Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reachability and steering of rolling polyhedra: a case study in discrete nonholonomy

Rolling a ball on a plane is a standard example of nonholonomy reported in many textbooks, and the problem is also well understood for any smooth deformation of the surfaces. For nonsmoothly deformed surfaces, however, much less is known. Although it may seem intuitive that nonholonomy is conserved (think e.g. to polyhedral approximations of smooth surfaces), current definitions of "nonholonomy" are inherently referred to systems described by ordinary differential equations, and are thus inapplicable to such systems. In this paper, we study the set of positions and orientations that a polyhedral part can reach by rolling on a plane through sequences of adjacent faces. We provide a description of such reachable set, discuss conditions under which the set is dense, or discrete, or has a compound structure, and provide a method for steering the system to a desired reachable configuration, robustly with respect to model uncertainties. Based on ideas and concepts encountered in this case study, and in some other examples we provide, we turn back to the most general aspects of the problem and investigate the possible generalization of the notion of (kinematic) nonholonomy to nonsmooth, discrete, and hybrid dynamical systems. To capture the essence of phenomena commonly regarded as "nonholonomic," at least two irreducible concepts are to be defined, of "internal" and "external" nonholonomy, which may coexist in the same system. These definitions are instantiated by examples.
Combined intra-articular glucocorticoid, bupivacaine and morphine reduces pain and convalescence after diagnostic knee arthroscopy

We studied the effect of intra-articular saline vs. bupivacaine + morphine or bupivacaine + morphine + methylprednisolone after diagnostic knee arthroscopy. In a double-blind randomized study, 60 patients undergoing diagnostic knee arthroscopy without a therapeutic procedure were allocated to groups receiving intra-articular saline, intra-articular bupivacaine 150 mg + morphine 4 mg or the same dose of bupivacaine + morphine + intra-articular methylprednisolone 40 mg at the end of arthroscopy during general anesthesia. All patients were instructed to resume normal activities immediately after the procedure. Pain during movement and walking, leg muscle force and joint effusion, use of crutches and duration of sick leave were assessed. A combination of bupivacaine and morphine reduced pain, duration of immobilization and of convalescence. The addition of methylprednisolone further reduced pain, use of more analgesics, joint swelling and convalescence.
Are We Real When We Fake? Attunement to Object Weight in Natural and Pantomimed Grasping Movements

Behavioral and neuropsychological studies suggest that real actions and pantomimed actions tap, at least in part, different neural systems. Inspired by studies showing weight-attunement in real grasps, here we asked whether (and to what extent) kinematics of pantomimed reach-to-grasp movement can reveal the weight of the pretended target. To address this question, we instructed participants (n = 15) either to grasp or pretend to grasp toward two differently weighted objects, i.e., a light object and heavy object. Using linear discriminant analysis, we then proceeded to classify the weight of the target – either real or pretended – on the basis of the recorded movement patterns. Classification analysis revealed that pantomimed reach-to-grasp movements retained information about object weight, although to a lesser extent than real grasp movements. These results are discussed in relation to the mechanisms underlying the control of real and pantomimed grasping movements.
Grammatically Coded Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian: Methodology and Development

The paper deals with the main issues of methodology of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian which was started to be developed in 2006. At present, the corpus consists of 300,000 grammatically annotated word forms. The creation of the corpus consists of three main stages: collecting the data, the transcription of the recorded data, and the grammatical annotation. Collecting the data was based on the principles of balance and naturality. The recorded speech was transcribed according to the CHAT requirements of CHILDES. The transcripts were double-checked and annotated grammatically using CHILDES. The development of the Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian has led to the constant increase in studies on spontaneous communication, and various papers have dealt with a distribution of parts of speech, use of different grammatical forms, variation of inflectional paradigms, distribution of fillers, syntactic functions of adjectives, the mean length of utterances. Keywords—CHILDES, Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian, grammatical annotation, grammatical disambiguation, lexicon, Lithuanian.
Effects of Tone-Quality Conditions on Perception and Performance of Pitch among Selected Wind Instrumentalists

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of changes in tone quality on the perception of pitch and to determine the extent to which the same tone-quality conditions would affect the performance of pitch. The experiment was conducted in two segments: a perception task that involved judgments of paired comparisons of tones, and a performance task that involved tone matching. High school and university wind instrumentalists participated in perception and performance tasks that were similar to provide a basis for comparison. Results indicated that tone-quality conditions had significant effects on the perception and performance of pitch. Subjects judged “bright” tones “brighter” in tone quality and sharper in pitch than reference tones and performed sharp when matching “bright” stimuli. Subjects judged “dark” tones “darker” in tone quality and flatter in pitch than reference tones and performed flat when matching “dark ” stimuli.
Bioluminescent Leishmania expressing luciferase for rapid and high throughput screening of drugs acting on amastigote‐harbouring macrophages and for quantitative real‐time monitoring of parasitism features in living mice

In this study, we have established conditions for generating Leishmania amazonensis recombinants stably expressing the firefly luciferase gene. These parasites produced significant bioluminescent signals for both in vitro studies and the development of an in vivo model, allowing the course of the parasitism to be readily monitored in real time in the living animals such as laboratory mice. First, a model was established, using parasite‐infected mouse macrophages for rapidly determining the activity of drugs against intracellular amastigotes. Results indicated that recombinant Leishmania can be reliably and confidently used to monitor compounds acting on intracel‐lular amastigote‐harbouring macrophages. Secondly, temporal analyses were performed following inoculation of metacyclic promastigotes into the ear dermis of BALB/c mice and the bioluminescent light transmitted through the tissue was imaged externally using a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. Bioluminescent signals, measured at the inoculation site and in the draining lymph node of mice containing these parasites correlated well with the more classical quantification of parasites. These assays prove that the real‐time bioluminescent assay is not only sensitive but also more rapid than culture‐base techniques allowing to monitor parasite‐load before any clinical signs of leishmaniasis are detectable. In short, this luciferase imaging study is useful to monitor the efficacy of anti‐leishmanial drugs on live cell culture and to trace leishmanial infection in animal models.
Adenosine Deaminase Acts as a Natural Antagonist for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4-Mediated Entry of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

ABSTRACT Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) replicates in cells of different species using dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) as a functional receptor. Here we show the resistance of ferrets to MERS-CoV infection and inability of ferret DDP4 to bind MERS-CoV. Site-directed mutagenesis of amino acids variable in ferret DPP4 thus revealed the functional human DPP4 virus binding site. Adenosine deaminase (ADA), a DPP4 binding protein, competed for virus binding, acting as a natural antagonist for MERS-CoV infection.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN'S PREFERENCE FOR THEIR OWN COUNTRY

Des groupes d'enfants, de 6 à 12 ans, sont testés dans six villes européennes (Oxford, Glasgow, Leyde, Louvain, Naples et Vienne) pour voir s'ils montrent une préférence pour leur propre nationalité. L'étude utilise une méthode nouvelle et simple qui garantit sans ambiguïté la comparabilité des données pour tous les âges et pour tous les pays. Les résultats montrent que (1) à l'exception du groupe de Glasgow, tous les enfants manifestent une préférence marquée pour leur nationalité; (2) à l'exception du groupe de Louvain, cette préférence est plus forte avec l'âge. Lorsqu'on compare les données obtenues à Naples avec celles des autres villes, on constate qu'un stéréotype physique national se développe chez les enfants à mesure qu'ils grandissent. Les implications théoriques des résultats et des exceptions que représentent les groupes de Glasgow et de Louvain sont commentées.
Mobilizing Resistance: The Burberry Workers' Campaign against Factory Closure

This paper draws on mobilization theory, frame analysis and community characteristics to explore a high-profile campaign by a largely female workforce against the closure of a clothing plant owned by the international fashion house, Burberry. It analyses the particular factors associated with their mobilization and examines the workforce's propensity to act collectively, having exhibited little indication of a clear definition of its collective interests in the past. The paper highlights the central importance of perceived substantive and procedural injustice among the workforce, together with the ways in which geographic location and community characteristics reinforced their willingness to fight the closure decision. The paper concludes by considering the wider implications of this campaign for mobilization theory.
Tumour-associated circulating microparticles: A novel liquid biopsy tool for screening and therapy monitoring of colorectal carcinoma and other epithelial neoplasia

Up to date, novel tools for low-cost, minimal invasive cancer surveillance, cancer screening and treatment monitoring are in urgent need. Physicians consider the so-called liquid biopsy as a possible future tool successfully achieving these ultimate goals. Here, we aimed to identify circulating tumour-associated MPs (taMPs) that could aid in diagnosing minimal-invasively the presence and follow up treatment in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and pancreas carcinoma (PaCa). Tumour-associated MPs (taMPs) were quantified after isolation by centrifugation followed by flow cytometry analysis from the serum of cancer patients with CRC (n = 52), NSCLC (n = 40) and PaCa (n = 11). Healthy subjects (n = 55) or patients with struma nodosa (thyroid nodules) (n = 43) served as negative controls. In all three types of tumour entities, the presence of tumour was associated with an increase of circulating EpCAM+ and EpCAM+CD147+ taMPs. The presence of CD147+EpCAM+ taMPs were specific to tumour-bearing patients thus allowing the specific distinction of malignancies from patients with thyroid nodules. Increased level of EpCAM single positive MPs were, in turn, also detected in patients with thyroid nodules. Importantly, EpCAM+CD147+ taMPs correlated with the measured tumour-volume in CRC patients. EpCAM+ taMPs decreased at 7 days after curative R0 tumour resection suggesting a close dependence with tumour presence. AUROC values (up to 0.85 and 0.90), sensitivity/specificity scores, and positive/negative predictive values indicated a high diagnostic accuracy of EpCAM+CD147+ taMPs. Taken together, EpCAM+CD147+ double positive taMPs could potentially serve as novel promising clinical parameter for cancer screening, diagnosis, surveillance and therapy monitoring.
Impact of intercurrent illness on calcium homeostasis in children with hypoparathyroidism: a case series

Background Hypoparathyroidism is characterised by hypocalcaemia, and standard management is with an active vitamin D analogue and adequate oral calcium intake (dietary and/or supplements). Little is described in the literature about the impact of intercurrent illnesses on calcium homeostasis in children with hypoparathyroidism. Methods We describe three children with hypoparathyroidism in whom intercurrent illnesses led to hypocalcaemia and escalation of treatment with alfacalcidol (1-hydroxycholecalciferol) and calcium supplements. Results Three infants managed with standard treatment for hypoparathyroidism (two with homozygous mutations in GCMB2 gene and one with Sanjad-Sakati syndrome) developed symptomatic hypocalcaemia (two infants developed seizures) following respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses. Substantial increases in alfacalcidol doses (up to three times their pre-illness doses) and calcium supplementation were required to achieve acceptable serum calcium concentrations. However, following resolution of illness, these children developed an increase in serum calcium and hypercalciuria, necessitating rapid reduction to pre-illness dosages of alfacalcidol and oral calcium supplementation. Conclusion Intercurrent illness may precipitate symptomatic hypocalcaemia in children with hypoparathyroidism, necessitating increase in dosages of alfacalcidol and calcium supplements. Close monitoring is required on resolution of the intercurrent illness, with timely reduction of dosages of active analogues of vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent hypercalcaemia, hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis.
A COMPARISON OF SEMANTIC‐ AND MNEMONIC‐BASED VOCABULARY‐LEARNING STRATEGIES

Fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students were taught the meanings of new vocabulary items according to one of three instructional strategies. Two of the strategies were semantic‐based (contextual analysis and semantic mapping), and the other strategy was mnemonic‐based (the keyword method). Consistent with recent research findings, the keyword method facilitated students’ recall of the vocabulary items’ definitions, and this was true in both higher‐ and lower‐achieving subject populations. In the higher‐achieving sample, the keyword method was also superior to the contextual analysis strategy on two vocabulary‐usage tests, one that was administered on the day immediately following instruction and one that was administered a week later. Mean performance on a one‐week delayed definition‐matching test was statistically equivalent in the three conditions, although in the higher‐achieving sample a reliably higher proportion of keyword subjects than contextual analysis subjects attained perfect scores on that test. No .
Reliable and Highly Available Distributed Publish/Subscribe Service

This paper develops reliable distributed publish/subscriber algorithms with service availability in the face of concurrent crash failure of up to $\delta$ brokers. The reliability of service in our context refers to per-source in-order and exactly-once delivery of publications to matching subscribers. To handle failures, brokers maintain data structures that enable them to reconnect the topology and compute new forwarding paths on the fly. This enables fast reaction to failures and improves the system's availability. Moreover, we present a recovery procedure that recovering brokers execute in order to re-enter the system, and synchronize their routing information.
Human Affection Exchange: XII. Affectionate Communication is Associated with Diurnal Variation in Salivary Free Cortisol

ABSTRACT The present study tested the general hypothesis that, irrespective of the amount of affectionate communication one typically receives, the amount of affectionate communication one typically expresses to others is associated with the body's ability to handle stress. Twenty healthy young adults reported on their trait levels of expressed and received affection and then took four saliva samples over the course of a normal workday. The saliva samples were assayed for levels of free cortisol, an adrenal steroid hormone associated with physiological responses to stress. Controlling for received affection, expressed affection was strongly and positively associated with waking cortisol values and with aggregate values. It was also strongly and positively related to the magnitude of morning-to-evening decrease in cortisol levels, a rhythm indicative of an adaptive ability to handle stress. Theoretic and methodological implications are discussed.
Psychological determinants of risk taking by children: an integrative model and implications for interventions

Objectives: To draw on empirical findings of the psychological factors that cause elementary-school children to engage in risky play behaviors that can lead to injury, with the aim of developing an integrative model that can support intervention-program planning. Methods: An extensive review of literature on this topic was conducted, determinants of risk taking for which there was empirical support were identified, and results were synthesized to create an integrative model of children’s risk taking. Results: Research on risk taking in children is limited, but the findings support the importance of examining child, family and socio-environmental factors to understand children’s risk-taking behaviors. Conclusions: Development of a model outlining the determinants of risk behaviors can provide a foundation for initiatives that aim to reduce such behaviors and prevent childhood injuries.
A systematic design procedure for scalable near-circular Gaussian operators

In image filtering, the 'circularity' of an operator is an important factor affecting its accuracy. For example, circular differential edge operators are effective in minimising the angular error in the estimation of image gradient direction. We present a general approach to the computation of scalable circular low-level image processing operators that is based on the finite element method. We show that the use of Gaussian basis functions within the finite element method provides a framework for a systematic and efficient design procedure for operators that are scalable to near-circular neighbourhoods through the use of an explicit scale parameter. The general design technique may be applied to a range of operators. Here we evaluate the approach for the design of an image gradient operator, and we present comparative results with other gradient approximation methods.
The effects of an alternative science degree programme on the participation of women in the physical sciences

Three unusual components of an Australian science degree programme were explored to determine the effect they had on the participation of women in the physical sciences. A common first year with entry requirements that do not include prior science knowledge offered students the opportunity to study the physical sciences. The reasons why very few students have taken advantage of that opportunity are discussed. The degree programme contains both voluntary and compulsory science, technology and society (STS) components. The reaction of women to, and their performance in, these components suggests that STS offers some relief from the masculinity of the physical science component and helps in the learning of that component by supplying overviews and applications. The structure of the post‐first‐year offerings permits forays by students into secondary, but still coherent, programmes of study that are not normally available (for example, electronics courses for chemistry or biology students) and which attract ab.
Respiratory Muscle Deoxygenation and Ventilatory Threshold Assessments Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy in Children

The aim of this study was to assess respiratory muscles deoxygenation and to determine ventilatory threshold using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in children during incremental cardiopulmonary exercise. Fourteen healthy children with a mean +/- SD age of 12.8 +/- 1.4 yrs performed an incremental exercise test on a cycle ergometer. NIRS was used to assess deoxygenation of the respiratory muscles. Ventilatory parameters (oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, and ventilation minute), power output, and tissue saturation (StO2) were measured. Ventilatory threshold was determined by the two following methods: the V-slope method which corresponds to the breakpoint in VCO2 as a function VO2 relationship (VT(V-slope)) and the NIRS method which corresponds to the point of rapid fall in StO2 (VT(nirs)). During exercise, the respiratory muscles deoxygenated as the exercise intensity increased. StO2 decrease progressively until an abrupt decrease was observed. No significant differences were observed between cardiorespiratory variables corresponding either to VT(V-slope) or to VT(nirs). The two methods showed a good agreement (data were inside the 95 % confidence interval). Likewise, a significant relationship was found between VT(V-slope) and VT(nirs) for each parameter measured (r = 0.87 to 0.94, p < 0.001). We concluded that respiratory muscles deoxygenate during incremental exercise in children and that ventilatory threshold could be determined by NIRS.
Trusting ole' wise owls: therapeutic use of cultural strengths in African-American families

The development of competent cross-racial psychotherapeutic strategies requires that psychologists understand the underlying racial dynamics that can hinder therapeutic relationships with African-American families and address them. This involves identifying and cultivating family strengths during the process of psychotherapy. Key domains of African-American family strengths include the dependence on helpful extended relatives, transmission of cultural childrearing values, influence of a religious worldview, and family communication about surviving societal racism struggles, educational achievement, and Black pride and culture. These behaviors are expressed through the process of racial socialization. This article advises professional and research psychologists to appreciate and mobilize the oppression-survival strategies of many African-American families. The call for competent cross-cultural psychotherapy sparked considerable debate over the last decade when a host of researchers, supervisors, and clinicians acknowledged the absence of attention to the role of culture within the therapeutic process (Carter, 1991; Hunt, 1987; Jones & Korchin, 1982; Ponterotto & Casas, 1991; Ridley, 1984; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue & Sue, 1990; Sue & Zane, 1987; Vargas & KossChioino, 1992). Sensitivity to the unique cultural values and behavioral expressions of African-American families has been advocated strongly by family researchers and clinicians (BoydFranklin, 1989; McAdoo, 1992). The terms race and cultural are interspersed throughout the article and are meant to highlight that prejudice and discrimination in this society is experienced in global (or biological) and specific (or nonbiological) ways. That is, African Americans are falsely identified as politically
Children's Perceptions of Television Reality.

Children from ages 4 to 9 watched segments from Sesame Street and answered questions about television reality. Factor analysis produced three reality dimensions: (a) Sesame Street really exists, (b) television characters can see and hear us, and (c) what you see is inside the television set. For preschoolers, age was the most important variable in regard to television reality. There were other background variables for older children: Children from working‐class backgrounds were more apt to believe that television characters can see and hear us and that they reside inside the television set than their middle‐ and upper‐class age peers.