Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local motion planning for collaborative multi-robot manipulation of deformable objects

This paper presents a formalism that exploits deformability during manipulation of soft objects by robot teams. A hybrid centralized/distributed approach restricts centralized planning to high-level global guidance of the object for consensus. Low-level control is thus delegated to the individual manipulator robots, which retain manipulation and collision avoidance guarantees by passing forces to one another through the object. A distributed receding horizon planner provides local control, formulated as a convex optimization problem in velocity space and incorporating constraints for both collision avoidance and shape maintenance. We demonstrate teams of mobile manipulators autonomously carrying various deformable objects.
Wideband Array Processing Using Total Least-Squares Transformations

In this paper, we introduce a new technique for wideband array processing. The new algorithm is based on the total least-square approach. The total least-square method is an alternative to the least-square method and uses the fact that the errors can exist both in the focusing location matrix and the estimated location matrix at the frequency bin. To prevent the focusing loss, we use a unitary ap proach for focusing. The new method does not require singular value decomposition. The computational complexity for the new technique is significantly lower than that for the similar methods which use singular value decomposition. The simulation results show that the new algorithm has a smaller resolution signal-twnoise ratio than the coherent signal-subspace method. The bias in the estimation of the directions-of-arrival is also smaller for the new method than that for the coherent signal-subspace method.
Defining the Metabolic Syndrome Construct

OBJECTIVE—It is controversial whether the clustering of certain metabolic abnormalities should be separately designated as the metabolic syndrome. We operationalized the “syndrome” concept and tested whether the metabolic syndrome was compatible with these operational constructs. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The baseline cross-section of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis recruited a population-based cohort of 6,781 individuals, aged 45–84 years, from six communities in the U.S. Metabolic syndrome components (waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting serum HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and plasma glucose), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) of insulin resistance (fasting glucose × insulin), and intimal-medial thickness (IMT) in the common and internal carotid arteries by B-mode ultrasound were measured. RESULTS—Higher syndrome component count is associated with higher HOMA levels (trend P < 0.001). Given the prevalence of individual components, the nonprevalence of any component or the co-prevalence of four or five components is greater than expected (χ2 P < 0.001). After accounting for the additive association of each component, the current definition of metabolic syndrome (co-prevalence of three or more components) does not have supra-additive association with thicker IMT in the common carotid (men: P = 0.075, women: P = 0.949) or internal carotid artery (men: P = 0.106, women: P = 0.121). CONCLUSIONS—The metabolic syndrome did not have supra-additive association with IMT, but its components clustered greater than chance expectation and a higher component count was associated with greater insulin resistance. The metabolic syndrome was compatible with two of three “syndrome” constructs tested.
Positive contrast technique for the detection and quantification of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in MRI

In vivo detection and quantification of cells labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles has been attracting increasing attention. In particular, positive contrast methods, such as susceptibility gradient mapping (SGM) and phase gradient mapping (PGM), have been proposed for the improved detection of SPIO nanoparticles. In this study, a different implementation of the PGM method is introduced; it calculates the phase gradient in the image space using a fast Fourier transform without the need for phase unwrapping. We first compared positive contrast generation between the PGM and SGM methods, which estimates the susceptibility gradient in k space through echo shift measurements. Next, PGM was applied to quantify SPIO concentrations by fitting the resulting phase gradient maps to those of a theoretical model. MR experiments were conducted using a 3‐T magnet scanner to acquire two datasets: the first was acquired from a gelatin phantom with three SPIO‐doped vials of different concentrations, and the second was obtained in vivo from a nude rat with SPIO‐labeled C6 glioma cells implanted in the flanks. The sensitivity of the PGM and SGM methods was compared using various factors, including different SPIO concentrations, TEs and signal‐to‐noise ratios. Based on the theoretical model of an infinite cylinder, the results demonstrated that, without loss of spatial resolution, the PGM method presents positive contrast maps with a higher sensitivity than SGM at medium and low SPIO concentrations, whereas SGM is more sensitive than PGM at longer TEs. The quantification of SPIO concentrations using the phantom dataset was also reported. On the basis of the same infinite cylinder model, it was shown that the PGM method provides an accurate estimation of SPIO concentration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cell‐death assessment by fluorescent and nonfluorescent cytosolic and nuclear staining techniques

Apoptosis, a genetically programmed cellular event leads to biochemical and morphological changes in cells. Alterations in DNA caused by several factors affect nucleus and ultimately the entire cell leading to compromised function of the organ and organism. DNA, a master regulator of the cellular events, is an important biomolecule with regards to cell growth, cell death, cell migration and cell differentiation. It is therefore imperative to develop the staining techniques that may lead to visualize the changes in nucleus where DNA is housed, to comprehend the cellular pathophysiology. Over the years a number of nuclear staining techniques such as propidium iodide, Hoechst‐33342, 4’, 6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole (DAPI), Acridine orange–Ethidium bromide staining, among others have been developed to assess the changes in DNA. Some nonnuclear staining techniques such as Annexin‐V staining, which although does not stain DNA, but helps to identify the events that result from DNA alteration and leads to initiation of apoptotic cell death. In this review, we have briefly discussed some of the most commonly used fluorescent and nonfluorescent staining techniques that identify apoptotic changes in cell, DNA and the nucleus. These techniques help in differentiating several cellular and nuclear phenotypes that result from DNA damage and have been identified as specific to necrosis or early and late apoptosis as well as scores of other nuclear deformities occurring inside the cells.
HMM-based breath and filled pauses elimination in ASR

The phenomena of filled pauses and breaths pose a challenge to Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems dealing with spontaneous speech, including recognizer modules in Interactive Voice Reponse (IVR) systems. We suggest a method based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM), which is easily integrated into HMM-based ASR systems and allows detection of those disturbances without incorporating additional parameters. Our method involves training the models of disturbances and their insertion in the phrase Markov chain between word-final and word-initial phoneme models. Application of the method in our ASR shows improvement of recognition results in Polish telephonic speech corpus LUNA.
A Longitudinal Study of Indoor Nitrogen Dioxide Levels and Respiratory Symptoms in Inner-City Children with Asthma

Background The effect of indoor nitrogen dioxide concentrations on asthma morbidity among inner-city preschool children is uncertain. Objectives Our goal was to estimate the effect of indoor NO2 concentrations on asthma morbidity in an inner-city population while adjusting for other indoor pollutants. Methods We recruited 150 children (2–6 years of age) with physician-diagnosed asthma from inner-city Baltimore, Maryland. Indoor air was monitored over a 72-hr period in the children’s bedrooms at baseline and 3 and 6 months. At each visit, the child’s caregiver completed a questionnaire assessing asthma symptoms over the previous 2 weeks and recent health care utilization. Results Children were 58% male, 91% African American, and 42% from households with annual income < $25,000; 63% had persistent asthma symptoms. The mean (± SD) in-home NO2 concentration was 30.0 ± 33.7 (range, 2.9–394.0) ppb. The presence of a gas stove and the use of a space heater or oven/stove for heat were independently associated with higher NO2 concentrations. Each 20-ppb increase in NO2 exposure was associated significantly with an increase in the number of days with limited speech [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.15; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–1.25], cough (IRR = 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02–1.18), and nocturnal symptoms (IRR = 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02–1.16), after adjustment for potential confounders. NO2 concentrations were not associated with increased health care utilization. Conclusions Higher indoor NO2 concentrations were associated with increased asthma symptoms in preschool inner-city children. Interventions aimed at lowering NO2 concentrations in inner-city homes may reduce asthma morbidity in this vulnerable population.
Incumbent Competition and Private Agenda

Consider two politicians who decide whether to follow what they believe the public wants or choose the option that secures their private gain. Laws are passed when the politicians reach a unanimous decision. The public only rewards a politician when a law is passed, or when the politician is the only one whose action coincides with the public decision. We nd that if the politicians are good enough decision-makers, a su ciently high public regard in policy implementation given moderate private agenda payo s pushes the politicians to take the action that generates a public bene t, implementing a socially optimal law. For very low decision-making skills, at su ciently high policy rewards, we nd that they vote for the same action to pass a law regardless of what the public wants. This gives rise to politicians converging to a decision that neither provides them with a private bene t nor follows exactly the public decision.
Callisto-RTS: Fine-Grain Parallel Loops

We introduce Callisto-RTS, a parallel runtime system designed for multi-socket shared-memory machines. It supports very fine-grained scheduling of parallel loops-- down to batches of work of around 1K cycles. Finegrained scheduling helps avoid load imbalance while reducing the need for tuning workloads to particular machines or inputs. We use per-core iteration counts to distribute work initially, and a new asynchronous request combining technique for when threads require more work. We present results using graph analytics algorithms on a 2-socket Intel 64 machine (32 h/w contexts), and on an 8-socket SPARC machine (1024 h/w contexts). In addition to reducing the need for tuning, on the SPARC machines we improve absolute performance by up to 39% (compared with OpenMP). On both architectures Callisto-RTS provides improved scaling and performance compared with a state-of-the-art parallel runtime system (Galois).
Thyroid “Vise” in an Infant With Neonatal Graves’ Disease

On the rare occasion when neonatal goiter is the cause of airway compromise, it typically presents with a palpable neck mass. In the setting of maternal Graves’ disease (GD), fetal and neonatal goiters are most commonly caused by maternal treatment with antithyroid medication, and the goiter resolves within days of initiation of thyroxine replacement in the neonate. We describe an atypical presentation of a patient with severe neonatal GD born to a euthyroid mother at 35 weeks’ gestational age with respiratory compromise, symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and a nonpalpable thyroid gland. The mother had a history of GD treated with radioactive iodine ablation; during the pregnancy she was treated with levothyroxine throughout and propylthiouracil beginning at 5 months’ gestation, for fetal tachycardia. Laboratory testing after birth confirmed neonatal GD. The patient was treated with methimazole, Lugol’s solution, and levothyroxine, and the patient remained euthyroid from day of life 10. After multiple extubation attempts failed, the patient was found on visualization studies to have a large, predominantly posterior, “vise-like” goiter encasing the larynx and upper trachea. The patient was successfully extubated, and all medications were discontinued on day of life 60. The patient remained euthyroid 1 month after discontinuation of treatment. The patient’s atypical presentation illustrates the need for early neck imaging in patients with neonatal GD and respiratory distress, especially when the thyroid gland is not palpable. Treatment options for resolving a goiter due to neonatal GD are not clear.
Temperature and light dependence of the VOC emissions of Scots pine

Abstract. The volatile organic compound (VOC) emission rates of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) were measured from trees growing in a natural forest environment at two locations in Finland. The observed total VOC emission rates varied between 21 and 874 ngg-1 h-1 and 268 and 1670 ngg-1 h-1 in southern and northern Finland, respectively. A clear seasonal cycle was detected with high emission rates in early spring, a decrease of the emissions in late spring and early summer, high emissions again in late summer, and a gradual decrease in autumn. The main emitted compounds were Δ3-carene (southern Finland) and α- and β-pinene (northern Finland), with approximate relative contributions of 60–70% and 60–85% of the total observed monoterpene emission rates, respectively. Sesquiterpene (β-caryophyllene) and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO) emissions were initiated in early summer at both sites. The observed MBO emission rates were between 1 and 3.5% of the total monoterpene emission rates. The sesquiterpene emission rates varied between 2 and 5% of the total monoterpene emission rates in southern Finland, but were high (40%) in northern Finland in spring. Most of the measured emission rates were found to be well described by the temperature dependent emission algorithm. The calculated standard emission potentials were high in spring and early summer, decreased somewhat in late summer, and were high again towards autumn. The experimental coefficient β ranged from 0.025 to 0.19 (average 0.10) in southern Finland, with strongest temperature dependence in spring and weakest in late summer. Only the emission rates of 1,8-cineole were found to be both light and temperature dependent.
The Expressive Power of UML-based Web Engineering1

UML-based Web Engineering (UWE) is a development process for Web applications with focus on systematic design, personalization and semi-automatic generation. UWE describes a systematic design methodology using exclusively UML (Unified Modeling Language) techniques, the UML notation and the UML extension mechanisms. In this article we show the power of this approach. On the one hand, UWE prescribes how to build navigation and presentation models for Web applications defining therefore special UML stereotyped modeling elements and tagged values. On the other hand, we show how these Web specific navigation and presentation models can be supplemented by other views using the variety of UML diagram types and UML modeling elements. Our current research activities focus on the dynamic aspects of the design of Web applications, such as task modeling and modeling of Web scenarios, graphical representation of the distribution of Web components and semi-automatic generation of Web applications based on design models.
ERSP: An Energy-Efficient Real-Time Smartphone Pedometer

Smart devices such as Apple's iPod nano (5th generation), Nike+, and existing smartphone applications can provide the functions of a pedometer using the accelerometer. To achieve a high accuracy the devices must be worn on specific on-body locations such as on an armband or in footwear. Generally people carry smart devices such as smartphones in different positions, thus making it impractical to use these devices due to the reduced accuracy. Using the embedded smartphone accelerometer in a low-power mode we present an algorithm named Energy-efficient Real-time Smartphone Pedometer (ERSP), which accurately and energy-efficiently infers the real-time human step count within 2 seconds using the smartphone accelerometer. Our method involves extracting 5 features (4 novel and 1 derived) from the smartphone 3D accelerometer without the need for noise filtering or specific smartphone on-body placement and orientation, ERSP classification accuracy is approximately 94% when validated using data collected from 17 volunteers.
Uniformity properties of Construction C

Construction C (also known as Forney's multi-level code formula) forms a Euclidean code for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel from L binary code components. If the component codes are linear, then the minimum distance is the same for all the points, although the kissing number may vary. In fact, while in the single level (L = 1) case it reduces to lattice Construction A, a multi-level Construction C is in general not a lattice. We show that the two-level (L = 2) case is special: a two-level Construction C satisfies Forney's definition for a geometrically uniform constellation. Specifically, every point sees the same configuration of neighbors, up to a reflection of the coordinates in which the lower level code is equal to 1. In contrast, for three levels and up (L ≥ 3), we construct examples where the distance spectrum varies between the points, hence the constellation is not geometrically uniform.
SAREC: a security-aware scheduling strategy for real-time applications on clusters

Security requirements of security-critical real-time applications must be met in addition to satisfying timing constraints. However, conventional real-time scheduling algorithms ignore the applications' security requirements. In recognition that an increasing number of applications running on clusters demand both real-time performance and security, we investigate the problem of scheduling a set of independent real-time tasks with various security requirements. We propose a security overhead model that is capable of measuring security overheads incurred by security-critical tasks. Further, we propose a security-aware scheduling strategy, or SAREC, which integrates security requirements into scheduling for real-time applications by employing our security overhead model. To evaluate the effectiveness of SAREC, we implement a security-aware real-time scheduling algorithm (SAREC-EDF), which incorporates the earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduling algorithm into SAREC Extensive simulation experiments show that SAREC-EDF significantly improves overall system performance over three baseline scheduling algorithms (variations of EDF) by up to 72.55%.
A Layered Particle‐Based Fluid Model for Real‐Time Rendering of Water

We present a physically based real‐time water simulation and rendering method that brings volumetric foam to the real‐time domain, significantly increasing the realism of dynamic fluids. We do this by combining a particle‐based fluid model that is capable of accounting for the formation of foam with a layered rendering approach that is able to account for the volumetric properties of water and foam. Foam formation is simulated through Weber number thresholding. For rendering, we approximate the resulting water and foam volumes by storing their respective boundary surfaces in depth maps. This allows us to calculate the attenuation of light rays that pass through these volumes very efficiently. We also introduce an adaptive curvature flow filter that produces consistent fluid surfaces from particles independent of the viewing distance.
Method for the noninvasive measurement of intraocular pressure in mice.

PURPOSE To evaluate the applicability of rebound tonometry for measurement of IOP in the mouse eye. METHODS An induction-impact (I/I) tonometer, which operates on the rebound principle, was scaled down and adapted to determine IOP of the mouse eye. IOP measurement using this concept is based on contacting the eye with a probe and detecting the motion as the probe collides with the eye and bounces back. The motion parameters of the probe vary according to eye pressure and are used to calculate IOP. A prototype instrument was constructed for measurement of IOP in mouse eyes, and its ability to accurately and reliably measure IOP was tested by comparing the measurements against the manometric (true) IOP determined in cannulated mouse eyes ex vivo. The I/I tonometer was also used to measure IOP in vivo in anesthetized adult C57BL/6 mice. RESULTS A strong correlation between the true IOP and the I/I measurements (R(2) = 0.95) was found for IOPs in the range of 3.7 to 44.1 mm Hg in cannulated mouse eyes. Repeat determinations in individual eyes showed a low degree of variability in the relationship of the measured IOP with the true IOP. In anesthetized mice, mean IOP +/- SD as determined by rebound tonometry was 9.8 +/- 3.9 mm Hg when the animals were anesthetized with ketamine alone and 7.6 +/- 1.9 mm Hg when a mixture of ketamine, acepromazine, and xylazine was used. Contralateral eyes differed by 0.9 +/- 2.5 and 0.1 +/- 2.7 mm Hg, respectively, for the two anesthetic regimens. CONCLUSIONS The I/I tonometer can be used for noninvasive, in vivo IOP measurement in mouse eyes. The availability of an easy-to-use, reliable tonometer for IOP measurements in mice will allow more extensive use of the mouse as a model for glaucoma.