Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cooperative Control of Integrator Negative Imaginary Systems with Application to Rendezvous Multiple Mobile Robots

This paper contributes to the solution of mobile robots rendezvous problem via the negative imaginary (NI) systems theory. Cooperative control strategies are proposed for integrator NI systems. These control strategies are beneficial because they can be directly applied to wheeled mobile robots. First, we show that the NI property is preserved for multiple multi-input multi-output (MIMO) integrator systems with directional information flow that is balanced and strongly connected. Then, we derive conditions that guarantee output consensus and output tracking for strongly connected, balanced and directed networks of integrators subject to energy-bounded disturbances using the NI internal stability theorems. Finally, experimental and simulation results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed NI cooperative tracking results to achieve rendezvous of multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots.
VASCULAR CHANGES IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS: APPLICATION TO RESTENOSIS AFTER STENTING

VASCULAR CHANGES IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS: APPLI CATION TO RESTENOSIS AFTER STENTING Hongfeng Wang, M.S., D.V.M. Marquette University, 2013 Stents used to decrease cardiovascular risk in pati ents with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are prone to increased rates of res tenosis. The mechanisms are incompletely elucidated, but low wall shear stress (WSS) and altered intracellular signaling likely contribute. We tested the hypothes is that neointimal hyperplasia (NH) after bare-metal stenting is due to vascular remode ling (enhanced formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), increased downstream v scular resistance (DVR), and decreased WSS), and that decreasing AGEs with ALT-7 11 (Alagebrium) mitigates this response. Stents were implanted into the abdominal aorta of Z ucker lean (ZL), obese (ZO), and diabetic (ZD) rats. After 21 days, the stented region was sectioned for NH quantification or casted and imaged for regional es timation of WSS and local intrastrut WSS by computational fluid dynamics. The thoracic a nd bdominal aorta, carotid, iliac, femoral and arterioles in cremaster muscle were har vested to detect AGEs related collagen cross-linking, and protein expression incl uding transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) and receptor for AGE (RAGE). A trend toward elevated DVR was observed, whereas b lood flow (BF) and intrastrut TAWSS were significantly decreased in ZD compared to ZL and ZO rats (eg. TAWSS: 14.5 ± 1.9 vs 30.6 ± 1.6 and 25.4 ± 2.2 dyn/ cm, respectively; mean±SEM P<0.05). Intrastrut NH was increased in ZO but not ZD rats. ALT-711 reduced DVR in ZD rats (15.6±2.5x10 5 to 8.39±0.6x10 dyn·s/cm), while decreasing NH (ZL: 7.7±1.0 to 4.3±0.9%; ZO: 12.0±1.5 to 4.9±0.8%; ZD: 9.4±0.7 to 3.7±0.4%) and causing similar regional TAWSS results in all groups. AGEs related collagen cross-linking was elevated in the arterioles of ZD rats, but alleviated by ALT -711. No consistent differences in RAGE or TGFβ expression were observed in treated versus untreat ed r s. Remodeling of the distal vasculature appears to pla y an important role in modulating WSS in T2DM, but WSS alone does not pred ict NH response as observed under normoglycemia. ALT-711 led to similar values for AGEs related arteriolar collagen cross-linking, BF through the stent, and r egional WSS, while decreasing NH in all rats. Although TGF β and RAGE expression did not appear to be modified by ALT711, other intracellular signaling pathways remain to be explored.
Dijital Okuryazarlık Ölçeği: Türkçe ’ye Uyarlama Çalışması

Bu calismada Ng tarafinda 2012 yilinda gelistirilen 17 maddeden olusan “Dijital Okuryazarlik Olceginin” Turkce ’ye uyarlamasi yapilmistir. Olcegin orijinali 4 faktorlu bir yapiya sahiptir. Bu faktorler tutum, teknik, bilissel ve sosyal boyutlardan olusmaktadir. Olcegin Turkce’ ye uyarlama calismalari dilsel esdegerlik ile baslamis, iyi derecede Ingilizce ve Turkce bilen 3 uzman tarafindan Ingilizce'den Turkce'ye, farkli 3 uzman tarafindan da Turkce'den Ingilizce'ye cevrilmis, uzmanlarin gorusleri dogrultusunda Turkce deneme formu elde edilerek Ingilizce ve Turkce bilen 37 akademisyene iki hafta arayla her iki form uygulanmis ve her iki form arasindaki korelasyon katsayilari anlamli olarak bulunmustur. Dilsel esdegerligin ardindan AFA, DFA ve guvenirlik analizleri ile gerceklestirilmistir. AFA icin 185 ogrenciden elde edilen veriler, DFA icin ise farkli 210 ogrenciden elde edilen veriler kullanilmistir. Birinci duzey DFA ile arastirma grubundaki kisi sayisi faktor analizi icin yeterli seviyede oldugu, ikinci duzey DFA ile dijital okuryazarlik ortuk degiskenin anlamli birer yordayicisi oldugu bulunmustur. Ic tutarlilik katsayisi (Cronbach Alpha) ve test tekrar test yontemleriyle de olcegin guvenirligine bakilmistir. Elde edilen bulgular sonucunda olcegin Turkce formunun gecerli ve guvenilir bir yapiya sahip oldugu gorulmustur.
Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience

This vivid ethnography of the musical lives of heavy metal, rock, and jazz musicians in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio shows how musicians engage with the world of sound to forge meaningful experiences of music. Unlike most popular music studies, which only provide a scholar's view, this book is based on intensive fieldwork and hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews. Rich descriptions of the musical life of metal bars and jazz clubs get readers close to the people who make and listen to the music. Of special interest are Harris M. Berger's interviews with Timmy "The Ripper" Owens, now famous as lead singer for the pioneering heavy metal band, Judas Priest. Owens and other performers share their own experiences of the music, thereby challenging traditional notions of harmony and musical structure. Using ideas from practice theory and phenomenology, Berger shows that musical perception is a kind of practice, both creatively achieved by the listener and profoundly informed by social context.
2 Types for Active Objects Based on Trace Semantics

Static typing and subtyping are useful for the support of incremental refinement and reuse in object-oriented languages. Although demanded, there is currently no appropri ate type model for concurrent object-oriented languages that supports dynamic behavior modifications. We propose a type model based on a process calculus with trace semantics and demonstrate its use in a simple language. This model is an extension of conventional models for types and subtyping and ensures that all messages are processed even if object behavior is modified dynamically.
Timing in Estonian Folk Songs as Interaction between Speech Prosody, Meter, and Musical Rhythm

Durations of acoustical segments were measured in four Estonian folk songs sung by a single performer, consisting of 152 verse lines, eight syllables each, with one note in the melody normally corresponding to one syllable in the text. The results were analyzed with regard to three aspects: notation, meter, and speech prosody. Three songs out of four are notated as isochronous sequences of 8 eighth notes per each verse line; in one song, certain pairs of eighth notes are replaced by a dotted eighth note plus a sixteenth note. The results revealed a complex interaction between meter, musical rhythm, and speech prosody. Variations in durations of sound events reflect the Kalevala meter on which the songs are based, with average rises in a foot being acoustically longer than falls. The duration differences between rises and falls are reduced in the socalled broken lines, which contain monosyllabic and trisyllabic words and allow for accommodation of short stressed syllables at a fall of a foot as required by the meter. Semantically relevant oppositions of wordinitial short-long and long-short disyllabic units in speech are not kept completely intact in folk songs. Short-long disyllables are treated in a different manner by the performer, depending on whether their initial syllable occurs at a rise or at a fall in a foot.
Preterm premature rupture of membranes at 32–34 weeks of gestation: duration of membrane rupture period and maternal blood indicators relation with congenital infection

Background. The study investigates the influence of the length of membrane rupture period among pregnant women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) between the 32nd and 34th weeks of gestation on the development of chorioamnionitis and the congenital infection of a newborn. It seeks to ascertain the values of indicators in mother’s blood that enable to predict chorioamnionitis and funisitis for mothers, and congenital infection for newborns. Materials and methods. A retrospective study of case records of women with PPROM at 32 (32 w. + 0 d)–34 (33 w. + 6 d) weeks of gestation and their newborns was performed. Two comparative groups were made: 1) of women who had funisitis and / or chorioamnionitis with or without deciduitis and 2) of women having no proved inflammation (according to the results of histological examination of placentae). Analogically, comparative groups were made of their newborns: those who had diagnosis of congenital infection and those who had no infection. The duration of membrane rupture period and the blood markers were investigated in all the groups. Results. The study included 135 women. Duration of the membrane rupture period lasted 85.17 ± 84.72 hrs in the group of women who had histological inflammation, and 40.06 ± 56.57 hrs in the group with no inflammation, P = 0.01, AUC = 0.735; the critical membrane rupture period value for developing intrauterine infection by the Youden index was 43.7 hrs. The corresponding maternal CRP values (mg/l) were 25.85 ± 40.27 vs. 5.23 ± 7.88 (P = 0.01, AUC = 0.6), the Youden index 4.6 mg/l. For the mothers of the newborns diagnosed with infection, the duration of the membrane rupture period was 55.95 ± 65.04 hrs, for the mothers of the newborns without congenital infection it was 40.25 ± 73.71 hours. Respectively, CRP values for the mothers of newborns averaged 12.25 ± 22.14 mg/l vs. 4.8 ± 4.82 mg/l (P = 0.005). Conclusions. Longer membrane rupture period and higher maternal CRP are correlated with inflammatory changes in the placenta and umbilical cord, thus they can be used as the prognostic indicators of intrauterine infection. When the duration of the membrane rupture period lasts ≥44 hrs, the risk of chorioamnionitis and funisitis increases five times; when the maternal serum CRP is higher than 5 mg/l, funisitis / chorioamnionitis is twice more frequent than at lower than 5 mg/l CRP values.
Hating Madonna and loving Tom Ford: gender, affect and the ‘extra-curricular’ celebrity

In a recent article on the widespread media practice of ‘hating Madonna’, Naomi Wolf takes issue with the many vitriolic film reviews of Madonna’s film W.E. , arguing that Madonna is punished by the press ‘whenever she steps out of her pretty-girl-pop-music bandwidth’. To make her point that there is an unspoken gender bias in the treatment of Madonna as artist, Wolf briefly compares W.E. with A Single Man, the film directed by designer Tom Ford, which received rapturous reviews. The comparative reception of these two films offers rich terrain for thinking not only about gender in relation to codifications of celebrity, but also the role of sexuality and nationality, the valuation of culture industries, and the overlapping of contemporary with historical celebrity. This paper addresses these layers of celebrity studies through the trope of the ‘extra-curricular celebrity’ who functions as a celebrity auteur. While Madonna and Tom Ford are celebrities from two different culture industries, music and fashion, their respective films are also affectively charged by historical celebrity: the ongoing negative celebrity of Wallis Simpson in W.E. and the literary celebrity of Christopher Isherwood, who wrote the novel A Single Man. In both cases, one can trace a complex set of semi-autobiographical links from film protagonist to historical celebrity to extra-curricular director that supports the starkly affective valuations of these works.
Effect of Peer Interaction among Online Learning Community on Learning Engagement and Achievement

This article explores whether a learning community can affect students' learning achievement and engagement. Besides, this study also analyzed whether degree centralities of peer interaction affect learning achievement and learning engagement based on social network analysis. While the experimental group combined the English learning system with the online learning community, the control group was simply using the English learning system. The results indicated that the students' engagement from the online learning community were higher than the ones who used the English learning system only, although the learning achievement is not significant difference between these two groups. Moreover, higher interaction learners from the online learning community revealed better performance in learning achievement and student engagement. Other than that, the learners who played the “Center” emerged with a higher learning achievement as well as the students' engagement than the “Periphery” ones. The research provides suggestions for online learning with learning communications as well.
Prediction of Energy Consumption by Checkpoint/Restart in HPC

The fault tolerance method most used today in high-performance computing (HPC) is coordinated checkpointing. This, like any other fault tolerance method, adds additional energy consumption to that of the execution of the application. Currently, knowing and minimizing this energy consumption is a challenge. The objective of this paper is to propose a model to estimate the energy consumption of checkpoint and restart operations and a method for its construction. These estimates allow the evaluation of different scenarios in order to minimize energy consumption. We focus on coordinated checkpoint/restart at the system level, in single-program multiple-data (SPMD) applications, on homogeneous clusters. We study the behavior of the power dissipated by the compute node during a checkpoint/restart operation, as well as its execution time, considering different parameters of the system and the application. The experimentation carried out on two platforms shows the validity of the proposal. We also evaluate the impact on power and energy consumption of the processor’s C states, the configuration of the network file system (NFS), where the checkpoint files are stored, and the compression of the checkpoint files. This paper contributes to the objective of predicting energy consumption in the execution of applications that use checkpoint/restart. Not counting the outliers, we can estimate the energy consumed by checkpoint/restart operations with errors lower than 7.5%.
Video co-saliency detection

In this paper, a novel co-saliency model is proposed with the aim to detect co-salient objects in multiple videos. On the basis of superpixel segmentation results, we fuse the temporal saliency and spatial saliency with a superpixel-level object prior to generate the intra saliency map for each video frame. Then the video-level global object/background histogram is calculated for each video based on the adaptive thresholding results of intra saliency maps, and the seed saliency maps are generated by using similarity measures between superpixels and the global object/background histogram. Finally, the co-saliency maps are generated by the recovery process from the seed saliency measures to all regions in each video frame. Experimental results on a public video dataset show that the proposed video co-saliency model consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art video saliency model and image co-saliency models.
HER2 heterogeneity as a predictor of response to neoadjuvant T-DM1 plus pertuzumab: Results from a prospective clinical trial.

502 Background: HER2 targeted therapy without chemotherapy may be insufficient to completely eradicate a HER2+ cancer in cases of significant intratumor HER2 heterogeneity (ITH-HER2). Methods: We conducted a single-arm phase II study enrolling centrally confirmed HER2+ breast cancer. Pts received 6 cycles of T-DM1 plus Pertuzumab before surgery. Central ITH-HER2 was assessed on baseline ultrasound-guided core biopsies from 2 distinct areas of each tumor (3 cores/site). ITH-HER2 was defined as at least one of the six areas demonstrating either 1) HER2 positivity by FISH in > 5% and < 50% of tumor cells (i.e., CAP guideline) or 2) an area of tumor that tested HER2 negative. The primary objective is the association between pathologic complete response (pCR) and ITH, stratified by ER status. pCR defined as residual cancer burden (RCB) 0. Results: 164 pts with centrally confirmed HER2+ tumors were enrolled from 1/2015 to 1/2018. 2 pts withdrew consent. Median tumor size by imaging was 2.8 cm (IQR 2.1-3.8cm); 111 (69%) were ER+ and 51 (32%) ER-. 8 pts discontinued tx (6 due to disease progression, 2 due to toxicity). 49% of pts had a pCR (RCB-0), 14% RCB-I, 26% RCB-II and 11% RCB-III. Higher rates of RCB-0 were seen in ER- (65%) versus ER+ (42%). ITH-HER2 was detected in 10% (16/157) of evaluable cases. No pCR was observed among cases classified as heterogeneous (RCB-I 25%, RCB-II 25%, RCB-III 50%). The study met its primary endpoint by demonstrating a significant association between ITH-HER2 and pCR stratified by ER status (p < .0001). Secondary analysis also demonstrated a significant association between ITH-HER2 and pathologic response defined as RCB 0 or I (OR = 5.6, p = 0.004). Exploratory analysis revealed higher rates of RCB-0 among tumors centrally classified as HER2 3+ (56% [66/118]) versus HER2 2+ (27% [10/37]), (OR = 3.4, p = 0.002). The association of ITH-HER2 and pCR was maintained when stratifying by ER status and HER2 IHC (2+ vs. 3+), (p = 0.002). Conclusions: ITH-HER2 assessed by routine pathology evaluation is a strong predictor of pCR to a dual-HER2 targeted therapy regimen. If validated, ITH-HER2 may need to be considered in selection of pts for HER2-targeted regimens without chemotherapy in the curative setting. Clinical trial information: NCT02326974.
Gestational weight gain and ‘maternal obesity’

Summary There is an enduring belief, amongst mothers and obstetricians alike, that weight gain during pregnancy (i.e. ‘gestational weight gain’) increases the risk of permanent maternal weight gain (i.e. ‘maternal obesity’). In practice, such risks are only relevant to those mothers whose energy intake and/or energy expenditure place them in positive energy balance during pregnancy. For this reason, few studies from low-income countries (except those amongst well-nourished and predominantly sedentary populations) find evidence of ‘maternal obesity’. In contrast, a variety of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in high-income countries suggest that pregnancy is accompanied by long-term weight gain and an increased risk of ‘maternal’ obesity. Unfortunately, the results of all but four of these studies are compromised by the use of imprecise weight measurements, inadequate controls for potential confounding, and/or failure to account for increases in body weight with age. The four longitudinal analyses that did address these methodological concerns found that populations of women from Western European (Netherlands) and North American (United States) countries experience, on average, a net increase in body weight between conception and 1 year postpartum of 0.5 to 3.3kg (1.1 to 7.31b). These findings suggest that most well-nourished women can expect to gain some weight in association with pregnancy, although it remains unclear whether this is wholly the result of weight gained during pregnancy (i.e. ‘gestational weight gain’) or partly reflects a pre-pregnant and/or postpartum tendency to gain weight irrespective of pregnancy itself. In this regard, parental obesity and pre-pregnant body weight are both associated with an increased risk of ‘maternal obesity’, as are inadequate social support, increased food intake and reduced activity during the postpartum period. Longitudinal analyses that record changes in body weight before, during and after pregnancy are therefore required to establish the role that gestational weight gain plays in ‘maternal obesity’.
Correlation Among Serum Levels of Procollagen Type 1 Carboxy Terminal Propeptide and Type 1 Collagen Carboxy Terminal Telopeptide and Urinary Excretion of Growth Hormone and Pyridinoline in Normal Children

Growth Hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), parathyroid hormonerelated protein (PTHTP) (1) and pyridinoline are known to be involved in bone metabolism in children. Recently, procollagen type 1 carboxy terminal propeptide (PICP) and type 1 collagen carboxy terminal telopeptide (ICTP) have been recognized as the markers for bone formation and resorption. Therefore in this study, we investigated the correlation among these parameters in normal children, and investigated the physiological roles in bone metabolism.
Retrospective Evaluation of Anesthetic Management for Pregnant Surgical Patients

Backgrounds: It is estimated that 0.75-2% of parturients undergo surgical procedures unrelated to delivery. However, there are few reports on pregnant surgical patients in Korea. This study was undertaken to review the clinical information on patients who have received surgery during pregnancy. Methods: Of the 11,772 deliveries during the 7-year period 1996-2002, 101 pregnant patients underwent nonobstetric surgery. The medical records and anesthesia records were reviwed for the following data: patient's age, trimester at operation performed, type of surgery and anesthesia, fetal monitoring, preterm labor, and for the delivery of pregnant women undergoing nonobstetrical surgery, except incompetent cervix. Results: As many as 0.86% of pregnant women were found to have undergone surgery, the incidence of nonobstetric surgery, except incompetent cervix, was 0.43%. The 84.3% of patients underwent appendectomies. General anesthesia was administered to 68.6%, and regional anesthesia was administered to 31.4%. The ultrasonographies for fetal monitoring were performed in 96.1% of patients. Of the patients who received abdominal surgery during the second and third trimester, the incidence of preterm labor was 25.0%. There was no premature delivery. Conclusions: The incidence of nonobstetric surgery for reasons unrelated to pregnancy was 0.43%. Appendectomy was the most common surgical procedure. I recommend the use of uterine monitoring after abdominal surgery.
To study the prevalence of complete edentulousness among rural and urban population of Udaipur district of Rajasthan in relation to age and gender

Background: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the frequency of complete edentulism among rural and urban population of Udaipur district of Rajasthan who visited at a department of prosthesis at a university for the 1 st time. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study using the systematic cluster sampling method was used to select the study sample of 524 elderly men and women. Data were collected using questionnaires and oral examination. Data were statistically analyzed using a Chi-square test. Results: Nearly 52.3% and 47.8% of the rural and urban females were completely edentulous in the age group of 30-50 years and 51-70 years. 55.1% and 53.8% of urban and rural males were completely edentulous in 51-70 years of age groups. Conclusions: It is essential to identify feasible strategies to provide primary dental health education and treatment to all rural and urban elderly in the future. We suggest community dental health services as a general health need of the elderly rather than a special health need of the community.