Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Passivity of Cascaded Systems Based on The Analysis of Passivity Indices

Passivity index is defined in terms of an excess or shortage of passivity, and it has been introduced in order to extend the passivity-based stability conditions to the more general cases for both passive and non-passive systems. In this report, we revisit the secant criterion literature results from the perspective of passivity indices. While most of the passivity-based stability results in literature focus on studying the feedback interconnection of passive or non-passive systems, our results focus on the study of cascaded interconnection. In this report, we show how to use the secant criterion to quantify the excess/shortage of passivity for cascaded system which includes both passive and non-passive systems. We further show that under certain conditions, the cascaded interconnection can be directly stabilized via output feedback.
Specific requirement for two ADF/cofilin isoforms in distinct actin-dependent processes in Caenorhabditis elegans

Actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin is an essential enhancer of actin turnover. Multicellular organisms express multiple ADF/cofilin isoforms in different patterns of tissue distribution. However, the functional significance of different ADF/cofilin isoforms is not understood. The Caenorhabditis elegans unc-60 gene generates two ADF/cofilins, UNC-60A and UNC-60B, by alternative splicing. These two ADF/cofilin proteins have different effects on actin dynamics in vitro, but their functional difference in vivo remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the two isoforms are expressed in different tissues and are required for distinct morphogenetic processes. UNC-60A was ubiquitously expressed in most embryonic cells and enriched in adult gonads, intestine and oocytes. In contrast, UNC-60B was specifically expressed in the body wall muscle, vulva and spermatheca. RNA interference of UNC-60A caused embryonic lethality with variable defects in cytokinesis and developmental patterning. In severely affected embryos, a cleavage furrow was formed and progressed but reversed before completion of the cleavage. Also, in some affected embryos, positioning of the blastomeres became abnormal, which resulted in embryonic arrest. In contrast, an unc-60B-null mutant was homozygous viable, underwent normal early embryogenesis and caused disorganization of actin filaments specifically in body wall muscle. These results suggest that the ADF/cofilin isoforms play distinct roles in specific aspects of actin reorganization in vivo.
Robust Adaptive Patch-Based Object Tracking Using Weighted Vector Median Filters

This paper presents a novel patch-based approach for object tracking robust to partial and short-time total occlusions. Initially, the original template is divided into rectangular sub regions (patches), and each patch is tracked independently. The displacement of the whole template is obtained using a weighted vector median filter that combines the displacement of each patch and also a predicted displacement computed based on the previous frames. An updating scheme is also applied to cope with appearance changes of the template. Experimental results indicate that the proposed scheme is robust to partial and short-time total occlusions, presenting a good compromise between accuracy and execution time when compared to other competitive approaches.
A vision-based, impedance control strategy for industrial robot manipulators

This paper presents a control strategy for industrial robot manipulators which consists of the combination of a calibration-free, vision-based control method with an impedance control approach. The vision-based, robot control method known as camera-space manipulation is used to generate a given trajectory over an arbitrary surface. Then, a kinematic posture-based impedance controller is implemented in order to regulate the interaction forces generated by the contact between the robot end-effector and the work surface where the trajectory is traced. The paper presents experimental evidence on how the vision-force sensory fusion improves the precision of a robot-interaction task, by using a Fanuc M16-iB industrial robot equipped with a wrist force/torque sensor. As discussed in the paper, such a synergy between the control schemes is seen as a viable alternative for performing industrial maneuvers that require force modulation between the tool held by the robot and the working surface.
Genomewide Selection of Parental Inbreds: Classes of Loci and Virtual Biparental Populations

Having information on the distribution of progeny in a biparental cross—before the cross is made—would be helpful. My objectives were (i) to determine if genomewide markers can be used to accurately predict genotypic values at different classes of loci between two parents (p1 and p2) and (ii) to propose and analyze the use of virtual populations for choosing parents in inbred development. prior estimates of genomewide marker effects (28,626 single nucleotide polymorphism loci) for silking date and kernel protein among 284 maize (Zea mays L.) inbreds were used. Four classes of loci were determined by which parents had the favorable allele: both p1 and p2; p1 only; p2 only; and neither parent. Simulations indicated that when genomewide predictions for the trait as a whole were accurate, predictions of genotypic value at each class of loci were also accurate. The maize data, however, indicated limited practical value of the classes of loci in choosing p1 and p2. Virtual populations of 1000 doubled haploids were simulated for each of 45 p1 × p2 crosses to predict the population mean, variance (VDH), and mean of the best 10% of doubled haploids (U0.10). The predicted mean, predicted VDH, and predicted U0.10 for silking date and protein concentration behaved as expected from quantitative genetics theory and were consistent with the genetic backgrounds of the maize inbreds. The usefulness of virtual populations for choosing parents needs to be validated either by empirical experiments or by their routine use in a breeding program. Dep. of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, Univ. of Minnesota, 411 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN 55108. Received 30 Jan. 2014. *Corresponding author (bernardo@umn.edu). Abbreviations: QTL, quantitative trait loci; RR-BLUP, ridge regression–best linear unbiased prediction; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism. Published in Crop Sci. 55:2586–2595 (2015). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2014.01. 0088 © Crop Science Society of America | 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher.
European Exchange Rate Credibility Before the Fall

Realignment expectations which measure exchange rate credibility are analyzed for European exchange rates, using daily financial data since the inception of the EMS. It is difficult to find economically meaningful relationships between realignment expectations and macroeconomic variables, although there are signs that lower inflation improves credibility. Statistically, many movements to realignment expectations are common to ERM participants. There were few indications of poor ERM credibility before late August 1992; the dimensions of the currency crisis of September 1992 appear to have taken both policy-makers and private agents largely by surprise.
Inhaled NO Contributes to Lung Repair in Piglets with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome via Increasing Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells

Background Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). We hypothesized that inhaled NO (iNO) would induce EPC mobilization and therefore promote lung repair in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methodology/Principal Findings Healthy piglets were randomized into four groups (n = 6): Control (Con; mechanical ventilation only); ARDS (established by oleic acid infusion and mechanical ventilation); ARDS plus granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF; 10 µg/kg/d subcutaneously); ARDS plus NO inhalation (iNO; 10 ppm). EPCs and mobilizing cytokines were assayed at different time points (baseline, 0, 24, 72 and 168 h) and injury reparation was assessed at 168 h. Compared to the Con group, the levels of EPCs were increased in bone marrow but not in blood in the ARDS group at 24 h. Compared to the ARDS group, inhaled NO induced a rapid elevation in the number of CD34+KDR+, KDR+CD133+ and CD34+KDR+CD133+ EPCs in blood (2163±454 vs. 1094±416, 1302±413 vs. 429±244, 1140±494 vs. 453±273 cells/ml, respectively, P<0.05), and a reduction in the percentage of KDR+CD133+ cells in bone marrow. Lung CD34, CD133, VEGF, VEGF receptor 2, endothelial NO synthase mRNA, and VEGF and VEGF receptor 2 protein expression levels were augmented in the iNO group, but not in the G-CSF group, compared to ARDS. Furthermore, iNO treatment reduced vascular permeability, increased pulmonary vessel density, and alleviated pulmonary edema and inflammation compared to ARDS treatment. Plasma VEGF, stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and bone marrow NO2 −/NO3 − were significantly higher in the iNO group compared to the ARDS group at 72 h. Conclusions These results suggest that iNO induces mobilization of EPCs from bone marrow into circulation, contributes to vascular repair, and thereby alleviates lung damage.
On Randomness in ISP-friendly P2P Applications

P2P networking is a popular technology for sharing large files efficiently without using powerful servers. The goal for a P2P file sharing application is to minimize the download time experienced by the peers. However, the efficiency of a P2P network comes at the expense of excessive network utilization. ISPs want to control the network utilization of P2P applications, and in particular it is desirable to minimize the inter-ISP traffic. The often contradicting interests of applications and network owners have led to the search for an ISP-friendly P2P application that reduces inter-ISP traffic while maintaining the high file-sharing efficiency. Existing solutions propose to localize most of the P2P traffic within the ISP, while randomly selecting a few external peers to ensure the global spread of content. However, these proposals disregard the inherent randomness that will naturally exist in P2P systems. In this paper, we analyze the different sources of inherent randomness in ISP-friendly P2P systems, and show that they can have a significant impact on performance, and therefore must be taken into account when designing new solutions.
Manifestations of chronic disease during pregnancy.

CONTEXT Physiologic changes of pregnancy include insulin resistance, thrombophilia, immunosuppression, and hypervolemia. These changes may herald the development of disease in later life. OBJECTIVE To summarize current evidence on how pregnancy reveals risk of chronic disease. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION MEDLINE was searched for articles published between 1990 and 2005 relating pregnancy conditions to the development of chronic disease. Bibliographies and the Web sites of the International Society of Obstetric Medicine and International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy were also reviewed. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS Pregnancy exaggerates atherogeniclike responses, including insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, manifesting as preeclampsia or gestational diabetes. These complications herald an increased risk of postpartum cardiovascular disease, with a 2-fold increased risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Women with gestational diabetes mellitus can progress to type 2 diabetes mellitus. The rate of progression varies from 6% to 92% depending on diagnostic criteria, race/ethnicity, and duration of surveillance (from 6 months to 28 years). Pregnancy increases risk of venous thrombosis by 7- to 10-fold. Heritable thrombophilia is present in at least 15% of Western populations and underlies at least 50% of gestational venous thromboses. Thus, the procoagulant changes during pregnancy can unmask hereditary thrombophilia. An important adaptation leading to immunotolerance of the fetoplacental unit is a switch from helper T-cell (T(H)) 1 dominance to T(H)2 dominance. Patients with a T(H)1-dominant immune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, improve during pregnancy. However, rheumatoid arthritis is 5 times more likely to develop after delivery than at any other time. During pregnancy, there is a 50% increase in plasma volume, which can unmask glomerulopathies, peripartum cardiomyopathy, arterial aneurysms, or arteriovenous malformations. Development of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy predicts increased risk of later cholelithiasis. CONCLUSIONS The physiologic changes of pregnancy can reveal risk of chronic diseases. Exaggerated responses reflective of the metabolic syndrome are seen in preeclampsia and gestational diabetes and can herald future cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Pregnancy is therefore an important screening opportunity for cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk factors, with the possibility of early intervention.
Vessel Tree Segmentation in Presence of Interstitial Lung Disease in MDCT

The automated segmentation of vessel tree structures is a crucial preprocessing stage in computer aided diagnosis (CAD) schemes of interstitial lung disease (ILD) patterns in multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). The accuracy of such preprocessing stages is expected to influence the accuracy of lung CAD schemes. Although algorithms aimed at improving the accuracy of lung fields segmentation in presence of ILD have been reported, the corresponding vessel tree segmentation stage is under-researched. Furthermore, previously reported vessel tree segmentation methods have only dealt with normal lung parenchyma. In this paper, an automated vessel tree segmentation scheme is proposed, adapted to the presence of pathologies affecting lung parenchyma. The first stage of the method accounts for a recently proposed method utilizing a 3-D multiscale vessel enhancement filter based on eigenvalue analysis of the Hessian matrix and on unsupervised segmentation. The second stage of the method is a texture-based voxel classification refinement to correct possible over-segmentation. The performance of the proposed scheme, and of the previously reported technique, in vessel tree segmentation was evaluated by means of area overlap (previously reported: 0.715 ± 0.082, proposed: 0.931 ± 0.027), true positive fraction (previously reported: 0.968 ± 0.019, proposed: 0.935 ± 0.036) and false positive fraction (previously reported: 0.400 ± 0.181, proposed: 0.074 ± 0.031) on a dataset of 210 axial slices originating from seven ILD affected patient scans (used for performance evaluation out of 15). The pro posed method demonstrated a statistically significantly (p <; 0.05) higher performance as compared to the previously reported vessel tree segmentation technique. The impact of suboptimal vessel tree segmentation in a reticular pattern quantification system is also demonstrated.
Prefoldin Promotes Proteasomal Degradation of Cytosolic Proteins with Missense Mutations by Maintaining Substrate Solubility

Misfolded proteins challenge the ability of cells to maintain protein homeostasis and can accumulate into toxic protein aggregates. As a consequence, cells have adopted a number of protein quality control pathways to prevent protein aggregation, promote protein folding, and target terminally misfolded proteins for degradation. In this study, we employed a thermosensitive allele of the yeast Guk1 guanylate kinase as a model misfolded protein to investigate degradative protein quality control pathways. We performed a flow cytometry based screen to identify factors that promote proteasomal degradation of proteins misfolded as the result of missense mutations. In addition to the E3 ubiquitin ligase Ubr1, we identified the prefoldin chaperone subunit Gim3 as an important quality control factor. Whereas the absence of GIM3 did not impair proteasomal function or the ubiquitination of the model substrate, it led to the accumulation of the poorly soluble model substrate in cellular inclusions that was accompanied by delayed degradation. We found that Gim3 interacted with the Guk1 mutant allele and propose that prefoldin promotes the degradation of the unstable model substrate by maintaining the solubility of the misfolded protein. We also demonstrated that in addition to the Guk1 mutant, prefoldin can stabilize other misfolded cytosolic proteins containing missense mutations.
Corporate power in a globalizing world

Foreword to the Wynford Edition PART I: SURVEYING THE TERRAIN OF CORPORATE POWER Introduction 1. From Oligarchy to Corporate Governance: The End of the Old Boys' Network? PART II: PARTICULARITIES OF TIME AND PLACE 2. Corporate Organization and Disorganized Capitalism 3. Ties That Bind: Enterprises and Strategic Alignments 4. Westward Ho: Corporate Power's Changing Spatial Organization 5. Continental Connections: Toward North American Corporate Elite? 6. The Canadian Corporate Elite in the Global Power Structure PART III: EXTENDING THE REACH OF CORPORATE BUSINESS 7. Corporate and University Governance in the Era of Neoliberalism 8. Consolidating a Neoliberal Policy Bloc PART IV: CONCLUSIONS Appendix A: A Note on Methods Appendix B: Annotated List of Related Web Sites Bibliography Index
Teaching about Race in a Multicultural Setting: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and the U.S. History Classroom.

In this interpretative case study, the researcher examined the beliefs and practices of three social studies teachers related to their teaching of race in U.S. history at a racially and ethnically diverse urban high school. Using the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy as a lens, this study employed mixed methods, analyzing teacher interviews, observations, classroom artifacts, as well as a survey administered to the teachers’ students. While the three social studies teachers in this study identified as culturally relevant and made race the central component of their U.S. history classroom, they described and exhibited culturally relevant pedagogy in considerably different ways. Despite these differences, the students reported a positive response to their teacher’s use of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Plumbagin induces G2/M arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy via p38 MAPK- and PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated pathways in human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells

Plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone; PLB), a naturally occurring naphthoquinone isolated from the roots of Plumbaginaceae plants, has been reported to possess anticancer activities in both in vitro and in vivo studies, but the effect of PLB on tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of PLB on cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, and autophagy, and the underlying mechanisms in the human TSCC cell line SCC25. The results have revealed that PLB exerted potent inducing effects on cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and autophagy in SCC25 cells. PLB arrested SCC25 cells at the G2/M phase in a concentration- and time-dependent manner with a decrease in the expression level of cell division cycle protein 2 homolog (Cdc2) and cyclin B1 and increase in the expression level of p21 Waf1/Cip1, p27 Kip1, and p53 in SCC25 cells. PLB markedly induced apoptosis and autophagy in SCC25 cells. PLB decreased the expression of the anti-apoptotic proteins B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xl) while increasing the expression level of the pro-apoptotic protein Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in SCC25 cells. Furthermore, PLB inhibited phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) pathways as indicated by the alteration in the ratio of phosphorylation level over total protein expression level, contributing to the autophagy inducing effect. In addition, we found that wortmannin (a PI3K inhibitor) and SB202190 (a selective inhibitor of p38 MAPK) strikingly enhanced PLB-induced autophagy in SCC25 cells, suggesting the involvement of PI3K- and p38 MAPK-mediated signaling pathways. Moreover, PLB induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and this effect was attenuated by l-glutathione (GSH) and n-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC). Taken together, these results indicate that PLB promotes cellular apoptosis and autophagy in TSCC cells involving p38 MAPK- and PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated pathways with contribution from the GSK3β and ROS-mediated pathways.
Boundary Perturbation Methods for Water Waves

The most successful equations for the modeling of ocean wave phenomena are the free–surface Euler equations. Their solutions accurately approximate a wide range of physical problems from open–ocean transport of pollutants, to the forces exerted upon oil platforms by rogue waves, to shoaling and breaking of waves in nearshore regions. These equations provide numerous challenges for theoreticians and practitioners alike as they couple the difficulties of a free boundary problem with the subtle balancing of nonlinearity and dispersion in the absence of dissipation. In this paper we give an overview of, what we term, “Boundary Perturbation” methods for the analysis and numerical simulation of this “water wave problem”. Due to our own research interests this review is focused upon the numerical simulation of traveling water waves, however, the extensive literature on the initial value problem and additional theoretical developments are also briefly discussed. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Regional disparities in per capita income in India: convergence or divergence?

Abstract The paper looks at the latest evidence on what has been happening to regional disparities in per capita income (measured as gross state domestic product per capita) in India over the first decade of the twenty-first century (1999/2000 to 2010/2011) by estimating cross-section equations for unconditional and conditional beta (β) convergence and sigma (σ) convergence across thirty-two regions (twenty-eight states and four union territories). There is no evidence of unconditional convergence, but weak evidence of conditional convergence controlling for population growth, credit growth, male literacy, the share of agriculture in state GDP, and state expenditure as a share of state GDP. Sigma divergence has increased continuously, except among the poorest states.