Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A discrete-time stochastic learning control algorithm

The learning gain, for a selected learning algorithm, is derived based on minimizing the trace of the input error covariance matrix for linear time-varying systems. It is shown that, if the product of the input/output coupling matrices is a full-column rank, then the input error covariance matrix converges uniformly to zero in the presence of uncorrelated random disturbances. However, the state error covariance matrix converges uniformly to zero in presence of measurement noise. Moreover, it is shown that, if a certain condition is met, then the knowledge of the state coupling matrix is not needed to apply the proposed stochastic algorithm. The proposed algorithm is shown to suppress a class of nonlinear and repetitive state disturbance. The application of this algorithm to a class of nonlinear systems is also considered. A numerical example is included to illustrate the performance of the algorithm.
THE IMAGINARY ENVIRONMENT OF “COMMUNITY” IN A CHILDREN'S MIND

The purpose of this paper is to make clear a structure of the imaginary environment of “community” in a children's mind, through the geographical methods. The author observed children's behavior attentively, and asked them about the following five points, 1) what they play and where they play 2) what they do at a “juku”, a private school, and a “dagashi-ya”, a cheap candy store 3) where they find children's paths and how they pass through them 4) what they call the places of their interests 5) how they explore their unknown places He investigated some names of the places where the children had already known, and made each child draw a cognitive map which covers their “community”. The results are as follows. (1) Children are apt to consider their home and their primary school the base of their behavior, because they put them on their cognitive maps correctly. (2) Children are able to behave freely throughout the school district, particularly at playing fields, alleys, children's paths, “dagashi-ya”, and private schools of abacus. The author understands that the children's image of the school district and shier be havior don't vary so much among them. (3) Generally speaking, gang-aged children like to explore unknown places very much. They sometimes walk beyond the school district, following main streets up to topographical barriers. By chance they may discover interesting play fields, which they prefer to call nick-name. (4) In conclusion, the imaginary environment of “community” in a children's mind has a concentric zonal structure, where the center is either their home or the primary school. They have an expanding mental map of “community” on an imaginary envi ronment. (5) Now in Japan, geographers and teachers have to develop a new curriculum for primary school education. The author believes that we should pay more attention to a structure of imaginary environment in a children's mind.
Soil Bacterial Community Structure Responses to Precipitation Reduction and Forest Management in Forest Ecosystems across Germany

Soil microbial communities play an important role in forest ecosystem functioning, but how climate change will affect the community composition and consequently bacterial functions is poorly understood. We assessed the effects of reduced precipitation with the aim of simulating realistic future drought conditions for one growing season on the bacterial community and its relation to soil properties and forest management. We manipulated precipitation in beech and conifer forest plots managed at different levels of intensity in three different regions across Germany. The precipitation reduction decreased soil water content across the growing season by between 2 to 8% depending on plot and region. T-RFLP analysis and pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene were used to study the total soil bacterial community and its active members after six months of precipitation reduction. The effect of reduced precipitation on the total bacterial community structure was negligible while significant effects could be observed for the active bacteria. However, the effect was secondary to the stronger influence of specific soil characteristics across the three regions and management selection of overstorey tree species and their respective understorey vegetation. The impact of reduced precipitation differed between the studied plots; however, we could not determine the particular parameters being able to modify the response of the active bacterial community among plots. We conclude that the moderate drought induced by the precipitation manipulation treatment started to affect the active but not the total bacterial community, which points to an adequate resistance of the soil microbial system over one growing season.
Association between outcome of pregnancy and glycaemic control in early pregnancy in type 1 diabetes: population based study

Recent studies of pregnancy in women in the United Kingdom with type 1 diabetes have shown a fourfold to tenfold increased risk of congenital malformation and a fivefold increased risk of perinatal mortality compared with non-diabetic women. 1 2 These studies used different measures of glycaemic control (concentrations of glycated haemoglobin and fructosamine) both within and between centres so no conclusions were reached about the relation between outcome and glycaemic control. We conducted a population study examining the relation between glycaemic control in early pregnancy and outcome of pregnancy in women with type 1 diabetes. This observational study was carried out in a single centre in Norwich from January 1991 to December 2000. The resident population is 510 000 and mainly white. We defined adverse pregnancy outcome as spontaneous abortion (first or second trimester), major congenital malformation (potentially life threatening …
Infraclavicular Perineural Local Anesthetic Infusion: A Comparison of Three Dosing Regimens for Postoperative Analgesia

BackgroundIn this randomized, double-blind study, the authors investigated the efficacy of continuous and patient-controlled ropivacaine infusions via an infraclavicular perineural catheter in ambulatory patients undergoing moderately painful orthopedic surgery at or distal to the elbow. MethodsPreoperatively, patients (n = 30) received an infraclavicular perineural catheter and nerve block. Postoperatively, patients were discharged home with both oral analgesics and a portable infusion pump delivering 0.2% ropivacaine (500-ml reservoir) in one of three dosing regimens: the basal group (12 ml/h basal, 0.05-ml patient-controlled bolus dose), the basal–bolus group (8 ml/h basal, 4 ml bolus), or the bolus group (0.3 ml/h basal, 9.9 ml bolus). Investigators and patients were blinded to random group assignment. ResultsThe basal group (n = 10) required more oral analgesics than the basal–bolus group (P = 0.002) and had a shorter median infusion duration than the other two groups (P < 0.001 for both). The bolus group had the longest median infusion duration (P < 0.001 for both) but experienced an increase in breakthrough pain incidence (P = 0.004) and intensity (P = 0.04 vs. basal–bolus group) as well as sleep disturbances (P < 0.001 for both) compared with the other groups. Overall satisfaction was greatest in the basal–bolus group (9.7 ± 0.5 vs. 7.9 ± 1.7 and 8.1 ± 1.5; P < 0.05 for both). ConclusionsAfter moderately painful orthopedic surgery at or distal to the elbow, 0.2% ropivacaine delivered as a continuous infusion combined with patient-controlled bolus doses via an infraclavicular perineural catheter optimizes analgesia while minimizing oral analgesic use compared with basal- or bolus-only dosing regimens.
Chemical tags mediate the orthogonal self-assembly of DNA duplexes into supramolecular structures.

Self-assembly is an important functional property of biological polymers, as illustrated by naturally occurring higher-order structures of proteins or nucleic acids and artificial DNA andpeptide assemblies. In light of potential applications in nano-biotechnology, materials science and synthetic biology, there is great interest in approaches that are able to rationally engineer self-assembly properties into otherwise monomeric biopolymers. For polypeptides, selfassembly has been imparted via the engineering of protein surfaces, the fusion of protein recognition modules, or the bottom-updesign of linear peptides. In the case ofDNA, self-assembly is attained by selection of complementary sequences or the use of ligand–protein receptors. Here, we develop a new generic chemical approach which achieves self-assembly independent of the re-engineering of the structural framework of the subunits, and which does not require bulky protein-based recognition modules. The flexible approach uses small chemical tags that are covalently attached to a single point within the subunits. The tags form reversible yet tightmetal chelate complexes and thereby confer the ability to form designed supramolecular structures. Our approach is exemplified by the creation of nanoarrays of DNA duplexes, which are examined via atomic force microscopy (AFM) at the single-molecule level. The chemical assembly strategy is orthogonal to the innate ability of DNA strands to hybridize and may also be extended to create functional nanoarrays of proteins, which would not otherwise assemble. Our strategy to induce self-assembly in biomolecules is based on the two chemical tags bisNTA and His6 which are able to form a metal chelate complex (Figure 1). In the bisNTA–Ni–His6 complex, [24] two nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) groups are bonded via two Ni2þ ions to the imidazole moieties of a hexahistidine peptide (Figure 1). Multivalent chelator heads such as bisNTAhave been developed by Tinazli et al. and Lata et al. to bind with a dissociation constant,Kd, of 2.7" 10#7 M to His6. In addition to high affinity, a linkage via bisNTA–Ni–His6 features several other beneficial properties useful in the design of supramolecular structures. These include controlled reversibility of formationbyaddingor removing Ni2þ, and directional binding as a bisNTA tag can only interact with His6. Reflecting these advantages, our aim was to attach the two tags to single base positionswithin aDNA duplexes (Figure 1). As the affinity tags are positioned at communications
The Sensitivity and Reproducibility of the Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryo Test for the Screening of Waste Water Quality and for Testing the Toxicity of Chemicals

The sensitivity of the zebrafish embryo test, a test proposed for routine waste water control, was compared with the acute fish toxicity test, in the determination of six types of waste water and ten different chemicals. The waste water was sampled from the following industrial processes: paper and cardboard production, hide tanning, metal galvanisation, carcass treatment and utilisation, and sewage treatment. The chemicals tested were: dimethylacetamide, dimethylsulphoxide, cadmium chloride, cyclohexane, hydroquinone, mercuric chloride, nickel chloride, nonylphenol, resmethrin and sodium nitrite. For many of the test substances, the zebrafish embryo test and the acute fish toxicity test results showed high correlations. However, there were certain environmentally-relevant substances for which the results of the zebrafish embryo test and the acute fish toxicity test differed significantly, up to 10,000-fold (Hg2+ > 150fold difference; NO2- > 300-fold; Cd2+ > 200-fold; resmethrin > 10,000-fold). For the investigated waste water samples and chemicals, the survival rate of the zebrafish embryos showed high variations between different egg samples, within the range of the EC50 concentration. Subsequently, 5–6 parallel assays were deemed to be the appropriate number necessary for the precise evaluation of the toxicity of the test substances. Also, it was found that the sensitivities of different ontogenetic stages to chemical exposure differed greatly. During the first 12 hours after fertilisation (4-cell stage to the 5-somite stage), the embryos reacted most sensitively to test substance exposure, whereas the later ontogenetic stages showed only slight or no response, indicating that the test is most sensitive during the first 24 hours post-fertilisation.
[Effects of intravascular laser irradiation of blood on erythrocyte stereo-ultrastructure in the treatment of generalized suppurative peritonitis].

The authors analysed the course and the results of examination of peripheral blood in dynamics and study of red cell stereo-ultrastructure in dynamics before and after sessions of intravascular laser irradiation of blood (ILIB) and treatment in 120 patients with peritonitis, in 60 of them ILIB was applied in the complex of intensive therapy (main group). The control group was made up of 60 patients. The studies showed a favorable curative effect of ILIB: the morphological characteristics of red cells and peripheral blood in patients with peritonitis improves. The laser irradiated blood evidently stimulates the bone marrow and the organs in which blood elements are stored as a result of which their ejection into circulation intensifies. The favorable effect of ILIB is also manifested by increase of the number of intermediate and reduction of the number of prehemolytic and degenerating forms of red cells in various stages of peritonitis, i.e. ILIB affects mainly the retransformation of stomatocytes into discocytes but produces no marked effect on echinocytic transformation.
Influence of Equatorial CH⋅⋅⋅O Interactions on Secondary Kinetic Isotope Effects for Methyl Transfer

Abstract DFT calculations for methyl cation complexed within a constrained cage of water molecules permit the controlled manipulation of the “axial” donor/acceptor distance and the “equatorial” distance to hydrogen‐bond acceptors. The kinetic isotope effect k(CH3)/k(CT3) for methyl transfer within a cage with a short axial distance becomes less inverse for shorter equatorial C⋅⋅⋅O distances: a decrease of 0.5 Å results in a 3 % increase at 298 K. Kinetic isotope effects in AdoMet‐dependent methyltransferases may be m∧odulated by CH⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bonding, and factors other than axial compression may contribute, at least partially, to recently reported isotope‐effect variations for catechol‐O‐methyltransferase and its mutant structures.
Stability and Capacity Regions or Discrete Time Queueing Networks

We consider stability and network capacity in discrete time queueing systems. Relationships between four common notions of stability are described. Specifically, we consider rate stability, mean rate stability, steady state stability, and strong stability. We then consider networks of queues with random events and control actions that can be implemented over time to affect arrivals and service at the queues. The control actions also generate a vector of additional network attributes. We characterize the network capacity region, being the closure of the set of all rate vectors that can be supported subject to network stability and to additional time average attribute constraints. We show that (under mild technical assumptions) the capacity region is the same under all four stability definitions. Our capacity achievability proof uses the drift-plus-penalty method of Lyapunov optimization, and provides full details for the case when network states obey a decaying memory property, which holds for finite state ergodic systems and more general systems.
Racial Situations: Class Predicaments of Whiteness in Detroit.

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Names and Transcriptions xiii Abbreviations xv Introduction 3 Detroit 9 Three Neighborhoods 11 The Localness of Race 13 White People or Whiteness? 16 Structure of the Book 19 1. History of the 'Hood 24 "Disgrace to the Race" 26 The Color Line 37 Riots and Race 50 Franklin School 69 2. "A Hundred Shades of White" 83 "Hillbillies" 88 "That White and Black Shit" 107 The Wicker Chair and the Baseball Game 128 3. Eluding the R-Word 145 The "Fact" of Whiteness 151 Encounters 158 "Gentrifier" 168 "History" 191 4. Between "All Black" and "All White" 209 Statements 214 "White Enclave" 224 "Racist" 245 Curriculum 263 Conclusion 278 Notes 28S Index 347
On video based face recognition through adaptive sparse dictionary

Sparse representation-based face recognition has gained considerable attention recently due to its robustness against illumination and occlusion. Recognizing faces from videos has become a topic of importance to alleviate the limit of information content in still images. However, the sparse recognition framework is not applicable to video-based face recognition due to its sensitivity towards pose and alignment changes. In this paper, we propose a video-based face recognition method which improves upon the sparse representation framework. Our key contribution is an intelligent and adaptive sparse dictionary that updates the current probe image into the training matrix based on continuously monitoring the probe video through a novel confidence criterion and a Bayesian inference scheme. Due to this novel approach, our method is robust to pose and alignment and hence can be used to recognize faces from unconstrained videos successfully. Moreover, in a moving scene, camera angle, illumination and other imaging conditions may change quickly leading to performance loss in accuracy. In such situations, it is impractical to re-enroll the individual and re-train the classifiers on a continuous basis. Our novel approach addresses these practical issues. Experimental results on the well known YouTube Face database demonstrates the effectiveness of our method.
Fiction and the emotions.

Our participation with works of fiction involves the emotions. Just what this involvement amounts to is a question of great interest. I argue that the literature on the involvement of the emotions in fictive practice has usually made several mistakes. Firstly it has assumed that the emotions are better understood than they actually are. I argue that the theory of emotions common to most of the theories of fiction and the emotion is far from controversial. Revising our conception on what emotions are may allow us to revise our conception of the nature of our emotional involvement in fiction. Second, I argue that two forms of problem are often conflated when philosophers discuss fictional and the emotions. There are semantic and ontological problems, and substantive psychological problems. Often these problems are confused for each other. Distinguishing between the two forms of problem will help to clear up the significant disagreements that exist in the literature. My thesis is broadly naturalised in intent, in the hope that this focus will be productive in explaining the role of the emotions in fictive practice.
Emotion Recognition using Acoustic and Lexical Features

In this paper we present an innovative approach for utterance-level emotion recognition by fusing acoustic features with lexical features extracted from automatic speech recognition (ASR) output. The acoustic features are generated by combining: (1) a novel set of features that are derived from segmental Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) scored against emotion-dependent Gaussian mixture models, and (2) statistical functionals of low-level feature descriptors such as intensity, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, etc. These acoustic features are fused with two types of lexical features extracted from the ASR output: (1) presence/absence of word stems, and (2) bag-of-words sentiment categories. The combined feature set is used to train support vector machines (SVM) for emotion classification. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach by performing fourway emotion recognition on the University of Southern California’s Interactive Emotional Motion Capture (USC-IEMOCAP) corpus. Our experiments show that the fusion of acoustic and lexical features delivers an emotion recognition accuracy of 65.7%, outperforming the previously reported best results on this challenging dataset.
Molecular Sciences Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a P-glycoprotein from the Diamondback Moth, Plutella Xylostella (lepidoptera: Plutellidae)

Macrocyclic lactones such as abamectin and ivermectin constitute an important class of broad-spectrum insecticides. Widespread resistance to synthetic insecticides, including abamectin and ivermectin, poses a serious threat to the management of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), a major pest of cruciferous plants worldwide. P-glycoprotein (Pgp), a member of the ABC transporter superfamily, plays a crucial role in the removal of amphiphilic xenobiotics, suggesting a mechanism for drug resistance in target organisms. In this study, PxPgp1, a putative Pgp gene from P. xylostella, was cloned and characterized. The open reading frame (ORF) of PxPgp1 consists of 3774 nucleotides, which encodes a 1257-amino acid peptide. The deduced PxPgp1 protein possesses structural characteristics of a typical Pgp, and clusters within the insect ABCB1. PxPgp1 was expressed throughout all developmental stages, and showed the highest expression level in adult males. PxPgp1 was highly expressed in midgut, malpighian tubules and testes. Elevated expression of PxPgp1 was observed in P. xylostella strains after they were exposed to the abamectin treatment. In addition, the OPEN ACCESS Int. 22892 constitutive expressions of PxPgp1 were significantly higher in laboratory-selected and field-collected resistant strains in comparison to their susceptible counterpart.
Solving NP-Hard Problems with Physarum-Based Ant Colony System

NP-hard problems exist in many real world applications. Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms can provide approximate solutions for those NP-hard problems, but the performance of ACO algorithms is significantly reduced due to premature convergence and weak robustness, etc. With these observations in mind, this paper proposes a Physarum-based pheromone matrix optimization strategy in ant colony system (ACS) for solving NP-hard problems such as traveling salesman problem (TSP) and 0/1 knapsack problem (0/1 KP). In the Physarum-inspired mathematical model, one of the unique characteristics is that critical tubes can be reserved in the process of network evolution. The optimized updating strategy employs the unique feature and accelerates the positive feedback process in ACS, which contributes to the quick convergence of the optimal solution. Some experiments were conducted using both benchmark and real datasets. The experimental results show that the optimized ACS outperforms other meta-heuristic algorithms in accuracy and robustness for solving TSPs. Meanwhile, the convergence rate and robustness for solving 0/1 KPs are better than those of classical ACS.
Gender differences in networking

Gender differences in networking have been cited as an important reason behind gender earnings and promotion gaps. Despite this fact there is comparatively little evidence on whether such differences exist or what they look like. We conduct a series of experiments to gain insight into these questions. The experiments are designed to understand differences in the strategic use of networks, when both men and women have the same opportunities to network. While we do find evidence of gender earnings and promotion gaps in the lab, we do not find evidence of gender differences in network formation, except for the fact that men display more homophily than women. Women and men do, however, not systematically differ in terms of the number of links formed or received nor in terms of their centrality in the network. Earnings and promotion gaps appear partly because male decision makers are more likely to reward their (predominantly male) network neighbours with increased earnings as well as promotion.