Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acceleration-Level Cyclic-Motion Generation of Constrained Redundant Robots Tracking Different Paths

In this paper, a cyclic-motion generation (CMG) scheme at the acceleration level is proposed to remedy the joint-angle drift phenomenon of redundant robot manipulators which are controlled at the joint-acceleration level or torque level. To achieve this, a cyclic-motion criterion at the joint-acceleration level is exploited. This criterion, together with the joint-angle limits, joint-velocity limits, and joint-acceleration limits, is considered into the scheme formulation. In addition, the neural-dynamic method of Zhang is employed to explain and analyze the effectiveness of the proposed criterion. Then, the scheme is reformulated as a quadratic program, which is solved by a primal-dual neural network. Furthermore, four tracking path simulations verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed acceleration-level CMG scheme. Moreover, the comparisons between the proposed acceleration-level CMG scheme and the velocity-level scheme demonstrate that the former is safer and more applicable. The experiment on a physical robot system further verifies the physical realizability of the proposed acceleration-level CMG scheme.
Osmotic control of glycine betaine biosynthesis and degradation in Rhizobium meliloti

Intracellular accumulation of glycine betaine has been shown to confer an enhanced level of osmotic stress tolerance in Rhizobium meliloti. In this study, we used a physiological approach to investigate the mechanism by which glycine betaine is accumulated in osmotically stressed R. meliloti. Results from growth experiments, 14C labeling of intermediates, and enzyme activity assays are presented. The results provide evidence for the pathway of biosynthesis and degradation of glycine betaine and the osmotic effects on this pathway. High osmolarity in the medium decreased the activities of the enzymes involved in the degradation of glycine betaine but not those of enzymes that lead to its biosynthesis from choline. Thus, the concentration of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine is increased in stressed cells. This report demonstrates the ability of the osmolarity of the growth medium to regulate the use of glycine betaine as a carbon and nitrogen source or as an osmoprotectant. The mechanisms of osmoregulation in R. meliloti and Escherichia coli are compared.
Higher USA State Resident Neuroticism Is Associated With Lower State Volunteering Rates

Highly neurotic persons have dispositional characteristics that tend to precipitate social anxiety that discourages formal volunteering. With the 50 American states as analytical units, Study 1 found that state resident neuroticism correlated highly (r = –.55) with state volunteering rates and accounted for another 26.8% of the volunteering rate variance with selected state demographics controlled. Study 2 replicated Study 1 during another period and extended the association to college student, senior, secular, and religious volunteering rates. Study 3 showed state resident percentages engaged in other social behaviors involving more familiarity and fewer demands than formal volunteering related to state volunteering rates but not to neuroticism. In Study 4, state resident neuroticism largely accounted statistically for relations between state volunteering rates and state population density, collectivism, social capital, Republican preference, and well-being. This research is the first to show that state resident neuroticism is a potent predictor of state volunteering rates.
A scalable and reconfigurable verification and benchmark environment for Network on Chip architecture

To reduce the complex communication problem that arise as the number of on-chip component increases, the use of Network-on-Chip (NoC) as interconnection architectures have become more promising to solve complex on-chip communication problems. However, providing a suitable test base to measure and verify functionality of any NoC is a compulsory. Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) is introduced as a standardized and reusable methodology for verifying integrated circuit design. In this research, a scalable and reconfigurable verification and benchmark environment for NoC is proposed.
Nitrate levels and stages of growth in hypernodulating mutants of Lupinus albus. II. Enzymatic activity and transport of N in the xylem sap

O estudo enzimatico e o transporte de N na seiva do xilema foi realizado visando observar a influencia de diferentes niveis de nitrato e estagios de crescimento da planta em mutantes tratadas quimicamente. Varios estresses induzem a reducao no crescimento da planta da qual resulta na acumulacao de aminoacidos livres, amidas ou ureidos, tanto na parte aerea como nas raizes e nodulos. A atividade de enzimas e decisiva em evitar produtos inibidores da nitrogenase pelo amonio, porem poucas sao as informacoes deste mecanismo com o qual o xilema carrega estes produtos, em compensacao, este processo, pode ser a chave da funcao em evitar acumulacao de aminoacidos nas celulas dos nodulos infectados. O comportamento das enzimas nitrato redutase (NR), fosfoenolpiruvato carboxilase (PEPC), glutamina sintetase (GS) e dos compostos nitrogenados derivados da fixacao como: N-a-amino, N-ureidos e N-amida em genotipos mutados foi observado. A atividade da enzima nitrato redutase foi altamente inflenciada pela aplicacao de nitrato apresentando valores bastante superiores em relacao a nao aplicacao do nitrato, independentemente dos genotipos, sendo que o melhor periodo de avaliacao foi na decima semana. O genotipo L-62, com caracteriticas de resistencia ao nitrato, mostrou de forma bem evidenciada que a enzima PEPC e inibida pela presenca de nitrato. O genotipo L-135 (nod- fix-) apresentou atividade da GS extremamente baixo, mostrando desta forma que a GS e uma enzima altamente correlacionada com a fixacao. Em relacao ao melhor estagio de crescimento para a GS, o Lupinus albus, deve ser avaliado na setima semana.
T4N0M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients: do they have a distinct tumor biology?

OBJECTIVES To investigate the clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes of non-metastatic T4N0 nasopharyngeal cancer patients, and to compare them with other stage IVA subgroups of patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective analysis of 775 non-metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer patients, treated in four radiotherapy centers between 1990 and 2005, was undertaken. Among 197 stage IVA patients, 90 (11.6%) patients were staged as T4N0, 32 (4.1%) as T4N1, and 75 (9.7%) as T4N2. T4N0 patients constituted 40.8% of all T4 cases (median age 53 years; range 15 to 76 years). Cranial nerve involvement was detected in 59 (65.5%) of these cases. RESULTS The median follow-up period was 38 months. There were only nine (10%) patients younger than 30 years of age with T4N0 tumors, for patients with diseases other than T4N0, 27.1% of the patients were under 30. Survival rates for five-year loco-regional progression free survival, distant failure free survival, and disease specific survival were 65.9%, 94%, and 71.4%, respectively. Distant failure free survival of T4N0 patients was more probable than for stage T4N1 (p=0.06) and T4N2 (p=0.008) patients. CONCLUSION Non-metastatic T4N0 tumors have some distinct features, including a unimodal age distribution and a better distant failure free survival than the other subgroups of stage IVA. Therefore, it may be better to include T4N0 patients in stage III instead of stage IVA.
Lung cancer in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: CT findings.

PURPOSE The frequency of lung cancer in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is higher than that of general population. To evaluate CT findings of lung cancer associated with IPF, we analyzed 32 patients with lung cancer associated with IPF. METHOD We analyzed retrospectively 32 patients with histologically confirmed lung cancer out of 244 consecutive cases diagnosed as IPF by either CT and clinical findings (n = 220) or histologically (n = 24). The patients were 40-85 years old (mean 66 years, M/F = 31/1). Scanning techniques were conventional CT in 24 patients, high-resolution CT (HRCT) in 2 patients, and both conventional CT and HRCT in 6 patients. We analyzed the CT patterns, locations, and histologic types of lung cancer. RESULTS The frequency of lung cancer in patients with IPF was 13.1% (32/244). In 17 of 32 patients, the CT findings of lung cancer were ill defined lesions mimicking air-space consolidation. Lung cancer was located mainly in the lower lobes (21/32) and peripheral portion (21/32). Histologically, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type (18/32). CONCLUSION Typical CT findings of lung cancer were ill defined consolidation-like masses at the peripheral portion where the most advanced fibrosis was located.
Gigascope: high performance network monitoring with an SQL interface

Operators of large networks and providers of network services need to monitor and analyze the network traffic flowing through their systems. Monitoring requirements range from the long term (e.g., monitoring link utilizations, computing traffic matrices) to the ad-hoc (e.g. detecting network intrusions, debugging performance problems). Many of the applications are complex (e.g., reconstruct TCP/IP sessions), query layer-7 data (find streaming media connections), operate over huge volumes of data (Gigabit and higher speed links), and have real-time reporting requirements (e.g., to raise performance or intrusion alerts). We have found that existing network monitoring technologies have severe limitations. One option is to use TCPdump to monitor a network port and a user-level application program to process the data. While this approach is very flexible, it is not fast enough to handle gigabit speeds on inexpensive equipment. Another approach is to use network monitoring devices. While these devices are capable of high speed monitoring, they are inflexible as the set of monitoring tasks is pre-defined. Adding new functionality is expensive and has long lead times. A similar approach is to use monitoring tools built into routers, such as SNMP, RMON, or NetFlow. These tools have similar characteristics --- fast but inflexible.A further problem with all of these tools is their lack of a query interface. The data from the monitors are dumped to a file or piped through a file stream without an association to the semantics of the data. The burden of managing and interpreting the data is left to the analyst. Due to the volume and complexity of the data, the burden can be severe. These problems make developing new applications needlessly slow and difficult. Also, many mistakes are made leading to incorrect analyses.
The Design of a 16-Channel 15 ps TDC Implemented in a 65 nm FPGA

We present the implementation of a high-resolution Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) from Xilinx Virtex-5 family. The design of the TDC is based on a counter and interpolator method. Dedicated carry-in lines in CARRY4 blocks of the Virtex-5 FPGA are utilized for time interpolation, which realizes the fine time measurement within a system clock period. Simulation results show that the delay from CIN to COUT in CARRY4 block is as large as 104 ps. Thus we subdivide the delay cell into finer taps for a higher resolution. Considering the inhomogeneous delay cells, multiple strategies are applied to perform the calibration and to enhance the TDC resolution. Meanwhile, we also apply Place and Route (PAR) constraints to fit our TDC requirements. Finally, a total of 16 TDC channels with a timing performance of about 15 ps RMS are implemented in one FPGA.
An A* Algorithm with a New Heuristic Distance Function for the 2-Terminal Shortest Path Problem

The 2-terminal shortest path problem is to find a shortest path between two specified vertices in a given graph G. In this paper, we consider this problem in the following situation: G is given before the two vertices are specified so that some preprocessing is allowed to reduce the response time. We present a method for calculating lower bounds of the length of the shortest path for any pair of vertices. Experimental results show that the A* algorithm with our method performs much better than previous methods.
Femtocell access control strategy in UMTS and LTE

Femtocells have become an attractive device for operators to offer extended services on their licensed UMTS/LTE spectrum. In this article we focus on the access control strategy - a crucial aspect for operators to give preferential access to femtocells for their subscribers. The general issue of supporting femtocells in pre-Release 8 UMTS networks with pre-Release 8 UE is first outlined in order to help the reader understand the motivation behind some concepts introduced in 3GPP Release 8 to support femtocells. A description of the femtocell access control strategy for UMTS and LTE is then provided based on 3GPP Release 8 specifications. Finally, the issue of LTE physical cell identity confusion associated with inbound handover to femtocells (which is expected to be resolved within the 3GPP Release 9 timeline) is discussed.
Data-driven Methods for the Study of Food Perception, Preparation, Consumption, and Culture

The study of food consumption, in the broadest sense, intersects with a wide range of academic disciplines. The perception of food involves molecular biology, chemistry, soft-matter physics, neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and even machine learning. Our choices and preparation of food are of interest to anthropologists, social scientists, historians, philosophers, and linguists. The advent of information technology has enabled the accumulation and analysis of large amounts of food-related data, from the interactions of biomolecules and the chemical properties of aroma compounds to online recipes and food-related social media postings. In this perspective article, we outline several areas in which the availability and analysis of data can inform us about general principles that may underlie the perception of food and the diversity of culinary practice. One of these areas is the study of umami taste through a combination of chemical analysis and quantitative sensory evaluation for a wide range of fermented products. Another is the mapping of global culinary diversity by mining online recipes and the analysis of culinary habits recorded by individuals on social media. A third area is the study of the properties of flavour compounds, and the application of these insights in the context of high-end gastronomy. These examples illustrate that large-scale data analysis is already transforming our understanding of food perception and consumption, and that it is likely to fundamentally influence our food choices and habits in the future.
Postprocessed Integrators for the High Order Integration of Ergodic SDEs

The concept of effective order is a popular methodology in the deterministic literature for the construction of efficient and accurate integrators for differential equations over long times. The idea is to enhance the accuracy of a numerical method by using an appropriate change of variables called the processor. We show that this technique can be extended to the stochastic context for the construction of new high order integrators for the sampling of the invariant measure of ergodic systems. The approach is illustrated with modifications of the stochastic $\theta$-method applied to Brownian dynamics, where postprocessors achieving order two are introduced. Numerical experiments, including stiff ergodic systems, illustrate the efficiency and versatility of the approach.
Differences between immigrants at various durations of residence and host population in all-cause mortality, Canada 1991–2006

We used data from the 1991–2006 Canadian Census Mortality and Cancer Follow-up Study to compare all-cause mortality for immigrants with that of the Canadian-born population. The study addressed two related questions. First, do immigrants have a mortality advantage over the Canadian-born? Second, if immigrants have a mortality advantage, does it persist as their duration of residence increases? The analysis fitted sex-stratified hazard regression models for the overall sample and for selected countries of birth (UK, China, India, Philippines, and the Caribbean). Predictors were assessed at baseline. Mortality was lower among immigrants than the Canadian-born even after adjusting for a selected group of socio-demographic and socio-economic factors. The mortality differences persisted even after long residence in Canada, but appeared to be dependent on the age of the individual and the country of origin. Interpreted in light of known explanations of immigrant mortality advantage, the results mostly reflect selection effects.
Modelling Student Perfomance in Massive Online Courses

This project applys supervised machine learning to Massive Online Open Courseware (MOOC) data. We develop and analyze models to predict learner performance in large online classes. First, we fit regression models with parameters derived from a learner’s learning-platform interaction patterns to predict their total normalized quiz score in a given class. We also fit classifiers to the same features but with the discretized response variable.
Design of a compact and wideband branchline coupler using hybrid approach

A compact and wideband branch line coupler is designed that covers all the navigation bands starting form xx GHz to yy GHz. A single-section coupler with series stubs, half-wavelength at the mid-band frequency f0, is considered to obtain the wideband operation. Moreover, a hybrid approach, using both transmission line sections and lumped elements, is used for the size reduction without compromising the wideband operation. A prototype branch line coupler is fabricated. The coupler has a fractional bandwidth of aa% at f0 = 1.385 GHz and a compact size of bbλg×ccλg, λg being the microstrip line guided wavelength at f0.
Sequence of the lid affects activity and specificity of Candida rugosa lipase isoenzymes

The fungus Candida rugosa produces multiple lipase isoenzymes (CRLs) with distinct differences in substrate specificity, in particular with regard to selectivity toward the fatty acyl chain length. Moreover, isoform CRL3 displays high activity towards cholesterol esters. Lipase isoenzymes share over 80% sequence identity but diverge in the sequence of the lid, a mobile loop that modulates access to the active site. In the active enzyme conformation, the open lid participates in the substrate‐binding site and contributes to substrate recognition. To address the role of the lid in CRL activity and specificity, we substituted the lid sequences from isoenzymes CRL3 and CRL4 in recombinant rCRL1, thus obtaining enzymes differing only in this stretch of residues. Swapping the CRL3 lid was sufficient to confer to CRL1 cholesterol esterase activity. On the other hand, a specific shift in the chain‐length specificity was not observed. Chimeric proteins displayed different sensitivity to detergents in the reaction medium.
Atherogenic, enlarged, and dysfunctional HDL in human PLTP/apoA-I double transgenic mice Published, JLR Papers in Press, August 29, 2007.

In low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-deficient mice, overexpression of human plasma phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) results in increased atherosclerosis. PLTP strongly decreases HDL levels and might alter the antiatherogenic properties of HDL particles. To study the potential interaction between human PLTP and apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), double transgenic animals (hPLTPtg/hApoAItg) were compared with hApoAItg mice. PLTP activity was increased 4.5-fold. Plasma total cholesterol and phospholipid were decreased. Average HDL size (analyzed by gel filtration) increased strongly, hPLTPtg/hApoAItg mice having very large, LDL-sized, HDL particles. Also, after density gradient ultracentrifugation, a substantial part of the apoA-I-containing lipoproteins in hPLTPtg/hApoAItg mice was found in the LDL density range. In cholesterol efflux studies from macrophages, HDL isolated from hPLTPtg/hApoAItg mice was less efficient than HDL isolated from hApoAItg mice. Furthermore, it was found that the largest subfraction of the HDL particles present in hPLTPtg/hApoAItg mice was markedly inferior as a cholesterol acceptor, as no labeled cholesterol was transferred to this fraction. In an LDLR-deficient background, the human PLTP-expressing mouse line showed a 2.2-fold increased atherosclerotic lesion area. These data demonstrate that the action of human PLTP in the presence of human apoA-I results in the formation of a dysfunctional HDL subfraction, which is less efficient in the uptake of cholesterol from cholesterol-laden macrophages.
The effect of catch-and-release angling at high water temperatures on behaviour and survival of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar during spawning migration.

In this study, behaviour and survival following catch-and-release (C&R) angling was investigated in wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar (n = 75) angled on sport fishing gear in the River Otra in southern Norway at water temperatures of 16.3-21.1 °C. Salmo salar were tagged externally with radio transmitters and immediately released back into the river to simulate a realistic C&R situation. The majority of S. salar (91%) survived C&R. Most S. salar that were present in the River Otra during the spawning period 3-4 months later were located at known spawning grounds. Downstream movements (median furthest position: 0.5 km, range: 0.1-11.0 km) during the first 4 days after release were recorded for 72% of S. salar, presumably stress-induced fallback associated with C&R. Individuals that fell back spent a median of 15 days before commencing their first upstream movement after release, and 34 days before they returned to or were located above their release site. Mortality appeared to be somewhat elevated at the higher end of the temperature range (14% at 18-21 °C), although sample sizes were low. In conclusion, C&R at water temperatures up to 18 °C had small behavioural consequences and was associated with low mortality (7%). Nevertheless, low levels of mortality occur due to C&R angling and these losses should be accounted for by management authorities in rivers where C&R is practised. Refinement of best practices for C&R may help to reduce mortality, particularly at warmer temperatures.
Improving Collective MPI-IO Using Topology-Aware Stepwise Data Aggregation with I/O Throttling

MPI-IO has been used in an internal I/O interface layer of HDF5 or PnetCDF, where collective MPI-IO plays a big role in parallel I/O to manage a huge scale of scientific data. However, existing collective MPI-IO optimization named two-phase I/O has not been tuned enough for recent supercomputers consisting of mesh/torus interconnects and a huge scale of parallel file systems due to lack of topology-awareness in data transfers and optimization for parallel file systems. In this paper, we propose I/O throttling and topology-aware stepwise data aggregation in two-phase I/O of ROMIO, which is a representative MPI-IO library, in order to improve collective MPI-IO performance even if we have multiple processes per compute node. Throttling I/O requests going to a target file system mitigates I/O request contention, and consequently I/O performance improvements are achieved in file access phase of two-phase I/O. Topology-aware aggregator layout with paying attention to multiple aggregators per compute node alleviates contention in data aggregation phase of two-phase I/O. In addition, stepwise data aggregation improves data aggregation performance. HPIO benchmark results on the K computer indicate that the proposed optimization has achieved up to about 73% and 39% improvements in write performance compared with the original implementation using 12,288 and 24,576 processes on 3,072 and 6,144 compute nodes, respectively.