Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust control of flexible space vehicles with minimum structural excitation: On-off pulse control of flexible space vehicles

Both feedback and feedforward control approaches for uncertain dynamical systems (in particular, with uncertainty in structural mode frequency) are investigated. The control objective is to achieve a fast settling time (high performance) and robustness (insensitivity) to plant uncertainty. Preshaping of an ideal, time optimal control input using a tapped-delay filter is shown to provide a fast settling time with robust performance. A robust, non-minimum-phase feedback controller is synthesized with particular emphasis on its proper implementation for a non-zero set-point control problem. It is shown that a properly designed, feedback controller performs well, as compared with a time optimal open loop controller with special preshaping for performance robustness. Also included are two separate papers by the same authors on this subject.
Demographic effects on fruit set in the dioecious shrub Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis)

The effects of pollen limitation on reproductive success in plants have been well-documented using pollen supplementation experiments. However, the role of local demographics in determining pollen limitation, particularly in terms of the additive and interactive effects of pollen availability and competition are not well known. We measured fruit set in the dioecious shrub Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis) in Central Alberta, Canada to evaluate whether local demographics measured at three spatial scales (25, 50, and 100 m2) affect fruit set in buffaloberry. We test whether density-dependence (population density), pollen donor (measured as male density, distance to nearest male plant and size of nearest male plant), female competitor (measured as female density and distance to nearest female plant), or the combined pollen donor and competitor hypotheses best explain natural variations in fruit set for a population of Canada buffaloberry. Support was highest for the combined pollen donor and competitor hypothesis at an intermediate spatial scale of 50 m2. Proportion fruit set increased with male shrub density (pollen donors) and decreased with female shrub density (pollen competitors), but was more affected by the presence of males than females. This illustrates that access to male shrubs within a 3.99 m radius affects pollen availability, while nearby females compete intra-specifically for pollen.
Age-related changes in slow wave sleep and REM sleep and relationship with growth hormone and cortisol levels in healthy men.

CONTEXT In young adults, sleep affects the regulation of growth hormone (GH) and cortisol. The relationship between decreased sleep quality in older adults and age-related changes in the regulation of GH and cortisol is unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine the chronology of age-related changes in sleep duration and quality (sleep stages) in healthy men and whether concomitant alterations occur in GH and cortisol levels. DESIGN AND SETTING Data combined from a series of studies conducted between 1985 and 1999 at 4 laboratories. SUBJECTS A total of 149 healthy men, aged 16 to 83 years, with a mean (SD) body mass index of 24.1 (2.3) kg/m( 2), without sleep complaints or histories of endocrine, psychiatric, or sleep disorders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Twenty-four-hour profiles of plasma GH and cortisol levels and polygraphic sleep recordings. RESULTS The mean (SEM) percentage of deep slow wave sleep decreased from 18.9% (1.3%) during early adulthood (age 16-25 years) to 3.4% (1.0%) during midlife (age 36-50 years) and was replaced by lighter sleep (stages 1 and 2) without significant increases in sleep fragmentation or decreases in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The transition from midlife to late life (age 71-83 years) involved no further significant decrease in slow wave sleep but an increase in time awake of 28 minutes per decade at the expense of decreases in both light non-REM sleep (-24 minutes per decade; P<.001) and REM sleep (-10 minutes per decade; P<.001). The decline in slow wave sleep from early adulthood to midlife was paralleled by a major decline in GH secretion (-372 microg per decade; P<.001). From midlife to late life, GH secretion further declined at a slower rate (-43 microg per decade; P<.02). Independently of age, the amount of GH secretion was significantly associated with slow wave sleep (P<.001). Increasing age was associated with an elevation of evening cortisol levels (+19. 3 nmol/L per decade; P<.001) that became significant only after age 50 years, when sleep became more fragmented and REM sleep declined. A trend for an association between lower amounts of REM sleep and higher evening cortisol concentrations independent of age was detected (P<.10). CONCLUSIONS In men, age-related changes in slow wave sleep and REM sleep occur with markedly different chronologies and are each associated with specific hormonal alterations. Future studies should evaluate whether strategies to enhance sleep quality may have beneficial hormonal effects. JAMA. 2000;284:861-868
The concept of vulnerability and its use in the care and control of young people

The idea of ‘vulnerability’ shapes the ways that individuals and groups are managed and classified, from benefits claims to criminal prosecutions and child protection. Yet as a concept, it is little-understood. This thesis is an exploration of how the notion of ‘vulnerability’ is influential in contemporary social policy. The research focuses on young people in particular, in order to give detailed attention to the ways in which ideas about vulnerability affect welfare and disciplinary systems. Official understandings of ‘vulnerability’ are examined and influential constructions of the concept are reviewed. The study also reports from an empirical investigation into the ‘operationalisation’ of vulnerability in service interventions with ‘vulnerable’ young people. This empirical element involved analysis of the perspectives and practices of professionals working with ‘vulnerable’ young people in a large northern city in England, as well as consideration of the views and experiences of ‘vulnerable’ young people themselves. Findings highlight that vulnerability is a powerful conceptual mechanism which underpins the delivery of service interventions for certain groups, with various practical effects. The notion helps to assist groups and individuals who may be dealing with significant problems and difficulties. At the same time, due to links with ‘deservingness’, discourses of vulnerability are shown to subtly but pervasively serve wider policy mechanisms which establish what is appropriate and ‘correct’ behaviour, and that discipline individuals where they fail to conform. This thesis seeks to generate insights into ‘vulnerable’ young people’s social worlds, as well as the systems and processes which govern their lives. It makes a contribution towards developing understandings of the conceptual dimensions of ‘vulnerability’ and also of lived experiences of being ‘vulnerable’.
Mapping protein family interactions: intramolecular and intermolecular protein family interaction repertoires in the PDB and yeast.

In the postgenomic era, one of the most interesting and important challenges is to understand protein interactions on a large scale. The physical interactions between protein domains are fundamental to the workings of a cell: in multi-domain polypeptide chains, in multi-subunit proteins and in transient complexes between proteins that also exist independently. To study the large-scale patterns and evolution of interactions between protein domains, we view interactions between protein domains in terms of the interactions between structural families of evolutionarily related domains. This allows us to classify 8151 interactions between individual domains in the Protein Data Bank and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in terms of 664 types of interactions, between protein families. At least 51 interactions do not occur in the Protein Data Bank and can only be derived from the yeast data. The map of interactions between protein families has the form of a scale-free network, meaning that most protein families only interact with one or two other families, while a few families are extremely versatile in their interactions and are connected to many families. We observe that almost half of all known families engage in interactions with domains from their own family. We also see that the repertoires of interactions of domains within and between polypeptide chains overlap mostly for two specific types of protein families: enzymes and same-family interactions. This suggests that different types of protein interaction repertoires exist for structural, functional and regulatory reasons.
A Study of External Galaxies Detected by the COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment

A comparison of the COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) all-sky survey with the locations of known galaxies in the IRAS Catalog of Extragalactic Objects and the Center for Astrophysics Catalog of Galaxies led to the detection of as many as 57 galaxies. In this paper, we present the photometric data for these galaxies and an analysis of the seven galaxies that were detected at λ > 100 μm. Estimates of the ratio of the mass of the cold dust (CD) component detected at Td = 20-30 K to a very cold dust (VCD) component with Td ≈ 10-15 K suggest that between 2%-100% of the cirrus-like CD mass can also exist in many of these galaxies as VCD. In one galaxy, M33, the DIRBE photometry at 240 μm suggests as much as 26 times as much VCD may be present as compared to the cirrus-like component. Further submillimeter measurements of this galaxy are required to verify such a large population of VCD. We also present 10 galaxies that were detected in the sky region not previously surveyed by IRAS and that can be used to construct a flux-limited all-sky catalog of galaxies brighter than 1000 Jy with a modest completeness limit of about 65%.
Ovariectomy and Subsequent Treatment with Estrogen Receptor Agonists Tune the Innate Immune System of the Hippocampus in Middle-Aged Female Rats

The innate immune system including microglia has a major contribution to maintenance of the physiological functions of the hippocampus by permanent monitoring of the neural milieu and elimination of tissue-damaging threats. The hippocampus is vulnerable to age-related changes ranging from gene expression to network connectivity. The risk of hippocampal deterioration increases with the decline of gonadal hormone supply. To explore the impact of hormone milieu on the function of the innate immune system in middle-aged female rats, we compared mRNA expression in the hippocampus after gonadal hormone withdrawal, with or without subsequent estrogen replacement using estradiol and isotype-selective estrogen receptor (ER) agonists. Targeted profiling assessed the status of the innate immune system (macrophage-associated receptors, complement, inhibitory neuronal ligands), local estradiol synthesis (P450 aromatase) and estrogen reception (ER). Results established upregulation of macrophage-associated (Cd45, Iba1, Cd68, Cd11b, Cd18, Fcgr1a, Fcgr2b) and complement (C3, factor B, properdin) genes in response to ovariectomy. Ovariectomy upregulated Cd22 and downregulated semaphorin3A (Sema3a) expression, indicating altered neuronal regulation of microglia. Ovariectomy also led to downregulation of aromatase and upregulation of ERα gene. Of note, analogous changes were observed in the hippocampus of postmenopausal women. In ovariectomized rats, estradiol replacement attenuated Iba1, Cd11b, Fcgr1a, C3, increased mannose receptor Mrc1, Cd163 and reversed Sema3a expression. In contrast, reduced expression of aromatase was not reversed by estradiol. While the effects of ERα agonist closely resembled those of estradiol, ERβ agonist was also capable of attenuating the expression of several macrophage-associated and complement genes. These data together indicate that the innate immune system of the aging hippocampus is highly responsive to the gonadal hormone milieu. In ovariectomized female rats, estradiol replacement exerts potent immunomodulatory effects including attenuation of microglia sensitization, initiation of M2-like activation and modulation of complement expression by targeting hippocampal neurons and glial cells through ERα and ERβ.
Stromal cell-derived factor-1 a ( SDF-1 a / CXCL 12 )-enhanced angiogenesis of human basal cell carcinoma cells involves ERK 1 / 2 – NFk B / interleukin-6 pathway

Chia-Yu Chu, Shih-Ting Cha, Wan-Chi Lin, Po-Hsuan Lu, Ching-Ting Tan, Cheng-Chi Chang, Ben-Ren Lin, Shiou-Hwa Jee1,y and Min-Liang Kuo2,y, Department of Dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei 100, Taiwan, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, Institute of Toxicology, College of Medicine and Angiogenesis Research Center, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec.1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan, Department of Dermatology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei 100, Taiwan, Department of Otolaryngology and Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei 100, Taiwan
The impact of uninsurable risk on asset prices and optimal dividend policy

This thesis examines whether two well documented financial market anomalies - the "Mehra & Prescott puzzles" and the dividend controversy - can be resolved by allowing for the effects of uninsurable risks. The dissertation contains an extensive review of the theory of consumption based asset pricing and the Mehra & Prescott puzzles. This provides more comprehensive coverage of this material than any previous review of the area: see chapters 2 & 3. The role that uninsurable risk might play in resolving market anomalies is clearly demonstrated. Three chapters of substantive original contribution follow that examine: (i) the predicted equity premium when marketable and nonmarketable risks are independent (ii) the potential relevance of aggregate dividends to equilibrium asset prices in economies with idiosyncratic endowment shocks and (iii) the response of the stock market and riskfree rate to unemployment shocks. The main findings are: (i) Chapter 4: an integrated approach to local proper risk aversion is presented and a new form of risk aversion emerges naturally (ii) Chapter 4: it will not, in general, be possible to make accurate quantitative predictions concerning the impact of a small probability, high impact, negative shock to endowment ("unemployment") on asset prices on the basis of current knowledge concerning investor preferences (iii) Chapter 5: aggregate dividends are shown to play an important role in helping individuals to consumption smooth in incomplete markets if the level of aggregate investment is uncertain. The observed behaviour of dividend smoothing and concentrating rights issues into times of economic prosperity is consistent with the model that is presented (iv) Chapter 6: the rise (fall) in the riskfree rate prior to "bad" ("good") unemployment news does not appear to be consistent with precautionary savings behaviour. It is concluded that, while incomplete market models have great theoretical strength and some empirical support, 'Current applications of this theory leave many issues unresolved.
Semantic relations in concept-based cross-language medical information retrieval

We explore and evaluate the usefulness of semantic annotation, particularly semantic relations, in cross-language information retrieval in the medical domain. As the baseline for automatic semantic annotation we use UMLS, which specifies semantic relations between medical concepts. We developed two methods to improve the accuracy and yield of relations in CLIR: a method for relation filtering and a method to discover new relation instances. Both techniques were applied to a corpus of English and German medical abstracts and evaluated for their efficiency in CLIR. Results show that filtering reduces recall without significant increase in precision, while discovery of new relation instances indeed proved a successful method to improve retrieval.
Exploiting multipath fading with a mobile robot

In indoor or urban applications, a moving robot with wireless communications will experience multipath fading. This causes rapid signal strength variations due to interfering reflections of the radio signal. By making short stops at positions with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the robot can trade trajectory tracking accuracy for increased link quality. This represents a type of opportunistic communication-aware motion planning. We propose two novel strategies for improving the link capacity or throughput when either the robot has full knowledge of how the SNR varies along the trajectory, or when only the SNR distribution is known or can be estimated. In the latter case, this leads to an optimal stopping problem over a finite horizon. Both cases are analyzed for independent as well as correlated SNR samples, and a bounded maximum trajectory tracking error. We derive the resulting SNR distributions for the proposed strategies and use them to show how the expected capacity and throughput vary with the allowed tracking error. The results are confirmed by simulations and experiments. Experiments in six different locations validate the communication model and show that the proposed motion planning is robust to non-static fading and can yield throughput improvements of more than 100%.
Effects of Monetary Policy on the US Dollar/UK Pound Exchange Rate: Is There a 'Delayed Overshooting Puzzle'?

The determination of the US dollar/UK pound sterling exchange rate is studied in a small symmetric macroeconometric model including UK–US differentials in inflation, output gap, and short- and long-term interest rates for the four decades since the breakdown of Bretton Woods. The key question addressed is the possible presence of a “delayed overshooting puzzle” in the dynamic reaction of the exchange rate to monetary policy shocks. In contrast to the existing literature, we follow a data-driven modeling approach combining (i) a vector autoregression (VAR)-based cointegration analysis with (ii) a graph-theoretic search for instantaneous causal relations and (iii) an automatic general-to-specific approach for the selection of a congruent parsimonious structural vector equilibrium correction model. We find that the long-run properties of the system are characterized by four cointegration relations and one stochastic trend, which is identified as the long-term interest rate differential and that appears to be driven by long-term inflation expectations as in the Fisher hypothesis. It cointegrates with the inflation differential to a stationary “real” long-term rate differential and also drives the exchange rate. The short-run dynamics are characterized by a direct link from the short-term to the long-term interest rate differential. Jumps in the exchange rate after short-term interest rate variations are only significant at 10%. Overall, we find strong evidence for delayed overshooting and violations of uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) in response to monetary policy shocks.
Scaling of 3D game engine workloads on modern multi-GPU systems

This work supposes a first attempt to characterize the 3D game workload running on commodity multi-GPU systems. Depending on the rendering workload balance mode used, the intra and interframe dependencies due to render-to-texture require a number of synchronizations that can significantly impact the scalability with multiple GPUs. In this paper, a proprietary analytical tool called EMPATHY has been used to evaluate, for a set popular DX9 games, the performance of both classic split frame and alternate frame rendering modes as well as combined modes supporting more than 4 GPUs. We have also evaluated the application of the early copy and concurrent update techniques together as alternative to delayed surface copy of render-to-texture surfaces, showing a 48% percent improvement for some workloads.
Minimal components of the RNA polymerase II transcription apparatus determine the consensus TATA box

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, multiple approaches have arrived at a consensus TATA box sequence of TATA(T/A)A(A/T)(A/G). TATA-binding protein (TBP) affinity alone does not determine TATA box function. To discover how a minimal set of factors required for basal and activated transcription contributed to the sequence requirements for a functional TATA box, we performed transcription reactions using highly purified proteins and CYC1 promoter TATA box mutants. The TATA box consensus sequence is a good predictor of promoter activity. However, several nonconsensus sequences are almost fully functional, indicating that mechanistic requirements are not the only selective pressure on the TATA box. We also found that the effect of a mutation at a certain position is often dependent on other bases within a particular TATA box. Although activators and coactivators strongly influence TBP recruitment and stability at promoters, neither Mediator, the activator Gal4-V16, nor TFIID specifically compensate for the low transcription levels of the weak TATA boxes. The addition of Mediator to purified transcription reactions did, however, increase the functional selectivity for certain consensus TATA sequences. Transcription in whole-cell extracts or in vivo with these TATA box mutants indicated that factors, other than those in our purified system, may help initiate transcription from weak TATA boxes.
Serum endostatin and vascular endothelial growth factor levels in patients with pre-eclampsia

1Department of Medical Biochemistry; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt (Correspondence to R.A.K. Mahmoud: randa592003@yahoo.co.uk). Received: 20/10/04; accepted: 10/01/05 ABSTRACT We evaluated the prognostic value of serum endostatin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. We determined VEGF and endostatin levels in the sera of 20 healthy, non-pregnant women and 64 pregnant women: 20 healthy, 20 with mild pre-eclampsia and 24 with severe pre-eclampsia. Serum levels of these factors in non-pregnant women were similar to those in healthy pregnant women. However, serum levels were significantly higher with mild or severe pre-eclampsia compared with normal pregnancies and significantly higher with severe rather than with mild pre-eclampsia. Elevated levels significantly increased risk more than severity of pre-eclampsia. VEGF and endostatin could be used to differentiate between pre-eclamptic and normal pregnancies and to discriminate mild pre-eclampsia from severe pre-eclampsia.
On efficient unsuccessful search

This paper introduces a general technique for speeding up unsuccessful search using very little extra space (2 bits per key). This technique is applicable to many data structures including linear lists, and search trees. For linear lists we get on-line algorithms for processing a sequence of successful and unsuccessful searches which are competitive with strong off-line algorithms. In a virtual memory environment our self-adjusting algorithm for multi-way search trees is competitive with an optimal static multi-way tree and will often outperform the static tree.
Weil-Petersson Translation Distance and Volumes of Mapping Tori

Given a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold T_\psi that fibers over the circle with monodromy \psi : S -> S, the monodromy $\psi$ determines an isometry of Teichmuller space with its Weil-Petersson metric whose translation distance ||\psi||_WP is positive. We show there is a constant K >= 1 depending only on the topology of S so that the volume of T_\psi satisfies ||\psi||_WP/K <= vol(T_\psi) <= K ||\psi||_WP.