Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of competitor presence on pacing regulation and performance during cycling time trials

Previous deception methods exploring the influence of competitors to hide manipulations of feedback have found improvements in performance. They have however, investigated such effects without investigating the mechanisms arising from competitor manipulations. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the mechanistic influence of deception and of competitor presence upon pace regulation, physiological responses, and psychological emotions, during cycling time trials (TT). Study one confirmed that the influence of competitor presence facilitated performance, enabling athletes to improve TT performance greater than their previous maximal. It also highlighted mechanistic understanding of such performance improvements, illustrating that the presence of an opponent encouraged an increased motivation and a reduced internal attentional focus. Study two demonstrated that the presence of competitors surreptitiously manipulated to a greater intensity also induced performance improvements, irrespective of the magnitude of deceptive manipulation, and the number of competitors. The magnitude of manipulation and the quantity of competitors did however produce alternative pacing and perceptual responses (ratings of perceived exertion, affect and self-efficacy). The final study provided insight into the effect of performing a starting strategy faster or slower than normal in response to a competitor’s pace. It outlined that although no performance detriment or improvement occurred when selecting an alternative starting speed, there was a residual impact on the remaining duration pace, and perceptual responses. These studies provide novel and important information concerning the influences of competitor presence and deception manipulations on pacing and perceptual feeling states. The findings provide practical implications for future training practices, and offer mechanistic understanding of the provision of opponents, aiding the development of optimal pace regulation during cycling competition.
Decreased Microvascular Nitric Oxide–Dependent Vasodilation in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

Background— One variant of postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), designated low-flow POTS, is associated with decreased peripheral blood flow related to impaired local vascular regulation. Methods and Results— To investigate the hypothesis that microvascular endothelial dysfunction produces decreased peripheral blood flow in low-flow POTS, we performed experiments using laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) combined with iontophoresis in 15 low-flow POTS patients, 17 normal-flow POTS patients, and 13 healthy reference volunteers varying in age from 14 to 22 years. We tested whether α-adrenergic vasoregulation was impaired using iontophoretic delivery of tyramine, phentolamine, and bretylium followed by a norepinephrine dose response. We tested endothelial-dependent and -independent receptor-mediated vasodilation by measuring acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside dose responses. We tested whether nitric oxide–dependent vasodilation was different in these groups by testing the local thermal hyperemic response to saline used as a reference compared with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). Adrenergic and receptor-dependent cutaneous vasoregulation was similar for low-flow POTS, normal-flow POTS, and reference subjects. Thermal hyperemia produced distinctly different findings: there was marked attenuation of the nitric oxide–sensitive plateau during prolonged heating, which was insensitive to L-NAME in low-flow POTS subjects. The pattern of thermal hyperemia response in low-flow POTS subjects during saline administration resembled the pattern in reference subjects during L-NAME administration and was minimally affected by L-NAME. Conclusions— The data suggest that flow-dependent nitric oxide release is reduced in low-flow POTS. This may account for local flow regulation abnormalities.
Metaphorical polysemy and paradigmatic relations: A corpus study

AbstractThe recent cognitive view of metaphor has implications for semantic relations between established metaphorical senses of polysemous lexemes. It has been suggested that the relations of synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy holding between literal senses of lexemes may be replicated by their metaphorical senses. In this paper, lexemes with literal senses in the semantic areas of temperature, illness and tools are examined using concordance data from a large computerized corpus. Semantic relations between their literal and metaphorical senses are studied. It is concluded that semantic relations between literal senses are upheld between their metaphorical counterparts at the most general, abstract level, but that there are a number of inconsistencies when specific uses and collocational patterns are examined. The metaphorical senses of frequent lexemes such as hot or cold are less likely to behave predictably than the metaphorical senses of less frequent lexemes such as chilly or tepid, which often form se.
Non-Linear Statistical Static Timing Analysis for Non-Gaussian Variation Sources

Existing statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) techniques suffer from limited modeling capability by using a linear delay model with Gaussian distribution, or have scalability problems due to expensive operations involved to handle non-Gaussian variation sources or non-linear delays. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel SSTA technique to handle both nonlinear delay dependency and non- Gaussian variation sources simultaneously. We develop efficient algorithms to perform all statistical atomic operations (such as max and add) efficiently via either closed- form formulas or one-dimensional lookup tables. The resulting timing quantity provably preserves the correlation with variation sources to the third-order. We prove that the complexity of our algorithm is linear in both variation sources and circuit sizes, hence our algorithm scales well for large designs. Compared to Monte Carlo simulation for non-Gaussian variation sources and nonlinear delay models, our approach predicts all timing characteristics of circuit delay with less than 2% error.
An outranking approach for rank aggregation in information retrieval

Research in Information Retrieval usually shows performanceimprovement when many sources of evidence are combined to produce a ranking of documents (e.g., texts, pictures, sounds, etc.). In this paper, we focus on the rank aggregation problem, also called data fusion problem, where rankings of documents, searched into the same collection and provided by multiple methods, are combined in order to produce a new ranking. In this context, we propose a rank aggregation method within a multiple criteria framework using aggregation mechanisms based on decision rules identifying positive and negative reasons for judging whether a document should get a better rank than another. We show that the proposed method deals well with the Information Retrieval distinctive features. Experimental results are reported showing that the suggested method performs better than the well-known CombSUM and CombMNZ operators.
REWINDING THE TAPE: SELECTION OF ALGAE ADAPTED TO HIGH CO2 AT CURRENT AND PLEISTOCENE LEVELS OF CO2

Abstract Selective history is thought to constrain the extent and direction of future adaptation by limiting access to genotypes that are advantageous in a novel environment. Populations of Chlamydomonas previously selected at high CO2 were either backselected at ambient levels of CO2, or selected at levels of CO2 that last occurred during glaciation in the Pleistocene. There was no effect of selective history on adaptation to either level of CO2, and the high CO2 phenotypes were evolutionarily reversible such that fitness in ambient CO2 returned to values seen in controls. CO2 uptake affinity improved relative to the ancestor in both ambient and glacial CO2, although wild-type regulation of CO2 uptake, which deteriorated during previous selection at high CO2, was not restored by selection at lower levels of CO2. Trade-offs in both CO2 uptake affinity and growth were seen after selection at any given level of CO2. Adaptation to ambient and glacial-era levels of CO2 produced a range of phenotypes, suggesting that chance rather than selective history contributes to the divergence of replicate populations in this system.
Refolding of Denatured/Reduced Lysozyme at High Concentration with Diafiltration

Refolding of reduced and denatured protein in vitro has been an important issue for both basic research and applied biotechnology. Refolding at low protein concentration requires large volumes of refolding buffer. Among various refolding methods, diafiltration is very useful to control the denaturant and red/ox reagents in a refolding solution. We constructed a refolding procedure of high lysozyme concentration (0.5-10 mg/ml) based on the linear reduction of the urea concentration during diafiltration under oxygen pressure. When the urea concentration in the refolding vessel was decreased from 4 M with a rate of 0.167 M/h, the refolding yields were 85% and 63% at protein concentrations, 5 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml, respectively, after 11 h. This method gave a high productivity of 40.1 μM/h of the refolding lysozyme. The change in refolding yields during the diafiltration could be simulated using the model of Hevehan and Clark.
Color contrast and stability as key elements for effective warning signals

Vivid warning signals (aposematism) have evolved repeatedly throughout the animal kingdom. However, relatively few studies consider what makes an effective signal, such as in terms of preventing attack and promoting avoidance learning by predators. Signal form varies substantially among and sometimes within species, but there has also been apparent convergence on relatively few main color types. We aimed to determine why warning signals often combine red, orange, yellow and black colors, and specifically to determine whether these colors provide highly salient and reliable visual signals under a range of environmental conditions. Using digital image analysis, we modeled ladybird (ladybug) coloration to an avian visual system. We calculated the contrast of several different ladybird species against an average green background, based on predicted opponent color channel responses in bird vision. Our results suggest that longwave colors (i.e. red, orange) are more contrasting than colors such as blue, against green natural backgrounds. Moreover, these colors yield relatively unchanging (stable) signals throughout the day and under different weather conditions. These analyses show how aposematic signals have evolved under selection to be more effective by being more conspicuous and reliable to the visual system of their potential avian predators.
A quantitative risk assessment method for space flight software systems

A risk index factor has been developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center in order to quantify the risk associated with individual software components in programs developed for space flight applications. Risk can be defined as the combination of the likelihood of a failure occurrence with the consequence of that occurrence. The risk index attempts to quantify this product, utilizing the results from software complexity analysis, the evaluation of test coverage, and a failure modes and effects analysis. This report presents an overview of the development of the risk index factor as well as the methodology used in performing the support analyses. Results from the data collected for two dissimilar space flight projects are also presented.
Viscous potential flow analysis of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in a channel

We study the stability of stratified gas–liquid flow in a horizontal rectangular channel using viscous potential flow. The analysis leads to an explicit dispersion relation in which the effects of surface tension and viscosity on the normal stress are not neglected but the effect of shear stresses is. Formulas for the growth rates, wave speeds and neutral stability curve are given in general and applied to experiments in air–water flows. The effects of surface tension are always important and determine the stability limits for the cases in which the volume fraction of gas is not too small. The stability criterion for viscous potential flow is expressed by a critical value of the relative velocity. The maximum critical value is when the viscosity ratio is equal to the density ratio; surprisingly the neutral curve for this viscous fluid is the same as the neutral curve for inviscid fluids. The maximum critical value of the velocity of all viscous fluids is given by that for inviscid fluid. For air at 20°C and liquids with density ρ = 1 g cm−3 the liquid viscosity for the critical conditions is 15 cP: the critical velocity for liquids with viscosities larger than 15 cP is only slightly smaller but the critical velocity for liquids with viscosities smaller than 15 cP, like water, can be much lower. The viscosity of the liquid has a strong effect on the growth rate. The viscous potential flow theory fits the experimental data for air and water well when the gas fraction is greater than about 70%.
BiCMOS Current-Controlled Current Feedback Amplifier (CC-CFA) and Its Applications

This paper introduces a modified version of current feedback amplifier (CFA), called current controlled current feedback amplifier (CC-CFA), to extend usabilities of this active element in terms of electronic control-abilities and simpler circuit description of the element's applications. This modified element was realized by using a BiCMOS standard technology to reduce offset error phenomenon, the design configuration is systematically explained. The performances have been proven through PSPICE which is accordance with theoretical anticipations. In addition, application examples for a current-mode multiplier/divider, oscillator, grounded inductance simulator, filters, and amplifiers are included. The results are confirmed that the electrical characteristics are electronically tunable.
Role of APACHE score in predicting mortality in chest ICU.

OBJECTIVE To determine the first 24 hours mean values of APACHE II score for two outcomes (alive or dead) in patients admitted in chest ICUs. METHODS A prospective study was conducted in the Department of Chest, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Hospital, Karachi from January 2009 to December 2009. Patients of all ages and either gender admitted in chest ICU for any cause, were consecutively enrolled. All patients with incomplete records and missing variables including laboratory investigations or who had not been followed up due to any reason were excluded. Patients who were readmitted in the ICU were also excluded. The main outcomes were the first 24 hours mean APACHE II score of the sample and first 24 hours mean APACHE II score of patients who were later discharged or had died. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 53.16 +/- 19.29 years. Out of 143 participants 84 (58.7%) were males and 59 (41.3%) females. The main diagnosis included COPD with acute exacerbation 63 (44.05%), post TB fibrosis 17 (11.88%), acute severe asthma 14 (9.79%) and pneumonia 12 (8.39%) patients. The results found that 63 out of 143 patients were alive whereas 80 patients died. The mean APACHE II score on first 24 hours was 20.09 +/- 7.49. The mean 24 hours APACHE II score of patients who were discharged and who died was 18.93 +/- 7.19 and 22.33 +/- 7.80 respectively. CONCLUSION Our preliminary results showed that it is recommended to determine the cut off levels of APACHE II scores in patients admitted with chest ICU.
A step forward in manual welding: demonstration of augmented reality helmet

A new welding helmet for the manual welding process has been developed. The welders working conditions are improved by augmenting the visual information before and during welding. The image is improved by providing a better view of the working area. An online quality assistant is available during welding, suggesting the correction of the guns position or pointing out welding errors, by analyzing the electrical welding parameters. An assembly advisor will suggest the assembly sequence, by displaying the type and the position of the following piece into the actual ensemble. In addition, an available online documentation of the welding process gives an opportunity to reduce the effort of post process quality assurance which often uses expensive X-ray investigations.
A BRIEF MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING INTERVENTION (SIESTA) FOR ADOLESCENT SLEEP : EFFECTS ON NEUROCOGNITION AND SLEEP-RELATED BEHAVIOR

FOR ADOLESCENT SLEEP: EFFECTS ON NEUROCOGNITION AND SLEEP-RELATED BEHAVIOR (Under the direction of Dr. D. Erik Everhart) Department of Psychology, March 2013. Several studies have described sleep characteristics of adolescents, concluding that adolescent sleep lacks duration, quality, and consistency. Due to behavioral, environmental and biological changes, adolescents tend to prefer to stay up late and demonstrate considerable difficulty awakening in the morning for school. Study 1 of this dissertation examined sleep characteristics, demographics, and egocentrism in a large sample (N = 521) of adolescents from a middle and high school in a low-SES ethnically diverse school district. Minorities and individuals of low SES are particularly vulnerable to health disparities, with limited research efforts focused towards exploration of sleep habits in youth that are linked to overall health and mortality as adults Due to the wide range of negative consequences, including poor academic performance, increased risk of accidents, and increased risk of mental and physical health concerns, associated with inadequate sleep among adolescents, intervention has been an important focus of psychologists. Study 2 of this dissertation focused on the development of a 4-week, small group intervention (School-based Intervention to Establish Sleep Skills Tailored to Adolescents (SIESTA) incorporating principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing. Additionally, this approach targeted volunteers to participate rather than making the intervention mandatory, in contrast to prior interventions. Overall, very few of the eligible participants volunteered to participate (N = 12). However, these intervention participants showed a significant improvement in daytime sleepiness and increase in school-night sleep duration. They also demonstrated a significant improvement in reaction time and processing speed after the intervention. There was a large, positive correlation between estimated intelligence and
Increased p66Shc in the Inner Ear of D-Galactose-Induced Aging Mice with Accumulation of Mitochondrial DNA 3873-bp Deletion: p66Shc and mtDNA Damage in the Inner Ear during Aging

Aging has been associated with mitochondrial DNA damage. P66Shc is an age-related adaptor protein that has a substantial impact on mitochondrial metabolism through regulation of the cellular response to oxidative stress. Our study aimed to establish a D-galactose (D-gal)-induced inner ear aging mouse model and to investigate the potential role of p66Shc and its serine 36-phosphorylated form in the inner ear during aging by using this model. Real-time PCR was performed to detect the mtDNA 3873-bp deletion and the level of p66Shc mRNA in the cochlear lateral wall. Western blot analysis was performed to analyze the total and mitochondrial protein levels of p66Shc and the level of Ser36-P-p66Shc in the cochlear lateral wall. Immunofluoresence was performed to detect the location of the Ser36-P-p66Shc expression in the cochlear lateral wall. The results showed that the accumulation of the mtDNA 3873-bp deletion, total and mitochondrial protein levels of p66Shc and level of Ser36-P-p66Shc were significantly increased in the cochlear lateral wall of the D-gal-treated group when compared to the control group and that Ser36-P-p66Shc was mainly localized in the cytoplasm of the cells in the stria vascularis. During aging, the oxidative stress-related increase of p66Shc and Ser36-P-p66Shc might be associated with the accumulation of the mtDNA 3873-bp deletion in the inner ear.
Dynamic Pricing Agents and Multiagent Learning

A material unloader is presented having a cargo box structure with front and side walls. There is a beater mechanism rotatively mounted transversely at the rear of the cargo box and an endless apron conveyor disposed along the bottom for conveying material rearwardly to the beater. A main drive shaft powered from the PTO of the towing vehicle extends along one side of the cargo box where it interconnects with gear boxes for both the beater and the conveyor. The interconnection includes clutches and levers to actuate the clutches, together with drive coupling means. The positioning of the levers is simultaneously affected by a cam actuated control assembly mounted on the front wall of the cargo box. The control assembly comprises a rotatably mounted control shaft on which there is secured a multilobe cam plus a pawl and ratchet mechanism indexed by a pull rope for sequentially establishing a multiplicity of conveyor and beater unit drive conditions using a cam follower to relay commands via a control cable.
Common basis for cellular motility

Motility is characteristic of life, but a common basis for movement has remained to be identified. Diverse systems in motion shift between two states depending on interactions that turnover at the rate of an applied cycle of force. Although one phase of the force cycle terminates the decay of the most recent state, continuation of the cycle of force regenerates the original decay process in a recursive cycle. By completing a cycle, kinetic energy is transformed into probability of sustaining the most recent state and the system gains a frame of reference for discrete transitions having static rather than time-dependent probability. The probability of completing a recursive cycle is computed with a Markov chain comprised of two equilibrium states and a kinetic intermediate. Given rate constants for the reactions, a random walk reproduces bias and recurrence times of walking motor molecules and bacterial flagellar switching with unrivaled fidelity.
Accessing alignments of ontologies via IoT based on SKOS data model

Many ontologies are provided to representing semantic sensors data. However, heterogeneity exists in different sensors which makes some service operators of Internet of Thing (IoT) difficult (such as such as semantic inferring, non-linear inverted index establishing, service composing). There is a great deal of research about sensor ontology alignment dealing with the heterogeneity between the different sensor ontologies, but fewer solutions focus on exploiting syntaxes in a sensor ontology and the pattern of accessing alignments. Our solution infers alignments by extending structural subsumption algorithms to analyze syntaxes in a sensor ontology, and then combines the alignments with the SKOS model to construct the integration sensor ontology, which can be accessed via the IoT. The experiments show that the integration senor ontology in the SKOS model can be utilized via the IoT service, and the accuracy of our prototype, in average, is higher than others over the four real ontologies.
Predictive application-performance modeling in a computational grid environment

This paper describes and evaluates the application of three local learning algorithms-nearest-neighbor, weighted-average, and locally-weighted polynomial regression-for the prediction of run-specific resource-usage on the basis of run-time input parameters supplied to tools. A two-level knowledge base allows the learning algorithms to track short-term fluctuations in the performances of computing systems, and the use of instance editing techniques improves the scalability of the performance-modeling system. The learning algorithms assist PUNCH, a network-computing system at Purdue University, in emulating an ideal user in terms of its resource management and usage policies.