Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Randomised Rough-Terrain Robot Motion Planning

A fundamental property of rough-terrain motion planning is that each configuration of the robot on the terrain can be assigned a characteristic navigational difficulty based on the terrain topography and physical properties of the underground. This measure is computed in an application-dependent manner based on the properties of the robot and terrain model employed. In this work we propose a motion planner based on rapidly exploring random trees (RRTs) which takes into consideration the characteristics of the underground. In the suggested solution, the randomised expansion of the RRTs is biased towards regions of low navigational difficulty. The motion planner generates trajectories which follow areas of easy navigation and only deviates to harder regions where inevitable. In particular, the maximal difficulty on the path is approximately minimised. For single-query motion planning tasks, bidirectional RRTs have proven to be effective in rapidly computing a path between the initial and goal configurations. To deal with complex distributions of the terrain characteristics, this concept has been extended. Rooted at randomly chosen configurations, a number of additional RRTs is grown. While the algorithm discussed is intended for rough-terrain motion planning and demonstrated in this context, it can easily be adapted to other domains where a characteristic measure for the desirability of attaining individual configurations can be defined
A Developmental Organization for Robot Behavior

This paper focuses on exploring how learning and development can be structured in synthetic (robot) systems. We present a developmental assembler for constructing reusable and temporally extended actions in a sequence. The discussion adopts the traditions of dynamic pattern theory in which behavior is an artifact of coupled dynamical systems with a number of controllable degrees of freedom. In our model, the events that delineate control decisions are derived from the pattern of (dis)equilibria on a working subset of sensorimotor policies. We show how this architecture can be used to accomplish sequential knowledge gathering and representation tasks and provide examples of the kind of developmental milestones that this approach has already produced in our lab.
The Development of Functional Persuasive Skills in Childhood and Early Adolescence.

CLARK, RUTH ANNE, and DELIA, JESSE G: The Development of Functional Persuasive Skills in Childhood and Early Adolescence. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 1008-1014. A coding system was developed for the classification of persuasive requests and their support in terms of the level of perspective-taking ability implied in the strategy. Responses of children in grades 2 through 9 to 3 hypothetical, but common, persuasive communication situations were coded within the system. In addition to using a greater total number and a greater variety of strategies, older children used strategies reflecting progressively more advanced modes of perspective taking. Consistent with related developmental research in the social cognitive domain, the major developmental advance occurred between second and third graders, third and fourth graders, and eighth and ninth graders.
The Effects of Exercise Training on the Traditional Lipid Profile and Beyond

The purpose of this review is to provide up-to-date information regarding the effects of aerobic and resistance exercise training on the traditional blood lipid and lipoprotein profile. In addition, emerging coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, such as postprandial lipemia (PPL) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), are reviewed. Numerous studies report that aerobic exercise combined with weight loss significantly reduces blood cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) while improving high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Both aerobic and resistance training demonstrated a reduction in non-HDL-C independent of changes in body weight. Transient beneficial effects of a single session of aerobic exercise are observed for PPL. Nonetheless further research is needed to provide a better understanding of the potential mechanisms for reducing PPL. Exercise as an intervention for patients with MetS leads to improved CAD risk factors including atherogenic dyslipidemia, blood pressure, body composition, insulin sensitivity, and fat metabolism.
Cross-Domain Sentiment Analysis: An Empirical Investigation

Understanding the sentiment conveyed by a person is a crucial task in any social interaction. Moreover, it can be used to gain insight and understanding of views held by many people. Sentiment classification is not limited to human interaction, as text can also convey the sentiment of the author. Opinion mining in text is a long studied field in machine learning. This study focuses on two of the many text domains used in the field of sentiment analysis: reviews and tweets. In this study, we aim to determine the the effect of performing cross-domain sentiment classification using either reviews or tweets as training data. We conduct an empirical investigation using two tweet datasets and one review dataset, and three classifiers. We conduct 18 experiments, varying the training dataset, the classifier used to build the model, and the dataset used to evaluate the model built. Our results show that training with tweets, for both datasets, yields an effective classifier for reviews. However, the converse, using reviews to classify sentiment in tweets, has the worst performance of all models, producing AUC values ranging from 0.59 to 0.65. Our best model is generated using tweets to train a Multinomial Naïve Bayes classifier, and using reviews to evaluate. Multinomial Naïve Bayes was the best performing learner, producing the highest AUC in 5 out of the 6 combinations of training/test datasets. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effects of cross-domain sentiment classification using tweets and reviews.
Matrix Exponential LPP for face recognition

Face recognition plays a important role in computer vision. Recent researches show that high dimensional face images lie on or close to a low dimensional manifold. LPP is a widely used manifold reduced dimensionality technique. But it suffers two problem: (1) Small Sample Size problem; (2)the performance is sensitive to the neighborhood size k. In order to address the problems, this paper proposed a Matrix Exponential LPP. To void the singular matrix, the proposed algorithm introduced the matrix exponential to obtain more valuable information for LPP. The experiments were conducted on two face database, Yale and Georgia Tech. And the results proved the performances of the proposed algorithm was better than that of LPP.
Religion and sex in australia

In a social survey of the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania religious variables were shown to be related to the sexual attitudes of the respondents. The explanation given is that religion and sex are alternative forms of commitment: religious believers perceive sexual activity differently from non-believers, and perhaps need it less for their personality integration. It is suggested that Christianity has set up strict norms regarding sexual activities and attitudes because sex is seen as a possible threat to its major function.
Use of minimal residual disease assessment in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract Progress in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) therapies has extended greatly the length and depth of remission, with the goal of treatment advancing towards a cure for some patients. Accordingly, clinical endpoints must evolve to capture these outcomes, and to provide faster access to novel therapies. Minimal residual disease (MRD) is an important endpoint representing more accurately the depth of remission than complete response (CR), and is highly prognostic of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). MRD could be considered a key outcome of clinical trials and, as a surrogate for PFS, could identify the most cost-effective and durable treatment sequencing. MRD testing could also determine which patients would benefit from additional therapy and, accordingly, ascertain when therapy should be stopped earlier, to reduce toxicity and increase treatment-free intervals. Our article discusses possible uses of MRD in the modern era of CLL, including its definition, measurement, and value as a surrogate endpoint in clinical trials, and its potential roles in clinical practice.
TNM-Classification for Lung Cancer: From the 7th to the 8th Edition

Abstract Most tumors are staged according to the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) classification. For lung cancer a new edition was introduced in 2009 and generally applied since 2010. This 7th TNM-classification is based on a large, international retrospective database. Important changes were made regarding the T, N, M factors and specific subcategories were added. However, this 7th edition is still purely based on anatomical information. Other prognosticators such as laboratory results, histology, tumor markers and molecular genetic factors are not yet considered. To prepare the 8th TNM classification a prospective database developed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), is currently enrolling patients from all continents. In this way, more precise and reliable data will become available on specific subdivisions of the T, N and M factors. If proven to be prognostically valid, other parameters will be included as histology, demographic data and specific biochemical and molecular predictive and prognostic factors. All centers with a large experience in thoracic oncology are encouraged to participate in this prospective database.
The inevitable journey to being

Life is evolutionarily the most complex of the emergent symmetry-breaking, macroscopically organized dynamic structures in the Universe. Members of this cascading series of disequilibria-converting systems, or engines in Cottrell's terminology, become ever more complicated—more chemical and less physical—as each engine extracts, exploits and generates ever lower grades of energy and resources in the service of entropy generation. Each one of these engines emerges spontaneously from order created by a particular mother engine or engines, as the disequilibrated potential daughter is driven beyond a critical point. Exothermic serpentinization of ocean crust is life's mother engine. It drives alkaline hydrothermal convection and thereby the spontaneous production of precipitated submarine hydrothermal mounds. Here, the two chemical disequilibria directly causative in the emergence of life spontaneously arose across the mineral precipitate membranes separating the acidulous, nitrate-bearing CO2-rich, Hadean sea from the alkaline and CH4/H2-rich serpentinization-generated effluents. Essential redox gradients—involving hydrothermal CH4 and H2 as electron donors, CO2 and nitrate, nitrite, and ferric iron from the ambient ocean as acceptors—were imposed which functioned as the original ‘carbon-fixing engine’. At the same time, a post-critical-point (milli)voltage pH potential (proton concentration gradient) drove the condensation of orthophosphate to produce a high energy currency: ‘the pyrophosphatase engine’.
Particle Swarm Optimization for load balancing in green smart homes

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a promising evolutionary algorithm, which has been used in a wide range of applications, due to its simple implementation, fast convergence, parallel behavior, and versatility in working with continuous and discrete domains. In this paper, we consider its application to the load balancing problem, in green smart homes. Specifically, an adapted version of the Binary PSO has been used to determine the optimal distribution of energy resources, across different green energy sources in a green smart home. The case study of interest considers the usage of solar and wind energy, as green energy sources for the green smart home. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm, in terms of the optimal outcome (efficient distribution of energy resources), finding installation material surplus, and the execution speed of the algorithm.
In vivo and in vitro administration of interleukin 2-containing preparation reverses T-cell unresponsiveness in Mycobacterium bovis BCG-infected mice

Mice infected with high doses of Mycobacterium bovis BCG (3 X 10(7)) showed a marked impairment of delayed-type hypersensitivity to PPD in vivo, and their splenic T cells failed to proliferate when cultured in vitro with concanavalin A or PPD. However, this state of unresponsiveness could be reversed both in vitro and in vivo by the administration of an interleukin 2 (IL-2)-containing preparation. IL-2 produced spontaneously by the gibbon lymphosarcoma T-cell line MLA-144 and T-cell-conditioned medium from a mixed lymphocyte reaction were able to increase DNA synthesis of splenic T lymphocytes from BCG-immunosuppressed mice cultured with concanavalin A or PPD. Furthermore, BCG-infected mice treated in vivo with at least 100 U of IL-2 showed a positive skin reaction to PPD, and their spleen cells were fully responsive in vitro. The reversal of BCG-induced immunosuppression was not observed when infected mice were injected with IL-2 preparations previously incubated with blast cells, a procedure known to remove IL-2 activity. These results indicate that the basis of BCG-induced unresponsiveness is a deficiency in the production of IL-2 rather than a lack of reactive T cells.
Addendum to "The Dirac-Coulomb Sturmians and the series expansion of the Dirac-Coulomb Green function: application to the relativistic polarizability of the hydrogen-like atom" [J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 30 (1997) 825-61, (E) 30 (1997) 2747]

Closure relations satisfied by the radial Dirac-Coulomb Sturmians are proved analytically. The Sturmian expansion of the Dirac-Coulomb Green function is transformed to the form containing only series with summations running over non-negative indices. The main paper was published in J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 30 (1997) 825-61 [Erratum: 30 (1997) 2747], see also J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 31 (1998) 4963--90 [Erratum: 31 (1998) 7415-6].
Analysts Analyzed: A Socio-Economic Approach to Financial and Emerging Markets

The reaction time of financial markets presently constitutes one of the major challenges facing the state. Using the results of a qualitative research study, this article formulates and discusses an hypothesis concerning the short-termism of financial markets by presenting an analysis of the temporal horizons and cognitive maps of actors who “make or break” prices on emerging markets. Behind the power of the market hides a multitude of actors, analysts, strategists, economists, and portfolio managers who constitute a veritable epistemic community with its own dynamic of opportunity and constraint. The aim in this article is to unravel the various strands in the tapestry that weaves the interactions of those who “make the market. ” It is not embroidered by the invisible hand of God, or the devil, but, more simply, by the unceasing anticipations and interactions of a myriad of analysts and investors who draw their breath from Wall Street.
Dyadic Power Profiles: Power‐Contingent Strategies for Value Creation in Negotiation

Using a simulated employment negotiation, we tested the conditional relationships among dyadic power profiles (symmetric high, symmetric low, and asymmetric), the choice and sequencing of strategies, and value creation. We showed that negotiators in symmetric high, symmetric low, and asymmetric power dyads took distinctly different paths to value creation. Value creation was associated with increased mutual accommodation in high-power dyads but with increased contentiousness in low-power dyads. Asymmetric power dyads maximized value creation when they adopted a neutral stance, neither overusing nor underusing any one strategy. Although strategy use was a better predictor of value creation than strategy sequencing, sequences played an increasingly important role in value creation as the level of total power within the negotiation increased.
Stress and illness: The structure of a belief system

Recent research on lay beliefs about illness suggest that stress has become an important construct for explaining and interpreting illness. Two studies are presented that examine lay beliefs about the relationship between stress and a diverse set of health problems. In Study 1, 347 young adults were asked to make causal inferences about the relationship between stress and 26 health problems. The results showed that certain health problems were rated as more related to stress (e.g., high blood pressure) than others (e.g., polio). A factor analysis revealed two dimensions in the rating of these illnesses: an "infrequent or severe health problem" factor and a "common health problem" factor. Study 2 examined the stability of the factor structure reported in the first study by comparing it with 201 normal adults. To investigate the possibility that the subjects' lack of knowledge about some of the health problems may have influenced the results, the factor structure of a sample of 200 health professionals (nurses and physiotherapists) were compared to the factor structures of the young adult and normal adult samples. Factor structures for all three samples were virtually identical. The results suggest that respondents held a consistent set of beliefs about the relationship between stress and particular health problems. Stress was conceptualized as being highly related to relatively common and less severe types of health problems. This finding is discussed with respect to the place of stress in causal schemes about illness and with respect to the implications of the pervasiveness of these beliefs in Western societies.
A cluster based OLSR routing to overcome the routing issues in ad hoc networks: A review

As the technologies overture, the communication media is upcoming with the need for wired and wireless networking. The wireless technology and portable computing devices enhances the future for wireless mobile networking. Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is one of the emerging technologies with many applications. MANET is the network with specific characteristics like dynamic topology, wireless medium, and distributed co-operation. However, the nature of MANET makes it vulnerable to many challenges and security issues. In this paper, we give a brief idea about MANET with its challenges, application and overview of routing protocols. We have also proposed an idea of enhancing olsr by a clustering technique in order to reduce the network overhead and increase the packet delivery ratio which is effective in Vehicular ad hoc Network (VANET).
A dimeric state for PRC 2

Polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2) is a histone methyltransferase required for epigenetic silencing during development and cancer. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can recruit PRC2 to chromatin. Previous studies identified PRC2 subunits in a complex with the apparent molecular weight of a dimer, which might be accounted for by the incorporation of additional protein subunits or RNA rather than PRC2 dimerization. Here we show that reconstituted human PRC2 is in fact a dimer, using multiple independent approaches including analytical size exclusion chromatography (SEC), SEC combined with multi-angle light scattering and co-immunoprecipitation of differentially tagged subunits. Even though it contains at least two RNA-binding subunits, each PRC2 dimer binds only one RNA molecule. Yet, multiple PRC2 dimers bind a single RNA molecule cooperatively. These observations suggest a model in which the first RNA binding event promotes the recruitment of multiple PRC2 complexes to chromatin, thereby nucleating repression.
Epistemological Beliefs and Theory of Planned Behavior: Examining Beliefs about Knowledge and Knowing as Distal Predictors of Indonesian Tertiary Students' Intention to Study

Using the theory of planned behavior or TPB (Ajzen, 2005) as a general framework, the study examines the role of Indonesian students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (epistemological beliefs) as a distal antecedent predictor of students' behavioral intention in studying for a forthcoming examination. Consistent with the TPB, it was hypothesized that the effects of epistemological beliefs on the behavioral intention to study would be mediated by three proximal antecedent predictors: (a) attitudes toward studying hard, (b) personal norms related to studying hard, and (c) perceived behavioral control over studying hard. Participants were 497 psychology undergraduate students at a private university in Indonesia, who answered a Bahasa Indonesian translation of Chan and Elliott's (2002) Epistemological Belief Questionnaire and a questionnaire on their beliefs and behavioral intentions related to studying hard and persistently for an examination. The results of hierarchical multiple regressions supported the hypotheses. Students' belief that effort is a prerequisite of the attainment of knowledge and belief that ability is innate and non-malleable were positive and negative predictors, respectively, of studying hard-related attitudes, personal norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions. And the relationships between effort and ability beliefs and studying behavioral intentions were fully mediated by the three proximal predictors of the behavioral intention.
Plasma Cortisol and Testosterone Responses During a Collegiate Swim Season

Plasma testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) measures were examined in swimmers in response to a 500-yd time trial conducted on five occasions (T1–T5) during a collegiate season of training and competition (21 weeks). The 6 male distance swimmer performed the time trials during transitions in their training regime. Preexercise blood samples were obtained following a 15-min equilibration period in a supine posture. After a standardized warm-up, each athlete completed the 500-yd time trial. Postexercise blood was taken within 1 min of completion with the swimmer in a supine posture. Pre- and postexercise T tended to rise progressively during the season, accompanied by a concomitant progressive decrease in the average daily training volume. Preexercise C concentrations were reduced (p < 0.005) at T2 and T5 compared to the beginning of the season (T1). However, the molar ratio of T/C was unchanged during the season. These hormonal measures may be useful in tracking training status and responses in selected individuals.
Color Source Separation for Enhanced Pixel Manipulations MSR-TR-2011-98 C

A pixel’s color value is the integration over a set of light rays. These lights rays may vary in color if they originate from different objects or surfaces that vary in albedo. To achieve photorealism, image manipulations such as contrast and gamma adjustment, histogram equalization or color replacement should ideally be applied to each light ray instead of the aggregate of the rays. In this paper, we attempt to separate the set of colors contributing to a pixel. We assume the set can be approximated using a finite set of weighted colors. Experimental results shown that two colors are sufficient. By applying image manipulations to each of the two colors independently, improved results can be obtained. We demonstrate our approach on a variety of image manipulations and compare both quantitatively and qualitatively against ground truth and baseline methods, as well as via human studies.