Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hybrid vortex model for efficiently simulating turbulent smoke

Simulating fluids based on vortex methods can produce attractive visual effects for movies, games and virtual reality systems. However, for any vortex method, such as vortex filament, vortex sheet and vortex particle, it is still a challenging task to efficiently and stably simulate the high-quality smoke, as the motion of each fluid element is influenced by all the vortex elements in the simulation domain and different method has its certain advantages or limitations. In this paper, we introduce the vortex filaments in grids scheme, in which the uniform grids dynamically bridge the vortex filaments and smoke particles for efficient smoke simulation with fine visual effects. We present the novel hybrid vortex model that employs Vortex-in-Cell for efficient smoke simulation with turbulent visual effects. Our model can sensibly estimate the turbulence status of fluid and base on that to utilize the hybrid model that describes the vortex motion for more efficiency. We further break down the overly stretched filaments into vortex particles, with which we obtain the stable smoke simulation with diffusion of vorticity. Our experimental results have showed that the hybrid vortex model are enabled to produce the visual plausibility with effective and stable performance.
A forgotten tweet: Somalia and social media

Abstract Several studies highlight the power of social media outlets to raise awareness, funds, and further recovery efforts in disaster-prone areas, but few have investigated where social media have been ineffectual. Although the long-running humanitarian crisis in Somalia receives only sporadic news coverage, the country is not without a social media presence. This study uses Coombs’ SCCT Model to evaluate the crisis response message strategies put forth via Twitter from leading Somali-based government agency sources. The limitations of social media as a force to exact change and manage crises in Africa is examined, and insight is offered into how social media channel information to traditional and non-traditional information sources.
Production Methods of Van der Waals Heterostructures Based on Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Two dimensional (2D) materials have gained significant attention since the discovery of graphene in 2004. Layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have become the focus of 2D materials in recent years due to their wide range of chemical compositions and a variety of properties. These TMDs layers can be artificially integrated with other layered materials into a monolayer (lateral) or a multilayer stack (vertical) heterostructures. The resulting heterostructures provide new properties and applications beyond their component 2D atomic crystals and many exciting experimental results have been reported during the past few years. In this review, we present the various synthesis methods (mechanical exfoliation, physical vapor transport, chemical vapor deposition, and molecular beam epitaxy method) on van der Waals heterostructures based on different TMDs as well as an outlook for future research.
Square bananas, blue horses: the relative weight of shape and color in concept recognition and representation

The present study investigates the role that shape and color play in the representation of animate (i.e., animals) and inanimate manipulable entities (i.e., fruits), and how the importance of these features is modulated by different tasks. Across three experiments participants were shown either images of entities (e.g., a sheep or a pineapple) or images of the same entities modified in color (e.g., a blue pineapple) or in shape (e.g., an elongated pineapple). In Experiment 1 we asked participants to categorize the entities as fruit or animal. Results showed that with animals color does not matter, while shape modifications determined a deterioration of the performance – stronger for fruit than for animals. To better understand our findings, in Experiments 2 we asked participants to judge if entities were graspable (manipulation evaluation task). Participants were faster with manipulable entities (fruit) than with animals; moreover alterations in shape affected the response latencies more for animals than for fruit. In Experiment 3 (motion evaluation task), we replicated the disadvantage for shape-altered animals, while with fruits shape and color modifications produced no effect. By contrasting shape- and color- alterations the present findings provide information on shape/color relative weight, suggesting that the action based property of shape is more crucial than color for fruit categorization, while with animals it is critical for both manipulation and motion tasks. This contextual dependency is further revealed by explicit judgments on similarity – between the altered entities and the prototypical ones – provided after the different tasks. These results extend current literature on affordances and biofunctionally embodied understanding, revealing the relative robustness of biofunctional activity compared to intellectual one.
Identification of a cis‐acting element required for dendritic targeting of activity‐regulated cytoskeleton‐associated protein mRNA

The mRNA encoding activity‐regulated cytoskeleton‐associated protein (Arc) is known to be targeted to dendritic regions that have received strong synaptic inputs. However, the cis‐acting elements in Arc mRNA that mediate dendritic targeting have not been identified. To identify the dendritic targeting element (DTE) in rat Arc mRNA, we expressed reporter mRNAs containing various regions of Arc in primary hippocampal neurones and analysed their subcellular distribution by in situ hybridization. Here, we report that the 3′‐untranslated region of rat Arc mRNA contains a 350‐nucleotide DTE with strong dendritic targeting activity and another 370‐nucleotide sequence with weaker dendritic targeting activity. The 350‐nucleotide DTE does not share any obvious sequence similarity with other known DTEs previously reported.
You Cannot Step Into the Same River Twice

Statistical power depends on the size of the effect of interest. However, effect sizes are rarely fixed in psychological research: Study design choices, such as the operationalization of the dependent variable or the treatment manipulation, the social context, the subject pool, or the time of day, typically cause systematic variation in the effect size. Ignoring this between-study variation, as standard power formulae do, results in assessments of power that are too optimistic. Consequently, when researchers attempting replication set sample sizes using these formulae, their studies will be underpowered and will thus fail at a greater than expected rate. We illustrate this with both hypothetical examples and data on several well-studied phenomena in psychology. We provide formulae that account for between-study variation and suggest that researchers set sample sizes with respect to our generally more conservative formulae. Our formulae generalize to settings in which there are multiple effects of interest. We also introduce an easy-to-use website that implements our approach to setting sample sizes. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for quantifying between-study variation.
The Effects of Increased Cardiac Output, Surgical Isolation and Countercurrent Exchange at the Femoral Artery on the Residence Time of Xenon in Muscle

Abstract : This report describes a series of pilot experiments performed to guide the planning of NMRI's inert gas exchange research work unit after 1990. We conducted 5 experiments to examine the relationship of xenon residence time in tissue to cardiac output. In these experiments xenon mean residence time was not reduced when we increased the cardiac output using intravenous infusions of drugs. We found mean residence times to be generally longer in intact versus isolated muscle preparations, possibly due to differences in lipid content. In a 6th experiment, we recorded the profile of xenon radioactivity in the femoral artery and found that any countercurrent exchange above this level could account for a maximum of 4% of the mean residence time observed in the muscle. We modified the fitting routine to include the switching times as parameters to be estimated by the data. The mean transit times estimated using this model were more consistent with the time course of xenon observed on visual inspection of the curves. The results of these experiments produced a modification of the gas exchange project work unit and 5-year plan for Fiscal Year 1990. Inert gas, Xenon, Tissue gas exchange.
Practice of Epidemiology Implications of M Bias in Epidemiologic Studies: a Simulation Study

Collider-stratification bias arises from conditioning on a variable (collider) which opens a path from exposure to outcome. M bias occurs when the collider-stratification bias is transmitted through ancestors of exposure and outcome. Previous theoretical work, but not empirical data, has demonstrated that M bias is smaller than confounding bias. The authors simulated data for large cohort studies with binary exposure, an outcome, a collider, and 2 predictors of the collider. They created 178 scenarios by changing the frequencies of variables and/or the magnitudes of associations among the variables. They calculated the effect estimate, percentage bias, and mean squared error. M bias in these realistic scenarios ranged from −2% to −5%. When the authors increased one or both relative risks for the relation between the collider and unmeasured factors to ≥8, the negative bias was more substantial (>15%). The result was substantially biased (e.g., >20%) if an unmeasured confounder that was also a collider was not adjusted to avoid M bias. In scenarios resembling those the authors examined, M bias had a small impact unless associations between the collider and unmeasured confounders were very large (relative risk > 8). When a collider is itself an important confounder, controlling for confounding would take precedence over avoiding M bias. Databases with a large number of covariates are widely used in epidemiologic studies of therapeutics and other health-care interventions. Because subjects are not randomly assigned to treatment, those receiving different treatments may not be comparable in terms of various characteristics that may also affect outcomes; therefore, accounting for confounding is essential for obtaining unbiased estimates. However, these adjustments may lead to biased estimates— for instance, if a collider or an instrumental variable is controlled by design and in the analyses (1, 2). Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are used in epidemiology to facilitate study design, aid selection of statistical analysis models, and provide a graphic framework for classifying potential sources of bias (3, 4). Collider-stratification bias arises because of conditioning on a collider (a variable that is directly affected by 2 other variables in causal DAGs) by study design or statistical analysis, and therefore it induces a spurious statistical association between the two variables that are marginally independent (5–7). M bias (5, 6) is a special case in which the collider has no causal association with exposure or outcome but is indirectly associated with both through ancestors (causes) of exposure and disease (Figure 1). In …
Decreased NKX 3 . 1 Protein Expression in Focal Prostatic Atrophy , Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia , and Adenocarcinoma : Association with Gleason Score and Chromosome 8 p Deletion

NKX3.1 is a homeobox gene located at chromosome 8p21.2, and one copy is frequently deleted in prostate carcinoma. Prior studies of NKX3.1 mRNA and protein in human prostate cancer and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) have been conflicting, and expression in focal prostate atrophy lesions has not been investigated. Immunohistochemical staining for NKX3.1 on human tissue microarrays was decreased in most focal atrophy and PIN lesions. In carcinoma, staining was inversely correlated with Gleason grade. Fluorescence in situ hybridization showed that no cases of atrophy had loss or gain of 8p, 8 centromere, or 8q24 (C-MYC) and only 12% of highgrade PIN lesions harbored loss of 8p. By contrast, NKX3.1 staining in carcinoma was correlated with 8p loss and allelic loss was inversely related to Gleason pattern. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR for NKX3.1 mRNA using microdissected atrophy revealed a concordance with protein in five of seven cases. In carcinoma, mRNA levels were decreased in 6 of 12 cases but mRNA levels correlated with protein levels in only 4 of 12 cases, indicating translational or posttranslational control. In summary, NKX3.1 protein is reduced in focal atrophy and PIN but is not related to 8p allelic loss in these lesions. Therefore, whereas genetic disruption of NKX3.1 in mice leads to PIN, nongenetic mechanisms reduce NKX3.1 protein levels early in human prostate carcinogenesis, which may facilitate both proliferation and DNA damage in atrophic and PIN cells. Monoallelic deletions on chromosome 8p are associated with more advanced invasive and aggressive disease. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(22): 10683-90)
Rotation Reversals in the Kinetic Depth Effect

Author(s): Azoulai, Shai David | Abstract: Multistable visual illusions have been utilized by artists for hundreds of years, fascinating many people by the seemingly random ways that their perception can shift even when the stimuli they are viewing remain constant. Rather than being completely random, there are specific points at which people are more likely to perceive changes when viewing multistable stimuli, such as the Kinetic Depth Effect (KDE) silhouettes used in the following experiments. This allows us to use KDE stimuli as a tool to explore the visual system to determine the properties of those stimuli which result in non-random perceptual rotation reversals. These properties can then give us insight into the inherent biases that may exist in the way that our brains process visual information
TensorTextures: multilinear image-based rendering

This paper introduces a tensor framework for image-based rendering. In particular, we develop an algorithm called TensorTextures that learns a parsimonious model of the bidirectional texture function (BTF) from observational data. Given an ensemble of images of a textured surface, our nonlinear, generative model explicitly represents the multifactor interaction implicit in the detailed appearance of the surface under varying photometric angles, including local (per-texel) reflectance, complex mesostructural self-occlusion, interreflection and self-shadowing, and other BTF-relevant phenomena. Mathematically, TensorTextures is based on multilinear algebra, the algebra of higher-order tensors, hence its name. It is computed through a decomposition known as the N-mode SVD, an extension to tensors of the conventional matrix singular value decomposition (SVD). We demonstrate the application of TensorTextures to the image-based rendering of natural and synthetic textured surfaces under continuously varying viewpoint and illumination conditions.
Diffusion Basis Functions Decomposition for Estimating White Matter Intravoxel Fiber Geometry

In this paper, we present a new formulation for recovering the fiber tract geometry within a voxel from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, in the presence of single or multiple neuronal fibers. To this end, we define a discrete set of diffusion basis functions. The intravoxel information is recovered at voxels containing fiber crossings or bifurcations via the use of a linear combination of the above mentioned basis functions. Then, the parametric representation of the intravoxel fiber geometry is a discrete mixture of Gaussians. Our synthetic experiments depict several advantages by using this discrete schema: the approach uses a small number of diffusion weighted images (23) and relatively small b values (1250 s/mm2 ), i.e., the intravoxel information can be inferred at a fraction of the acquisition time required for datasets involving a large number of diffusion gradient orientations. Moreover our method is robust in the presence of more than two fibers within a voxel, improving the state-of-the-art of such parametric models. We present two algorithmic solutions to our formulation: by solving a linear program or by minimizing a quadratic cost function (both with non-negativity constraints). Such minimizations are efficiently achieved with standard iterative deterministic algorithms. Finally, we present results of applying the algorithms to synthetic as well as real data.
Inhibition of Mammalian Target of Rapamycin With Rapamycin Reverses Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Mice With Cardiomyocyte-Specific Knockout of PTEN

The role of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10 (PTEN) in the maintenance of cardiac homeostasis still remains controversial. This study was designed to evaluate the role of cardiomyocyte-specific PTEN in the maintenance of cardiac homeostasis and the underlying mechanisms involved with a focus on autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved pathway for protein degradation. Cardiomyocyte-specific PTEN(flox/flox)/&agr;-myosin heavy chain Cre mice, henceforth referred to as CM-PTENKO, were generated by crossing the floxed PTEN mice with &agr;-myosin heavy chain Cre mice driven by a Cre recombinase promoter. The adult PTEN−/− mice displayed the phenotype of established hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, including unfavorable geometric, functional, and histological changes. Furthermore, cardiomyocyte-specific PTEN knockout mice exhibited increased cardiac mammalian target of rapamycin although suppressed autophagy. Treatment with rapamycin (2 mg/kg per day, IP), an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin, for 1 month effectively reversed the established hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in CM-PTENKO mice. With rapamycin treatment, autophagy activity was significantly restored in the heart of CM-PTENKO mice. Taken together, our results demonstrate an essential role for cardiomyocyte PTEN in maintaining cardiac homeostasis under physiological condition. Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of PTEN results in the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy possibly through a mechanism associated with mammalian target of rapamycin hyperactivation and autophagy suppression.
Feedback Linearizing Control of Induction Motor Considering Magnetic Saturation Effects

This paper presents an input-output feedback linearization (FL) control technique for rotating induction motors, which takes into consideration the magnetic saturation of the iron core. Starting from a new formulation of the dynamic model taking into consideration the magnetic saturation expressed in a space-state form in the rotor-flux-oriented reference frame, the corresponding FL technique has been developed. To this aim, a particular care has been given to the choice of nonlinear functions interpolating the magnetic parameters versus the rotor magnetizing current and the corresponding magnetic characteristic. The proposed FL technique has been tested experimentally on a suitably developed test setup and compared, under the same bandwidths of the speed and flux closed loops, with both the FL technique not taking into consideration the magnetic saturation and with the industrial standard in terms of high performance control of the induction motor: field-oriented control. A further comparison with the unique example present in the scientific literature of the FL control technique including the magnetic saturation has been shown, highlighting consistent improvements achievable by the proposed FL in terms of reduced computational demand and better dynamic performance.
Approval summary for zoledronic acid for treatment of multiple myeloma and cancer bone metastases.

PURPOSE This article summarizes data submitted to the United States Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval of zoledronic acid (Zol; Novartis Pharmaceuticals, East Hanover, NJ), a bisphosphonate drug for treating patients with bone metastases. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We review the chemistry, toxicology, pharmacology, and clinical study results submitted to support the supplemental New Drug Application for Zol for treatment of patients with bone metastases. Four- and 8-mg Zol doses were selected for Phase III trials based on bone resorption markers and clinical efficacy parameters. Patients with bone metastases were randomized in three Phase III studies (prostate cancer, solid tumors, and multiple myeloma or breast cancer) to receive 4 or 8 mg of Zol or to a control arm. The control was a placebo in the prostate cancer study and the other solid tumor study and was 90 mg of pamidronate (Pam) in the study of breast cancer and multiple myeloma. Studies were amended twice because of renal toxicity, initially to increase Zol infusion time from 5 to 15 min and later to decrease the dose in the Zol 8-mg arm to 4 mg. The efficacy end point was skeletal-related events (SREs), a composite end point consisting of pathologic fracture, radiation therapy to bone, changes in antineoplastic therapy for bone pain (prostate cancer only), surgery to bone, or spinal cord compression. This end point was analyzed either as the proportion of patients with SRE or time to first SRE. The breast cancer and myeloma study used a noninferiority statistical analysis methods to determine efficacy. RESULTS In prostate cancer, both the proportions analysis and time-to-SRE analysis showed significantly less bone morbidity on Zol (4 mg) than placebo, but no significant difference between Zol (8 mg) and placebo in either analysis. In the solid tumor study, the time to SRE analysis but not the proportions analysis showed significantly less skeletal morbidity on Zol (4 mg) than placebo, and Zol (8 mg) was significantly better than placebo in both analyses. The breast cancer and myeloma study demonstrated noninferiority of Zol compared with Pam, with Zol retaining at least 49.3% of the Pam treatment effect previously demonstrated in placebo-controlled trials. Zol was approved on February 22, 2002, by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the "treatment of patients with multiple myeloma and documented bone metastases from solid tumors, in conjunction with standard antineoplastic therapy. Prostate cancer should have progressed after treatment with at least one hormonal therapy. " The recommended dose and schedule is 4 mg of Zol infused over 15 min every 3-4 weeks. Increased Zol doses and shorter infusions are not recommended because of potential renal toxicity.