Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of cycling cadence on subsequent 3 km running performance in well trained triathletes

Objectives: To investigate the effect of three cycling cadences on a subsequent 3000 m track running performance in well trained triathletes. Methods: Nine triathletes completed a maximal cycling test, three cycle-run succession sessions (20 minutes of cycling + a 3000 m run) in random order, and one isolated run (3000 m). During the cycling bout of the cycle-run sessions, subjects had to maintain for 20 minutes one of the three cycling cadences corresponding to 60, 80, and 100 rpm. The metabolic intensity during these cycling bouts corresponded approximately to the cycling competition intensity of our subjects during a sprint triathlon (> 80% V̇o2max). Results: A significant effect of the prior cycling exercise was found on middle distance running performance without any cadence effect (625.7 (40.1), 630.0 (44.8), 637.7 (57.9), and 583.0 (28.3) seconds for the 60 rpm run, 80 rpm run, 100 rpm run, and isolated run respectively). However, during the first 500 m of the run, stride rate and running velocity were significantly higher after cycling at 80 or 100 rpm than at 60 rpm (p<0.05). Furthermore, the choice of 60 rpm was associated with a higher fraction of V̇o2max sustained during running compared with the other conditions (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results confirm the alteration in running performance completed after the cycling event compared with the isolated run. However, no significant effect of the cadence was observed within the range usually used by triathletes.
3-D real-time image matching based on kinect skeleton

We present a 3-D real-time image matching system based on the skeleton tracking module of Kinect Sensor. To determine an optimal correspondence between real- time and standard image data, we use a dimensional angular representation as a descriptor of the skeleton designed for recognition robustness under noisy input. And we compute a distance metric to evaluate the difference in motion between the poser's body and the template. The grading formula for image matching is adaptively based on our experimental data, which makes our system, stands a high accuracy under input noise from the real-time depth sensor.
AHPA-Calculating Hub and Authority for Information Retrieval

The fast development of the World Wide Web makes searching and retrieving of information to become a not easy task. Two algorithms proposed around the fall of 1996, Page Rank [3] and HITS [9], became the center of majority research efforts. They try to remedy the abundance of results, bringing order with the help of notions related to prestige in social network analysis. Some approaches use the link structure of the web to find the importance of the web pages (Page Rank method [3]) or to determine their authority related to a particular topic (Hub and Authority concept). In this paper we propose a new method for calculating the authority of a web page.
CleaningAssistant-a service robot designed for cleaning tasks

A new service robot designed for cleaning tasks in home environments is introduced. The robot systems will work directly with people in these areas, thus placing a central importance in making interactions between people and machines as natural are possible. The main focus of this paper is twofold. First, an introduction to the system's design and to an intuitive programming approach which allows the robot to be easily used by non-experts. The approach is based on human gesture recognition and context sensitive interpretation. Second, in order to transform full coverage paths planned in workspace to paths in the robot's configuration space, a closed form solution of the robot's inverse kinematics is derived. The redundancy of the manipulator is therein used to optimize the inverse kinematics solution in terms of manipulability and closer posture.
Sex Differences in Inflammatory Cytokines and CD99 Expression Following In Vitro Lipopolysaccharide Stimulation

ABSTRACT Sex influences the severity and evolution of various inflammatory conditions. Although many studies have demonstrated the role of sex hormones in immune response modulation, recent clinical data revealed significant sex differences in inflammatory markers in prepubertal children, suggesting a genetic contribution. We studied several immune functions depending on X-linked genes in healthy adults of both sexes: the respiratory burst of purified neutrophils, the CD99 and CD11b expression of stimulated leukocytes as markers of adhesion and diapedesis, and the production of inflammatory cytokines in whole blood after incubation with lipopolysaccharide for 24 h. The percentage of monocytes expressing CD99 was higher in men than in women, thus confirming the higher CD99 expression reported in males using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. In addition, we observed a higher tumor necrosis factor &agr; and tendency toward higher interleukin (IL) 6 production in men after lipopolysaccharide stimulation. These differences may contribute to the higher mortality reported in men with septic shock. Tumor necrosis factor &agr; production significantly correlated with monocyte count, with men having a higher monocyte count than women. When cytokine levels were normalized to monocyte counts, a higher IL-8 production was found in women, which may explain the higher neutrophil count observed in girls with acute inflammatory diseases, because IL-8 is a major neutrophil chemoattractant. These sex differences regarding the activation of certain X-linked genes involved in innate immunity confirm our clinical observations, thus supporting the role of sex chromosomes in inflammatory response.
Visualization of regional gene expression biases by microarray data sorting.

analyze expression data. The outline of the method can also be used in other statistical or spreadsheet packages. To demonstrate the method in de tail, we analyzed microarray data from 14 ovarian serous carcinoma grade III (SCA III) and 11 ovarian serous borderline tumors (SBT) because of the fre quent occurrence of chromosomal rear rangements in the SCA IIIs in contrast to the SBTs (7,8). Samples were hybrid ized to GeneChip ® Human Genome
Murine Left Atrium and Left Atrial Appendage Structure and Function: Echocardiographic and Morphologic Evaluation

Aim of this study was to provide an echocardiographic protocol for the description of the normal murine venous reservoir (atrium, appendage and pulmonary veins) and to investigate the possibility to use this approach to discriminate changes on left atrium (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) in a stress-induced model such us myocardial infarction. Global left ventricular function and the venous reservoir were assessed by a Vevo2100 in 20 female C57BL/6N. LA and LAA were also studied in 10 CD-1 and 10 FVB mice, whereas modifications investigated in 15 C57BL/6N subjected to coronary artery ligation. Left ventricle function was evaluated as well as pulsed Doppler mitral valve, pulmonary vein, and LAA velocities. From 2D view monoplane LA volumes were obtained and LAA long axis measured. Macroscopic inspection with casts and immunohistochemistry were performed. Results show that compared to humans, in C57BL/6N mice left atrium was disproportionately smaller (5.2±1.4μL) than the left ventricle (53±8μL) and connected through a duct by a large LAA and posteriorly to three pulmonary veins. The LA volume increased 2-fold during reservoir with two distinct phases, early and late divided by a short pause. LAA long axis (4.1±0.5mm) was almost 2 times longer than the LA. LAA flow volume together with LA volume reservoir account for about 36% of stroke volume and the rest was provided by conduit flow. Linear regressions showed that stroke volume was strongly influenced by LAA flow, LA early filling volume and left ventricle base descent. Moreover, we also report the ability to assess LA and LAA in other mice strains and discriminate size increase following myocardial infarction. In conclusion, we performed a complete characterization of murine left venous reservoir establishing an optimized protocol that can be used in both investigative and pharmacological studies requiring rapid and serial determination of cardiac structure and function.
Characterization of thin films by neural networks and analytical approximations

In this work we focus on the characterization of thin films by Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM). We use the estimations made by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) trained by numerical results from the Generalized Image Charge Method (GICM). The ANN outputs suggest that an effective dielectric constant can be defined for any thin film sample. The definition of an effective dielectric constant allows us to include complex thin film samples in analytical approximations previously developed for much simpler surfaces. From the new analytical formulation we can conclude that the dielectric thin films interact in a complex way. Moreover, the metallic plate below the surface changes the effective dielectric constant, suggesting that its contribution cannot be isolated from the one of the dielectric plates.
Carbon Isotopic Abundances in the Red Giants of ω Centauri (NGC 5139)

12C and 13C abundances have been measured in 11 bright giant members of the globular cluster ω Centauri via observations of the first-overtone CO bands near 2.3 μm. The stars in this sample were selected to span a substantial fraction of the range of iron abundances found in this cluster. In addition, the sample covers a range of [O/Fe], [Na/Fe], and [Al/Fe] abundance ratios derived in previous studies. In all ω Cen giants the 12C/13 C abundance ratio is found to be quite low, indicating deep mixing in these red giants. The mean value for the entire sample is ⟨12C/13C⟩ = 4.3 ± 0.4 (σ = 1.3), with nine stars equal, within the errors, to the equilibrium ratio 12C/13C = 3.5 and two stars having slightly higher values. There is no correlation between the 12C/13 C and the abundance of iron. In addition, no correlation of 12C/13C with [12C/Fe] is found (all giants are deeply mixed), although the derived abundances of [12C/Fe] show a positive correlation with [O/Fe] and an anticorrelation with [Na/Fe] (with the oxygen and sodium abundances taken from previous studies in the literature). A comparison of the isotopic carbon ratios in ω Cen with those from other globular clusters (M4, M71, NGC 6752, and 47 Tuc) and with literature oxygen abundances, may reveal a slight trend of decreasing 12C/13C ratios with decreasing [O/Fe] in the entire globular cluster sample of red giants. A comparison between 12C/13C and both [Na/Fe] and [Al/Fe], however, reveals no trend.
Low‐dose aspirin does not lower in vivo platelet activation in healthy smokers

Smoking causes atherosclerosis, and smokers have increased thromboxane (TXA2) formation. As aspirin inhibits TXA2 production we speculated that smokers would preferentially profit from inhibition of the TXA2 pathway by aspirin. Increased expression of P‐selectin, a constituent of the alpha‐granules of platelets, and increased levels of circulating (c)P‐selectin in plasma are markers for platelet activation.
Mortality and ambient fine particles in southwest Mexico City, 1993-1995.

++Epidemiologic studies have focused attention on the health effects of fine particulate air pollutants <2.5 microm in diameter (PM2.5). To further characterize the potential effects of fine particles, we investigated the relationship of air pollution to mortality in Mexico City during 1993-1995. The concentration of PM2.5 was measured on a 24-hr integrated basis; concentrations of NO2 and ozone were measured hourly and reduced to 24-hr means. Daily mortality was determined from death registration records, and Poisson regression was used to model daily death counts as a function of air pollutant levels on the same and previous days, while controlling for temperature and periodic cycles. Without taking other air pollutants into account, a 10 microg/m3 increase in the level of PM2.5 was associated with a 1.4% increase in total mortality, both on the current day and 4 days after exposure [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.2-2.5]. An equivalent increase in PM2.5 was also associated with somewhat larger excesses of deaths among people over 65 years of age and from cardiovascular and respiratory causes, which occurred after a lag of 4 days. The mean concentration of ozone over a 2-day period was associated with a 1.8% increase in mortality from cardiovascular diseases. NO2 was not consistently related to mortality. Fine particles had an independent effect on mortality when modeled simultaneously with other pollutants, and the association of ozone with cardiovascular mortality was strengthened after adjusting for NO2 and PM2.5. These results support previous findings that urban air pollution at current levels leads to excess mortality and suggest that fine particles may play a causal role in producing that excess. ImagesFigure 1
Distributed Cognition Artifacts on Clinical Research Data Collection Forms

Medical record abstraction, a primary mode of data collection in secondary data use, is associated with high error rates. Cognitive factors have not been studied as a possible explanation for medical record abstraction errors. We employed the theory of distributed representation and representational analysis to systematically evaluate cognitive demands in medical record abstraction and the extent of external cognitive support employed in a sample of clinical research data collection forms. We show that the cognitive load required for abstraction in 61% of the sampled data elements was high, exceedingly so in 9%. Further, the data collection forms did not support external cognition for the most complex data elements. High working memory demands are a possible explanation for the association of data errors with data elements requiring abstractor interpretation, comparison, mapping or calculation. The representational analysis used here can be used to identify data elements with high cognitive demands.
Reduced Storage, Quasi-Newton Trust Region Approaches to Function Optimization

In this paper we consider several algorithms for reducing the storage when using a quasi-Newton method in a dogleg--trust region setting for minimizing functions of many variables. Secant methods require O(n2) locations to store an approximate Hessian and O(n2) operations per iteration when minimizing a function of n variables. This storage requirement becomes impractical when n becomes large. Our algorithms use a BFGS update and require kn storage and $4kn + O(k2) operations per iteration, but they may require more iterations than the standard trust region techniques. Typically k is between 10 and 100. Our dogleg--trust region strategies involve expressions with matrix products with both the inverse of this Hessian and with the Hessian itself. Our techniques for updating expressions for the Hessian and its inverse can be used to improve the performance of line search, limited memory algorithms.
Securing MANETs with BITSI: danger theory and mission continuity

MANET (Mobile Ad hoc Network) environments are becoming increasingly important as potential users recognize the benefits of being able to create a functional network using little or no fixed infrastructure. Unfortunately, the very properties that provide such flexibility also cause significant complications in terms of security. The collaborative nature of the system combined with its continual state of flux requires solutions that are highly dynamic, and that can adapt to massive changes in system resources, traffic patterns and network topology. In this paper, we outline a new approach to MANET security called BITSI (the Biologically-Inspired Tactical Security Infrastructure). BITSI is based upon the concepts of Artificial Immune Systems and Danger Theory. After introducing the motivations for BITSI we provide a brief description of its underlying theories and proposed architecture. Two experiments conducted within our MANET simulator are described, and we demonstrate that BITSI can detect and respond to certain classes of Denial of Service attacks. Finally, we describe our future plans for BITSI, and how its approach can be combined with other, more traditional, security solutions.
An Experimental Analysis of Anytime Algorithms for Bayesian Network Structure Learning

Bayesian networks are a widely used graphical model with diverse applications in knowledge discovery, classiﬁcation, and decision making. Learning a Bayesian network from discrete data can be cast as a combinatorial optimization problem and thus solved using optimization techniques—the well-known score-and-search approach. An important consideration when applying a score-and-search method for Bayesian network structure learning (BNSL) is its anytime behavior; i.e., how does the quality of the solution found improve as a function of the amount of time given to the algorithm. Previous studies of the anytime behavior of methods for BNSL are limited by the scale of the instances used in the evaluation and evaluate only algorithms that do not scale to larger instances. In this paper, we perform an extensive evaluation of the anytime behavior of the current state-of-the-art algorithms for BNSL. Our benchmark instances range from small (instances with fewer than 20 random variables) to massive (instances with more than 1,500 random variables). We ﬁnd that a local search algorithm based on memetic search dominates the performance of other state-of-the-art algorithms when considering anytime behavior.
Convergence and disagreement analysis of opinion dynamics

Recently, opinion dynamics have drawn much attention with mathematical and simulation analysis. In this paper, we propose a second-order opinion model composed of stubborn agents and regular agents as well as internal opinion dynamics. We first consider the opinion evolution and fluctuation analysis, and then obtain that the steady-state expectation value of the regular agents, which depend on the interaction topology and the stubborn agents, though the regular agents keep fluctuating. Then we also give an estimation of disagreement for the regular agents based on variance for this opinion dynamics model.
High variation in clonal vs. sexual reproduction in populations of the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana (Rosaceae).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Many plants reproduce both clonally and sexually, and the balance between the two modes of reproduction will vary among populations. Clonal reproduction was characterized in three populations of the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, to determine the extent that reproductive mode varied locally between sites. The study sites were fragmented woodlands in Cook County, Illinois, USA. METHODS A total of 95 strawberry ramets were sampled from the three sites via transects. Ramets were mapped and genotyped at five variable microsatellite loci. The variability at these five loci was sufficient to assign plants to clones with high confidence, and the spatial pattern of genets was mapped at each site. KEY RESULTS A total of 27 distinct multilocus genotypes were identified. Of these, 18 genotypes were detected only once, with the remaining nine detected in multiple ramets. The largest clone was identified in 16 ramets. No genets were shared between sites, and each site exhibited markedly different clonal and sexual recruitment patterns, ranging from two non-overlapping and widespread genets to 19 distinct genets. Only one flowering genet was female; the remainder were hermaphrodites. CONCLUSIONS Local population history or fine-scale ecological differences can result in dramatically different reproductive patterns at small spatial scales. This finding may be fairly widespread among clonal plant species, and studies that aim to characterize reproductive modes in species capable of asexual reproduction need to evaluate reproductive modes in multiple populations and sites.
A fast and robust exact algorithm for face embedding

We present a new matrix formulation of the face hypercube embedding problem that motivates the design of an efficient search strategy to find an encoding that satisfies all faces of minimum length. Increasing dimensions of the Boolean space are explored; for a given dimension constraints are satisfied one at a time. The following features help to reduce the nodes of the solution space that must be explored: candidate cubes instead of candidate codes are generated, cubes yielding symmetric solutions are not generated, a smaller sufficient set of solutions (producing basic sections) is explored, necessary conditions help discard unsuitable candidate cubes, early detection that a partial solution cannot be extended to be a global solution prunes infeasible portions of the search tree. We have implemented a prototype package MINSK based on the previous ideas and run experiments to evaluate it. The experiments show that MINSK is faster and solves more problems than any available algorithm. Moreover, MINSK is a robust algorithm, while most of the proposed alternatives are not. Besides most problems of the complete MCNC benchmark suite, other solved examples include an important set of decoder PLAs coming from the design of microprocessor instruction sets.
Obstacle Avoidance for the Segway Robotic Mobility Platform

This paper presents an obstacle avoidance system for the Segway Robotic Mobility Platform (RMP). The system consists of four main modules: terrain mapping, terrain traversability analysis, path planning, and motion control. The main sensor in our system is a forward/downward-looking 2-D Sick laser rangefinder. The terrain mapping module registers realtime laser range data into a grid-type elevation map. The traversal property of the elevation map is then analyzed by the traversability analysis module, which transforms the elevation map into a traversability map.The paper introduces a new concept called “traversability field histogram,” which is used to transform the traversability map into a one-dimensional polar histogram. Finally, the path planning module determines the steering and velocity commands and sends them to the motion control module.
Scaling Up Word Sense Disambiguation via Parallel Texts

A critical porblem faced by current supervised WSD systems is the lack or manually annotated training data. Tackling this data acquisition bottleneck is crucial, in order to build high-accuracy and wide-coverage WSD systems. In this paper, we show that the approach of automatically gathering training examples from parallel texts is scalable to a large set of nouns. We conducted evaluation on the nouns of SENSEVAL-2 English all-words task, using fine-grained sense scoring. Our evaluation shows that training on examples gathered from 680MB of parallel texts achieves accuracy comparable to the best system of SENSEVAL-2 English all-words task, and significantly outperforms the baseline of always choosing sense 1 of WordNet.