Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stepwise Validated Finite Element Model of the Human Lumbar Spine

Understanding the lumbosacral spine and the functional spinal unit (FSU) is essential in assessing the mechanics associated with normal spine function, spinal loading, degenerative disc disease (DDD), simulations of surgery as well as the impact of fusion, and total disc replacement (TDR). The lumbosacral spine and FSU comprise of bones and complex soft tissues such as intervertebral discs (IVD) and ligaments. Prior studies have focused on the behavior of isolated structures, but the contribution of each structure to the overall kinematics of the spine needs to be further understood. The behavior of various structural conditions was determined by experimentally dissecting each ligament in a stepwise fasion until only the IVD remained, and applying loading conditions to the FSU. The FE model was validated through optimization to match the in vitro data for the various structural configurations, loading directions, and magnitudes. Probabilistic studies based on these deterministic FE formulations are of great interest currently as model input parameters (such as properties of nucleus, annulus and facet, ligament stiffness and reference strain) have been characterized experimentally and contain substantial levels of variability. Accordingly, the objective of the present study was to develop and validate an explicit FE model of the lumbosacral spine and the FSU L4-L5 using patient-specific in vitro data and to evaluate load-deflection characteristics, contact mechanics and efficiency of the FSU. Additionally, the objective was to create a probabilistic model to efficiently predict the performance of the FSU by incorporating disc and ligament material variability.
Traffic models for video game applications

Efficient resource utilization in access networks requires a characterization of the types of traffic the network will handle. This traffic characterization can be done in two steps. The first step involves the identification of the applications that use network resources and the percentage of time they are active. The second step describes the traffic generation pattern of an active application. In this work we analyze network traces generated by two popular action video game applications in order to characterize their traffic generation pattern. This characterization is achieved by obtaining a statistical description of different parameters inter-packet time, inter-burst time, burst-length, and packet-length associated with a traffic model that employs a state machine. The model is shown to be robust, that is, the parameters of the model can be characterized using the same probability distribution independent of the application. It is shown that the gamma (which encompasses the exponential distribution as a special case) distribution can be used to characterize the random parameters of the model. Observed values of the parameters are presented.
A Selective Irreversible Inhibitor of Furin Does Not Prevent Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Exotoxin A-Induced Airway Epithelial Cytotoxicity

Many bacterial and viral pathogens (or their toxins), including Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A, require processing by host pro-protein convertases such as furin to cause disease. We report the development of a novel irreversible inhibitor of furin (QUB-F1) consisting of a diphenyl phosphonate electrophilic warhead coupled with a substrate-like peptide (RVKR), that also includes a biotin tag, to facilitate activity-based profiling/visualisation. QUB-F1 displays greater selectivity for furin, in comparison to a widely used exemplar compound (furin I) which has a chloromethylketone warhead coupled to RVKR, when tested against the serine trypsin-like proteases (trypsin, prostasin and matriptase), factor Xa and the cysteine protease cathepsin B. We demonstrate QUB-F1 does not prevent P. aeruginosa exotoxin A-induced airway epithelial cell toxicity; in contrast to furin I, despite inhibiting cell surface furin-like activity to a similar degree. This finding indicates additional proteases, which are sensitive to the more broad-spectrum furin I compound, may be involved in this process.
NR-MPI: A Non-stop and Fault Resilient MPI

Fault resilience has became a major issue for HPC systems, in particular in the perspective of future E-scale systems, which will consist of millions of CPU cores and other components. Fault tolerant MPI was proposed to offer support of software level fault tolerance approaches. However, the widely used MPI implementations, such as MPICH and Mvapich2, provide limited support for fault tolerance. This paper proposes NR-MPI, a Non-stop and Fault Resilient MPI. NR-MPI implements the semantics of FT-MPI based on MPICH. Specifically, this paper focuses on failure detection in MPI library, online failure recovery of communicators for multiple failures, friendly programming interface extending for NR-MPI. Furthermore, to support failure recovery of applications, NR-MPI implements data backup and restore interfaces based on double in-memory checkpoint/restart. We conduct experiments with NPB benchmarks on TH-1A supercomputer. Experimental results show that NR-MPI based fault tolerant programs can recover from failures online without restarting, and the overhead is small even for applications with tens of thousands of cores.
Decentralized particle filtering based fault diagnosis for nonlinear distributed and interconnected systems

The problem of decentralized fault diagnosis for nonlinear, non-Gaussian systems composed of spatially distributed and physically interconnected subsystems, is considered. Normal and faulty behaviours are modelled as two hypotheses with two different models. Accordingly, the general system is modeled as a hybrid system with two faulty and healhty modes. Then, it is decomposed into hybrid interconnected subsystems. Particle filtering approach is employed for nonlinear state estimation as well as non-Gaussian probability distribution estimation. Faulty or health modes are estimated using Maximum A Poserior Estimators (MAP). The effectiveness of the proposed distributed algorithm is demonstrated through applying to a quadruple tank process.
Influence inflation in online social networks

Online marketing exploits social influence to trigger chain-like cascades. However, recent practices actively employ agents to collaboratively inflate the spreading of influences. Through supporting structures, they help each other with false feedback and signals to attract other users in the spreading process and thus alter the spontaneous social dynamics. In this paper, we proposed a modeling framework to explain the mechanism of such operations and characterize the spreading dynamics. Model analytics and numerical simulations both showed a lifting in overall spreading influence. As empirical evidence, experiments on a large Weibo network revealed well-structured advertising groups that prominently amplified the influences of promoted commercials via meticulous cooperation in a core-peripheral structure. The inflation effect also brings new considerations into influence maximization problems. Based on our models, we solved the problem of maximizing inflated influence by optimizing the selection of agents under KKT conditions and their supporting structure using its submodular property.
The interactive association between heat shock factor 1 and heat shock proteins in primary myocardial cells subjected to heat stress

Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is a heat shock transcription factor that rapidly induces heat shock gene transcription following thermal stress. In this study, we subjected primary neonatal rat myocardial cells to heat stress in vitro to create a model system for investigating the trends in expression and association between various heat shock proteins (HSPs) and HSF1 under adverse environmental conditions. After the cells were subjected to heat stress at 42°C for different periods of time, HSP and HSF1 mRNA and protein levels were detected by qPCR and western blot analysis in the heat-stressed cells. The HSF1 expression levels significantly increased in the cells following 120 min of exposure to heat stess compared to the levels observed at the beginning of heat stress exposure. HSP90 followed a similar trend in expression to HSF1, whereas HSP70 followed an opposite trend. However, no significant changes were observed in the crystallin, alpha B (CRYAB, also known as HSP beta-5) expression levels during the 480-min period of exposure to heat stress. The interaction between the HSPs and HSF1 was analyzed by STRING 9.1, and it was found that HSF1 interacted with HSP90 and HSP70, and that it did not play a role in regulating CRYAB expression. Based on our findings, HSP70 may suppress HSF1 in rat myocardial cells under conditions of heat stress. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that HSF1 is not the key factor for all HSPs, and this was particularly the case for CRYAB.
Inter-domain QoS signaling under mobility

This paper deals with the problem of QoS signaling across multiples domains in a context of topological changes due to mobility. Data path changes caused by mobility can degrade severely the service continuity to mobile terminals considering the end-to-end QoS inter-domain path reestablishment. We propose an efficient NSIS-based scheme to allow end-to-end QoS path maintenance under mobility. The domains are controlled by central resource managers acting as bandwidth brokers. The scheme addresses two open issues in the area: (a) the integration of NSIS with Hierarchical Mobile IP including anchor points collaboration to QoS signaling, and (b) the use of NSIS in an hybrid on and o/f-path context, exploring the common off-path points to improve signaling. The signaling procedure aims to reduce the impact of mobility in the time to setup new QoS paths and the time to tear down unused resources.
Proposal of built-in-guide-rail type building façade cleaning robot and its motion planning algorithm

Owing to the increasing number of high-rise buildings and large glass facades and the resulting problem of safe and effective maintenance, many trials have taken place in the last few years to develop automated cleaning systems. So as to guide the robot's movement on the facade, this study proposes the built-in-guide type building maintenance robot system using additional module such as guidance mullion to the facade. In specific, this paper proposes robotic building facade cleaning system which is directly subjected to minimize human labor; that improves the process efficiency and economic feasibility. The sensor for detecting contamination of building's outer-wall glass is proposed; Kalman filter was used for estimating robots' status with the contamination of the window glass. Through the simulations, an effective way of task execution is introduced and the feasibility was verified with the proposed sensor based motion control algorithm.
Congruent weak conformance

Congruent weak conformance is a property between formal models capturing the desired relationship between a specification and its implementation by allowing unused and redundant circuitry and tolerating unspecified behavior in the unreachable state space. By providing greater flexibility in design than previous properties, it becomes a useful tool to validate transformational systems, such as logic synthesis and hardware description language translation systems.
A Novel Web Text Mining Method Based on Semantic Polarity Analysis

The purpose of web text mining is to find the potential knowledge from the immensity text information on the internet. In this paper, a novel web text mining method is proposed based on semantic polarity analysis. Firstly, the model for web text mining is presented by using semantic polarity analysis, which includes three main parts: data acquisition, feature sentences analysis and semantic polarity analysis. Secondly, the procedure with semantic polarity analysis is introduced for web text mining, and the related algorithms are also discussed. Thirdly, the method is applied into an actual case to try to find out the valuable products information for the consumers. The results show that the method is both reasonable and effective.
Use of erasure code for low latency cloud storage

Recent literature including our past works provide analysis and solutions for using (i) erasure coding, (ii) parallelism, or (iii) variable slicing/chunking (i.e., dividing an object of a specific size into a variable number of smaller chunks) in speeding up the I/O performance of storage clouds. Generally, such systems can be characterized by the tuple of parameters (n, k, L): each data file is represented by k equally sized data chunks and encoded into at least n coded chunks; there are L parallel/independent servers/connections in total, each of which can download 1 coded chunk at a time; retrieval of a file is carried out by downloading n coded chunks in parallel and considered finished upon completion of any k downloading jobs. Bounds have been developed for very restricted special cases (n = k and n = L) with exponential service time, and very little is known when k <; n <; L and non-exponential service time. We investigate and develop bounds and approximations for the general case. We also present latest experimental results on one of the most popular public cloud storage service.
Retinotopic Maps, Spatial Tuning, and Locations of Human Visual Areas in Surface Coordinates Characterized with Multifocal and Blocked fMRI Designs

The localization of visual areas in the human cortex is typically based on mapping the retinotopic organization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The most common approach is to encode the response phase for a slowly moving visual stimulus and to present the result on an individual's reconstructed cortical surface. The main aims of this study were to develop complementary general linear model (GLM)-based retinotopic mapping methods and to characterize the inter-individual variability of the visual area positions on the cortical surface. We studied 15 subjects with two methods: a 24-region multifocal checkerboard stimulus and a blocked presentation of object stimuli at different visual field locations. The retinotopic maps were based on weighted averaging of the GLM parameter estimates for the stimulus regions. In addition to localizing visual areas, both methods could be used to localize multiple retinotopic regions-of-interest. The two methods yielded consistent retinotopic maps in the visual areas V1, V2, V3, hV4, and V3AB. In the higher-level areas IPS0, VO1, LO1, LO2, TO1, and TO2, retinotopy could only be mapped with the blocked stimulus presentation. The gradual widening of spatial tuning and an increase in the responses to stimuli in the ipsilateral visual field along the hierarchy of visual areas likely reflected the increase in the average receptive field size. Finally, after registration to Freesurfer's surface-based atlas of the human cerebral cortex, we calculated the mean and variability of the visual area positions in the spherical surface-based coordinate system and generated probability maps of the visual areas on the average cortical surface. The inter-individual variability in the area locations decreased when the midpoints were calculated along the spherical cortical surface compared with volumetric coordinates. These results can facilitate both analysis of individual functional anatomy and comparisons of visual cortex topology across studies.
Mitochondria Localize to the Cleavage Furrow in Mammalian Cytokinesis

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles with multiple cellular functions, including ATP production, calcium buffering, and lipid biosynthesis. Several studies have shown that mitochondrial positioning is regulated by the cytoskeleton during cell division in several eukaryotic systems. However, the distribution of mitochondria during mammalian cytokinesis and whether the distribution is regulated by the cytoskeleton has not been examined. Using live spinning disk confocal microscopy and quantitative analysis of mitochondrial fluorescence intensity, we demonstrate that mitochondria are recruited to the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis in HeLa cells. After anaphase onset, the mitochondria are recruited towards the site of cleavage furrow formation, where they remain enriched as the furrow ingresses and until cytokinesis completion. Furthermore, we show that recruitment of mitochondria to the furrow occurs in multiple mammalian cells lines as well as in monopolar, bipolar, and multipolar divisions, suggesting that the mechanism of recruitment is conserved and robust. Using inhibitors of cytoskeleton dynamics, we show that the microtubule cytoskeleton, but not actin, is required to transport mitochondria to the cleavage furrow. Thus, mitochondria are specifically recruited to the cleavage furrow in a microtubule-dependent manner during mammalian cytokinesis. Two possible reasons for this could be to localize mitochondrial function to the furrow to facilitate cytokinesis and / or ensure accurate mitochondrial inheritance.
Towards short-term forecasting of ventricular tachyarrhythmias

This thesis reports the discovery of spectral patterns in ECG signals that exhibit a temporal behavior correlated with an approaching Ventricular Tachyarrhythmic (VTA) event. A computer experiment is performed where a supervised learning algorithm models the ECG signals with the targeted behavior, applies the models on other signals, and analyzes consistencies in the results. The procedure was successful in discovering patterns that happen before the onset of a VTA in 23 of the 79 ECG signal segments examined. A database with signals from healthy patients was used as a control, and there were no false positives on this database. The patterns discovered by this modeling process, although promising, still require thorough external validation. An important contribution of this work is the experimental procedure itself, which can be easily reproduced and expanded to search for more complicated patterns. Thesis Supervisor: Lucila Ohno-Machado Title: Associate Professor, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
SR3: A Secure and Resilient Reputation-Based Routing Protocol

We propose SR3, a secure and resilient algorithm for convergecast routing in WSNs. SR3 uses lightweight cryptographic primitives to achieve data confidentiality and data packet unforgeability. SR3 has a security proven by formal tool. We made simulations to show the resiliency of SR3 against various scenarios, where we mixed selective forwarding, blackhole, wormhole, and Sybil attacks. We compared our solution to several routing algorithms of the literature. Our results show that the resiliency accomplished by SR3 is drastically better than the one achieved by those protocols, especially when the network is sparse. Moreover, unlike previous solutions, SR3 self-adapts after compromised nodes suddenly change their behavior.
Non-Bayesian Periodic Cramér-Rao Bound

The Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) is one of the most important tools for performance analysis in parameter estimation. In many practical periodic parameter estimation problems, the appropriate criterion is periodic in the parameter space. However, the CRB does not provide a valid lower bound in such problems. In this paper, the periodic CRB for non-Bayesian periodic parameter estimation is derived. The proposed periodic CRB is a lower bound on the mean-square-periodic-error (MSPE) of any periodic-unbiased estimator, where the periodic-unbiasedness is defined by using Lehmann-unbiasedness. It is shown that if there exists a periodic-unbiased estimator which achieves the bound, then the maximum likelihood produces it. The periodic CRB and the performance of some periodic-unbiased estimators are compared in terms of MSPE in a linear, Gaussian problem with modulo measurements and for phase estimation problems.
Cable-Suspended Robotic Contour Crafting System

This paper introduces a new concept for a contour crafting construction system. Contour crafting is a relatively new layered fabrication technology that enables automated construction of whole structures. The system proposed here consists of a mobile contour crafting platform driven by a translational cable-suspended robot. The platform includes an extrusion system for laying beads of concrete as well as computer-controlled trowels for forming the beads as they are laid. This system is fully automated and can be used to construct concrete structures rapidly and economically. The novel attributes of this system enable significant improvements over other proposed contour crafting systems, including easier portability, lower cost, and the potential to build much larger structures. This paper presents the kinematics and statics of the proposed system, and uses the reachable workspace of the robot as well as the corresponding cable tensions to approximate the maximum size structure that can be built using this manipulator.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Age-dependence of colour preference in the U.K. population

In our previous study of hue preference for young Chinese and British adults in Newcastle upon Tyne, we found that individual hue preference patterns may be described by the weighted sum of the two universal cone-contrast channels (S-(L+M) and L–M contrast) (Hurlbert & Ling 2007). Therefore, each individual’s hue preference may be reduced to two factors, representing preference along the ‘blue’-‘yellow’ and ‘red’-‘green’ dimensions correspondingly. We also found robust differences between sex and culture, represented by differential weighting on these components. Here we extend the study by investigating colour preference across ages in the U.K. population. A portable experimental box was developed to conduct the study outside the lab. Stimuli were displayed on a calibrated laptop screen fixed at the back of the box. A chin-rest fixed the distance from which observers viewed the stimuli, and their heads were covered by a black curtain to exclude external light from view. The observer had to select, as rapidly as possible, his or her preferred colour from each of a series of pairs of stimuli on a grey background, above and below the centre of the screen. We tested 4 age groups, children (8–9 years old and 11–12 years old), young adults (18–24 years), and elderly adults (61–88 years). The results reveal robust sex and age differences in colour preference for the U.K. population, which are described by our preference model. Implications of these differences are discussed.
Grounded Parsing of Object Attributes and Prepositions CS 288 Final Project

High-level computer vision and natural language processing are thoroughly intertwined, with the potential to jointly improve performance. We propose a well-defined subset of this underexplored overlap of problems, centered around improving grounded parsing of text and object recognition in images for related pairs of images and text descriptions. We gather a new dataset and present a parsing algorithm to extract object attributes and relations from natural descriptions of images. Using ground truth data, we evaluate our performance and visualize object co-occurences and prepositions using an annotated set of images. Our results are highly encouraging, and inform our suggestions for further work.