Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlling graphic objects naturally: use your head

During normal viewing of an object, a human observer will typically make small movements in the position of the head resulting in small parallax-related image changes. The significance of these changes is apparent when viewing a static stereographic display. Since the observer expects modifications in viewing direction that accompany side to side head movements, the lack of such changes in viewing stereographic displays creates the striking illusion that the static display is rotating in a compensatory direction. Using head tracking, we generate the appropriate pairs of images on a stereographic display device in order to maintain a stable virtual stereo object for the viewer. Unnatural, but learnable mappings from input devices such as a mouse or a joystick are typically used to bring about changes in the viewing direction and viewing distance in graphic displays. As an alternative to these techniques, we have extended the use of the monitored head position, resulting in a display system that permits control of graphic objects with subtle head movements. The device permits a zone of small head movements for which there is no rotation or scaling of the virtual object, but only parallax-related images changes as projected to each eye. A slightly exaggerated head movement initiates rotation and/or scaling of the scene that terminates when the head returns to a central viewing position. We are carrying out experiments to test the performance of human subjects in tasks that require head movements to control the rotation of graphic objects. A preliminary study that only examines rotation around a single axis suggests that it may be a very effective and natural technique.
Influence of diets containing eicosapentaenoic or docosahexaenoic acid on growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells in nude mice.

BACKGROUND Diets rich in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (e.g., corn oil and other fats containing linoleic acid) stimulate the growth and metastasis of human breast cancer cells in athymic nude mice. On the other hand, diets containing fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids), exert suppressive effects. PURPOSE Our objective was twofold: 1) to compare the effects of diets containing linoleic acid with those of diets containing eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid on the growth and metastasis of MDA-MB-435 human breast cancer cells in the nude mouse model and 2) to determine how such effects relate to observed changes in the chemical content of tumor fatty acids and eicosanoid production. METHODS Groups of 30 female athymic nude mice were fed 20% (wt/wt) fat diets containing either linoleic acid (8%) alone, linoleic acid (8%) plus eicosapentaenoic acid (4%) or docosahexaenoic acid (4%), or linoleic acid (4%) plus eicosapentaenoic acid (8%) or docosahexaenoic acid (8%) for 7 days before one million MDA-MB-435 cells were injected into a thoracic mammary fat pad. Diets were continued for 12 more weeks. Primary tumors were measured weekly. The mice were then killed and necropsied, and tumor tissues preserved. Cell membrane phospholipid fatty acid analyses and eicosanoid assays were performed. All P values represent two-tailed tests of statistical significance. RESULTS The growth of the primary tumors was retarded in mice fed the diets supplemented with eicosapentaenoic or docosahexaenoic acid compared with the growth of primary tumors in mice fed the 8% linoleic acid diet. Growth inhibition was statistically significant (P < .05) and most effective in association with the diets containing 8% of either omega-3 fatty acid, where tumors were smaller than those in the group fed the diet containing 8% linoleic acid alone at all time points after the 2nd week. The occurrence and severity of lung metastases were reduced in the groups fed omega-3 fatty acid (P < .05). In groups of mice fed eicosapentaenoic or docosahexaenoic acid, the representation of these acids in tumor phospholipids increased, with a statistically significant reduction in the concentrations of arachidonic acid (all groups), tumor 12- and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, and prostaglandin E. Levels of 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and leukotriene B4 were unaffected by the omega-3 fatty acids. CONCLUSION The inhibitory effects of dietary fish oil on human breast cancer cell growth and metastasis in this model system are ascribable to its high eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid content; the mechanism very likely involves suppression of tumor eicosanoid biosynthesis. IMPLICATION Future dietary intervention trials designed to reduce the risk of recurrence in the postsurgical breast cancer patient should include the evaluation of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid supplementation.
Natriuretic peptide system in human heart failure.

BACKGROUND Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) are a family of structurally related peptides that participate in the integrated control of renal and cardiovascular function. Previous studies suggest a functional role for these hormonal peptides in cardiorenal regulation in congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS AND RESULTS The present studies were performed in normal subjects (n = 6) and in patients with mild (New York Heart Association [NYHA] class I to II, n = 20) and severe (NYHA class III to IV, n = 20) CHF by use of radioimmunoassay and immunohistochemical staining (IHCS). Plasma ANP was significantly increased in both mild and severe CHF compared with normal subjects. In contrast, plasma BNP was only moderately increased in the severe CHF group, and plasma CNP concentration was unchanged in CHF compared with normal subjects. Atrial tissue concentrations of the natriuretic peptides did not parallel circulating concentrations. ANP predominated in normal atrial tissue, but BNP predominated in CHF. In ventricular tissue, IHCS staining was present for all three peptides in normal ventricular myocardium and was markedly enhanced in CHF. CONCLUSIONS These studies support a differential regulation of ANP, BNP, and CNP circulating concentrations and tissue activity in human CHF.
Robust Downlink Beamforming Based on Outage Probability Specifications

A new approach to multi-antenna downlink beam- forming is proposed that provides an improved robustness against uncertainty in the downlink channel covariance matrices caused by errors between the actual and estimated channel values. The proposed method uses the knowledge of the statistical distribution of such a covariance uncertainty to minimize the total downlink transmit power under the constraint that the outage probability does not exceed a certain threshold value. Although our approach initially leads to a non-convex optimization problem, it can be reformulated in a convex form using the semidefinite relaxation technique. The resulting convex optimization problem can be solved efficiently using the well-established interior point methods. Computer simulations verify performance improvements of the proposed technique as compared to the robust transmit beamforming method based on the worst-case performance optimization with judicious selection of the upper bounds on channel covariance errors.
In Vitro Analysis of Integrated Global High-Resolution DNA Methylation Profiling with Genomic Imbalance and Gene Expression in Osteosarcoma

Genetic and epigenetic changes contribute to deregulation of gene expression and development of human cancer. Changes in DNA methylation are key epigenetic factors regulating gene expression and genomic stability. Recent progress in microarray technologies resulted in developments of high resolution platforms for profiling of genetic, epigenetic and gene expression changes. OS is a pediatric bone tumor with characteristically high level of numerical and structural chromosomal changes. Furthermore, little is known about DNA methylation changes in OS. Our objective was to develop an integrative approach for analysis of high-resolution epigenomic, genomic, and gene expression profiles in order to identify functional epi/genomic differences between OS cell lines and normal human osteoblasts. A combination of Affymetrix Promoter Tilling Arrays for DNA methylation, Agilent array-CGH platform for genomic imbalance and Affymetrix Gene 1.0 platform for gene expression analysis was used. As a result, an integrative high-resolution approach for interrogation of genome-wide tumour-specific changes in DNA methylation was developed. This approach was used to provide the first genomic DNA methylation maps, and to identify and validate genes with aberrant DNA methylation in OS cell lines. This first integrative analysis of global cancer-related changes in DNA methylation, genomic imbalance, and gene expression has provided comprehensive evidence of the cumulative roles of epigenetic and genetic mechanisms in deregulation of gene expression networks.
Long-Range Enhancers Are Required to Maintain Expression of the Autoantigen Islet-Specific Glucose-6-Phosphatase Catalytic Subunit–Related Protein in Adult Mouse Islets In Vivo

OBJECTIVE—Islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit–related protein (IGRP) is selectively expressed in islet β-cells and is a major autoantigen in both mouse and human type 1 diabetes. This study describes the use of a combination of transgenic and transfection approaches to characterize the gene regions that confer the islet-specific expression of IGRP. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Transgenic mice were generated containing the IGRP promoter sequence from −306, −911, or −3911 to +3 ligated to a LacZ reporter gene. Transgene expression was monitored by 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside staining of pancreatic tissue. RESULTS—In all the transgenic mice, robust LacZ expression was detected in newborn mouse islets, but expression became mosaic as animals aged, suggesting that additional elements are required for the maintenance of IGRP gene expression. VISTA analyses identified two conserved regions in the distal IGRP promoter and one in the third intron. Transfection experiments demonstrated that all three regions confer enhanced luciferase reporter gene expression in βTC-3 cells when ligated to a minimal IGRP promoter. A transgene containing all three conserved regions was generated by using a bacterial recombination strategy to insert a LacZ cassette into exon 5 of the IGRP gene. Transgenic mice containing a 15-kbp fragment of the IGRP gene were then generated. This transgene conferred LacZ expression in newborn mouse islets; however, expression was still suppressed as animals aged. CONCLUSIONS—The data suggest that long-range enhancers 5′ or 3′ of the IGRP gene are required for the maintenance of IGRP gene expression in adult mice.
Clarifying and compiling C/C++ concurrency: from C++11 to POWER

The upcoming C and C++ revised standards add concurrency to the languages, for the first time, in the form of a subtle *relaxed memory model* (the *C++11 model*). This aims to permit compiler optimisation and to accommodate the differing relaxed-memory behaviours of mainstream multiprocessors, combining simple semantics for most code with high-performance *low-level atomics* for concurrency libraries. In this paper, we first establish two simpler but provably equivalent models for C++11, one for the full language and another for the subset without consume operations. Subsetting further to the fragment without low-level atomics, we identify a subtlety arising from atomic initialisation and prove that, under an additional condition, the model is equivalent to sequential consistency for race-free programs. We then prove our main result, the correctness of two proposed compilation schemes for the C++11 load and store concurrency primitives to Power assembly, having noted that an earlier proposal was flawed. (The main ideas apply also to ARM, which has a similar relaxed memory architecture.) This should inform the ongoing development of production compilers for C++11 and C1x, clarifies what properties of the machine architecture are required, and builds confidence in the C++11 and Power semantics.
A hybrid data assimilation (WRF-VAR and ensemble transform Kalman filter) system based retrospective tests [presentation]

Data assimilation provides techniques for blending in observations and prior model forecasts to create initial conditions for numerical weather prediction (NWP). Most of three dimensional variational (3D-VAR) data assimilation systems use static background error covariance that lacks flow-dependent information. There is a need for an ensemble system to estimate short-range background error co-variances to provide flow information for 3D-VAR systems (Barker, 1999).
Dust emission from young outflows: The case of L 1157

We present new high-sensitivity 1.3 mm bolometer observations of the young outflow L 1157. These data show that the continuum emission arises from four distinct components: a circumstellar disk, a protostellar envelope, an extended flattened envelope - the dense remnant of the molecular cloud in which the protostar was formed -, and the outflow itself, which represents ∼20% of the total flux. The outflow emission exhibits two peaks that are coincident with the two strong shocks in the southern lobe of L 1157. We show that the mm continuum is dominated by thermal dust emission arising in the high velocity material. The spectral index derived from the new 1.3 mm data and 850 µm observations from Shirley et al. (2000), is ∼5 in the outflow, significantly higher than in the protostellar envelope (∼3.5). This can be explained by an important line contamination of the 850 µm map, and/or by different dust characteristics in the two regions, possibly smaller grains in the post-shocks regions of the outflow. Our observations show that bipolar outflows can present compact emission peaks which must not be misinterpreted as protostellar condensations when mapping star forming regions.
A New Location Estimation System for Wireless Networks Based on Linear Discriminant Functions and Hidden Markov Models

Location estimation is a recent interesting research area that 0exploits the possibilities of modern communication technology. In this paper, we present a new location system for wireless networks that is especially suitable for indoor terminal-based architectures, as it improves both the speed and the memory requirements. The algorithm is based on the application of linear discriminant functions and Markovian models and its performance has been compared with other systems presented in the literature. Simulation results show a very good performance in reducing the computing time and memory space and displaying an adequate behavior under conditions of few a priori calibration points per position.
Crowdsourced Coverage as a Service: Two-Level Composition of Sensor Cloud Services

We present a new two-level composition model for crowdsourced Sensor-Cloud services based on dynamic features such as spatio-temporal aspects. The proposed approach is defined based on a formal Sensor-Cloud service model that abstracts the functionality and non-functional aspects of sensor data on the cloud in terms of spatio-temporal features. A spatio-temporal indexing technique based on the 3D R-tree to enable fast identification of appropriate Sensor-Cloud services is proposed. A novel quality model is introduced that considers dynamic features of sensors to select and compose Sensor-Cloud services. The quality model defines Coverage as a Service which is formulated as a composition of crowdsourced Sensor-Cloud services. We present two new QoS-aware spatio-temporal composition algorithms to select the optimal composition plan. Experimental results validate the performance of the proposed algorithms.
Making sense of the organisation's knowledge: does systematisation of the knowledge base have a positive or negative effect on organizational culture

This paper considers the impact on organisational culture of systematized knowledge management, as expressed through workflow management systems and through XML content management systems. Workflow management systems have been used, principally in the banking and finance industry, since the late 1980s. They are frequently associated with downsizing or with productivity initiatives, but a body of evidence also exists to show that they are (in the UK, at least) closely linked to customer service programmes, and to espoused corporate values that underpin those programmes. XML content management systems have frequently been associated with applications as varied as supply chain management and ad hoc enquiries, but are now increasingly being used in UK government, and particularly in electronic patient record systems in the health service. The focus of this study has been on the way in which these technologies have been used to gather the organization's knowledge from many disparate sources, and then to deliver, track and guide users. They act as 'expert assistants', providing information, creating new knowledge, and controlling processes. What effect will they have on the organisation's culture? Is such 'guidance' essentially empowering or constricting? Finally, if there is a cultural shift as a result of implementing these technologies, can it and should it be used consciously in the pursuit of further organizational benefit? The paper will show that both technologies represent ways of encapsulating both business processes and business knowledge, and mediating them to users. In so doing, the technology itself creates organizational and cultural change, irrespective of whether BPR or other initiatives are present. The research uses case study and interview material from the UK National Health Service and from the finance industry, together with examples drawn from the academic and practitioner literature.
Guesswork: robust routing in an uncertain world

Guesswork is an adaptive, probabilistic routing algorithm for wireless ad-hoc sensor networks, using local knowledge of best guess next-hop nodes to efficiently implement source-to-sink routing. Guesswork is partially based on the existing ETX and ExOR routing methodologies, but extends both in new ways to create a unified robust method for sink information distribution and source data transmission. It is designed to work efficiently in a wide variety of application scenarios, being able to cope with low quality links as well as both static and mobile networks
Adaptive power and access control for physical security of heterogeneous cellular network

With development of mobile communication, transmission load of cellular network has greatly increased. In order to relieve spectrum resource scarcity, heterogeneous cellular network has been proposed. In heterogeneous cellular networks, D2D users share frequency resource with cellular users, which improves frequency efficiency effectively. However, serious security problem may be incurred since cellular users are able to overhear information from D2D users underlying in cellular communication links. This paper focuses on improving the secrecy capacity of D2D users in a heterogeneous cellular network by designing adaptive power control and access control schemes. Specifically, we firstly determined a basic security area in which cellular users can be regarded as eligible access objects for D2D users. Then the optimal expression of D2D transmitting power is determined when D2D users share resource with a cellular user located in the basic security area. Finally, we selected a cellular user for D2D pair to access according to the level of information confidentiality. When there's high level of information confidentiality, the Simulated Annealing Algorithm was performed to find a cellular user in order to improve security capacity as much as possible. When D2D pairs communicated normal information, the access object was randomly selected from all cellular users located in basic safety area.
Good Dollars Chasing Bad Dollars : The Impact of Venture Capital Funding On Industry Stock Returns

ABSTRACT: The aggregate amount of venture capital (VC) distributions in non-publicly traded firms since 1980 is more than $390 billion dollars. We find that the lagged level of VC distributions is negatively related to subsequent quarterly industry returns after adjusting for other factors. Thus, money invested in non-publicly traded firms subsequently hurts the valuations of publicly traded companies in the same industry. The return on assets of an industry is also negatively related to lagged VC funding. It appears that the stock market fails to quickly incorporate the information of new VC funding into the valuations of publicly traded firms. As more money pours into a hot industry, increased competition and technological innovation causes subsequent industry stock returns and operating performance to be lower.
Role of Hypertension in Aggravating Aβ Neuropathology of AD Type and Tau-Mediated Motor Impairment

Epidemiological evidence suggests that hypertension may accelerate the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we explored the role of hypertension in the neurodegenerative changes associated with Aβ and tau aggregation. We induced hypertension in APPswe Tg2576 and P301L-tauTg mouse models. In Tg2576 mice, experimental hypertension was associated with a significant increase of the accumulation of Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides in brain tissue and a significant reduction of Aβ peptides in serum (P < .05). These results indicate that hypertension may promote AD-type Aβ neuropathology in Tg2576. In P301L-tauTg mice we found that the presence of hypertension was significantly associated with aggravated motor function assessed by hindlimb extension test (P = .01). These results suggest that hypertension may play a role in accelerating the progression of motor dysfunction associated with tau-related alterations. Our studies suggest that the management of blood pressure (BP) may alleviate AD-type Aβ neuropathology and neurological disorders associated with abnormal tau metabolism.
Continuous-time H2/H∞ control with non-common Lyapunov variables via convergent iterations

This paper presents a multi-objective output-feedback H2/H∞ synthesis framework with non-common Lyapunov variables (NCLV's) for continuous-time systems, and clearly summarized the numerical algorithms for controller design. This H2/H∞ synthesis framework is less conservative than the traditional one with common Lyapunov variables (CLV's). Although the computation of this new method is more time-consuming, the controller obtained remains the same order as the one designed by the traditional method. Furthermore, this framework is ready to be extended to a more general multi-objective framework with slight changes. The advantage of this framework is illustrated by a numerical example.
Securing the Communication Links between U-Healthcare System Components for Protecting Patient Bio-information

Nowadays, u-Healthcare systems have been the center of development for delivering an efficient, timely and patient-oriented health services. The collection of vital bio-information is critical to the success of u-healthcare systems as well as to the security and privacy of patients. This paper deals with the protection of bio-information collected by bio-sensors over the wireless bio-sensor network. The architectural overall top level architecture design of a u-Healthcare system is presented and the security scheme for securing the exchange of messages between u-Healthcare systems components.
High-Speed Architecture Design and Implementation for SMS4-GCM

A new and high-efficiency encryption and authentication algorithm, SMS4-GCM, based on cryptographic algorithm SMS4 and block cipher operating mode GCM is proposed. Design using full pipeline architecture and implementation on FPGA are presented in detail, and the results show that the maximal processing rate of SMS4-GCM can reach up to 22.248 Gbps which can meet the demands of high-speed network's applications.