Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A singularity-free path planner for closed-chain manipulators

This paper provides an algorithm for computing singularity-free paths on non-redundant closed-chain manipulators. Given two non-singular configurations of the manipulator, the method attempts to connect them through a configuration space path that maintains a minimum clearance with respect to the singularity locus at all points. The method is resolution-complete, in the sense that it always returns a path if one exists at a given resolution, or returns “failure” otherwise. The path is computed by defining a new manifold that maintains a one-to-one correspondence with the singularity-free configuration space of the manipulator, and then using a higher-dimensional continuation technique to explore this manifold systematically from one configuration, until the second configuration is found. Examples are included that demonstrate the performance of the method on illustrative situations.
Supervised Learning of German Qualia Relations

In the last decade, substantial progress has been made in the induction of semantic relations from raw text, especially of hypernymy and meronymy in the English language and in the classification of noun-noun relations in compounds or other contexts. We investigate the question of learning qualia-like semantic relations that cross part-of-speech boundaries for German, by first introducing a hand-tagged dataset of associated noun-verb pairs for this task, and then provide classification results using a general framework for supervised classification of lexical relations.
The regulation and plasticity of root hair patterning and morphogenesis

Root hairs are highly specialized cells found in the epidermis of plant roots that play a key role in providing the plant with water and mineral nutrients. Root hairs have been used as a model system for understanding both cell fate determination and the morphogenetic plasticity of cell differentiation. Indeed, many studies have shown that the fate of root epidermal cells, which differentiate into either root hair or non-hair cells, is determined by a complex interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic cues that results in a predictable but highly plastic pattern of epidermal cells that can vary in shape, size and function. Here, we review these studies and discuss recent evidence suggesting that environmental information can be integrated at multiple points in the root hair morphogenetic pathway and affects multifaceted processes at the chromatin, transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Summary: This Review discusses how the complex interplay of intrinsic programs and external cues shapes the form and function of root hair cells in plants.
Structural Estimation of a Flexible Translog Gravity Model

How large are the gains from trade? Do all trade models have the ‘same old gains’? Arkolakis, Costinot, and Rodriguez-Clare (2012) show that many quantitative trade models that summarize trade responses via a single elasticity have the same welfare implications. I develop a flexible approach to estimating trade responses using a translog expenditure function, and find welfare results that dier starkly from conventional trade models. In my model, trade responses can vary bilaterally, and the link between own- and cross-price elasticities of trade to trade cost is broken. I apply my approach to inter-regional trade flows in North America and international trade flows between OECD and BRICS countries. I structurally estimate the parameters and conduct counterfactual analyses. Canada’s border eect is at least three times smaller than estimates in previous literature. Compared to those implied by the formula in Arkolakis et al., welfare responses are larger and more heterogeneous. The welfare losses from raising trade barriers are underestimated by eight times for China, France, India, and the United Kingdom, and underestimated by more than ten times for Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Russia.
Improving segmental GMM based voice conversion method with target frame selection

In this paper, the voice conversion method based on segmental Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) is further improved by adding the module of target frame selection (TFS). Segmental GMMs are meant to replace a single GMM of a large number of mixture components with several voice-content specific GMMs each consisting of much fewer mixture components. In addition, TFS is used to find a frame, of spectral features near to the mapped feature vector, from the target-speaker frame pool corresponding to the segment class as the input frame belongs to. Both ideas are intended to alleviate the problem that the converted spectral envelopes are often over smoothed. To evaluate the performance of the two ideas mentioned, three voice conversion systems are constructed, and used to conduct listening tests. The results of the tests show that the system using the two ideas together can obtain much improved voice quality. In addition, the measured variance ratio (VR) values show that the system with the two ideas adopted also obtains the highest VR value.
One-step aerosol synthesis of nanoparticle agglomerate films: simulation of film porosity and thickness

A method is described for designing nanoparticle agglomerate films with desired film porosity and film thickness. Nanoparticle agglomerates generated in aerosol reactors can be directly deposited on substrates to form uniform porous films in one step, a significant advance over existing technologies. The effect of agglomerate morphology and deposition mechanism on film porosity and thickness are discussed. Film porosity was calculated for a given number and size of primary particles that compose the agglomerates, and fractal dimension. Agglomerate transport was described by the Langevin equation of motion. Deposition enhancing forces such as thermophoresis are incorporated in the model. The method was validated for single spherical particles using previous theoretical studies. An S-shape film porosity dependence on the particle Peclet number typical for spherical particles was also observed for agglomerates, but films formed from agglomerates had much higher porosities than films from spherical particles. Predicted film porosities compared well with measurements reported in the literature. Film porosities increased with the number of primary particles that compose an agglomerate and higher fractal dimension agglomerates resulted in denser films. Film thickness as a function of agglomerate deposition time was calculated from the agglomerate deposition flux in the presence of thermophoresis. The calculated film thickness was in good agreement with measured literature values. Thermophoresis can be used to reduce deposition time without affecting the film porosity.
Studies of tumor-specific and herpesvirus nonvirion antigens.

Tumor-associated cell antigens have been identified for certain squamous carcinomas. One group of tumor antigens present on these cells is herpesvirus-induced nonvirion antigens. Another group of tumor cell antigens is also identified. Both groups of antigens produce cell-mediated immune reactions. Studies of their possible value as immunogenic and immunodiagnostic agents are indicated.
Designed oligomers of cyanovirin-N show enhanced HIV neutralization

Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) is a small, cyanobacterial lectin that neutralizes many enveloped viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1). This antiviral activity is attributed to two homologous carbohydrate binding sites that specifically bind high mannose glycosylation present on envelope glycoproteins such as HIV-1 gp120. We created obligate CV-N oligomers to determine whether increasing the number of binding sites has an effect on viral neutralization. A tandem repeat of two CV-N molecules (CVN2) increased HIV-1 neutralization activity by up to 18-fold compared to wild-type CV-N. In addition, the CVN2 variants showed extensive cross-clade reactivity and were often more potent than broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies. The improvement in activity and broad cross-strain HIV neutralization exhibited by these molecules holds promise for the future therapeutic utility of these and other engineered CV-N variants.
Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of defectivity in directed self‐assembly of cylinder‐forming diblock copolymers in laterally confining thin channels

We use self-consistent field theory to calculate the energy of defect formation in cylinder-forming diblock copolymers in laterally confining thin channels. We focus on two isolated defects, dislocations and disclinations and explore a wide range of polymer and channel characteristics. Our findings suggest appropriate conditions for the design of optimized graphoepitaxial processes, where defects are limited to very low concentrations. Using the string method, we also investigate the energy barriers and kinetic pathways of the transition from defective to perfect states. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40790.
The anatomy of flagellar microtubules: polarity, seam, junctions, and lattice

Although the overall structures of flagellar and cytoplasmic microtubules are understood, many details have remained a matter of debate. In particular, studies of the arrangement of tubulin subunits have been hampered by the low contrast of the tubulin subunits. This problem can now be addressed by the kinesin decoration technique. We have shown previously that the recombinant kinesin head domain binds to beta-tubulin, thus enhancing the contrast between alpha- and beta- tubulin in the electron microscope; this allows one to study the arrangement of tubulin dimers. Here we describe the lattices of the four different types of microtubules in eukaryotic flagellar axonemes (outer doublet A and B, central pair C1 and C2). They could all be labeled with kinesin head with an 8-nm axial periodicity (the tubulin dimer repeat), and all of them showed the B-surface lattice. This lattice is characterized by a 0.92-nm stagger between adjacent protofilaments. The B-lattice was observed on the axonemal microtubules as well as on extensions made by polymerizing porcine brain tubulin onto axonemal microtubules in the proximal and distal directions. This emphasizes that axonemal microtubules serve as high fidelity templates for seeding microtubules. The presence of a B-lattice implies that there must be a helical discontinuity ("seam") in the wall. This discontinuity is now placed near protofilaments A1 and A2 of the A- tubule, close to the inner junction between A- and B-microtubules. The two junctions differ in structure: the protofilaments of the inner junction (A1-B10) are staggered roughly by half a dimer, those of the outer junction (A10-B1) are roughly in register. Of the two junctions the inner one appears to have the stronger bonds, whereas the outer one is more labile and opens up easily, generating "composite sheets" with chevron patterns from which the polarity can be deduced (arrow in the plus direction). Decorated microtubules have a clear polarity. We find that all flagellar microtubules have the same polarities. The orientation of the dimers is such that the plus end terminates with a crown of alpha subunits, the minus end terminates with beta subunits which thus could be in contact with gamma-tubulin at the nucleation centers.
A potent bombesin receptor antagonist inhibits bombesin-stimulated growth of mouse colon cancer cells in vitro: absence of autocrine effects.

Bombesin (BBS) exerts significant effects on the growth of a mouse colon cancer cell line (MC-26) in vitro. The presence of specific binding sites on MC-26 cells for gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP)/BBS-related peptides was recently reported by us. In the present study, we determined that the transcript size of the mRNA species that codes for GRP receptors is 9 kilobase pairs, which is similar to that reported for mouse Swiss 3T3 cells, using the complementary DNA probe for the GRP receptor gene from mouse Swiss 3T3 cells. We next examined the effects of potent GRP receptor antagonists, D-Phe6, bombesin(6-13)-propylamide (D-Phe6,BN(6-13)PA) and Leu13-psi-(CH2NH)Leu14-bombesin (LL-BBS), on BBS-stimulated growth of MC-26 cells in vitro. A possible autocrine role of GRP in the growth of MC-26 cells was also investigated. MC-26 cells were inoculated s.c. into male BALB/c mice, and tumors were harvested 21-28 days postinoculation. Both D-Phe6,BN(6-13)PA and LL-BBS significantly inhibited the binding of 125I-GRP to MC-26 tumor membranes in a dose-dependent manner, with 50% inhibitory concentrations of 4.5 +/- 0.52 nM and 87 +/- 6 nM, respectively. D-Phe6,BN(6-13)PA similarly inhibited the specific binding of 125I-GRP, cross-linked to a approximately 80 kilodalton binding protein on the MC-26 tumor membranes. In order to determine whether the BBS receptor antagonist, D-Phe6,BN(6-13)PA, functioned as an antagonist or an agonist of biological functions, we measured the bioefficacy of D-Phe6,BN(6-13)PA. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Further improvements in Er3+ coupled to Si nanoclusters rib waveguides

The use of broadband efficient sensitizers for Er3+ ions relaxes the expensive conditions needed for the pump source and raises the performances of the optical amplifier. Within this context Si nanoclusters (Si-nc) in silica matrices have revealed as optimum sensitizers and open the route towards electrically pumped optical amplifiers. Up to date two have been the main limiting issues for achieving absolute optical gain, the first one is the low quantity of erbium efficiently coupled to the Si-nc while the second is the carrier absorption mechanism (CA) within the Si-nc, which generates additional losses instead of providing amplification. In this work we will present a detailed study of the optical properties of a set of samples prepared by confocal reactive magnetron co-sputtering of pure SiO2 and Er2O3 targets. The material has been optimised in terms of the increasing of Er3+-related PL intensity and lifetime as well as the decreasing down to 3 dB/cm of the propagation losses in the rib-loaded waveguides outside the absorption peak of erbium. Our signal enhancement results show that we have been able to reduce the CA losses to less than 0.2 dB/cm at pump fluxes as high as 1020 ph/cm2 s. Around 25% of the optically active erbium population has been inverted through indirect excitation (pumping with a 476nm laser line), leading to internal gain coefficients of more than 1 dB/cm.
Assessment of the end-systolic pressure-volume relationship in human beings with the use of a time-varying elastance model.

The analysis of left ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relationships in human beings has been hindered by the lack of a practical method of serial volume assessment and by an imprecise definition of end-systole. Modifications of the end-systolic relationship that have been used to circumvent these problems have included the use of single-point end-systolic pressure-volume ratios, the use of peak systolic pressure/minimum ventricular volume points for end-systolic points, and the use of end-ejection as a marker for end-systole. To assess the correlation between the parameters generated by these modifications with the slope (Emax) and volume intercept (VO) of the end-systolic line as defined by Sagawa's model of time-varying elastance, simultaneous measurement of left ventricular pressure and gated radionuclide volume was made in 26 patients under various loading conditions and pressure-volume diagrams were constructed for each loading condition from 32 simultaneous pressure-volume coordinates. Two pressure-volume diagrams were recorded in 14 patients and three pressure-volume diagrams were recorded in 12 patients. Emax and VO were determined in all patients from the slope and volume intercept of the isochronic pressure-volume line with the maximum time-varying elastance as described by Sagawa's model and were designated true Emax and true VO, respectively. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Munich Biovoice Corpus: Effects of Physical Exercising, Heart Rate, and Skin Conductance on Human Speech Production

We introduce a spoken language resource for the analysis of impact that physical exercising has on human speech production. In particular, the database provides heart rate and skin conductance measurement information alongside the audio recordings. It contains recordings from 19 subjects in a relaxed state and after exercising. The audio material includes breathing, sustained vowels, and read text. Further, we describe pre-extracted audio-features from our openSMILE feature extractor together with baseline performances for the recognition of high and low heart rate using these features. The baseline results clearly show the feasibility of automatic estimation of heart rate from the human voice, in particular from sustained vowels. Both regression - in order to predict the exact heart rate value - and a binary classification setting for high and low heart rate classes are investigated. Finally, we give tendencies on feature group relevance in the named contexts of heart rate estimation and skin conductivity estimation.
Prospective Double-Blind Evaluation of Topical Adenine Arabinoside in Male Herpes Progenitalis

Thirty-four virologically proven episodes of herpes progenitalis in 32 men were treated in a prospective double-blind study with either adenine arabinoside ointment or an identical-appearing placebo for 7 days. Clinical evaluation and quantitative virological studies were done on days 1, 3, and 8. There was a highly significant correlation between clinical response and quantitative virology. There was no difference in clinical or virological response between drug and control groups. Primary attacks tended to have higher viral excretion over the period of observation. The level of complement-fixing antibody to herpes simplex virus type 2(<1:16 versus ≥1:16) in patients with recurrent disease did not appear to alter the course of viral excretion.
Development of Non-Petroleum Based Binders for Use in Flexible Pavements

Most bituminous adhesives or binders that are used for pavement materials are derived primarily from fossil fuels. With petroleum oil reserves becoming depleted and the drive to establish a bio-based economy, there is a push to produce binders from alternative sources, particularly from biorenewable resources. However, until now, no research has studied the applicability of utilizing bio-oils as a bitumen replacement (100% replacement) in the pavement industry. The main objective of this research was to test various properties of bio-oils in order to determine the applicability of using bio-oils as binders in the pavement industry. The overall conclusions about the applicability of using bio-oils as bio-binders in the pavement industry can be summarized as follows: 1. Bio-oils cannot be used as bio-binders/pavement materials without any heat pre-treatment/upgrading procedure. 2. Current testing standards and specifications, especially Superpave procedures, should be modified to comply with the properties of bio-binders. 3. The temperature range of the viscous behavior for bio-oils may be lower than that of bitumen binders by about 30°–40° C. 4. The rheological properties of the unmodified bio-binders vary in comparison to bitumen binders, but the rheological properties of these modified bio-binders change significantly upon adding polymer modifiers. 5. The high-temperature performance grade for the developed bio-binders may not vary significantly from that of the bitumen binders, but the low-temperature performance grade may vary significantly.
Competitive sorption of anionic and cationic dyes onto cetylpyridinium-modified montmorillonite

Single-and multi-solute competitive sorptions of anionic dyes; Eriochrome Black T (EBT), Orange II (OR) and Methyl Orange (MO) and cationic dyes; Thioflavin T (TT), Methylene Blue (MB) and Crystal Violet (CV) onto montmorillonite modified with a cationic surfactant, cetylpyridinium chloride (CP), were investigated. In single-solute sorption, the sorption affinity, as represented by Freundlich sorption coefficient (K F) and Langmuir sorption capacity (q mL ), was in the order of EBT > OR > MO for anionic dyes and in the order of TT > MB > CV for cationic dyes. The sorption affinity of the cationic dye was higher than that of the anionic dye mainly due to the difference in sorption mechanisms: ion exchange to the bare montmorillonite surface plus two dimensional surface adsorption onto the pseudo-organic medium formed by the conglomeration of the long-chain hydrocarbon tail groups of the CP cation on the montmorillonite for cationic dyes vs. two dimensional surface adsorption only for anionic dyes. Three-parameter models (dual-mode and Song models) fitted better than the two-parameter models (Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich models) due to the number of parameters involved. The conventional Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model often used to classify sorption mechanisms based on the mean free energy were not able to explain the higher sorption of cationic dyes than anionic dyes. Among the tested models, the Song model was the best in predicting single-solute sorption in terms of the coefficient of determination (R2) and the sum of squared errors (SSE) values. Although both dual-mode and Song models fitted well to the sorption data, the results of asymptotic behavior analyses showed that Song model was better than dual-mode model in predicting sorption behaviors and in explaining sorption mechanisms. Competition between the solutes in the bisolute and trisolute system reduced the sorbed amount of each solute compared with that in the single-solute system. Generally the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) coupled to the single-solute sorption model predicted the bisolute and tri-solute competitive sorption data favorably except a few bisolute systems.
Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus-Encoded LANA Down-Regulates IL-22R1 Expression through a Cis-Acting Element within the Promoter Region

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is considered to be a necessary, but not sufficient, causal agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). All forms of KS are characterized by the proliferation of spindle-shaped cells, and most (>90%) spindle cells from KS lesions are latently infected with KSHV. During KSHV latency, only a few viral genes are expressed. Among those latent genes, the ORF 73 gene encodes the latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA), which is critical for the establishment and maintenance of the latent KSHV infection. Much evidence suggests that many cytokines can increase the frequency and aggressiveness of KS. In this study, a microarray analysis of KS and normal tissues revealed that multiple cytokines and cytokine receptors are regulated by KSHV latent infection. Of special interest, IL-22R1 transcript level was found to be down-regulated in the KS tissue. To study the possible regulation of IL-22R1 by LANA, the IL-22R1 promoter was constructed and found to contain a LANA-binding site (LBS). LANA was demonstrated to down-regulate IL-22R1 expression via direct binding to the LBS located within the IL-22R1 promoter region. Furthermore, KSHV latently infected cells showed an impaired response to IL-22 stimulation. These results suggest that LANA can regulate host factor expression by directly binding to a cis-acting element within the factor's promoter to benefit latent viral infection and suppression of the antiviral immune response.
REDUCTION OF SERUM COMPLEMENT IN RABBITS AFTER INJECTION OF ENDOTOXIN

Injection into rabbits of a consistently lethal dose of endotoxin regularly produced a rapid and sustained fall of complement levels and lowered the titers of antibody to endotoxin. Doses of endotoxin below the LD50 lowered complement levels sporadically but not the titers of antibody to endotoxin. The possibility is discussed that complement may be involved in the mechanisms responsible for the lethal action of endotoxin.