Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Simplified Contact Model for Treating the Balance of Biped Virtual Characters

In this work, we present a physically-based model for maintaining the equilibrium of biped characters. We use Proportional-Derivative (PD) Controllers to mimic the characteristics of angular joints, and deal with the equilibrium through a method that uses the transpose of the Jacobian matrix that relates the angular and linear momentum at the Center of Mass (COM) of the character's body to the corresponding quantities at all its links, which are treated as end effectors. Also, we propose a contact model for treating the interaction between the feet and the ground that confers great stability to the character and makes it easier for the controller and for the starting of the simulation. It also makes it convenient for the animator to adjust the model so as to consider a trade-off between more physical realism and more stability. The system does not use optimization and is simple to implement. The robustness of the controller is demonstrated through a series of tests.
Proteomic analysis of the effects of the immunomodulatory mycotoxin deoxynivalenol

The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) contaminates cereals worldwide and is a common contaminant in the Western European diet. At high doses, DON induces acute gastrointestinal toxicity; chronic, low‐dose effects in humans are not well described, but immunotoxicity has been reported. In this study, 2‐DE was used to identify proteomic changes in human B (RPMI1788) and T (JurkatE6.1) lymphocyte cell lines after exposure to minimally toxic concentrations (up to 500 ng/mL) for 24 h. Proteins which changed their abundance post treatment, by a greater than 1.4‐fold change reproducible in three separate experiments consisting of 36 gels in total, are ubiquitin carboxyl‐terminal hydrolase isozyme L3, proteasome subunit β type‐4 and α type‐6, inosine‐5′‐monophosphate dehydrogenase 2, GMP synthase, microtubule‐associated protein RP/EB family member 1 (EB1), RNA polymerases I, II, III subunit ABC1, triosephosphate isomerase and transketolase. Flow cytometry was used to validate changes to protein expression, except for EB1. These findings provide insights as to how low‐dose exposure to DON may affect human immune function and may provide mechanism‐based biomarkers for DON exposure.
Post-translational modifications in the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase.

Two adjacent N-terminal tryptic peptides of the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase [3-phospho-D-glycerate carboxy-lyase (dimerizing), EC 4.1. 1.39] from spinach, wheat, tobacco, and muskmelon were removed by limited tryptic proteolysis. Characterization by peptide sequencing, amino acid composition, and tandem mass spectrometry revealed that the N-terminal residue from the large subunit of the enzyme from each plant species was acetylated proline. The sequence of the penultimate N-terminal tryptic peptide from the large subunit of the spinach and wheat enzyme was consistent with previous primary structure determinations. However, the penultimate N-terminal peptide from the large subunit of both the tobacco and muskmelon enzymes, while identical, differed from the corresponding peptide from spinach and wheat by containing a trimethyllysyl residue at position 14. Thus, tryptic proteolysis occurred at lysine-18 rather than lysine-14 as with the spinach and wheat enzymes. A comparison of the DNA sequences for the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase indicates that the N terminus has been post-translationally processed by removal of methionine-1 and serine-2 followed by acetylation of proline-3. In addition, for the enzyme from tobacco and muskmelon a third post-translational modification occurs at lysine-14 in the form of N epsilon-trimethylation.
Negotiation of meaning between non-native speakers in text-based chat and videoconferencing

This article shares findings from a study of negotiation of meaning among intermediate-level non-native speakers of English through synchronous text chat and videoconferencing. The research specifically explores whether non-native speakers negotiate meaning during synchronous text chat and videoconferencing, and how the negotiation routines in the two settings compare. In three years, a total of 327 students at a Chinese university and a Japanese university participated in weekly synchronous text chats and videoconferences to discuss culture-related topics. Randomly-selected text chat logs and video conference transcripts are coded and compared. Findings reveal that non-native speakers do negotiate for meaning in both settings, and there are notable differences in their negotiation routines.
Men with subnormal sperm counts live shorter lives

Abstract A lost less is known about the morbidity and mortality consequences of male infertility. It was the aim of our study to analyse the association between sperm concentration and individual lifetime mortality in men. The data sources included medical records of 601 men who attended the andrological service at the Marburg University Hospital between 1949 and 1985, and vital data gathered from public registration offices and a statutory health insurance. A Cox regression model estimated a two‐fold higher mortality risk for oligozoospermic men as compared to the normozoospermic group for cohorts born between 1892 and 1931. Since a selection bias could not be found, we assume there to be a connection between poor fertility status and a shorter lifespan in men. Possible explanations for the variation in mortality risk are: (i) Lifestyle and health behaviour in adulthood, (ii) conditions in utero, and (iii) genetic dispositions.
Viral OTU Deubiquitinases: A Structural and Functional Comparison

Recent studies have revealed that proteases encoded by three very diverse RNA virus groups share structural similarity with enzymes of the Ovarian Tumor (OTU) superfamily of deubiquitinases (DUBs). The publication of the latest of these reports in quick succession prevented proper recognition and discussion of the shared features of these viral enzymes. Here we provide a brief structural and functional comparison of these virus-encoded OTU DUBs. Interestingly, although their shared structural features and substrate specificity tentatively place them within the same protease superfamily, they also show interesting differences that trigger speculation as to their origins.
The ETSI BRAN 1 Gbps/km2 cost-efficient cognitive communications architecture

Capacity calculations reveal that required data rates in urban environments are in the order of 1 Gbps/km2, which is beyond any forward looking state-of-the-art. Following the BuNGee [1] design approach, we outline in this paper an aggressive joint access and backhaul design which allows one powerful (and expensive) hub base station to feed several distributed (and cost efficient) access base stations at the same time as these communicate with associated user - all using the same band. The hence resulting interference environment is extremely dynamic and has eluded a viable communication strategy thus far. We propose however a novel distributed cognitive mechanism, which facilitates the capacity needs to be satisfied at these dynamics whilst being of low complexity and high reliability. Simulation results corroborate our findings and the architectural design has found its entry to ETSI BRAN standardization activities [2].
Weight Consistency Specifies Regularities of Macaque Cortical Networks

To what extent cortical pathways show significant weight differences and whether these differences are consistent across animals (thereby comprising robust connectivity profiles) is an important and unresolved neuroanatomical issue. Here we report a quantitative retrograde tracer analysis in the cynomolgus macaque monkey of the weight consistency of the afferents of cortical areas across brains via calculation of a weight index (fraction of labeled neurons, FLN). Injection in 8 cortical areas (3 occipital plus 5 in the other lobes) revealed a consistent pattern: small subcortical input (1.3% cumulative FLN), high local intrinsic connectivity (80% FLN), high-input form neighboring areas (15% cumulative FLN), and weak long-range corticocortical connectivity (3% cumulative FLN). Corticocortical FLN values of projections to areas V1, V2, and V4 showed heavy-tailed, lognormal distributions spanning 5 orders of magnitude that were consistent, demonstrating significant connectivity profiles. These results indicate that 1) connection weight heterogeneity plays an important role in determining cortical network specificity, 2) high investment in local projections highlights the importance of local processing, and 3) transmission of information across multiple hierarchy levels mainly involves pathways having low FLN values.
A Model of Redundant Information in Dialogue: The Role of Resource Bounds (Dissertation Proposal)

This document is a proposal of research intended to complete a Ph.D. in Computer Science. The overall goal of the proposed work is to demonstrate a connection between agents as limited reasoners and the use of informationally redundant utterances in problem-solving dialogues. This document describes some long range objectives and some preliminary results toward this goal. Comments from readers on the proposed work would be most welcome. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer and Information Science Technical Report No. MSCIS-93-64. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn. edu/cis_reports/278 A Model of Redundant Information in Dialogue: The Role of Resource Bounds (Dissertation Proposal) MS-CIS-93-64 LINC LAB 253
An experimental comparison of Bayesian optimization for bipedal locomotion

The design of gaits and corresponding control policies for bipedal walkers is a key challenge in robot locomotion. Even when a viable controller parametrization already exists, finding near-optimal parameters can be daunting. The use of automatic gait optimization methods greatly reduces the need for human expertise and time-consuming design processes. Many different approaches to automatic gait optimization have been suggested to date. However, no extensive comparison among them has yet been performed. In this paper, we present some common methods for automatic gait optimization in bipedal locomotion, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. We experimentally evaluated these gait optimization methods on a bipedal robot, in more than 1800 experimental evaluations. In particular, we analyzed Bayesian optimization in different configurations, including various acquisition functions.
Study on the characteristics of gas jet for engine using high speed photography

A study on the movement of the gas jet is shot in real-time by the high speed photography and disposes the images with the professional software Image-Pro6.3. The author selects the vertex of the gas jet as a subject investigated to research the variation of the jet penetration, the jet dispersion angle and the jet velocity along with the jet time according to the theory of the free jet. The results show that: the gas jet development process is divided into two stages: the initial section and the main section. When the rotational speed of the engine is a definite value along with the jet time, the jet penetration increases, the jet dispersion angle remains unchanged and the jet velocity decreases. When the rotational speed increases, the jet penetration and jet velocity reduce, but the jet dispersion angle raises, then determines the mathematical model between the jet velocity and the jet penetration on this basis.
Influence of pore pressure on velocity in low‐porosity sandstone: Implications for time‐lapse feasibility and pore‐pressure study

As seismic data quality improves, time‐lapse seismic data is increasingly being called upon to interpret and predict changes during reservoir development and production. Since pressure change is a major component of reservoir change during production, a thorough understanding of the influence of pore pressure on seismic velocity is critical. Laboratory measurements show that differential pressure (overburden minus fluid pressure) does not adequately determine the actual reservoir conditions. Changes in fluid pressure are found to have an additional effect on the physical properties of rocks. The effective‐stress coefficient n is used to quantify the effect of pore pressure compared to confining pressure on rock properties. However, the current practice in time‐lapse feasibility studies, reservoir‐pressure inversion and pore‐pressure prediction is to assume that n= 1. Laboratory measurements, reported in both this and previous research show that n can be significantly less than unity for low‐porosity rocks and that it varies with porosity, rock texture and wave type.
Multiple breath inert gas washout as a measure of ventilation distribution in children with cystic fibrosis

Background: Multiple breath inert gas washout (MBW) has been suggested as a tool for detecting early cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. A study was undertaken to compare the relative sensitivity of MBW and spirometry for detecting abnormal lung function in school age children with CF and to compare MBW results obtained from healthy children in the UK with those recently reported from Sweden. Methods: Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and maximal expiratory flow when 25% of forced vital capacity remains to be expired (MEF25) were compared with the lung clearance index (LCI) derived from sulphur hexafluoride MBW in 22 children with CF aged 6–16 years and in 33 healthy controls. Results: LCI was higher in children with CF than in healthy controls (mean difference 5.1 (95% CI of difference 4.1 to 6.1) and FEV1 and MEF25 z-scores were lower (mean difference −2.3 (95% CI −2.9 to −1.7) and −1.8 (95% CI −2.4 to −1.3), respectively; p<0.001 for all). There was a significant negative correlation between LCI and FEV1 (r2 = 0.62) and MEF25 (r2 = 0.46). However, while normal (⩾−1.96 z-scores) FEV1 and MEF25 results were seen in 11 (50%) and 12 (53%) children with CF, respectively, all but one of these children had an abnormally increased LCI. LCI was repeatable in both groups (within subject CV for three measurements 6% for CF and 5% for healthy children). In healthy subjects LCI was independent of age and virtually identical in the British and Swedish children (mean difference 0.1 (95% CI −0.1 to 0.4), p = 0.38) Conclusions: MBW is reproducible between laboratories, generates normal ranges which are constant over childhood, and is more frequently abnormal than spirometry in children with CF.
Pharmacogenomic strategy for individualizing antidepressant therapy

Despite remarkable progress, pharmacotherapy in general, including that for the treatment of depressive conditions, has often ignored the magnitude and clinical significance of the huge interindividual variations in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, resulting in poor compliance, suboptimal therapeutic effects, and treatment resistance. Advances in pharmacogenomics and computer modeling technologies hold promise for achieving the goals of “individualized” (“personalized”) medicine. However, the challenges for realizing such goals remain substantial. These include the packaging and interpretation of genotyping results, changes in medical practice (innovation diffusion), and infrasiructural, financing, ethical, and organizational issues related to the use of new information.
Effect of mitomycin‐C on the bioavailability of the radiopharmaceutical 99mtechnetium–phytic acid in mice: a model to evaluate the toxicological effect of a chemical drug

The many desirable characteristics of technetium‐99m (99mTc) have stimulated the development of labelling techniques for different molecular and cellular structures. It is generally accepted that a variety of factors can alter the biodistribution of radiopharmaceuticals and one such factor is drug therapy. Because patients on chemotherapeutic treatment receive a radiopharmaceutical in a nuclear medicine procedure, we have studied in Balb/c mice the effect of mitomycin‐C on the biodistribution of the radiopharmaceutical 99mTc‐phytic acid (99mTc‐PHY) used in hepatic scintigraphy. Mitomycin‐C is an antineoplastic agent obtained from Streptomyces caesptosus and is used on the treatment of disseminated adenocarcinoma of the stomach or pancreas. Three doses of mitomycin‐C were administered via the ocular plexus into Balb/c mice. One hour after the last dose, 99mTc‐PHY was administered and the animals were sacrificed. The organs were isolated, the radioactivity was determined in a well counter and the percentages of radioactivity in the organs were calculated. The results have shown that the percentage radioactivity has been increased in stomach, spleen, lung, thyroid and bone, decreased in pancreas and thymus and not altered in ovary, uterus, kidney, heart, liver and brain. The changes in the distribution of 99mTc‐PHY may be the result of metabolic processes and/or therapeutic actions produced by the administration of mitomycin‐C. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Heterostructure Barriers in Wrap Gated Nanowire FETs

We present results on the effects of inserting a heterostructure barrier along the channel of vertical wrapped insulator-gate field-effect transistors (WIGFETs). Two sets of devices were fabricated, one InAs WIGFET and one with a 50-nm-long InAs0.8P0. 2 segment in the channel. This addition of P induces a barrier in the conduction band of 130 mV, measured from the Fermi-level. The barrier blocks the diffusion current through the channel and reduces the feedback gating of holes created from band-to-band tunneling, resulting in improvements in on/off current ratio, and subthreshold characteristics. The heterosegment also induces a shift in the threshold voltage and provides an additional parameter for threshold voltage control in nanowire III-V MOSFETs.
Working with Process Variation Aware Caches

Deep-submicron designs have to take care of process variation effects as variations in critical process parameters result in large variations in access latencies of hardware components. This is severe in the case of memory components as minimum sized transistors are used in their design. In this work, by considering on-chip data caches, we study the effect of access latency variations on performance. We discuss performance losses due to the worst-case design, wherein the entire cache operates with the worst-case process variation delay, followed by process variation aware cache designs which work at set-level granularity. We then propose a technique called block rearrangement to minimize performance loss incurred by a process variation aware cache which works at set-level granularity. Using block rearrangement technique, we rearrange the physical locations of cache blocks such that a cache set can have its "n" blocks (assuming a n-way set-associative cache) in multiple rows instead of a single row as in the case of a cache with conventional addressing scheme. By distributing blocks of a cache set over multiple sets, we minimize the number of sets being affected by process variation. We evaluate our technique using SPEC2000 CPU benchmarks and show that our technique achieves significant performance benefits over caches with conventional addressing scheme
A Phase I Study of the Dolastatin-15 Analogue Tasidotin (ILX651) Administered Intravenously Daily for 5 Consecutive Days Every 3 Weeks in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors

Purpose: To determine the maximum tolerated dose, dose-limiting toxicity, and pharmacokinetics of the dolastatin-15 analogue, tasidotin (ILX651), when administered i.v. daily for 5 days every 3 weeks. Experimental Design: Thirty-six patients with advanced solid tumors received a total of 114 courses through eight dose levels ranging from 2.3 to 36.3 mg/m2. Pharmacokinetic samples were collected in cycle 1. Results: Neutropenia was the principal dose-limiting toxicity at 36.3 mg/m2/d along with grade 3 ileus and elevated aspartate amino transaminase/alanine amino transaminase (n = 1). At the maximum tolerated dose, 27.3 mg/m2, 4 of 14 patients experienced dose-limiting grade 4 neutropenia. The other principal toxicities consisted of mild-to-moderate elevated transaminases, alopecia, fatigue, and nausea. One patient with melanoma metastatic to liver and bone treated at 15.4 mg/m2/d experienced a complete response and received 20 courses of tasidotin. Two other patients with melanoma had mixed responses of cutaneous metastases at 27.3 mg/m2/d associated with either stable or progressive visceral disease. In addition, nine patients had stable disease. There was no accumulation of tasidotin following repeated daily dosing. Tasidotin decayed from plasma in a biphasic fashion with a half-life of <45 minutes in most cases. Conclusion: The maximum tolerated dose and recommended phase II dose for tasidotin when administered on this schedule was 27.3 mg/m2/d. The favorable toxicity profile of tasidotin compared with other antitubulin agents (particularly the lack of severe cumulative neuropathy, peripheral edema, and fatigue), the observed antitumor activity of tasidotin, and its novel mechanism of action support further disease-directed evaluations of this agent on this 5-day schedule every 3 weeks.
Proclivity of Mobility and Energy based Clustering schemes towards Load-balancing schemes in Wireless Ad-hoc Networks

In the field of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), clustering plays an important role in achieving the basic levels of system performance, such as throughput and delay, in the presence of both large number of communicating mobile terminals and any sort of mobility. A large variety of approaches for ad hoc clustering have been presented, whereby different approaches typically focus on different performance metrics. In our work, we study an energy and mobility aware clustering approach along with another load-balancing clustering approach. Whereby, we devise a term called Effective Residual Energy (E.R.E) that shows the inclination of both these approaches towards each other. We show that how our scheme adapts to the loadbalancing features of CBRP without explicit location-based data and instead it directly takes the node’s range into consideration. Thereby, our proposed clustering scheme takes into consideration energy, mobility and load-balancing features all at the same time.
Variability Mechanisms in E-Business Process Families

Nowadays, process oriented software systems, like many business information systems, don’t exist only in one single version, but in many variants for better coverage of the target market. Until now, the corresponding customization has to be done manually, which is a timeconsuming and error-prone task, which could be realized much more efficiently by applying process family engineering techniques. Process family engineering is a modern software development approach, which allows for the rapid and cost-effective development and deployment of customer tailored process oriented systems. In this paper we present our findings in the area of process family architectures for e-business systems, described as variant-rich process models in the Business Process Modeling Notation. We moreover address variability implementation issues using Java variability mechanisms and code generators.