light-grown mutant plants have a more elongated growth habit than that of the WT. An immunochemically and spectrophotometrically detectable phyB-like polypeptide detectable in the WT is absent or below detection limits in the tri1 mutant. In contrast to the absence of an elongation growth response to far-red light (FR) given at the end of the daily photoperiod (EODFR) in all phyB-deficient mutants so far characterized, the tri1 mutant responds to EODFR treatment. The tri1 mutant also shows a strong response to supplementary daytime far-red light. We propose that the phyB-like phytochrome deficient in the tri mutants plays a major role during de-etiolation and that other light-stable phytochromes can regulate the EODFR and shade-avoidance responses in tomato.
Toward Reliable Off Road Autonomous Vehicles Operating in Challenging Environments

The DARPA PerceptOR program has implemented a rigorous evaluative test program which fosters the development of field relevant outdoor mobile robots. Autonomous ground vehicles were deployed on diverse test courses throughout the USA and quantitatively evaluated on such factors as autonomy level, waypoint acquisition, failure rate, speed, and communications bandwidth. Our efforts over the three year program have produced new approaches in planning, perception, localization, and control which have been driven by the quest for reliable operation in challenging environments. This paper focuses on some of the most unique aspects of the systems developed by the CMU PerceptOR team, the lessons learned during the effort, and the most immediate challenges that remain to be addressed.
Studying User Footprints in Different Online Social Networks

With the growing popularity and usage of online social media services, people now have accounts (some times several) on multiple and diverse services like Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and You Tube. Publicly available information can be used to create a digital footprint of any user using these social media services. Generating such digital footprints can be very useful for personalization, profile management, detecting malicious behavior of users. A very important application of analyzing users' online digital footprints is to protect users from potential privacy and security risks arising from the huge publicly available user information. We extracted information about user identities on different social networks through Social Graph API, Friend Feed, and Profilactic, we collated our own dataset to create the digital footprints of the users. We used username, display name, description, location, profile image, and number of connections to generate the digital footprints of the user. We applied context specific techniques (e.g. Jaro Winkler similarity, Word net based ontologies) to measure the similarity of the user profiles on different social networks. We specifically focused on Twitter and Linked In. In this paper, we present the analysis and results from applying automated classifiers for disambiguating profiles belonging to the same user from different social networks. User ID and Name were found to be the most discriminative features for disambiguating user profiles. Using the most promising set of features and similarity metrics, we achieved accuracy, precision and recall of 98%, 99%, and 96%, respectively.
Characterization of organo-kenyaites: thermal stability and their effects on eosin removal characteristics

ABSTRACT Organo-kenyaites were prepared from a cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (C16TMAOH) solution and solid sodium kenyaite (Na2Si22O45.10H2O) mixture. The effect of the initial cetyltrimethylammonium solution on the structure of the intercalated materials was investigated by CHN analyses, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis, SEM, and 29Si and 13C solid NMR techniques. For C16TMAOH concentration 0.25 mM, the Na+ cations were fully exchanged. Initial C16TMAOH concentrations higher than 0.25 mM had little effect on the intercalated amount of C16TMA+ cations. The organic cations content reached a plateau of 0.66 mmol/g. The arrangement model of C16TMA+ cations corresponded to a tilt of the organic cations to the silicate layers with an angle of 42° as deduced by XRD studies. The C16TMA+ cations exhibited mainly trans-configuration of the methyl chains, as was shown by solid 13C NMR. The thermal stability of the organo-silicates was studied using in situ FTIR and in situ XRD in the range 25–450°C. The C16TMA-kenyaites were stable at temperatures below 200°C. They collapsed at higher temperatures due to the decomposition of the intercalated surfactants. These organo-kenyaites were used to remove the acidic dye molecule, eosin. The removal tests were performed at varying conditions of initial dye concentrations, organic content in the organo-kenyaites and heating temperatures. In general, the organic modification improved the removal capacity of the Na-kenyaite from 2 mg of eosin/g to 60 mg of eosin/g, and this capacity was related to the organic contents and the calcination temperatures of the organo-kenyaites.
Single-Event Transient Pulse Quenching in Advanced CMOS Logic Circuits

Heavy-ion broad-beam experiments on a 130 nm CMOS technology have shown anomalously-short single-event transient pulse widths. 3-D TCAD mixed-mode modeling in 90 nm and 130 nm bulk CMOS has identified a mechanism for simultaneous charge collection on proximal circuit nodes interacting in a way as to truncate, or ¿quench,¿ a propagated voltage transient, effectively limiting the observed SET pulse widths at high LET. This quenching mechanism is described and analyzed.
Active8! Technology-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Hospital Employees

Purpose. Increase physical activity in health care employees using health messaging, and compare e-mail with mobile phone short-message service (SMS) as delivery channels. Design. Randomized controlled trial Setting. U.K. hospital workplace. Subjects. Two hundred ninety-six employees (19–67 years, 53% of study Web site visitors). Intervention. Twelve-week messaging intervention designed to increase physical activity and delivered via SMS (n =147) or e-mail (n =149); content tailored using theory of planned behavior (TPB) and limited to 160 characters. Measures. Baseline and 6, 12, and 16 weeks. Online measures included TPB constructs, physical activity behavior on the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, and health-related quality of life on the Short-Form 12. Analysis. General linear models for repeated measures. Results. Increase in duration (mean h/d) of moderate work-related activity and moderate recreational activity from baseline to 16 weeks. Short-lived increase in frequency (d/wk) of vigorous recreational activity from baseline to 6 weeks. Increase in duration and frequency of active travel from baseline to 16 weeks. E-mails generated greater changes than SMS in active travel and moderate activity (work and recreational). Conclusion. Minimal physical activity promotion delivered by SMS or e-mail can increase frequency and duration of active travel and duration of moderate intensity physical activity at work and for leisure, which is maintained up to 1 month after messaging ends. Both channels were useful platforms for health communication; e-mails were particularly beneficial with hospital employees.
3D Shape Reconstruction from 2D Landmarks: A Convex Formulation

We investigate the problem of reconstructing the 3D shape of an object, given a set of 2D landmarks in a single image. To alleviate the reconstruction ambiguity, a widely-used approach is to confine the unknown 3D shape within a shape space built upon existing shapes. While this approach has proven to be successful in various applications, a challenging issue remains, i.e., the joint estimation of shape parameters and camera-pose parameters requires to solve a nonconvex optimization problem. The existing methods often adopt an alternating minimization scheme to locally update the parameters, and consequently the solution is sensitive to initialization. In this paper, we propose a convex formulation to address this problem and develop an efficient algorithm to solve the proposed convex program. We demonstrate the exact recovery property of the proposed method, its merits compared to the alternative methods, and the applicability in human pose, car, and face reconstruction.
Relationship of tumor PD-L1 expression with EGFR wild-type status and poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND Programmed death-ligand 1 is an immune modulator that promotes immunosuppression by binding to programmed death-1 of T-lymphocytes. Whereas programmed death-ligand 1 expression has been shown to be associated with the clinical response to anti-programmed death-ligand 1 antibody, the association of tumor programmed death-ligand 1 expression with clinicopathological/molecular features and with prognosis remains inconclusive in lung adenocarcinoma. We therefore examined the association of programmed death-ligand 1 expression with the clinicopathological/molecular features and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS Using tissue microarrays of 268 consecutive cases of lung adenocarcinoma, we evaluated programmed death-ligand 1 expression by immunohistochemistry. We examined the association of programmed death-ligand 1 expression with clinicopathological and molecular features. We also examined the prognostic association of programmed death-ligand 1 expression, using the log-rank test as well as Cox proportional hazards regression models to compute the mortality hazard ratio (HR). RESULTS Programmed death-ligand 1 immunoreactivity (at least 5% of the tumor cells) was observed in 43 (16%) of 268 cases of lung adenocarcinoma. Programmed death-ligand 1 positivity was associated with less tumor differentiation (P < 0.0001) and EGFR wild-type status (P = 0.0008). In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, less tumor differentiation was independently associated with programmed death-ligand 1 positivity (multivariable odds ratio, 6.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.37-23.3; P = 0.0001). Programmed death-ligand 1 positivity was associated with a poor prognosis for lung cancer-specific survival (log-rank, P = 0.019; HR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.06-2.72; P = 0.030) and overall survival (log-rank, P = 0.0014; HR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.25-2.74). CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that programmed death-ligand 1 positivity in lung adenocarcinoma was associated with less tumor differentiation and EGFR wild-type status, as well as a poor prognosis.
Fast marching tree: A fast marching sampling-based method for optimal motion planning in many dimensions

In this paper we present a novel probabilistic sampling-based motion planning algorithm called the Fast Marching Tree algorithm (FMT*). The algorithm is specifically aimed at solving complex motion planning problems in high-dimensional configuration spaces. This algorithm is proven to be asymptotically optimal and is shown to converge to an optimal solution faster than its state-of-the-art counterparts, chiefly PRM* and RRT*. The FMT* algorithm performs a ‘lazy’ dynamic programming recursion on a predetermined number of probabilistically drawn samples to grow a tree of paths, which moves steadily outward in cost-to-arrive space. As such, this algorithm combines features of both single-query algorithms (chiefly RRT) and multiple-query algorithms (chiefly PRM), and is reminiscent of the Fast Marching Method for the solution of Eikonal equations. As a departure from previous analysis approaches that are based on the notion of almost sure convergence, the FMT* algorithm is analyzed under the notion of convergence in probability: the extra mathematical flexibility of this approach allows for convergence rate bounds—the first in the field of optimal sampling-based motion planning. Specifically, for a certain selection of tuning parameters and configuration spaces, we obtain a convergence rate bound of order O(n −1/d+ρ ), where n is the number of sampled points, d is the dimension of the configuration space, and ρ is an arbitrarily small constant. We go on to demonstrate asymptotic optimality for a number of variations on FMT*, namely when the configuration space is sampled non-uniformly, when the cost is not arc length, and when connections are made based on the number of nearest neighbors instead of a fixed connection radius. Numerical experiments over a range of dimensions and obstacle configurations confirm our theoretical and heuristic arguments by showing that FMT*, for a given execution time, returns substantially better solutions than either PRM* or RRT*, especially in high-dimensional configuration spaces and in scenarios where collision-checking is expensive.
La microstructure des aciers et des fontes

Grâce à l’apport technologique de la microscopie électronique, la microstructure peut être explorée dans ses moindres détails. L’interprétation d’une micrographie requiert une large culture métallurgique car souvent de nombreuses transformations ont laissé des traces à différentes échelles d’observation. Ce livre propose une présentation des notions fondamentales nécessaires à cet effet. D’ailleurs sa partie introductive propose le décryptage d’objets anciens, des lames d’épées par leur microstructure.
Model Order Reduction of Interval Systems Using Mihailov Criterion and Cauer Second Form

This paper presents a new mixed method for reducing the large scale interval systems using the Mihailov Criterion and Cauer second form. The reduced order model of denominator is determined by using Mihailov Criterion and numerator coefficients are obtained by using Cauer second form. We show that the mixed method is simple and guarantees the stability of the reduced model if the original system is stable. A numerical examples are illustrated and verified its stability.
Impact of distillery spentwash irrigation on the yields of some top vegetables: An investigation

Cultivation of some top vegetables was made by irrigation with distillery spent wash of different proportions. The spent wash i.e., primary treated spent wash (PTSW), 50% and 33% spent wash were analyzed for its plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other physical and chemical parameters. Experimental soil was tested for its chemical and physical parameters. Top vegetables seeds (Namadhari and Mayhco) were sowed in the prepared land and irrigated with raw water (RW), 50% and 33% spent wash. The impact of spent wash on the yields of vegetables at their maturity periods was investigated.
Modular generalized Springer correspondence I: the general linear group

We define a generalized Springer correspondence for the group GL(n) over any field. We also determine the cuspidal pairs, and compute the correspondence explicitly. Finally we define a stratification of the category of equivariant perverse sheaves on the nilpotent cone of GL(n) satisfying the 'recollement' properties, and with subquotients equivalent to categories of representations of a product of symmetric groups.
Dendritic fibromyxolipoma adherent to the median nerve in the forearm

Abstract We describe a 65-year-old woman with a tumour adherent to the median nerve in the left forearm that was found to be a dendritic fibromyxolipoma, a distinctive benign soft tissue lesion possibly related to a myxoid spindle cell lipoma; it is a solitary fibrous tumour that may be mistaken for a sarcoma. The tumour was successfully excised with no complications.
Assessment of Soil Fertility of Morogoro District, and Response of Maize (Zea mays) to Applied Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulphur

Information on soil fertility is very important on application of fertilizers as plant nutrients supplement to correct Nitrogen, phosphorus and Sulphur deficiencies. The study objective was to evaluate the current fertility status of soils of Morogoro District and the response of maize to applied Nitrogen, Phosphorus and sulphur. Two field experiments were carried out in a season 2015/2016. Eighteen maize growing areas were selected, top soils, composite samples from a depth of 0-20 cm was collected and analyzed for physical and chemical properties as per standard procedures in the laboratory. Soil analysis laboratory results used as a means for soil fertility rating. Two of those sites classified as Ultisols (Kiziwa), and Inceptisols (Fulwe) with phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) variability were used for field experiments. Treatments for field experiment were varied fertilizer levels, namely 0, 50, 100 kg N ha, 0, 10, 20 kg Pha and 0, 10, 20 kg S ha. Absolute control treatment was included in both experimental site and the experiments was arranged in a completely randomized block design with three replicates at both sites. Results showed that studied soils had low soil fertility with slightly acidic to neutral pH in Original Research Article Masunga and Kazumba; AJAAR, 1(3): 1-9, 2017; Article no.AJAAR. 34176 2 water (6.6-7.5), Low organic carbon (0.7-1.3%), low to very low total N (<0.01) and low extractable S (<3 mg/kg). 28% of studied soils had very high concentaration of P, low to very low CEC, very high exchangeable Ca, Mg very low Na and adequate Concentration of K with micronutrients not limiting. Grain yield was significantly increased with application of N, P and S at (P=.05). Therefore a tentative nutrient combination of 50-100 kg N ha, 10-20 kg P ha, and 10-20 kg S ha 1 may be the best strategy for improving maize yields in Morogoro District while monitoring P Concentration with time.
SLIC: An Extensibility System for Commodity Operating Systems

Modern commodity operating systems are large and complex systems developed over many years by large teams of programmers, containing hundreds of thousands of lines of code. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to add significant new functionality to these systems. In response to this problem, a number of recent research projects have explored novel operating system architectures to support untrusted extensions, including SPIN, VINO, Exokernel, and Fluke. Unfortunately, these architectures require substantial implementation effort and are not generally available in commodity systems. In contrast, by leveraging the technique of interposition, we have designed and implemented a prototype extension system called SLIC which requires only trivial operating system changes. SLIC efficiently inserts trusted extension code into commodity operating systems, enabling a large class of trusted extensions for existing commodity operating systems such as Solaris and Linux, while retaining full compatibility with existing application binaries. By interposing trusted extensions on existing kernel interfaces, our solution enables extensions which are protected from malicious applications, are enforced upon uncooperative applications, are composable with extensions from other third-party sources, and can be developed at the user-level using state-of-the-art development tools. We have used SLIC to implement and demonstrate a number of useful operating system extensions, including a patch to fix a security hole described in a CERT advisory, a simple encryption file system, and a restricted execution environment for arbitrary untrusted binaries. Performance measurements of the SLIC prototype demonstrate a one-time installation cost of 2-8 µsec and a per-extension invocation overhead commensurate with a procedure call.
Transparent dynamic reconfiguration for CORBA

Distributed systems with high availability requirements have to support some form of dynamic reconfiguration. This means that they must provide the ability to be maintained or upgraded without being taken off-line. Building a distributed system that allows dynamic reconfiguration is very intrusive to the overall design of the system, and generally requires special skills from both the client and server side application developers. There is an opportunity to provide support for dynamic reconfiguration at the object middleware level of distributed systems, and create a dynamic reconfiguration transparency to application developers. We propose a Dynamic Reconfiguration Service for CORBA that allows the reconfiguration of a running system with maximum transparency for both client and server side developers. We describe the architecture, a prototype implementation, and some preliminary test results.