Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance in uncertain environment combining PVOs and Occupancy Grid

Most of present work for autonomous navigation in dynamic environment doesn't take into account the dynamics of the obstacles or the limits of the perception system. To face these problems we applied the probabilistic velocity obstacle (PVO) approach (Kluge and Prassler, 2004) to a dynamic occupancy grid. The paper presents a method to estimate the probability of collision where uncertainty in position, shape and velocity of the obstacles, occlusions and limited sensor range contribute directly to the computation. A simple navigation algorithm is then presented in order to apply the method to collision avoidance and goal driven control. Simulation results show that the robot is able to adapt its behaviour to the level of available knowledge and navigate safely among obstacles with a constant linear velocity. Extensions to non-linear, non-constant velocities are proposed.
Changes in streamflow and sediment for a planned large reservoir in the middle Yellow River

Changes in streamflow and sediment runoffs would affect the reservoir's functional operation and the construction of soil and water conservation measures in China's Loess Plateau. In this study, the long‐term changes in streamflow and sediment were analyzed for a main stem section of the middle Yellow River where the to‐be‐built large Guxian Reservoir is to be located. Results showed that both streamflow and sediment had significant downward trends with the rates of −9.4 m3 s−1 yr−1 and −16.8 million t yr−1, respectively, during the period of 1961–2017. Using the range of variability approach, the change of streamflow regime in its postimpact period (1986–2017) was subjected to the moderate alteration, whereas the alteration of sediment regime was moderate and severe for the first (1980–1996) and second (1997–2017) postimpact periods. As an example, the attribution analyses of annual streamflow and sediment changes were conducted in a typical tributary catchment (Qingjian River) on the right bank of Guxian Reservoir. For the periods of 1980–2002 and 2003–2016, climate variability occupied the primary and secondary proportions to both streamflow and sediment reductions, respectively. Overall, human activities demonstrated the underlying contribution to the sharp declines of streamflow and sediment, accounting for 68% and 74%, respectively, during the period of 1980–2016. We suggest that, based on the operational life of warping dams (built on gully for mitigating gully erosion by raising the gully‐bed step‐by‐step), there are risks of flash flood and high sediment concentration events in the future because the streamflow/sediment‐reducing infrastructures may be damaged by extreme rainstorms and in turn become the flood and sediment amplifiers.
Dynamic Evolution of the LPS-Detoxifying Enzyme Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase in Zebrafish and Other Vertebrates

Alkaline phosphatases (Alps) are well-studied enzymes that remove phosphates from a variety of substrates. Alps function in diverse biological processes, including modulating host-bacterial interactions by dephosphorylating the Gram-negative bacterial cell wall component lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In animals, Alps are encoded by multiple genes characterized by either ubiquitous expression (named Alpls for their liver expression, but a key to proper bone mineralization), or their tissue-specific expression, for example in the intestine (Alpi). We previously characterized a zebrafish alpi gene (renamed here alpi.1) that is regulated by Myd88-dependent innate immune signaling and that is required to prevent a host’s excessive inflammatory reactions to its resident microbiota. Here we report the characterization of two new alp genes in zebrafish, alpi.2 and alp3. To understand their origins, we investigated the phylogenetic history of Alp genes in animals. We find that vertebrate Alp genes are organized in three clades with one of these clades missing from the mammals. We present evidence that these three clades originated during the two vertebrate genome duplications. We show that alpl is ubiquitously expressed in zebrafish, as it is in mammals, whereas the other three alps are specific to the intestine. Our phylogenetic analysis reveals that in contrast to Alpl, which has been stably maintained as a single gene throughout the vertebrates, the Alpis have been lost and duplicated multiple times independently in vertebrate lineages, likely reflecting the rapid and dynamic evolution of vertebrate gut morphologies, driven by changes in bacterial associations and diet.
Supporting media bricoleurs

to 24 watch TV two hours per day but read for leisure only seven minutes per day [2]. YouTube reports that " [o]ver 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that's almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50 percent more than last year [2011]. 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute " [3]. Video is undeniably an increasingly prominent consumer communication medium. However, it is our observation that video is not widely perceived as a full-fledged document, dismissed as a medium that, at worst, gilds over substance and, at best, simply augments text-based communications. Online video is incredibly rich. A 15-minute home-improvement YouTube tutorial might include 1,500 words of narration, 100 or more significant keyframes showing a visual change from multiple perspectives, several animated objects, references to other examples, a tool list, comments from viewers, and a host of other metadata. Furthermore, video accounts for 90 percent of worldwide Internet traffic [1]. For new startups, it has become de rigueur to introduce new products with video rather than text and still graphics. This is likely because people spend more time consuming video than text. The NEA reports that Americans ages 15 O Insights → A media bricoleur authors new digital artifacts using whatever is at hand. → When different types of media are integrated into a document, knowledge can be conveyed more comprehensively. → Authoring and reuse tools for dynamic, visual media should match the power and ease of use of their static textual media analogs.
Analyzing the inner workings of the Signature Quadratic Form Distance

The Signature Quadratic Form Distance is a distance-based similarity measure comparing flexible feature representations, so-called feature signatures. Thus, the distance's applicability is not limited to feature vectors of the same size and structure. Although the Signature Quadratic Form Distance has shown high retrieval performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, the inner workings of this distance are still hidden and not obvious. In this paper, we reveal the distance's inherent structure by empirically analyzing the distance computation and examining their inner workings in order to gain a better model understanding and to guide further developments of the Signature Quadratic Form Distance.
Algorithm for statistical detection of peaks--syndromic surveillance system for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

INTRODUCTION No generally accepted procedure exists for detecting outbreaks in syndromic time series used in the surveillance of natural epidemics or biologic attacks. OBJECTIVES This report evaluates the usefulness for syndromic surveillance of the Pulsar approach, which is based on removing long-term trends from an observed series and identifying peaks in the residual series of surveillance data with cutoffs determined by using a combination of peak height and width. METHODS Simulations were performed to evaluate the Pulsar method and compare it with other approaches. The daily syndromic counts in emergency departments of four major hospitals in the Athens area during August 2002-August 2003 were analyzed for two common syndromes. A standardized residual series was generated by omitting trends and noise in the original data series; this series was examined for the presence of peaks (i.e., points having magnitude higher than at least one of three probabilistically determined cutoffs). The whole process was iterated, and the baseline was recalculated by assigning reduced weight to the identified peaks. RESULTS For the specific simulation schema used, the Pulsar method fared well when compared with other approaches in meeting the performance criteria of sensitivity, specificity, and timeliness. CONCLUSIONS Although the suggested algorithm needs further validation regarding the correspondence between detected peaks and true biologic alerts, the Pulsar technique appears effective for observing peaks in time series of syndromic events. The simplicity of the algorithm, its ability to detect peaks based not only on height but also on width, and its performance in the simulated data sets make it a promising candidate for further use in syndromic surveillance.
Response of a Panel Structure Forced by the Noise from a Nearly Sonic Jet

A model of a high subsonic jet with a nearby array of flexible, aircraft-type panels is studied numerically in two dimensions. The jet is excited by a limited duration, spatially localized starter pulse in the potential core. The long time evolution of unsteady disturbances in the jet, the responses of the panels, and the ensuing radiation are computed. The results show that the spectral response of both the jet and the panels is concentrated in a relatively narrow frequency band centered at a Strouhal number (based on jet exit velocity) of approximately 0.25 and associated harmonics. The loading on the panels generally increases with downstream distance. Panel radiation is weakest in upstream directions. Interior zones of silence, due to destructive interference of radiation from the panels, are observed.
The MAP Kinase p38 Is Part of Drosophila melanogaster's Circadian Clock

All organisms have to adapt to acute as well as to regularly occurring changes in the environment. To deal with these major challenges organisms evolved two fundamental mechanisms: the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, a major stress pathway for signaling stressful events, and circadian clocks to prepare for the daily environmental changes. Both systems respond sensitively to light. Recent studies in vertebrates and fungi indicate that p38 is involved in light-signaling to the circadian clock providing an interesting link between stress-induced and regularly rhythmic adaptations of animals to the environment, but the molecular and cellular mechanisms remained largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate by immunocytochemical means that p38 is expressed in Drosophila melanogaster's clock neurons and that it is activated in a clock-dependent manner. Surprisingly, we found that p38 is most active under darkness and, besides its circadian activation, additionally gets inactivated by light. Moreover, locomotor activity recordings revealed that p38 is essential for a wild-type timing of evening activity and for maintaining ∼24 h behavioral rhythms under constant darkness: flies with reduced p38 activity in clock neurons, delayed evening activity and lengthened the period of their free-running rhythms. Furthermore, nuclear translocation of the clock protein Period was significantly delayed on the expression of a dominant-negative form of p38b in Drosophila's most important clock neurons. Western Blots revealed that p38 affects the phosphorylation degree of Period, what is likely the reason for its effects on nuclear entry of Period. In vitro kinase assays confirmed our Western Blot results and point to p38 as a potential “clock kinase” phosphorylating Period. Taken together, our findings indicate that the p38 MAP Kinase is an integral component of the core circadian clock of Drosophila in addition to playing a role in stress-input pathways.
Modeling Aspects : An Implementation-Driven Approach

Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) and AspectOriented Programming (AOP) are two emerging software engineering paradigms that have developed independently. We believe that these approaches can be combined to produce better solutions to problems such as product line engineering. To integrate AOP with MDSD, techniques for modeling aspect-oriented constructs must be developed. As a first step, we consider the problem of modeling aspects in a static program structure. We believe that the limitations of passive notations inhibit the effectiveness of aspect modeling techniques that have been previously proposed. Therefore, we consider the use of interactive and dynamic software visualizations for aspect modeling. In this paper we describe an approach to modeling the influence of an aspect in an existing system.
Milgram-routing in social networks

We demonstrate how a recent model of social networks ("Affiliation Networks", [21]) offers powerful cues in local routing within social networks, a theme made famous by sociologist Milgram's "six degrees of separation" experiments. This model posits the existence of an "interest space" that underlies a social network; we prove that in networks produced by this model, not only do short paths exist among all pairs of nodes but natural local routing algorithms can discover them effectively. Specifically, we show that local routing can discover paths of length O(log2 n) to targets chosen uniformly at random, and paths of length O(1) to targets chosen with probability proportional to their degrees. Experiments on the co-authorship graph derived from DBLP data confirm our theoretical results, and shed light into the power of one step of lookahead in routing algorithms for social networks.
Handling sporadic tasks in off-line scheduled distributed real-time systems

Many industrial applications mandate the use of a time-triggered paradigm and consequently the use of off-line scheduling for reasons such as predictability, certification, cost, or product reuse. The construction of an off-line schedule requires complete knowledge about all temporal aspects of the application. The acquisition of this information may involve unacceptable cost or be impossible. Often, only partial information is available from the controlled environment. In this paper we present an algorithm to handle event-triggered sporadic tasks, i.e., with unknown arrival times, but known maximum arrival frequencies, in the context of distributed, off-line scheduled systems. Sporadic tasks are guaranteed during design time, allowing rescheduling or redesign in the failure case. At run-time, the sporadic tasks are scheduled dynamically, allowing the reuse of resources reserved for, but not consumed by the sporadic tasks. We provide an off-line schedulability test for sporadic tasks and apply the method to perform on-line scheduling on top of off-line schedules. Since the major part of preparations is performed off-line, the involved on-line mechanisms are simple. The on-line reuse of resources allows for high resource utilization.
Textile Technologies and Tissue Engineering: A Path Toward Organ Weaving

Textile technologies have recently attracted great attention as potential biofabrication tools for engineering tissue constructs. Using current textile technologies, fibrous structures can be designed and engineered to attain the required properties that are demanded by different tissue engineering applications. Several key parameters such as physiochemical characteristics of fibers, microarchitecture, and mechanical properties of the fabrics play important roles in the effective use of textile technologies in tissue engineering. This review summarizes the current advances in the manufacturing of biofunctional fibers. Different textile methods such as knitting, weaving, and braiding are discussed and their current applications in tissue engineering are highlighted.
Five versus more than five years of tamoxifen for lymph node-negative breast cancer: updated findings from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-14 randomized trial.

BACKGROUND Previously reported information from B-14, a National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, demonstrated that patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer and negative axillary lymph nodes experienced a prolonged benefit from 5 years of tamoxifen therapy. When these women were rerandomized to receive either placebo or more prolonged tamoxifen therapy, they obtained no additional advantage from tamoxifen through 4 years of follow-up. Because the optimal duration of tamoxifen administration continues to be controversial and because there have been 3 more years of follow-up and a substantial increase in the number of events since our last report, an update of the B-14 study is appropriate. METHODS Patients (n = 1172) who had completed 5 years of tamoxifen therapy and who were disease free were rerandomized to receive placebo (n = 579) or tamoxifen (n = 593). Survival, disease-free survival (DFS), and relapse-free survival (RFS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method; the differences between the treatment groups were assessed by the log-rank test. Relative risks of failure (with 95% confidence intervals) were determined by the Cox proportional hazards model. P values were two-sided. RESULTS Through 7 years after reassignment of tamoxifen-treated patients to either placebo or continued tamoxifen therapy, a slight advantage was observed in patients who discontinued tamoxifen relative to those who continued to receive it: DFS = 82% versus 78% (P =.03), RFS = 94% versus 92% (P =.13), and survival = 94% versus 91% (P =.07), respectively. The lack of benefit from additional tamoxifen therapy was independent of age or other characteristics. CONCLUSION Through 7 years of follow-up after rerandomization, there continues to be no additional benefit from tamoxifen administered beyond 5 years in women with ER-positive breast cancer and negative axillary lymph nodes.
Single point active alignment method (SPAAM) for optical see-through HMD calibration for AR

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology in which a user's view of the real world is enhanced or augmented with additional information generated from a computer model. In order to have a working AR system, the see-through display system must be calibrated so that the graphics is properly rendered. The optical see-through systems present an additional challenge because we do not have access to the image data directly as in video see-through systems. This paper reports on a method we developed for optical see-through head-mounted displays. The method integrates the measurements for the camera and the magnetic tracker which is attached to the camera in order to do the calibration. The calibration is based on the alignment of image points with a single 3D point in the world coordinate system from various viewpoints. The user interaction to do the calibration is extremely easy compared to prior methods, and there is no requirement for keeping the head static while doing the calibration.
Metabolic activation of 2‐amino‐1‐methyl‐6‐phenylimidazo [4,5‐b]pyridine and DNA adduct formation depends on p53: Studies in T rp53(+/+),T rp53(+/−) and T rp53(−/−) mice

The expression of the tumor suppressor p53 can influence the bioactivation of, and DNA damage induced by, the environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, indicating a role for p53 in its cytochrome P450 (CYP)‐mediated biotransformation. The carcinogen 2‐amino‐1‐methyl‐6‐phenylimidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine (PhIP), which is formed during the cooking of food, is also metabolically activated by CYP enzymes, particularly CYP1A2. We investigated the potential role of p53 in PhIP metabolism in vivo by treating Trp53(+/+), Trp53(+/−) and Trp53(−/−) mice with a single oral dose of 50 mg/kg body weight PhIP. N‐(Deoxyguanosin‐8‐yl)‐2‐amino‐1‐methyl‐6‐phenylimidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine (PhIP‐C8‐dG) levels in DNA, measured by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry, were significantly lower in liver, colon, forestomach and glandular stomach of Trp53(−/−) mice compared to Trp53(+/+) mice. Lower PhIP‐DNA adduct levels in the livers of Trp53(−/−) mice correlated with lower Cyp1a2 enzyme activity (measured by methoxyresorufin‐O‐demethylase activity) in these animals. Interestingly, PhIP‐DNA adduct levels were significantly higher in kidney and bladder of Trp53(−/−) mice compared to Trp53(+/+) mice, which was accompanied by higher sulfotransferase (Sult) 1a1 protein levels and increased Sult1a1 enzyme activity (measured by 2‐naphthylsulfate formation from 2‐naphthol) in kidneys of these animals. Our study demonstrates a role for p53 in the metabolism of PhIP in vivo, extending previous results on a novel role for p53 in xenobiotic metabolism. Our results also indicate that the impact of p53 on PhIP biotransformation is tissue‐dependent and that in addition to Cyp1a enzymes, Sult1a1 can contribute to PhIP‐DNA adduct formation.
Information Measures in Statistical Privacy and Data Processing Applications

In statistical privacy, utility refers to two concepts: information preservation, how much statistical information is retained by a sanitizing algorithm, and usability, how (and with how much difficulty) one extracts this information to build statistical models, answer queries, and so forth. Some scenarios incentivize a separation between information preservation and usability, so that the data owner first chooses a sanitizing algorithm to maximize a measure of information preservation, and, afterward, the data consumers process the sanitized output according to their various individual needs [Ghosh et al. 2009; Williams and McSherry 2010]. We analyze the information-preserving properties of utility measures with a combination of two new and three existing utility axioms and study how violations of an axiom can be fixed. We show that the average (over possible outputs of the sanitizer) error of Bayesian decision makers forms the unique class of utility measures that satisfy all of the axioms. The axioms are agnostic to Bayesian concepts such as subjective probabilities and hence strengthen support for Bayesian views in privacy research. In particular, this result connects information preservation to aspects of usability—if the information preservation of a sanitizing algorithm should be measured as the average error of a Bayesian decision maker, shouldn’t Bayesian decision theory be a good choice when it comes to using the sanitized outputs for various purposes? We put this idea to the test in the unattributed histogram problem where our decision-theoretic postprocessing algorithm empirically outperforms previously proposed approaches.