Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A switching kinematic model for an octapedal robot

We propose a new model to describe the horizontal motion of an eight-legged bio-inspired miniature robot. The model does not include compliance, and can capture the kinematics of the observed locomotion behavior that corresponds to an alternating tetrapod gait. We exploit symmetries and synergies to reduce the eight-legged robot to a mechanism that is composed by two switching four-bar linkages, each representing the collective effect of a tetrapod in contact with the ground. Notwithstanding its apparent simplicity, the resulting model reproduces on average the motion of the robot. In addition, by properly tuning a family of physically-relevant parameters - including touchdown and sweep angles - different motion primitives corresponding to circular and forward motions can be realized. This model represents a first step toward developing reduced-order kinematic representations of legged robots that can be used for motion planning and feedback control purposes.
Microarray phosphatome profiling of breast cancer patients unveils a complex phosphatase regulatory role of the MAPK and PI3K pathways in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers

Phosphatases are proteins with the ability to dephosphorylate different substrates and are involved in critical cellular processes such as proliferation, tumor suppression, motility and survival. Little is known about their role in the different breast cancer (BC) phenotypes. We carried out micro-array phosphatome profiling in 41 estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) BC patients, as determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC), containing both ERBB2+ and ERBB2− in order to characterize the differences between these two groups. We characterized and confirmed the distinct phosphatome of the two main ER− BC subgroups (in two independent microarrays series) and that of ER+ BC (in three large independent series). Our findings point to the importance of the MAPK and PI3K pathways in ER− BCs as some of the most differentially expressed phosphatases (like DUSP4 and DUSP6) sharing ERK as substrate, or regulating the PI3K pathway (INPP4B, PTEN). It was possible to identify a selective group of phosphatases upregulated only in the ER− ERBB2+ subgroup and not in ER+ (like DUSP6, DUSP10 and PPAPDC1A among others), suggesting a role of these phosphatases in specific BC subtypes, unlike other differentially expressed phosphatases (DUSP4 and ENPP1) that seemed to have a role in multiple BC subtypes. Significant correlation was found at the protein level by IHC between the expression of DUSP6 and phospho-ERK (p=0.04) but not of phospho-ERK with DUSP4. To show the potential prognostic relevance of phosphatases as a functional group of genes, we derived and validated in two large independent BC microarray series a multiphosphatase signature enriched in differentially expressed phosphatases, to predict distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). ER− ERBB2+, ER− ERBB2− and ER+ BC patients have a distinct pattern of phosphatase RNA expression with a potential prognostic relevance. Further studies of the most relevant phosphatases found in this study are warranted.
Incremental learning in nonstationary environments with controlled forgetting

We have recently introduced an incremental learning algorithm, called Learn++. NSE, designed for Non-Stationary Environments (concept drift), where the underlying data distribution changes over time. With each dataset drawn from a new environment, Learn++. NSE generates a new classifier to form an ensemble of classifiers. The ensemble members are combined through a dynamically weighted majority voting, where voting weights are determined based on classifiers' age-adjusted accuracy on current and past environments. Unlike other ensemble-based concept drift algorithms, Learn++. NSE does not discard prior classifiers, allowing potentially cyclical environments to be learned more effectively. While Learn++. NSE has been shown to work well on a variety of concept drift problems, a potential shortcoming of this approach is the cumulative nature of the ensemble size. In this contribution, we expand our analysis of the algorithm to include various ensemble pruning methods to introduce controlled forgetting. Error or age-based pruning methods have been integrated into the algorithm to prevent potential out-voting from irrelevant classifiers or simply to save memory over an extended period of time. Here, we analyze the tradeoff between these precautions and the desire to handle recurring contexts (cyclical data). Comparisons are made using several scenarios that introduce various types of drift.
Waterproof and moisture permeability performance of laminated fabrics with electrospun nano fibrous membrane

Waterproof and moisture permeable fabrics, also known as waterproof and breathable fabrics, are widely used in our daily life. This permeability to water vapor but resistance to water droplets are not only applied in textile industry but also can be employed in medical applications, membrane distillation, moisture regulation of buildings, and in humidification for the conservation of art and paper.1−4 They can be divided into high density woven fabrics, coated fabrics and laminated fabrics. The laminated fabric could display the excellent properties of all the component fabrics, and its multilayered structure is independent of each other and has good combination. Simultaneously, the processing technique of laminated fabric also avoids solvent pollution, labor protection and fire protection and other issues.
Statistical Parametric Mapping of Regional Glucose Metabolism in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

We investigated statistical parametric mapping (SPM) use for positron emission tomography (PET) with [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) data analysis in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. The study involved 14 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy ultimately treated by anterior temporal lobectomy. Surgical outcome in terms of seizure control was favorable in 12 patients. Two different SPM approaches were designed to analyze each FDG-PET scan: a direct comparison with a control group (n = 27) and a search for significant interhemispheric asymmetry considering the asymmetry existing in the control group. Statistical inference was performed, first, without correction for multiple comparisons (making the hypothesis of temporal hypometabolism) and, second, after correction for multiple comparisons. Search for temporal interhemispheric asymmetry under the hypothesis of temporal hypometabolism was the most reliable SPM approach: hypometabolism was identified on the side chosen for resection in most cases (sensitivity, 71%; specificity, 100%) and was predictive of favorable postsurgical outcome in 90% of the patients. There was no false-positive result within the control group using this approach. After correction for multiple comparisons, SPM also identified in some patients temporal hypermetabolic areas as well as extratemporal cortical and subcortical hypometabolic areas on the side of resection but also on the contralateral side. In a further step, SPM was used for a group analysis of patients with favorable outcome after reversing scans when needed to set an identical lateralization in all patients. This analysis identified multiple ipsilateral temporal and extratemporal hypometabolic regions; when temporal metabolic changes were specifically assessed, the contralateral mesiotemporal region was found hypermetabolic, possibly as a manifestation of compensatory mechanisms in the presence of a unilateral epileptogenic lesion.
Field theory of the random flux model

The long-range properties of the random flux model (lattice fermions hopping under the influence of maximally random link disorder) are shown to be described by a supersymmetric field theory of non-linear -model type, where the group GL(n|n) is the global invariant manifold. An extension to non-Abelian generalizations of this model identifies connections to lattice QCD, Dirac fermions in a random gauge potential, and stochastic non-Hermitian operators.
Myasthenia gravis

The need for universally accepted classifications, grading systems, and methods of analysis for patients undergoing therapy for MG is widely recognized and is particularly needed for therapeutic research trials. The Medical Scientific Advisory Board (MSAB) of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) formed a Task Force in May 1997 to address these issues. Initially, the Task Force planned to develop classifications and outcome measures pertaining only to standardizing thymectomy trials. However, it quickly became apparent that their efforts should apply to all therapeutic trials for MG, and thus the scope of the mission was expanded. During the development of these recommendations, the Task Force faced numerous dilemmas for which no universally satisfactory solution was available. Dilemmas were defined as “situations that require one to choose between two equally balanced alternatives or predicaments that seemingly defy satisfactory solutions. ” The Task Force members agreed at the outset, however, that their primary goal was to develop a uniform set of classifications to be used in the comparative analysis of the various therapeutic interventions for MG. With this as the primary goal, a consensus was gradually developed. In developing a consensus, at least two meetings were held each year during a 3-year period. Between meetings there was exchange of all proposals by electronic and surface mail, consultation with national and international experts in the field, critical analysis of all proposals, and many revisions. All conflicts (both minor and major) were resolved by vote. Virtually all issues were eventually approved unanimously; a few received a plurality of six. This report presents the work of the Task Force and proposes classification systems and definitions of response to therapy designed to achieve more uniformity in recording and reporting clinical trials and outcomes research. Although designed primarily for research purposes, we think physicians may find some of …
Rapid Sampling for Visualizations with Ordering Guarantees

Visualizations are frequently used as a means to understand trends and gather insights from datasets, but often take a long time to generate. In this paper, we focus on the problem of rapidly generating approximate visualizations while preserving crucial visual properties of interest to analysts. Our primary focus will be on sampling algorithms that preserve the visual property of ordering; our techniques will also apply to some other visual properties. For instance, our algorithms can be used to generate an approximate visualization of a bar chart very rapidly, where the comparisons between any two bars are correct. We formally show that our sampling algorithms are generally applicable and provably optimal in theory, in that they do not take more samples than necessary to generate the visualizations with ordering guarantees. They also work well in practice, correctly ordering output groups while taking orders of magnitude fewer samples and much less time than conventional sampling schemes.
Advanced Vaccine Research Methods for the Decade of Vaccines

Compared to bacteria and plants, the cold shock response has attracted little attention in mammals except in some areas such as adaptive thermogenesis, cold tolerance, storage of cells and organs, and recently, treatment of brain damage and protein production. At the cellular level, some responses of mammalian cells are similar to microorganisms; cold stress changes the lipid composition of cellular membranes, and suppresses the rate of protein synthesis and cell proliferation. Although previous studies have mostly dealt with temperatures below 20°C, mild hypothermia (32°C) can change the cell’s response to subsequent stresses as exemplified by APG-1, a member of the HSP110 family. Furthermore, 32°C induces expression of CIRP (cold-inducible RNAbinding protein), the first cold shock protein identified in mammalian cells, without recovery at 37°C. Remniscent of HSP, CIRP is also expressed at 37°C and developmentary regulated, possibly working as an RNA chaperone. Mammalian cells are metabolically active at 32°C, and cells may survive and respond to stresses with different strategies from those at 37°C. Cellular and molecular biology of mammalian cells at 32°C is a new area expected to have considerable implications for medical sciences and possibly biotechnology.
Tracking changes in language

One problem that has arisen in recent years is the extraction of useful information from changes in a data stream including natural language. Statistical tests on single word occurrences can reveal many apparent differences. Understanding the reasons behind such changes in the data requires methods for discovering structure within the entire set of individual changed items. This work presents a methodology for understanding how a language model has altered based on utterance clustering and statistical tests on individual features. It further examines clustering of lexical items via profiles of changes in association scores. A machine using an analysis package based on these techniques can isolate novel portions of the data stream. Human inspection of such data then readily determines the nature of the observed change. We investigate several variants of this analysis upon data drawn from an automated call center.
The functional importance of multiple actin isoforms

Actin is a protein that plays an important role in cell structure, cell motility, and the generation of contractile force in both muscle and nonmuscle cells. In many organisms, multiple forms of actin, or isoactins, are found. These are products of different genes and have different, although very similar, amino acid sequences. Furthermore, these isoactins are expressed in a tissue specific fashion that is conserved across species, suggesting that their presence is functionally important and their behavior can be distinguished quantitatively from one another in vitro. In muscle cells, they are differentially distributed within the cell and some are specifically associated with structures such as costameres, mitochondria, and neuromuscular junctions. There is also good evidence for specific isoactin function in microvascular pericytes and in the intestinal brush border. However, the necessity of specific isoactins for various functions has not yet been conclusively demonstrated.
The McCallum Projection, Lifting, and Order-Invariance

Abstract : The McCallum Projection for Cylindrical Algebraic Decomposition (CAD) produces a smaller projection factor set than previous projections, however it does not always produce a sign-invariant CAD for the set of input polynomials. Problems may arise when a (k+1)-level projection factor vanishes identically over a k-level cell. According to McCallum's paper, when this happens (and the k+1 is not the highest level in the CAD) we do not know whether the projection is valid, i.e. whether or not a sign-invariant CAD for the set of input polynomials will be produced when lifting is performed in the usual way. When the k-level cell in question has dimension 0, McCallum suggests a modification of the lifting method that will ensure the validity of his projection, although to my knowledge this has neve been implemented. In this paper we give easily computable criteria that often allow us to conclude that McCallum's projection is valid even though a projection factor vanishes identically over a cell. WE also improve on McCallum's modified lifting method. We have incorporated the ideas contained in this paper into QEPCAD, the most complete implementation of CAD. When McCallum's projection is invalid because of a projection factor not being order-invariant over a region on which it vanishes identically, at least a warning message ought to be issued. Currently, QEPCAD may print warning messages that are not needed, and may fail to print warning messages when they are needed. Our implementation in QEPCAD ensures that warning messages are printed when needed, and reduces the number of times warning messages are printed when not needed. Neither McCallum's modified lifting method nor our improvement of it have been implemented in QEPCAD- the design of the system would make implementing such a feature quite difficult.
Grounding Symbols in Multi-Modal Instructions

As robots begin to cohabit with humans in semi-structured environments, the need arises to understand instructions involving rich variability—for instance, learning to ground symbols in the physical world. Realistically, this task must cope with small datasets consisting of a particular users’ contextual assignment of meaning to terms. We present a method for processing a raw stream of cross-modal input—i.e., linguistic instructions, visual perception of a scene and a concurrent trace of 3D eye tracking fixations—to produce the segmentation of objects with a correspondent association to high-level concepts. To test our framework we present experiments in a table-top object manipulation scenario. Our results show our model learns the user’s notion of colour and shape from a small number of physical demonstrations, generalising to identifying physical referents for novel combinations of the words.
Approximate graph distance with imagisation

Graph similarity can contribute to the solutions of a wide variety of real-life problems. Effective graph similarity measures, therefore, are in high demand in areas such as communication network, biology, medicine, finance, etc. Existing similarity methods present key shortcomings including high run-time computational cost and/or strong dependence on feature selection and feature engineering. Many of existing methods also suffer from ambiguity in the interpretation of resultant measurement. In this paper, we propose a fast approximation of graph similarity grounded on convolutional neural network based image embedding. Graph similarity (distance) is, therefore, translated into the quantitative comparison of the corresponding images faithfully encoding structural information of the graphs. The proposed method is validated with purposely built test data. In addition, we have also carried out a preliminary evaluation, that has demonstrated highly promising results: confirming the viability of proposed "imagisation" based graph distance measure.
Histopathological detection of lymph node metastases from colorectal carcinoma

Aim—To evaluate whether the assessment of multiple sections from retrieved nodes yields an increased number of metastases compared with the number that would be detected by the commonly applied method of microscopy of a single section of lymph node only. Methods—A prospective study of 72 colorectal carcinoma resection specimens. Lymph node sampling was based on the current guidelines for the detection of breast cancer metastases in axillary nodes. Lymph nodes up to approximately 5 mm in maximum extent were processed in entirety, without prior sectioning, and assessed histologically at three levels; larger lymph nodes were processed in entirety as multiple sections and histologically assessed at one level. Results—From a total of 72 carcinomas, eight were Dukes's A, 26 were Dukes's B, and 38 were Dukes's C. The mean and median numbers of nodes identified were 13 and 12, respectively (range, three to 44). Of the Dukes's C cases, four contained lymph node metastases identified by our method that might have gone undetected by the current, generally applied method. In one case, this led to the detection of the only nodal metastasis present and therefore “upstaged” the tumour from Dukes's B to C. On average, six extra tissue blocks were processed for each case in applying this method. Conclusion—The assessment of multiple sections of lymph nodes from colorectal specimens leads to the detection of only a small number of additional nodal metastases. The method involves increased workload for pathologists and laboratory staff.
3D rectilinear motion planning with minimum bend paths

Computing rectilinear shortest paths in two dimensions has been solved optimally using a number of different techniques. A variety of related problems have been solved, including minimizing the number of bends in the path, the total rectilinear distance, or some combination of both. However, solutions to the 3D versions of these problems are less common. We propose a solution to the 3D minimum-bend path problem, which has theoretical as well as practical interest. Applications include motion planning problems where straight line motion is preferred over taking arbitrary turns. We employ our results in motion planning for self-repair in self-reconfigurable robots.
Formulary Review of Therapeutic Alternatives for Atopic Dermatitis: Focus on Pimecrolimus

OBJECTIVES: Atopic dermatitis (AD), often called eczema, is characterized by intense pruritus, erythema, dry skin, and inflammation. The condition is chronic and relapsing, and often occurs in patients with a family history of the atopic triad (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and AD). Use of topical steroids has been the mainstay of medical treatment for AD. Steroid-free treatments for AD, with a more favorable safety profile, have become available within the past 2 years. Tacrolimus ointment, a topical immunomodulator, became available in early 2001 and is indicated for moderate-to-severe AD. A similar but highly skins elective cytokine inhibitor, pimecrolimus cream 1%, became available in March 2002. Pimecrolimus is indicated for mild-to-moderate AD. The objective of this article is to review the key characteristics that differentiate pimecrolimus from steroids and tacrolimus in the treatment of AD. METHODS: Using secondary resources, the clinical aspects and conventional treatment strategies for AD are reviewed as are the pivotal clinical studies with pimecrolimus and literature on quality of life and economic burden of disease for AD patients and families. SUMMARY: Pimecrolimus is an effective, steroid-sparing therapy for mild-tomoderate AD. Early treatment prevents flares, the agent works quickly to reduce signs and symptoms of more advanced AD, and it is safe and appropriate for intermittent long-term therapy. Pimecrolimus has fewer side effects than topical steroids and a better side-effect profile than tacrolimus. It can also be used as a first-line therapy. In studies with patients aged 2 to 17 years, it has been shown to be particularly effective in improving eczema of the face and neck, and its use may improve quality of life for many patients, especially children. A single-strength dose (1%) is safe and medically beneficial for pediatric, adolescent, and adult patients. The direct drug cost of pimecrolimus compares favorably with tacrolimus, but it is significantly more expensive than generic topical steroid creams.
Computing in Operations Research Using Julia

The state of numerical computing is currently characterized by a divide between highly efficient yet typically cumbersome low-level languages such as C, C++, and Fortran and highly expressive yet typically slow high-level languages such as Python and MATLAB. This paper explores how Julia, a modern programming language for numerical computing that claims to bridge this divide by incorporating recent advances in language and compiler design (such as just-in-time compilation), can be used for implementing software and algorithms fundamental to the field of operations research, with a focus on mathematical optimization. In particular, we demonstrate algebraic modeling for linear and nonlinear optimization and a partial implementation of a practical simplex code. Extensive cross-language benchmarks suggest that Julia is capable of obtaining state-of-the-art performance.Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi. org/10.1287/ijoc.2014. 0623 .