Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing Cognitive and Computational Models of Narrative Structure

A growing number of applications seek to incorporate automatically generated narrative structure into interactive virtual environments. In this paper, we evaluate a representation for narrative structure generated by an automatic planning system by 1) mapping the plans that control plot into conceptual graphs used by QUEST, an existing framework for question-answering analysis that includes structures for modeling a reader's narrative comprehension and 2) using methods originally employed by QUEST's developers to determine if the plan structures can serve as effective models of the understanding that human users form after viewing corresponding stories played out within a virtual world. Results from our analysis are encouraging, though additional work is required to expand the plan language to cover a broader class of narrative structure.
High-Performance Motion Control of the METIS Cold Chopper Mechanism

We present the main results of the performance test campaign of the Mid-Infrared European Extremely Large Telescope Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) Cold Chopper Demonstrator (MCCD). This tip/tilt mirror, which operates at a temperature of 77 K, is one of the critical components in the METIS for the European Extremely Large Telescope. The performance requirements of the MCCD relate to the field of fast and very accurate reference tracking. We discuss the applicability of different high-performance motion control strategies and describe the control synthesis of a repetitive and of a novel hybrid controller. We identified the presence of nonlinearities in the plant, which limits the performance of the hybrid controller. The repetitive controller shows very promising results and can handle the nonlinearities in the system. This experimental phase concludes the MCCD program, which was initiated to verify the feasibility of a high-performance cryogenic tip/tilt mirror at an early stage in the METIS development. Because of the very promising test results, no significant changes to the hardware will be implemented. We believe that minor adjustments will suffice to meet all requirements of the final hardware after integration with the METIS instrument.
How the brain constructs stable visual representations: Cortical and subcortical mechanisms

Our eyes are constantly moving yet our perception remains stable. Neurons in lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) update spatial representations by "remapping" visual information at the time of an eye movement. In order for remapping to occur over a wide range of eye movements, neurons must have access to visual information from the entire visual scene. The forebrain commissures appear to be the primary pathway for the transfer of visual information across hemispheres but they are not necessary. If the forebrain commissures are transected, behavior dependent on accurate spatial updating is impaired, but recovers. In three sets of experiments we examined different mechanisms of spatial updating in split brain monkeys. First, we studied the relationship between neural activity in LIP and the behavior of the monkey. We found across the population a small but significant relationship between the activity in LIP and the performance of the split brain monkey on the double-step task. This result showed that information about the opposite visual field still reaches LIP, and this activity contributes to the overall behavior of the monkey.Second, we determined if LIP neurons in the split brain monkeys have bilateral receptive fields. One explanation for the observed across-hemifield remapping is that information from both visual fields are represented in a single hemisphere. We found no neurons in the split brain monkeys with ipsilateral representations. We concluded that there must be a subcortical source for the across-hemifield remapping observed in the split brain monkeys.Third, we examined the difference in spatial updating between intact and split brain monkeys in the superior colliculus (SC). In both the intermediate layers of the SC and LIP, neural activity is selectively reduced for the across-hemifield condition in split brain compared to intact animals. This suggest that remapping activity is passed from LIP to the intermediate layers of the SC. In contrast, remapping activity in the superfical layers did not differ between the intact and split brain monkeys. It may be that the superfical neurons contribute to recovered remapping activity observed in LIP.
Joint denoising and narrowband artifact rejection for ECG signals

ECG signals are corrupted by various kinds of noise and artifacts that may negatively affect any subsequent analysis. In particular, narrowband artifacts include power-line interference and harmonic artifacts. Customarily, noise reduction and artifact rejection are tackled as two distinct problems. In this paper, we propose a joint approach to de-noising and narrowband artifact rejection that exploits the local structure of a noisy ECG. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the approach and highlight a notable ability to remove both noise and narrowband artifacts in ECG signals.
NBTI and leakage aware sleep transistor design for reliable and energy efficient power gating

In this paper we show that power gating techniques become more effective during their lifetime, since the aging of sleep transistors (STs) due to negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) drastically reduces leakage power. Based on this property, we propose an NBTI and leakage aware ST design method for reliable and energy efficient power gating. Through SPICE simulations, we show lifetime extension up to 19.9x and average leakage power reduction up to 14.4% compared to standard STs design approach without additional area overhead. Finally, when a maximum 10-year lifetime target is considered, we show that the proposed method allows multiple beneficial options compared to a standard STs design method: either to improve circuit operating frequency up to 9.53% or to reduce ST area overhead up to 18.4%.
DCT Regularized Extreme Visual Recovery

Here we study the extreme visual recovery problem, in which over 90% of pixel values in a given image are missing. Existing low rank-based algorithms are only effective for recovering data with at most 90% missing values. Thus, we exploit visual data’s smoothness property to help solve this challenging extreme visual recovery problem. Based on the discrete cosine transform (DCT), we propose a novel DCT regularizer that involves all pixels and produces smooth estimations in any view. Our theoretical analysis shows that the total variation regularizer, which only achieves local smoothness, is a special case of the proposed DCT regularizer. We also develop a new visual recovery algorithm by minimizing the DCT regularizer and nuclear norm to achieve a more visually pleasing estimation. Experimental results on a benchmark image data set demonstrate that the proposed approach is superior to the state-of-the-art methods in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity.
EXAMINATION OF THE SCALING OF HUMAN JUMPING

On the basis of the principles of geometric scaling, maximum vertical-jump height should decrease in an approximately linear fashion with increasing mass. To test this prediction, a group of 10 male subjects performed maximum vertical jumps with masses up to 22.7 kg strapped to their trunks. The results from these jumps indicated that jump height did scale on an individual basis in a linear fashion. A computer simulation model of jumping was developed that permitted the examination of a greater range of masses than was possible experimentally. The simulations also support the trend of linear scaling, but do replicate the decrement expected based on geometric scaling principles. Experimental and simulation model results provide evidence for a linear decrement in subject maximum vertical-jump height with increasing mass, which is relevant information for athletes aiming to increase their body mass or performing jump training while carrying additional mass.
Thyroglobulin detection in fine-needle aspirates of cervical lymph nodes: a technique for the diagnosis of metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer.

BACKGROUND Fine-needle aspiration cytology is frequently used for differential diagnosis of neck masses of unknown origin. Inconclusive and even false-negative results are not uncommon. AIM To evaluate the utility of thyroglobulin (Tg) measurement in fine-needle aspirates (FNA-Tg) for detecting cervical lymph node (CLNs) metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinomas. METHODS An ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration was done in 67 patients with 83 suspicious enlarged CLNs to obtain material for cytology and Tg measurement in the needle washout, using an immunometric chemiluminescent assay. Measurement of anti-Tg antibodies (FNA-TgAb) was also carried out in half of all the aspirates. Subjects were divided into two groups: one of 16 patients awaiting thyroidectomy and the other of 51 patients in follow-up after surgery. RESULTS The first group of patients had positive FNA biopsy (FNAB-Tg) in 14 out of the 18 studied CLNs with a range of 3.2-43 352 ng/ml, while FNAB-cytology indicated metastasis in only 8 out of the 14 CLNs with positive histology. A total of 65 CLNs were studied in the follow-up group. Lymphadenectomy was performed in 23 patients and 28 aspirated CLNs were removed. Histology confirmed the diagnosis of metastasis suggested by FNAB-Tg in 20 CLNs and of reactive lymphadenitis in the remaining 8 CLNs. FNAB-cytology was positive in only 11 CLNs. Sensitivity of FNAB-Tg was not affected by the studied FNAB-TgAb. CONCLUSIONS The FNAB-Tg achieved a sensitivity of 100% in both groups. FNAB-Tg is an easy and inexpensive technique which proved to increase the diagnostic of cytology in the early diagnosis of papillary carcinoma recurrence to CLN even in the presence of serum TgAb.
Comparing Apples and Oranges: Off-Road Pedestrian Detection on the NREC Agricultural Person-Detection Dataset

Person detection from vehicles has made rapid progress recently with the advent of multiple highquality datasets of urban and highway driving, yet no large-scale benchmark is available for the same problem in off-road or agricultural environments. Here we present the NREC Agricultural Person-Detection Dataset to spur research in these environments. It consists of labeled stereo video of people in orange and apple orchards taken from two perception platforms (a tractor and a pickup truck), along with vehicle position data from RTK GPS. We define a benchmark on part of the dataset that combines a total of 76k labeled person images and 19k sampled person-free images. The dataset highlights several key challenges of the domain, including varying environment, substantial occlusion by vegetation, people in motion and in non-standard poses, and people seen from a variety of distances; meta-data are included to allow targeted evaluation of each of these effects. Finally, we present baseline detection performance results for three leading approaches from urban pedestrian detection and our own convolutional neural network approach that benefits from the incorporation of additional image context. We show that the success of existing approaches on urban data does not transfer directly to this domain.
Resolution of metabolic columns by a double-label 2-DG technique: interdigitation and coincidence in visual cortical areas of the same monkey

A double-label modification of the 2-deoxyglucose (DG) technique uses both 3H-2-DG and 14C-2-DG and allows for metabolic activity engaged by 2 distinct experimental conditions to be dissociated throughout the brain of a single subject. In the present study, we used this double- label method to examine the relationship between metabolic columns subserving the 2 eyes in cortical visual areas V1 and V2. The left and right eye's ocular dominance columns were separately activated in the same monkey to demonstrate that the double-label 2-DG method can resolve metabolic differences at the level of the cortical column. In 2 monkeys, 14C-2-DG was injected first and one eye was occluded while the other eye was visually stimulated for 30 min. Then 3H-2-DG was injected, and the occluder was switched so that the alternate eye was stimulated with the same pattern for 30 min. Autoradiographs depicting the 2 labels separately were obtained by exploiting the differential sensitivity of X-ray film and Ultrofilm to 3H and 14C emissions and by applying a radioactivity-subtraction algorithm to pairs of digitized images of the same section (Friedman et al., 1987). Columnar regions of increased activity were evident throughout V1, excepting the representations of the optic disk and monocular crescent. Superimposition of the 3H and 14C images from the same sections demonstrated that columns of increased 3H label were interdigitated with columns of increased 14C label in V1. In contrast, bands of increased 3H-2-DG uptake in extrastriate area V2 were largely coincident with the bands of increased 14C-2-DG uptake. These results illustrate the value of the double-label 2-DG technique for studying fluctuations of metabolic activity under different experimental conditions in the same subject. In the present example, the demonstration that ocular dominance columns are interdigitated in V1, whereas metabolically active bands are coincident in V2, would not have been fully appreciated by comparing 2-DG labeling across separate animals.
Why Did They Do That?: Exploring Attribution Mismatches Between Native and Non-Native Speakers Using Videoconferencing

The meaning we attribute to another's actions significantly impact our subsequent behaviors and interactions towards that person. Distributed teams often combine native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) and are particularly prone to making attribution errors. Language difficulties place NNS under a higher cognitive load, potentially leading NS to make inaccurate attributions of NNS. We conducted an exploratory laboratory study to investigate the attributions NS and NNS form about each other in multiparty videoconferencing. Our findings revealed significant mismatches in NS' attributions of NNS behavior, but no significant mismatch in NNS' attributions of NS behavior. Due to cognitive overload stemming from language challenges, NNS were only able to engage in "compromised" impression management during the task. Yet, NS were relatively unaware of how profoundly language difficulties impacted NNS' behaviors. Our findings identify opportunities for technology support for NS-NNS interactions, particularly with regards to impression construction and impression management.
Progress and outlook for STT-MRAM

New product applications have an increasing demand for a non-volatile memory (NVM) exhibiting higher speeds, extended endurance and lower power consumption as existing solutions are not fully capable to deliver on all of these attributes. Of the group of new NVMs, Phase-change RAM (PRAM), Resistive RAM (RRAM) and Spin-Transfer Torque based MRAM (STT-MRAM) [1–8], STT-MRAM has the most attractive combination of fast read and write speed (<30 ns) and high endurance (>1015) along with non-volatility. We will review the recent progress on STT-MRAM at both the MTJ device and CMOS integrated chip levels. In the technical area, the key focus is switching current (or voltage) reduction at short pulse width (<10 ns) while maintaining high magnetic bit thermal stability. Results from novel MTJs achieving low switching current while maintaining high thermal stability will be presented. First generation STT-MRAM products are being targeted using in-plane based MTJs, and future products below 45 nm will likely require perpendicular MTJ (pMTJ) designs. The later is the key focus of recent research in this area. We will review the current state of pMTJ development, along with micromagnetic modeling results for key understanding of STT switching dynamics and latest experimental data of pMTJs. Finally, we discuss the market positioning of the STT-MRAM. While it is currently being targeted for stand-alone commodity memory (replacing DRAM) [4], and embedded memory (replacing embedded Flash, SRAM and DRAM) [6], new market applications such as storage-class solid state drives and embedded solutions in advanced System-on-Chip (SoC) are also being explored. We will compare key value adds from STT-MRAM in these emerging market segments.
Clock Tree Resynthesis for Multi-Corner Multi-Mode Timing Closure

With aggressive technology scaling and complex design scenarios, timing closure has become a challenging and tedious job for the designers. Timing violations persist for multi-corner, multi-mode designs in the deep-routing stage although careful optimization has been applied at every step after synthesis. Useful clock skew optimization has been suggested as an effective way to achieve design convergence and timing closure. Existing approaches on useful skew optimization: 1) calculate clock skew at sequential elements before the actual tree is synthesized and 2) do not account for the implementability of the calculated schedules at the later stages of design cycle. In this paper, we propose a novel clock tree resynthesis methodology which is based on a skew scheduling engine which works on an already built clock tree. The output of the engine is a set of positive and negative offsets which translate to the delay and accelerations, respectively in clock arrival at the clock tree pins. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the offsets at the output pins of the leaf-level clock drivers in comparison to the traditional clock scheduling in the clock pins of the flip-flops due to the better implementability and lesser area overhead and present an algorithm to accurately realize these offsets in the clock tree. Experimental results on large-scale industrial designs demonstrate that our clock tree resynthesis methodology achieves respectively 57%, 12%, and 42% average improvement in total negative slack, worst negative slack, and failure-end-point with an average overhead of 26% in clock tree area. We also experimentally study the impact of on-chip-variation-derates on our approach in terms of the timing metric improvement and clock tree overhead.
Dihydromyricetin Reduced Bcl-2 Expression via p53 in Human Hepatoma HepG2 Cells

Dihydromyricetin (DHM) is a major active ingredient of flavonoids compounds. It exhibited anticancer activity and induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells according to our previous data. In this study, we investigated whether p53 is involved in DHM-triggered viability inhibition and apoptosis induction in cancer cells. MTT [3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay was employed to evaluate the viability of HepG2 cells after DHM treatment. Meanwhile, p53 small interfering RNA (siRNA) was adopted to silence p53 expression. Protein level of p53 and Bax/Bcl-2 were evaluated by western blot analysis. Cell counting assay showed that DHM inhibited HepG2 cell growth effectively in a time- and dose-dependent manner. P53 expression was significantly increased after DHM treatment, whereas Bcl-2 was reduced potently. Furthermore, after co-treatment with Pifithrin-α (PFT-α, p53 inhibitor), Bcl-2 expression was reversed. The expression of Bax was no significant change, which was also observed after p53 silence. These findings defined and supported a novel function that DHM could induce human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells apoptosis by up-regulating Bax/Bcl-2 expression via p53 signal pathway.
Neuropsychological function in children with maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

OBJECTIVE Studies in adults have reported changes in concentration, learning, and memory in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there are few studies of cognitive function in children with PTSD. The goal of the current study was to evaluate cognition in children with PTSD. METHOD The cognitive status of 14 pediatric psychiatric outpatients with maltreatment-related PTSD and 15 sociodemographically similar children who were healthy and had not been maltreated was examined. Neuropsychological instruments measured language, attention, abstract reasoning/executive function, learning and memory, visual-spatial processing, and psychomotor function. RESULTS The children with PTSD performed more poorly on measures of attention and abstract reasoning/executive function. CONCLUSIONS Although based on a small number of subjects, these results support cognitive differences between children with and without maltreatment-related PTSD.
Assembly and targeting of adaptin chimeras in transfected cells

Adaptors are the components of clathrincoated pits and vesicles that attach the clathrin to the membrane. There are two types of adaptors in the cell: one associated with the plasma membrane and one associated with the TGN. Both adaptors are heterotetramers consisting of two adaptins (alpha and beta for the plasma membrane; gamma and beta' for the TGN), plus two smaller proteins. The COOH-terminal domains of the adaptins form appendages that resemble ears, connected by flexible hinges. Unlike the other adaptor components, the COOH termini of the alpha- and gamma-adaptins show no homology with each other, suggesting that they might provide the signal that directs the adaptors to the appropriate membrane. To test this possibility, the COOH-terminal ears were switched between alpha- and gamma-adaptins and were also deleted. All of the constructs contained the bovine gamma-adaptin hinge, enabling them to be detected with a species-specific antibody against this region when transfected into rat fibroblasts. Immunoprecipitation indicated that the engineered adaptins were still fully capable of assembling into adaptor complexes. Immunofluorescence revealed that in spite of their modified ears, the constructs were still able to be recruited onto the appropriate membrane; however, the ear-minus constructs gave increased cytoplasmic staining, and replacing the gamma- adaptin ear with the alpha-adaptin ear caused a small amount of colocalization with endogenous alpha-adaptin in some cells. Thus, the major targeting determinant appears to reside in the adaptor "head," while the ears may stabilize the association of adaptors with the membrane.
Solenopsis invicta virus 3: Mapping of Structural Proteins, Ribosomal Frameshifting, and Similarities to Acyrthosiphon pisum virus and Kelp fly virus

Solenopsis invicta virus 3 (SINV-3) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that infects the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. We show that the second open reading frame (ORF) of the dicistronic genome is expressed via a frameshifting mechanism and that the sequences encoding the structural proteins map to both ORF2 and the 3' end of ORF1, downstream of the sequence that encodes the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The genome organization and structural protein expression strategy resemble those of Acyrthosiphon pisum virus (APV), an aphid virus. The capsid protein that is encoded by the 3' end of ORF1 in SINV-3 and APV is predicted to have a jelly-roll fold similar to the capsid proteins of picornaviruses and caliciviruses. The capsid-extension protein that is produced by frameshifting, includes the jelly-roll fold domain encoded by ORF1 as its N-terminus, while the C-terminus encoded by the 5' half of ORF2 has no clear homology with other viral structural proteins. A third protein, encoded by the 3' half of ORF2, is associated with purified virions at sub-stoichiometric ratios. Although the structural proteins can be translated from the genomic RNA, we show that SINV-3 also produces a subgenomic RNA encoding the structural proteins. Circumstantial evidence suggests that APV may also produce such a subgenomic RNA. Both SINV-3 and APV are unclassified picorna-like viruses distantly related to members of the order Picornavirales and the family Caliciviridae. Within this grouping, features of the genome organization and capsid domain structure of SINV-3 and APV appear more similar to caliciviruses, perhaps suggesting the basis for a "Calicivirales" order.