Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Theory of Distributed Anonymous Mobile Robots Formation and Agreement Problems.

Abstract : A system consisting of multiple mobile robots in which the robots can see each other by their eye sensors but are not equipped with any communication system, can be viewed as a distributed system in which the components (i.e., robots) can 'communicate' with each other only by means of their moves. We use this system to investigate, through a case study of a number of problems on the formation of geometric figures in the plane, the power and limitations of the distributed control method for mobile robots. In the distributed control method, each robot, at infinitely many unpredictable time instants, observes the positions of all the robots and moves to a new position determined by the given algorithm. The robots are anonymous in the sense that they all execute the same algorithm and they cannot be distinguished by their appearances. The robots are not necessarily synchronous, so they may not always observe their positions simultaneously. Furthermore, initially the robots do not have a common x-y coordinate system. The problems we discuss include (1) converging the robots to a single point, (2) moving the robots to a single point, (3) agreement on a single point, (4) agreement on the unit distance, (5) agreement on direction, and (6) leader election. We develop algorithms for solving some of these problems under various conditions. Some impossibility results are also presented. (AN)
Bioinformatics Applications Note Sequence Analysis Datamonkey 2010: a Suite of Phylogenetic Analysis Tools for Evolutionary Biology

Datamonkey is a popular web-based suite of phylog-enetic analysis tools for use in evolutionary biology. Since the original release in 2005, we have expanded the analysis options to include recently developed algorithmic methods for recombination detection, evolutionary fingerprinting of genes, codon model selection, co-evolution between sites, identification of sites, which rapidly escape host-immune pressure and HIV-1 subtype assignment. The traditional selection tools have also been augmented to include recent developments in the field. Here, we summarize the analyses options currently available on Datamonkey, and provide guidelines for their use in evolutionary biology.
Consistent Differences in Climate Feedbacks between Atmosphere–Ocean GCMs and Atmospheric GCMs with Slab-Ocean Models*

AbstractClimate sensitivity is generally studied using two types of models. Atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) include interactive ocean dynamics and detailed heat uptake. Atmospheric GCMs (AGCMs) with slab ocean models (SOMs) cannot fully simulate the ocean’s response to and influence on climate. However, AGCMs are computationally cheaper and thus are often used to quantify and understand climate feedbacks and sensitivity. Here, physical climate feedbacks are compared between AOGCMs and SOM-AGCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) using the radiative kernel technique. Both the global-average (positive) water vapor and (negative) lapse-rate feedbacks are consistently stronger in AOGCMs. Water vapor feedback differences result from an essentially constant relative humidity and peak in the tropics, where temperature changes are larger for AOGCMs. Differences in lapse-rate feedbacks extend to midlatitudes and correspond to a larger ratio of tropical- to global-av.
Mechanisms underlying very-low-frequency RR-interval oscillations in humans.

BACKGROUND Survival of post-myocardial infarction patients is related inversely to their levels of very-low-frequency (0.003 to 0.03 Hz) RR-interval variability. The physiological basis for such oscillations is unclear. In our study, we used blocking drugs to evaluate potential contributions of sympathetic and vagal mechanisms and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system to very-low-frequency RR-interval variability in 10 young healthy subjects. METHODS AND RESULTS We recorded RR intervals and arterial pressures during three separate sessions, with the patient in supine and 40 degree upright tilt positions, during 20-minute frequency (0.25 Hz) and tidal volume-controlled breathing after intravenous injections: saline (control), atenolol (0.2 mg/kg, beta-adrenergic blockade), atropine sulfate (0.04 mg/kg, parasympathetic blockade), atenolol and atropine (complete autonomic blockade), and enalaprilat (0.02 mg/kg, ACE blockade). We integrated fast Fourier transform RR-interval spectral power at very low (0.003 to 0.03 Hz), low (0.05 to 0. 15 Hz), and respiratory (0.2 to 0.3 Hz) frequencies. Beta-adrenergic blockade had no significant effect on very-low- or low-frequency RR-interval power but increased respiratory frequency power 2-fold. ACE blockade had no significant effect on low or respiratory frequency RR-interval power but modestly (approximately 21%) increased very-low-frequency power in the supine (but not upright tilt) position (P<0.05). The most profound effects were exerted by parasympathetic blockade: Atropine, given alone or with atenolol, abolished nearly all RR-interval variability and decreased very-low-frequency variability by 92%. CONCLUSIONS Although very-low-frequency heart period rhythms are influenced by the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, as low and respiratory frequency RR-interval rhythms, they depend primarily on the presence of parasympathetic outflow. Therefore the prognostic value of very-low-frequency heart period oscillations may derive from the fundamental importance of parasympathetic mechanisms in cardiovascular health.
A self-calibrating 15 bit CMOS A/D converter

A self-calibrating analog-to-digital converter using binary weighted capacitors and resistor strings is described. Linearity errors are corrected by a simple digital algorithm. A folded cascode CMOS comparator resolves 30 /spl mu/V in 3 /spl mu/s. An experimental converter fabricated using a 6-/spl mu/m-gate CMOS process demonstrates 15-bit resolution and linearity at a 12-kHz sampling rate.
Optimum PLA folding through boolean satisfiability

This paper proposes an algorithm for optimum PLA folding based on its formulation as a problem of boolean satisfiability. A logical expression is derived such that the assignment of variables that satisfies it defines a folding with a minimum number of columns. The proposed algorithm uses BDDs to represent boolean functions and incorporates novel reduction techniques, obtaining satisfactory results.
Real-time multi-hand posture recognition

A new method based on Haar-like and topological feature is proposed for multi-hand posture recognition in this study. Initially, a statistical method is used to detect the region of the hand according Haar-like features and color segmentation technique. With this method, a group of hand posture regions can be detected in real time with high recognition accuracy. Then, the topology is applied on the detected regions in order to classify the different postures. The experimental results show that the new approach achieves satisfactory performance when applying this new method to human-robot interaction.
Soft Word Sense Disambiguation

Word sense disambiguation is a core problem in many tasks related to language processing. In this paper, we introduce the notion of soft word sense disambiguation which states that given a word, the sense disambiguation system should not commit to a particular sense, but rather, to a set of senses which are not necessarily orthogonal or mutually exclusive. The senses of a word are expressed by its WordNet synsets, arranged according to their relevance. The relevance of these senses are probabilistically determined through a Bayesian Belief Network. The main contribution of the work is a completely probabilistic framework for word- sense disambiguation with a semi-supervised learning technique utilising WordNet. WordNet can be customized to a domain using corpora from that domain. This idea applied to question answering has been evaluated on TREC data and the results are promising.
CP violation and baryogenesis due to heavy Majorana neutrinos

We analyze the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis induced by the out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos and pay special attention to CP violation. Extending a recently proposed resummation formalism for two-fermion mixing to decay amplitudes, we calculate the resonant phenomenon of CP violation due to the mixing of two nearly degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos. Solving numerically the relevant Boltzmann equations, we find that the isosinglet Majorana mass may range from 1 TeV up to the grand unification scale, depending on the mechanism of CP violation and/or the flavor structure of the neutrino mass matrix assumed. Finite temperature effects and possible constraints from the electric dipole moment of electron and other low-energy experiments are briefly discussed. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Caspase-independent Cell Killing by Fas-associated Protein with Death Domain

The binding of Fas ligand to Fas recruits caspase 8 to Fas via an adaptor, FADD/MORT1, and activates a caspase cascade leading to apoptosis. Here, we describe a human Jurkat-derived cell line (JB-6) that is deficient in caspase 8. This cell line was resistant to the apoptosis triggered by Fas engagement. However, the multimerization of Fas-associated protein with death domain, through the use of a dimerizing system, killed the JB-6 cells. This killing process was not accompanied by the activation of caspases or DNA fragmentation. The dying cells showed neither condensation nor fragmentation of cells and nuclei, but the cells and nuclei swelled in a manner similar to that seen in necrosis. These results suggested that Fas-associated protein with death domain can kill the cells via two pathways, one mediated by caspases and another that does not involve them.
Executive functions and motor ability contribute to children’s participation in daily activities

ABSTRACT Executive functions are crucial for efficient daily functioning. However, the contribution of executive functions to the participation in daily life activities of children, have been inadequately studied. The study aimed to examine the unique contribution of executive functions, beyond motor ability, to the diversity and independence of children’s participation. Forty-four children (5–6 years old), of whom 22 received occupational therapy services and 22 were typically developing peers, participated in the study. All children were individually evaluated using motor and executive functions’ tests; their parents completed the Children Participation Questionnaire. After controlling for motor ability, inhibitory control was the significant contributor to the child’s participation. An interaction effect of motor ability and inhibitory control significantly predicted the child’s independence level in participation. Supporting the inhibitory control ability of young children with motor difficulties may be a pathway for achieving our ultimate goal to enable and promote children’s participation.
Performance Analysis of Priority Schemes for IEEE 802.11e Wireless Local Area Networks Using Multiple Flows Distributed Weighted Fair Queuing Algorithm

In this paper, a novel and simple search algorithm called distributed weighted fair queuing (DWFQ) algorithm is proposed for the quality-of-service (QoS) in IEEE 802.11e wireless local area networks (WLANs). We first propose that the IEEE 802.11e enhanced distributed coordination function (EDCF) is an efficient algorithm to support the QoS in WLANs, although it can provide more bandwidth to packets with higher priority. However, when the system under heavy traffic load situation, IEEE 802.11e EDCF can't guarantee the fair allocation of excess bandwidth of each access categories (ACs), i.e., under heavy traffic load, EDCF guarantees the QoS of packets with higher priority by reducing the QoS of packets with lower priority. This paper discuses an EDCF scheme, in order to distribute bandwidth fairly among different ACs under heavy traffic load situation in WLAN, we propose multiple flows DWFQ algorithm. This algorithm not only supports the concept of differentiating ACs with different priorities but also guarantees the fair allocation of each ACs according to their relative weights. Furthermore, in this propose a mechanism to resolve the overload situation problem and doubling contention window (CW) method to reduce the collision probability. The simulations performed show that multiple flows DWFQ with doubling CW method which can perform an attractive performance even under heavy traffic load.
Assessment of Hepatic Detoxification Activity: Proposal of an Improved Variant of the 13C-Methacetin Breath Test

Breath tests based on the administration of a 13C-labeled drug and subsequent monitoring of 13CO2 in the breath (quantified as DOB – delta over baseline) liberated from the drug during hepatic CPY-dependent detoxification are important tools in liver function diagnostics. The capability of such breath tests to reliably indicate hepatic CYP performance is limited by the fact that 13CO2 is not exclusively exhaled but also exchanged with other compartments of the body. In order to assess this bias caused by variations of individual systemic CO2 kinetics we administered intravenously the test drug 13C-methacetin to 25 clinically liver-healthy individuals and monitored progress curves of DOB and the plasma concentration of 13C-methacetin. Applying compartment modelling we estimated for each individual a set of kinetic parameters characterizing the time-dependent exchange of the drug and of CO2 with the liver and non-hepatic body compartments. This analysis revealed that individual variations in the kinetics of CO2 may account for up to 30% deviation of DOB curve parameters from their mean at otherwise identical 13C-methacetin metabolization rates. In order to correct for this bias we introduced a novel detoxification score which ideally should be assessed from the DOB curve of a 2-step test (“2DOB”) which is initialized with the injection of a standard dose of 13C-labeled bicarbonate (in order to provide information on the actual CO2 status of the individual) followed by injection of the 13C-labeled test drug (the common procedure). Computer simulations suggest that the predictive power of the proposed 2DOB breath test to reliably quantity the CYP-specific hepatic detoxification activity should be significantly higher compared to the conventional breath test.
Proving Type Soundness of a Simply Typed ML-Like Language with References

In this paper, we formalize in the Coq proof assistant an ML-like language with imperative features, a monomorphic type system, a reduction semantics, and the type soundness. We consider this language as an extension of Mini-ML, and emphasize the consequences on the deﬁnitions and the proofs due to this extension.
A self-maintenance clustering algorithm based on decision model for space information networks

Space information networks, which have become a popular research focus, are a new type of self-organizing networks. With fully considering characteristics distinguishing space information networks from common self-organizing networks such as terrestrial ad hoc networks and wireless sensor networks, the proposed clustering algorithm introduces a decision model based on Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to select cluster heads, and then forms non-overlapping k-hop clusters. The dynamical self-maintenance mechanisms take node mobility and cluster equalization into account. Besides of cluster merger/partition disposal, reaffiliation management and adaptive adjustment of information update period, mobile agents are used to migrate and duplicate functions of cluster heads in a recruiting way. Simulation results show that our clustering algorithm improves network scalability and is suitable for use in space information networks.
Pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale during severe acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease.

RATIONALE Steady-state mild pulmonary hypertension is a risk factor for death in adults with sickle cell disease. Acute pulmonary hypertension has been reported during exercise and vasoocclusive pain crisis in these patients. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to evaluate changes in pulmonary pressures and cardiac biomarkers during severe acute chest syndrome and their associations with mortality. METHODS We prospectively evaluated 70 consecutive adults who received standardized treatment in our intensive care unit for a total of 84 episodes. At admission, cardiac biomarkers were measured. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed for pulmonary hypertension assessment via measurement of tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity and was repeated when possible after resolution. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Tricuspid jet velocity was less than 2.5 m/second in 34 (40%) of the 84 episodes, 2.5 to 2.9 m/second in 19 (23%), and 3 m/second or greater in 31 episodes (37%). Cor pulmonale occurred in 11 (13%) episodes. Tricuspid jet velocity showed significant positive correlations with B-type natriuretic peptide (rho = 0.54, P < 0.01) and cardiac troponin I (rho = 0.42, P < 0.01). Pulmonary pressures increased compared with steady state then decreased after resolution. All five patients who required invasive ventilation and all four patients who died during the immediate hospital course had jet velocity values of 3 m/second or greater. Overall mortality was 12.9% (9 patients) and survival was significantly lower in patients whose jet velocity was 3 m/second or greater during at least one episode, compared with the other patients (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Pulmonary pressures increase during severe acute chest syndrome, and pulmonary hypertension is associated with cardiac biomarker elevation and a higher risk of death.
Playful Exposure: An Integrative View on the Contributions of Exposure Therapy to Children With Anxiety

Anxious children tend to exhibit excessive rigidity, avoidant tendencies, and a need for control in situations they perceive as threatening. Gradual exposure has shown to be an effective therapeutic technique for reducing anxiety. In this article, we suggest that combining play elements with the exposure process may enhance children’s responsiveness to it. Playful exposures can be entwined within a psychodynamic oriented play therapy as well. We propose that playful exposures can accelerate change processes by prompting children to move from an avoidant position to an explorative one, thus enabling them to discover new, competent self-aspects and further the shift from absolute control to adaptive mastery. When exposures take place in the context of play, important internal content that can broaden the therapeutic process may be revealed. Playful exposures may also help parents of anxious children encourage their children to experiment in a playful and attuned manner. This parental approach may in turn promote the separation–individuation process. Exposición lúdica: Una visión integradora sobre las contribuciones de la terapia de exposición a niños con ansiedad Los niños ansiosos tienden a exhibir rigidez excesiva, tendencias evasivas y una necesidad de control en situaciones que perciben como amenazantes. La exposición gradual ha demostrado ser una técnica terapéutica eficaz para reducir la ansiedad. En este trabajo, sugerimos que la combinación de elementos de juego con el proceso de exposición puede mejorar la capacidad de respuesta de los niños. Las exposiciones juguetonas pueden ser entrelazadas dentro de una terapia psicodinámica del juego. Proponemos que las exposiciones lúdicas pueden acelerar los procesos de cambio al impulsar al niño a pasar de una posición evasiva a una exploradora, lo que le permite descubrir nuevos, competentes, auto-aspectos, y el cambio del control absoluto a la maestría adaptativa. Cuando las exposiciones tienen lugar en el contexto del juego, puede revelarse un contenido interno importante que puede ampliar el proceso terapéutico. Las exposiciones juguetonas también pueden ayudar a los padres de los niños ansiosos a animar a sus hijos a experimentar de una manera lúdica y en sintonía. Este enfoque parental puede a su vez promover el proceso de separación-individualizada.
A Black Male Teacher’s Culturally Responsive Practices

Abstract:Although scholarly debates about what should be expected of Black male teachers are increasing in a landscape where they represent around 2%, understanding how a Black male teacher talks about his culturally responsive practices and what he actually does in the classroom with his students in an urban context provides potentially transferable features for other educators. This study captures a middle school, Black male math and science teacher’s validation of his students—a tenet of Gay’s culturally responsive pedagogy framework. Drawing from culturally responsive pedagogy as an analytic tool, the purpose of this study is to understand and describe this teacher’s practices, shedding light on them with examples of his discursive insights and interactions that move the theory of culturally responsive pedagogy into the actual practice of it.
Topology-aware reconstruction of thin tubular structures

This paper is dedicated to the 3D reconstruction of thin tubular structures, such as cables or ropes, from a given image sequence. This is a challenging task, mainly because of self-occlusions of the structure and its thin features. We present an approach that combines image processing tools with physics simulation to faithfully reconstruct jumbled and tangled cables in 3D. Our method estimates the topology of the tubular object in the form of a single 1D path and also computes a topology-aware reconstruction of its geometry. We evaluate our method on both synthetic and real datasets and demonstrate that our method favourably compares to state-of-the-art methods.
Lagrangean Relaxations and Subgradient Methods for Multiple-Depot Vehicle Scheduling Problems

This paper presents two Lagrangean relaxation approaches for the {\em NP}-hard multiple-depot vehicle scheduling problem in public mass transit and reports on computational investigations. Our Lagrangean relaxation approaches can be applied to generate very tight lower bounds and to compute feasible solutions efficiently. A further application is to use the Lagrangean relaxations as new pricing strategies for a delayed column generation of a branch-and-cut approach. The computational investigations are based on real-world test sets from the cities of Berlin and Hamburg having up to 25 thousand timetabled trips and 70 million dead-head trips.
Compilation from Matlab to Process Networks

Novel high-performance, domain specific, embedded architectures are often composed of a microprocessor, some memory, and a number of dedicated coprocessors. Onto these embedded architectures, applications will be executed that belong to the domain of multi-media processing, mobile communication, and adaptive array processing. In general, these applications are written using an imperative model of computation most commonly C or Matlab. A better specification format would be to use an inherent parallel model of computation like Process Networks. This paper presents a three-step approach to automatically transform a class of Matlab specifications into a process network specification. Keywords—Process Networks, Matlab, Compilation, Embedded Architectures.
Real-Time Estimates of Hepatic Gluconeogenesis 1 Real-Time Detection of Hepatic Gluconeogenic and Glycogenolytic States Using Hyperpolarized [ 2-13 C ] Dihydroxyacetone *

Karlos X. Moreno, Santhosh Satapati, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Shawn C. Burgess, Craig R. Malloy **, and Matthew E. Merritt 1 From the Advanced Imaging Research Center, Children’s Medical Center Research Institute, and Departments of Pharmacology and Radiology, University of Texas – Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390 and the **Veterans Affairs North Texas Healthcare System, Lancaster, Texas 75216