Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TableHop: An Actuated Fabric Display Using Transparent Electrodes

We present TableHop, a tabletop display that provides controlled self-actuated deformation and vibro-tactile feedback to an elastic fabric surface while retaining the ability for high-resolution visual projection. The surface is made of a highly stretchable pure spandex fabric that is electrostatically actuated using electrodes mounted on its top or underside. It uses transparent indium tin oxide electrodes and high-voltage modulation to create controlled surface deformations. Our setup actuates pixels and creates deformations in the fabric up to +/- 5 mm. Since the electrodes are transparent, the fabric surface functions as a diffuser for rear-projected visual images, and avoid occlusion by users or actuators. Users can touch and interact with the fabric to experience expressive interactions as with any fabric based shape-changing interface. By using frequency modulation in the high-voltage circuit, it can also create localized tactile sensations on the user's fingertip when touching the surface. We provide simulation and experimental results for the shape of the deformation and frequency of the vibration of the surface. These results can be used to build prototypes of different sizes and form-factors. We present a working prototype of TableHop that has 30x40 cm2 surface area and uses a grid of 3x3 transparent electrodes. It uses a maximum of 9.46 mW and can create tactile vibrations of up to 20 Hz. TableHop can be scaled to make large interactive surfaces and integrated with other objects and devices. TableHop will improve user interaction experience on 2.5D deformable displays.
Uniqueness of a Constrained Variational Problem and Large Deviations of Buffer Size

We show global uniqueness of the solution to a class of constrained variational problems, using scaling properties. This is used to establish the essential uniqueness of solutions of a large deviations problem in multiple dimensions. The result is motivated by models of buffers, and in particular the probability of, and typical path to overflow in the limit of small buffers, which we analyze.
Mixing doubly stochastic quantum channels with the completely depolarizing channel

It is proved that every doubly stochastic quantum channel that is properly averaged withthe completely depolarizing channel can be written as a convex combination of unitarychannels. It follows that within the space of doubly stochastic quantum channels, thereis a ball with positive radius around the completely depolarizing channel within whichall channels are convex combinations of unitary channels.
Investigação Narrativa : construindo novos sentidos na pesquisa qualitativa em educação

A producao de conhecimento na esfera cientifica vem sofrendo transforma coes, nas ultimas decadas, com o advento da discussao sobre novas possibilidades de fazer pesquisa qualitativa em ciencias humanas. Nesse sentido, a pes quisa narrativa autobiografica surge como uma perspectiva que abre espaco para ressignificar o conhecimento produzido e a aprendizagem experienciada no processo de investigacao. Nosso objetivo aqui e apresentar uma reflexao sobre o fazer pesquisa qualitativa no âmbito da universidade, tendo por opcao teorico-metodologica a investigacao narrativa autobiografica. Para tanto, toma - mos como material de analise a dissertacao de mestrado de Proenca (2014). Em um primeiro momento, nosso foco recai sobre as escolhas da autora no que se refere a arquitetonica do seu texto e, em um segundo momento, a partir de excertos de sua dissertacao, procuramos apreender alguns sentidos atribuidos por Proenca a experiencia vivenciada na pesquisa. Constatamos que a poten cialidade da narrativa, enquanto procedimento teorico-metodologico, favore ce a explicitacao do vivido como tambem possibilita a teorizacao do vivido, transformando-o em conhecimento academico. Alem disso, podemos perceber que a autora/narradora se transforma como pessoa e profissional, ao ver sua narrativa dar novos sentidos ao seu trabalho. Palavras-chave : pesquisa qualitativa; producao de conhecimento; investigacao narrativa.
A Study on Statistical Methods for Automatic Speech Summarization

This dissertation proposes a new automatic speech summarization method through word extraction. In this method, a set of words maximizing a summarization score indicating an appropriateness of summarization is extracted from automatically transcribed speech. This extraction is performed according to a target compression ratio using a dynamic programming technique sentence by sentence. The extracted set of words is then connected to construct a summarization sentence. The summarization score consists of a word significance measure, a confidence measure, linguistic likelihood, and a word concatenation probability. The word concatenation score is determined by a dependency structure in the original speech given by Stochastic Dependency Context Free Grammar (SDCFG). This summarization process aims to maintain the original meaning as much as possible within a limited number of words. In order to make abstracts, we then extend this method to summarization of a set of multiple utterances (sentences). This is done by adding a rule which restricts application of the score beyond the sentence boundaries. This summarization technique can preserve more words inside information rich utterances and shortening or even completely deleting less informative ones. This paper proposes a summarization method for multiple utterances using a two-level Dynamic Programming (DP) technique in order to reduce the amount of calculation. Japanese and English broadcast news speech which has been transcribed using a largevocabulary continuous-speech recognition (LVCSR) system is summarized using our proposed method. In addition, lecture speech is also transcribed and summarized to make abstracts. and compared with manual summarization by human subjects. The manual summarization results are combined to build a word network. This word network is used to calculate the word accuracy of each automatic summarization result using the most
Gradients in Wall Mechanics and Polysaccharides along Growing Inflorescence Stems1[OPEN]

Gradients in growth rate and cell wall compliances resemble gradients in pectin properties, suggesting that high growth rate is enabled by hydrated, highly mobile pectins with weakened cellulose interactions in Arabidopsis. At early stages of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) flowering, the inflorescence stem undergoes rapid growth, with elongation occurring predominantly in the apical ∼4 cm of the stem. We measured the spatial gradients for elongation rate, osmotic pressure, cell wall thickness, and wall mechanical compliances and coupled these macroscopic measurements with molecular-level characterization of the polysaccharide composition, mobility, hydration, and intermolecular interactions of the inflorescence cell wall using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and small-angle neutron scattering. Force-extension curves revealed a gradient, from high to low, in the plastic and elastic compliances of cell walls along the elongation zone, but plots of growth rate versus wall compliances were strikingly nonlinear. Neutron-scattering curves showed only subtle changes in wall structure, including a slight increase in cellulose microfibril alignment along the growing stem. In contrast, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectra showed substantial decreases in pectin amount, esterification, branching, hydration, and mobility in an apical-to-basal pattern, while the cellulose content increased modestly. These results suggest that pectin structural changes are connected with increases in pectin-cellulose interaction and reductions in wall compliances along the apical-to-basal gradient in growth rate. These pectin structural changes may lessen the ability of the cell wall to undergo stress relaxation and irreversible expansion (e.g. induced by expansins), thus contributing to the growth kinematics of the growing stem.
Design of Analyzers for Selective Program Analysis

The need for programming environments which support different phases of the software life cycle using responsive tools is well established. This paper presents a method for developing automatic analyzers which analyze programs and provide programmers with a variety of messages for the purpose of validating these programs in the early stages of program development. We show using an example, that such analyzers can be systematically constructed using an extension of the Attribute Grammar model which reflects the fact that a program analyzer should perform a static analysis of the program as well as monitor its dynamic behavior efficiently. One of the advantages of the model is that a systematic interaction is allowed between the static and dynamic attributes of the program. We illustrate that an advantage of this interaction is selective program instrumentation. That is, the analyzer is responsive to the programmer's needs by providing a selective analysis of the program's behavior rather than an exhaustive analysis which is difficult to comprehend.
Repeated Games for Inter-operator Spectrum Sharing

As wireless communication becomes an ever-more evolving and pervasive part of the existing world, system capacity and Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning are becoming more critically evident. In order to improve system capacity and QoS, it is mandatory that we pay closer attention to operational bandwidth efficiency issues. We address this issue for two operators' spectrum sharing in the same geographical area. We model and analyze interactions between the competitive operators coexisting in the same frequency band as a strategic noncooperative game, where the operators simultaneously share the spectrum dynamically as per their relative requirement. If resources are allocated in a conventional way (static orthogonal allocation), spectrum utilization becomes inefficient when there is load asymmetry between the operators and low inter-operator interference. Theoretically, operators can share resources in a cooperative manner, but pragmatically they are reluctant to reveal their network information to competitors. By using game theory, we design a distributed implementation, in which self-interested operators play strategies and contend for the spectrum resources in a noncooperative manner. We have proposed two game theoretic approaches in the thesis, one using a virtual carrier price; and the other based on a mutual history of favors. The former approach takes into account a penalty proportional to spectrum usage in its utility function, whereas in the latter, operators play strategies based on their history of interactions, i.e., how well the other behaved in the past. Finally, based on the simulations, we assess the performance of the proposed game theoretic approaches in comparison to existing conventional allocations.
Apolipoprotein L6, Induced in Atherosclerotic Lesions, Promotes Apoptosis and Blocks Beclin 1-dependent Autophagy in Atherosclerotic Cells*

Inflammatory cytokine-regulated apoptosis and autophagy play pivotal roles in plaque rupture and thrombosis of atherosclerotic lesions. However, the molecular interplay between apoptosis and autophagy in vascular cells has not been investigated. Our prior study showed that human apolipoprotein L6 (ApoL6), a pro-apoptotic BH3-only member of the Bcl-2 family, was one of the downstream targets of interferon-γ (INFγ), which sensitizes atherosclerotic lesion-derived cells (LDCs) to Fas-induced apoptosis. To investigate whether ApoL6 plays a causal role in atherosclerotic apoptosis and autophagy, in this study, we demonstrate that IFNγ treatment itself strongly induces ApoL6, and ApoL6 is highly expressed and partially co-localized with activated caspase 3 in activated smooth muscle cells in atherosclerotic lesions. In addition, overexpression of ApoL6 promotes reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, caspase activation, and subsequent apoptosis, which can be blocked by pan caspase inhibitor and ROS scavenger. Knockdown of ApoL6 expression by siApoL6 suppresses INFγ- and Fas-mediated apoptosis. Further, ApoL6 binds Bcl-XL, one of the most abundant anti-death proteins in LDCs. Interestingly, forced ApoL6 expression in LDCs induces degradation of Beclin 1, accumulation of p62, and subsequent attenuation of LC3-II formation and translocation and thus autophagy, whereas siApoL6 treatment reverts the phenotype. Taken together, our results suggest that ApoL6 regulates both apoptosis and autophagy in SMCs. IFNγ-initiated, ApoL6-induced apoptosis in vascular cells may be an important factor causing plaque instability and a potential therapeutic target for treating atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
Analysis of position-based impedance control method and the composition of system dynamic compliance

The hydraulic drive legged robot with high performance is introduced in this paper. When the robotic foot contacts the ground, the collision and impact can easily take place. Therefore, the robotic leg joint should possess certain compliance. In order to enhance the compliance of robotic leg joint, the paper researches the position-based impedance control method. Besides, the analysis for the composition of compliance is proposed, which lays the theoretical foundation for the dynamic compliance compensation control. To be specific, the force analysis for the hydraulic drive unit of robotic leg joint is conducted to research the method of impedance control and the impedance control link is introduced to the control system outer loop. Moreover, through building the mechanism model of hydraulic drive unit, the formula derivation and the theoretical analysis are conducted to obtain the series composition theory of system dynamic compliance. The control effect of impedance control method is verified through the experiment on the hydraulic drive unit performance test platform. The experiment proves the effectiveness of the position-based impedance control method for enhancing the compliance of hydraulic drive unit position control system as well as the series composition theory of system dynamic compliance. Thus, the research in this paper can give certain guiding significance to the dynamic compliance compensation control and the dynamic compliance compound control of the position control system in future.
Axon Branching and Synaptic Bouton Phenotypes in GABAergic Nonpyramidal Cell Subtypes

GABAergic nonpyramidal cells, cortical interneurons, consist of heterogeneous subtypes differing in their axonal field and target selectivity. It remains to be investigated how the diverse innervation patterns are generated and how these spatially complicated, but synaptically specific wirings are achieved. Here, we asked whether a particular cell type obeys a specific branching and bouton arrangement principle or differs from others only in average morphometric values of the morphological template common to nonpyramidal cells. For this purpose, we subclassified nonpyramidal cells within each physiological class by quantitative parameters of somata, dendrites, and axons and characterized axon branching and bouton distribution patterns quantitatively. Each subtype showed a characteristic set of vertical and horizontal bouton spreads around the somata. Each parameter, such as branching angles, internode or interbouton intervals, followed its own characteristic distribution pattern irrespective of subtypes, suggesting that nonpyramidal cells have the common mechanism for formation of the axon branching pattern and bouton arrangement. Fitting of internode and interbouton interval distributions to the exponential indicated their apparent random occurrence. Decay constants of the fitted exponentials varied among nonpyramidal cells, but each subtype expressed a particular set of interbouton and internode interval averages. The distinctive combination of innervation field shape and local axon phenotypes suggests a marked functional difference in the laminar and columnar integration properties of different GABAergic subtypes, as well as the subtype-specific density of inhibited targets.
Nuclear Receptor Coactivator p160 Proteins Enhance the HIV-1 Long Terminal Repeat Promoter by Bridging Promoter-bound Factors and the Tat-P-TEFb Complex*

We report that p160 nuclear receptor coactivators potentiate the transactivating activity of Tat, the most potent virally encoded transactivator of HIV-1. One of the p160 proteins (GRIP1) is tethered to the HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) through κB-responsive elements, most likely via NF-κB, with which it also associates through its coactivator motifs (LXXLL motifs, “NR boxes”). Indeed, the Tat-stimulated κB-defective HIV-1 LTR had a markedly impaired response to GRIP1, whereas NR box-defective GRIP1 proteins lost part of their Tat coactivator effect on the HIV-1 LTR. Through its N-terminal basic helix-loop-helix and C-terminal domains, GRIP1 binds to the N-terminal region of Tat and to the host cell protein cyclin T1, respectively, which is normally complexed with CDK9 as P-TEFb. Thus, NF-κB is crucial for tethering p160 coactivator molecules to the HIV-1 LTR, allowing full activation of this promoter by Tat. Interestingly, cotransfection of Tat, GRIP1, and cyclin T1 enhanced not only the activity of the HIV-1 LTR, but also the glucocorticoid receptor-mediated stimulation of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter, suggesting that Tat can also attract the P-TEFb complex to the MMTV LTR through GRIP1. Thus, it appears that the coactivator complexes of the HIV-1 and MMTV LTRs both include p160 coactivators and use similar coactivator and elongation complexes for their transcription. Tat may function as an adaptor molecule, efficiently stimulating the processes of transcription initiation and elongation through potentiation of the coupling of p160 coactivators and the P-TEFb complex.
PLYOMETRIC VS.ISOMETRIC TRAINING INFLUENCES ON TENDON PROPERTIES AND MUSCLE OUTPUT

The purpose of this study was to concurrently determine the effect that plyometric and isometric training has on tendon stiffness (K) and muscle output characteristics to compare any subsequent changes. Thirteen men trained the lower limbs either plyometrically or isometrically 2–3 times a week for a 6-week period. Medial gastrocnemius tendon stiffness was measured in vivo using ultrasonography during ramped isometric contractions before and after training. Mechanical output variables were measured using a force plate during concentric and isometric efforts. Significant (p < 0.05) training-induced increases in tendon K were seen for the plyometric (29.4%; 49.0 < 10.8 to 63.4 < 9.2 N·mm-1) and isometric groups (61.6%; 43.9 < 2.5 to 71.0 < 7.4 N·mm-1). Statistically similar increases in rate of force development and jump height were also seen for both training groups, with increases of 18.9 and 58.6% for the plyometric group and 16.7 and 64.3% for the isometric group, respectively. Jump height was found to be significantly correlated with tendon stiffness, such that stiffness could explain 21% of the variance in jump height. Plyometric training has been shown to place large stresses on the body, which can lead to a potential for injury, whereas explosive isometric training has been shown here to provide similar benefits to that of plyometric training with respect to the measured variables, but with reduced impact forces, and would therefore provide a useful adjunct for athletic training programs within a 6-week time frame.
Geographic and temporal variations in cancer of the corpus uteri: Incidence and mortality in pre‐ and postmenopausal women in Europe

Corpus uteri cancer is the fourth most common neoplasm in women in Europe and the tenth most common cause of cancer death. We examined geographic and temporal variations in corpus uteri cancer incidence and mortality rates in the age groups 25–49 and 50–74 in 22 European countries. The disease is considerably less common in premenopausal women, with incidence and mortality rates decreasing throughout Europe and mortality declines more marked in western and southern European countries. Incidence rates among postmenopausal women are highest in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden and Slovenia and lowest in France and the United Kingdom. Increasing incidence trends in this age group are observed in the Nordic countries (except Denmark) and in the United Kingdom. Some increases are also seen in eastern (Slovakia) and southern Europe (Spain and Slovenia), while relatively stable or modestly decreasing trends are observed in Italy and most western European countries. Postmenopausal mortality rates are systematically higher in eastern Europe, with death rates in the Ukraine, Latvia, Czech Republic, Russia and Belarus 2–3 times those seen in western Europe. Declining mortality trends are seen in most populations, though in certain Eastern European countries, the declines began rather recently, during the 1980s. In Belarus and Russia, recent postmenopausal death rates are stable or increasing. The rates are adjusted for misclassification of uterine cancer deaths but remain unadjusted for hysterectomy, and where there is an apparent levelling off of incidence or mortality rates recently, rising prevalence of hysterectomy cannot be discounted as an explanation. However, the trends by age group can be viewed in light of several established risk factors for endometrial cancer that are highly prevalent and most likely changing with time. These are discussed, as are the prospects for preventing the disease. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The uses and gratifications of mobile internet among the South African students

This paper investigates the factors that affect the use of mobile internet among the South African students. This is done by using the uses and gratifications (U&G) framework to understand the motivations and extract the intrinsic needs of mobile phone users. Drawing on previous studies on the mobile phone and traditional internet, a model has been developed highlighting the proposed U&Gs. This model was then validated with data gathered through interviews conducted with university students. Our findings are mostly in keeping with previous studies, showing that the U&Gs of mobile internet are an intersection of the UGs of the mobile phone and traditional internet. In addition, this study shows that (1) there is a strong social motivation for mobile internet use; (2) there are inhibiting factors which affect the use of mobile internet; (3) mobile internet may be the preferred and in some cases, the only, means of internet access.