Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implicit Robot Force Control Based on Set Invariance

This paper addresses the problem of robot implicit force control by means of set invariance theory. The proposed control law improves the invariance control approach by avoiding the definition of a nominal stabilizing controller, while simultaneously ensuring the absence of output overshoots with respect to the reference. The resulting set invariance based controller is first introduced for a single-input single-output system and then extended to multi-input multi-output systems, in order to be applied to the robot implicit force control problem. Its effectiveness is experimentally validated and compared to state-of-the-art approaches on a hybrid force/position task performed with a 6 DOF industrial robot equipped with a force/torque sensor.
Forecasting nonlinear time series with feed-forward neural networks: a case study of Canadian lynx data

The forecasting capabilities of feed-forward neural network (FFNN) models are compared to those of other competing time series models by carrying out forecasting experiments. As demonstrated by the detailed forecasting results for the Canadian lynx data set, FFNN models perform very well, especially when the series contains nonlinear and non-Gaussian characteristics. To compare the forecasting accuracy of a FFNN model with an alternative model, Pitman's test is employed to ascertain if one model forecasts significantly better than another when generating one-step-ahead forecasts. Moreover, the residual-fit spread plot is utilized in a novel fashion in this paper to compare visually out-of-sample forecasts of two alternative forecasting models. Finally, forecasting findings on the lynx data are used to explain under what conditions one would expect FFNN models to furnish reliable and accurate forecasts. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do Juntas Lead to Personal Rule?

Although almost half of the world's population lives under nondemocratic regimes, the questions of how policy decisions are made and how power changes hands in nondemocracies have received relatively little attention in the political economy literature. Gordon Tullock (1987) suggested that because there are no strong institutions ensuring consensus and regulating the election and succession of leaders, non-democratic regimes rapidly degenerate into personal rule, where a single dictator dominates every aspect of decision-making. In this paper, we draw on our work on dynamic coalition formation and investigate Tullock's conjecture formally. Our game-theoretic analysis leads to the opposite of Tullock's conjecture: provided that players are sufficiently forward-looking, juntas do not dynamically converge to personal rule. On the contrary, relatively large juntas may emerge and persist as ruling coalitions for a very simple and intuitive reason: the absence of strong institutions not only enables some junta members to eliminate others, but also implies that current members cannot make credible commitments and in particular cannot refrain from engaging in further rounds of elimination.
Cross-modal topic correlations for multimedia retrieval

In this paper, we propose a novel approach for cross-modal multimedia retrieval by jointly modeling the text and image components of multimedia documents. In this model, the image component is represented by local SIFT descriptors based on the bag-of-feature model. The text component is represented by a topic distribution learned from latent topic models such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). The latent semantic relations between texts and images can be reflected by correlations between the word topics and topics of image features. A statistical correlation model conditioned on category information is investigated. Experimental results on a benchmark Wikipedia dataset show that the newly proposed approach outperforms state-of-the-art cross-modal multimedia retrieval systems.
A TIGHT RELATION BETWEEN N/O RATIO AND GALAXY STELLAR MASS CAN EXPLAIN THE EVOLUTION OF STRONG EMISSION LINE RATIOS WITH REDSHIFT

The offset of high-redshift star-forming galaxies in the [O iii]/Hβ versus [N ii]/Hα (O3N2) diagram in comparison with the local star-forming galaxy sequence is now well established. The physical origin of the shift is the subject of some debate and has important implications for metallicity measurements based on strong lines at all redshifts. To investigate the origin of the O3N2 offset, we use a sample of ∼100,000 star-forming galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR12 to understand how measurable galaxy physical properties ( , ionization parameter, nitrogen-to-oxygen (N/O) ratio, and stellar mass) drive galaxy position in two key diagnostic diagrams: O3N2 and [O iii]/Hβ versus [S ii]/Hα (O3S2). At fixed [O iii]/Hβ, galaxies close to the high-redshift locus in O3N2 have higher , stellar mass, and N/O ratio. We conclude that higher N/O ratios at fixed [O iii]/Hβ are the proximate cause of the O3N2 shift. We also find a tight correspondence in the distributions of stellar mass and N/O in the diagnostic diagrams. This relation, spanning a range of galaxy evolutionary states, suggests that the N/O–M* relation is more fundamental than the relation between N/O and O/H. We argue that a more fundamental N/O–M* relation is well-motivated physically. Because the mass–metallicity relation evolves more rapidly with redshift than N/O–M*, the N/O ratios of high-redshift galaxies are elevated in comparison with local galaxies with the same gas-phase O/H. The O3N2 shift and elevated N/O ratios observed in high-redshift galaxies, therefore, come about as a natural consequence of the N/O–M* relation combined with the evolution of the mass–metallicity relation.
Optimized Nutrient Medium for Galanthamine Production in Leucojum aestivum L. in vitro Shoot System

The common effect of NH4+, NO3-, KH2PO4 and sucrose on the biosynthesis of galanthamine by a Leucojum aestivum shoot culture was studied. Polynominal regression models were elaborated for the description of the galanthamine biosynthesis as a consequence of variation of the investigated variables (NH4+ between 0.20 and 0.54 g/L; NO3- between 1.44 and 3.44 g/L; KH2PO4 between 0.10 and 0.24 g/L, and sucrose between 30.00 and 60.00 g/L). Optimization procedures allowed us to establish the optimal concentrations of the investigated variables and to propose the modified MS nutrient medium, with 4.50 g/L KNO3, 0.89 g/L NH4NO3, 1.25 g/L (NH4)2SO4, 0.10 g/L KH2PO4 and 60 g/L sucrose, for the galanthamine production by a Leucojum aestivum shoot culture. The proposed modified MS medium provided considerable increase of both the production yield and the relative content of the target alkaloid in the alkaloid mixture.
Excess Lipid Availability Increases Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Oxidative Capacity in Muscle

A reduced capacity for mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle has been proposed as a major factor leading to the accumulation of intramuscular lipids and their subsequent deleterious effects on insulin action. Here, we examine markers of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidative capacity in rodent models of insulin resistance associated with an oversupply of lipids. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet for either 5 or 20 weeks. Several markers of muscle mitochondrial fatty acid oxidative capacity were measured, including 14C-palmitate oxidation, palmitoyl-CoA oxidation in isolated mitochondria, oxidative enzyme activity (citrate synthase, β-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and carnitine palmitoyl-transferase 1), and expression of proteins involved in mitochondrial metabolism. Enzyme activity and mitochondrial protein expression were also examined in muscle from other rodent models of insulin resistance. Compared with standard diet–fed controls, muscle from fat-fed mice displayed elevated palmitate oxidation rate (5 weeks +23%, P < 0.05, and 20 weeks +29%, P < 0.05) and increased palmitoyl-CoA oxidation in isolated mitochondria (20 weeks +49%, P < 0.01). Furthermore, oxidative enzyme activity and protein expression of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC)-1α, uncoupling protein (UCP) 3, and mitochondrial respiratory chain subunits were significantly elevated in fat-fed animals. A similar pattern was present in muscle of fat-fed rats, obese Zucker rats, and db/db mice, with increases observed for oxidative enzyme activity and expression of PGC-1α, UCP3, and subunits of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. These findings suggest that high lipid availability does not lead to intramuscular lipid accumulation and insulin resistance in rodents by decreasing muscle mitochondrial fatty acid oxidative capacity.
Hospitals as Hotels: The Role of Patient Amenities in Hospital Demand

Amenities such as good food, attentive staff, and pleasant surroundings may play an important role in hospital demand. We use a marketing survey to measure amenities at hospitals in greater Los Angeles and analyze the choice behavior of Medicare pneumonia patients in this market. We find that the mean valuation of amenities is positive and substantial. From the patient perspective, hospital quality therefore embodies amenities as well as clinical quality. We also find that a one-standard-deviation increase in amenities raises a hospital's demand by 38.4% on average, whereas demand is substantially less responsive to clinical quality as measured by pneumonia mortality. These findings imply that hospitals may have an incentive to compete in amenities, with potentially important implications for welfare.
Bile acids increase hepatitis B virus gene expression and inhibit interferon‐α activity

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a 3.2 kb DNA virus that preferentially replicates in the liver. A number of transcription factors, including nuclear receptors, regulate the activities of HBV promoters and enhancers. However, the association between these metabolic events and HBV replication remains to be clearly elucidated. In the present study, we assessed the effects of bile acid metabolism on HBV gene expression. Conditions associated with elevated bile acid levels within the liver include choleostatic liver diseases and an increased dietary cholesterol uptake. The results obtained in the present study demonstrate that bile acids promote the transcription and expression of the gene for HBV in hepatic cell lines; in addition, farnesoid X receptor α and the c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase/c‐Jun signal transduction pathway mediate the regulatory effect of bile acids. Furthermore, an orphan nuclear receptor, small heterodimer partner protein, is also involved in the bile acid‐mediated regulation of HBV gene expression. The bile acid‐mediated promotion of HBV gene expression counteracts the antiviral effect of interferon‐α.
Endoscopic drainage in patients with inoperable hilar cholangiocarcinoma

Hilar cholangiocarcinoma has an extremely poor prognosis and is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Palliative management plays an important role in the treatment of patients with inoperable hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Surgical, percutaneous, and endoscopic biliary drainage are three modalities available to resolve obstructive jaundice. Plastic stents were widely used in the past; however, self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) have become popular recently due to their long patency and reduced risk of side branch obstruction, and SEMS are now the accepted treatment of choice for hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Bilateral drainage provides more normal and physiological biliary flow through the biliary ductal system than that of unilateral drainage. Unilateral drainage was preferred until recently because of its technical simplicity. But, with advancements in technology, bilateral drainage now achieves a high success rate and is the preferred treatment modality in many centers. However, the choice of unilateral or bilateral drainage is still controversial, and more studies are needed. This review focuses on the endoscopic method and discusses stent materials and types of procedures for patients with a hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
Exploiting Image Generality for Lexical Entailment Detection

We exploit the visual properties of concepts for lexical entailment detection by examining a concept’s generality. We introduce three unsupervised methods for determining a concept’s generality, based on its related images, and obtain state-ofthe-art performance on two standard semantic evaluation datasets. We also introduce a novel task that combines hypernym detection and directionality, significantly outperforming a competitive frequencybased baseline.
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients Treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Phase I Trials: Improved Outcomes with Combination Chemotherapy and Targeted Agents

Patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have poor treatment outcomes. We reviewed the electronic records of consecutive patients with metastatic TNBC treated in phase I clinic at MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) between Augu st 2005 and May 2012. One hundred and six patients received at least 1 phase I trial. Twelve of 98 evaluable patients (12%) had either complete response (CR; n = 1), partial response (PR; n = 7), or stable disease ≥6 months (SD; n = 4). Patients treated on matched therapy (n = 16) compared with those on nonmatched therapy (n = 90) had improved SD ≥ 6 months/PR/CR (33% vs. 8%; P = 0.018) and longer progression-free survival (PFS; median, 6.4 vs. 1.9 months; P = 0.001). Eleven of 57 evaluable patients (19%) treated with combination chemotherapy and targeted therapy had SD ≥ 6 months/PR/CR versus 1 of 41 evaluable patients (2%) treated on other phase I trials (P = 0.013), and longer PFS (3.0 vs. 1.6 months; P < 0.0001). Patients with molecular alterations in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway treated on matched therapy (n = 16) had improved PFS compared with those with and without molecular alterations treated on nonmatched therapy (n = 27; 6.4 vs. 3.2 months; P = 0.036). On multivariate analysis, improved PFS was associated with treatment with combined chemotherapy and targeted agents (P = 0.0002), ≤2 metastatic sites (P = 0.003), therapy with PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors for those with cognate pathway abnormalities (P = 0.018), and treatment with antiangiogenic agents (P = 0.023). In summary, combinations of chemotherapy and angiogenesis and/or PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors demonstrated improved outcomes in patients with metastatic TNBC. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(12); 3175–84. ©2014 AACR.
Strongly Polarized Optical Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The optical afterglows of the gamma-ray bursts can be strongly polarized, in principle up to tens of percents, if (1) the afterglow is synchrotron radiation from an ultrarelativistic blast, (2) the blast is beamed during the afterglow phase, i.e., the shock propagates within a narrow jet, (3) we observe at the right time from the right viewing angle, and (4) magnetic fields parallel and perpendicular to the jet have different proper strengths.
Glucose uptake and GLUT-4 protein distribution in skeletal muscle of the obese Zucker rat.

The rates of muscle glucose uptake of lean and obese Zucker rats were assessed by hindlimb perfusion under basal conditions (no insulin), in the presence of a maximally stimulating concentration of insulin (10 mU/ml), and after muscle contraction elicited by electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve. After perfusion, plasma and microsomal membranes were isolated from selected hindlimb muscles for determination of GLUT-4 protein distribution. Under basal conditions, rates of glucose uptake were similar for lean and obese rats despite plasma membranes from lean rats containing 82% more GLUT-4 protein than obese rats. Insulin stimulation resulted in significant increases in plasma membrane GLUT-4 protein concentration in lean but not obese rats. Glucose uptake of lean rats (35.3 +/- 4.7 mumol.h-1.g-1) in the presence of insulin was approximately fourfold greater than that of obese rats (8.8 +/- 1.3 mumol.h-1.g-1), but this difference in glucose uptake could not be completely accounted for by the difference in plasma membrane GLUT-4 protein concentration. Stimulation by contraction resulted in significant increases in plasma membrane GLUT-4 protein concentration in both lean and obese rats and similar rates of glucose uptake. These results suggest that the muscle insulin resistance of the obese Zucker rat is due to 1) a reduced plasma membrane GLUT-4 protein concentration, which results in part from an impairment in the insulin-stimulated GLUT-4 protein translocation process, and 2) a defect in the insulin-stimulated activation of this protein. However, contraction-stimulated glucose uptake, GLUT-4 protein translocation, and activation are normal in the obese Zucker rat.
Probabilistic fault diagnosis for IT services in noisy and dynamic environments

The modern society has come to rely heavily on IT services. To improve the quality of IT services it is important to quickly and accurately detect and diagnose their faults which are usually detected as disruption of a set of dependent logical services affected by the failed IT resources. The task, depending on observed symptoms and knowledge about IT services, is always disturbed by noises and dynamic changing in the managed environments. We present a tool for analysis of IT services faults which, given a set of failed end-to-end services, discovers the underlying resources of faulty state. We demonstrate empirically that it applies in noisy and dynamic changing environments with bounded errors and high efficiency. We compare our algorithm with two prior approaches, Shrink and Maxcoverage, in two well-known types of network topologies. Experimental results show that our algorithm improves the overall performance.
Transient receptor potential vanilloid in blood pressure regulation

Purpose of review The involvement of neurohormonal factors in the pathogenesis of hypertension has been extensively studied. However, the mechanisms underlying the role of the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channels in hypertension are still largely unknown. This review presents some of the most recent findings regarding the potential mechanisms of TRPV1 in mediating blood pressure, the pathophysiology of hypertension, and its related disorders. Recent findings TRPV1 may be activated by exogenous vanilloid or endo-vanilloid compounds and its function modulated by vasoactive mediators. TRPV1 also interacts with various physiological and pathophysiological systems involved in salt and water homeostasis and cardiovascular homeostasis. Impairment of TRPV1 signaling may contribute to the pathogenesis of diseases such as hypertension, heart failure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, myocardial ischemia, and stroke. Summary Accumulating evidence implicates TRPV1 as serving a key role in cardiovascular health by regulating cardiovascular function and protecting against cardiovascular injury. Given the large prevalence of hypertension and its related disorders, the possible involvement of TRPV1 makes it a potential target of therapy for cardiovascular disease. Future study of TRPV1 may enhance our understanding of several cardiovascular diseases and may unveil novel pharmacological strategies for treating hypertension.
Pulmonary Complications in Patients with Severe Brain Injury

Pulmonary complications are prevalent in the critically ill neurological population. Respiratory failure, pneumonia, acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS), pulmonary edema, pulmonary contusions and pneumo/hemothorax, and pulmonary embolism are frequently encountered in the setting of severe brain injury. Direct brain injury, depressed level of consciousness and inability to protect the airway, disruption of natural defense barriers, decreased mobility, and secondary neurological insults inherent to severe brain injury are the main cause of pulmonary complications in critically ill neurological patients. Prevention strategies and current and future therapies need to be implemented to avoid and treat the development of these life-threatening medical complications.
MODELING GROWTH TREND AND FORECASTING TECHNIQUES FOR VEHICULAR POPULATION IN INDIA

Forecasting and estimation of growth in vehicular population is a sine qua non of any major transportation engineering development. It requires capturing the past trend and using it to predict the future trend based on qualified assumptions, simulations and models created using explanatory variables. This work attempts to review the in vogue approaches and investigate a more contemporary approach, the Time Series (TS) Analysis. Three fundamentally different methods were explored and results from each of these analyses were collated to check for respective levels of accuracy in predicting vehicular population for the same target year. Within the scope of this study and estimation, results obtained from TS Analysis were found to be considerably more accurate than those from Trend Line Analysis and observably better than those from Econometric Analysis. To reinforce these observations and inferences drawn, a second set of analysis was done on more recent input by using AADT data from PeMS, California. Inter alia this was carried out to contrast any statistical improvement observed when doing TS analysis with rich and accurate data. With all the data sets used and locations analyzed for forecasting, the Time Series analysis technique was invariably found to be a potent tool for forecasting.
Predictive Biomarkers and Personalized Medicine Association betweenVEGFSplice IsoformsandProgression-Free Survival in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated with Bevacizumab

Purpose: Bevacizumab improves survival for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with chemotherapy, but no proven predictive markers exist. The VEGF-A splice form, VEGF165b, anti-angiogenic in animal models, binds bevacizumab. We tested the hypothesis that prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) would occur only in patients with low relative VEGF165b levels treated with bevacizumab. Experimental Design: Blinded tumor samples from the phase III trial of FOLFOX4 bevacizumabwere assessed for VEGF165b and VEGFtotal by immunohistochemistry and scored relative to normal tissue. A predictive index (PI) was derived from the ratio of VEGF165b:VEGFtotal for 44 samples from patients treated with FOLFOX þ bevacizumab (arm A) and 53 samples from patients treated with FOLFOX4 (arm B), and PFS, and overall survival (OS) analyzed on the basis of PI relative to median ratio. Results:Unadjusted analysis of PFS showed significantly better outcome for individuals with VEGF165b: VEGFtotal ratio scores belowmedian treatedwith FOLFOX4þ bevacizumab comparedwith FOLFOX4 alone (median, 8.0 vs. 5.2 months; P < 0.02), but no effect of bevacizumab on PFS in patients with VEGF165b: VEGFtotal ratio >median (5.9 vs. 6.3 months). These findings held after adjustment for other clinical and demographic features. OS was increased in arm A (median, 13.6 months) compared with arm B (10.6 months) in the lowVEGF165b group, but this did not reach statistical significance. Therewas no difference in the high VEGF165b:VEGFtotal group between FOLFOX þ bevacizumab (10.8 months) and FOLFOX alone (11.3months). Conclusion: Low VEGF165b:VEGFtotal ratio may be a predictive marker for bevacizumab in metastatic colorectal cancer, and individuals with high relative levels may not benefit. Clin Cancer Res; 1–8. 2012