Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal transmit power and packet size in wireless sensor networks in lognormal shadowed environment

In this paper, an optimum packet based transmission scheme for WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) where packet size is varied depending on the node density and channel condition is discussed. A WSN based on a square grid topology is investigated. This optimum size packet yields highest energy efficiency for a particular network condition. Optimum packet length is evaluated under several network conditions in presence of shadowing. Impact of severity of shadowing on optimal packet size is also investigated. Energy expenditure for optimum packet based scheme is compared with that of an arbitrary fixed packet size based transmission. Further impact of severity of fading on energy consumption is also studied. An infinite ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) scheme between adjacent nodes has been considered to successfully deliver a file. Optimal transmit power is also derived for the above network. Optimal transmit power is the minimum transmit power used by all nodes to guarantee network connectivity with a prefixed BER (Bit Error Rate) threshold. Further impacts of lognormal shadowing on optimal transmit power, route BER and energy efficiency are studied for such WSN.
Resting heart rate definition and its effect on apparent levels of physical activity in young children.

PURPOSE Heart rate monitoring is widely used to measure physical activity in children, but it may be dependent on the definition of resting heart rate used and the protocol used to measure or derive resting heart rate (RHR). The aim of this study was to determine the effect of RHR definition on activity levels assessed by PAHR-25 (% time at >25% of RHR), PAHR-50 (% time at >50% of RHR), and activity heart rate (AHR; mean HR minus RHR). METHODS Minute-to-minute heart rates were measured over 3 d in 20 healthy preschool children aged 3-4 yr. Resting heart rate was measured for 5 min after a 10-min rest and was also derived from the following different but commonly used protocols: 1) mean of lowest heart rate plus all heart rates within three beats; 2) mean of lowest 5; 3) lowest 10; 4) lowest 50. This gave five different definitions of RHR. Differences in RHR and in the derived indices of activity among definitions were tested for agreement using a Bland-Altman analysis, and by rank order correlation. RESULTS Differences in RHR among all definitions were statistically significant. These resulted in significant differences in apparent physical activity levels: PAHR-25 varied 10-50% depending on the protocol used to define RHR; PAHR-50 varied by 16-65% as a function of the protocol used to define RHR. However, the different definitions of RHR had no significant influence on physical activity level when children were rank ordered. CONCLUSION Choice of method for defining RHR has a profound effect on the apparent level of activity of children. This does not alter the relative assessment of activity by rank order. A consensus definition of RHR is desirable if comparisons of activity levels between samples or populations are to be made and if the adequacy of physical activity levels is to be assessed using heart rate.
An improved Particle Swarm Optimization Particle Filtering algorithm

To solve the problem in Particle Swarm Optimization Particle Filtering algorithm that it can be premature too easy to fall into local minima search results, this paper proposes the Particle Swarm Optimization based Fission Bootstrap Particle Filter algorithm. The algorithm first search the space for the particle set by Particle Swarm Optimization, it makes the particle set move to a higher likelihood region, then uses fission bootstrap process to improve the diversity of the particle set, that avoids Particle Degradation caused by premature of the Particle Swarm Optimization. In Monte Carlo simulation of tracking moving target, the tracking performance of Particle Swarm Optimization based Fission Bootstrap Particle Filter algorithm is better than Particle Filtering algorithm in root mean square error(RMSE), also better than that of Particle Swarm Optimization Particle Filtering algorithm.
Shigella deliver an effector protein to trigger host microtubule destabilization, which promotes Rac1 activity and efficient bacterial internalization

Shigella deliver a subset of effectors into the host cell via the type III secretion system, that stimulate host cell signal pathways to modulate the actin dynamics required for invasion of epithelial cells. Here we show that one of the Shigella effectors, called VirA, can interact with tubulin to promote microtubule (MT) destabilization, and elicit protrusions of membrane ruffling. Under in vitro conditions, VirA inhibited polymerization of tubulin and stimulated MT destabilization. Upon microinjection of VirA into HeLa cells, a localized membrane ruffling was induced rapidly. Overexpression of VirA in host cells caused MT destruction and protruding membrane ruffles which were absent when VirA was co‐expressed with a dominant‐negative Rac1 mutant. Indeed, Shigella but not the virA mutant stimulated Rac1, including the formation of membrane ruffles in infected cells. Importantly, the MT structure beneath the protruding ruffling was destroyed. Furthermore, drug‐induced MT growth in HeLa cells greatly enhanced the Shigella entry. These results indicate that VirA is a novel type of bacterial effector capable of inducing membrane ruffling through the stimulation of MT destabilization.
Research news and Comment: Rejoinder: Consistent Large Gains and High Levels of Achievement are the Best Measures of Program Quality: Pogrow Responds to Slavin

I n March 1999 the five largest teacher and administrator organizations released a study that evaluated the research base underlying the most widely used schoolwide programs (Herman et al , 1999). This study concluded that Success for All (SFA), co-developed by Robert Slavin, was one of three programs with strong research support of effectiveness. The wide circulation this study will receive in the practitioner and legislative communities once again brings to the forefront the issues I raised in my October 1998 article in Educational Researcher regarding how to methodologically define exemplary programs. My article showed how the effectiveness of SFA is highly questionable under the proposed methodology and that this circumstance has major implications for current policies to help disadvantaged students. The article also raised questions about the consequences for knowledge generation of concentrating funding for studies on program effectiveness and policy alternatives among a small group of researchers with ties to the center where SFA was developed. Slavin's (1999) response to my methodological proposal and criticisms was prepared before this latest policy report was issued. The present article addresses the problems with the latest study of effective programs in the context of a rejoinder to Slaving response. Analysis
Perceived Believability of Research Results Information in Advertising

Abstract Research results information is becoming more frequently utilized in advertising to substantiate product performance claims, yet little is known about consumers' perceived believability of this information. Available literature suggests five characteristics of research results information which potentially impact believability, and these are empirically assessed in a representative field setting. The resultant implications for advertisers are discussed.
Generation and Pruning of Pronunciation Variants to Improve ASR Accuracy

Speech recognition, especially name recognition, is widely used in phone services such as company directory dialers, stock quote providers or location finders. It is usually challenging due to pronunciation variations. This paper proposes an efficient and robust data-driven technique which automatically learns acceptable word pronunciations and updates the pronunciation dictionary to build a better lexicon without affecting recognition of other words similar to the target word. It generalizes well on datasets with various sizes, and reduces the error rate on a database with 13000+ human names by 42%, compared to a baseline with regular dictionaries already covering canonical pronunciations of 97%+ words in names, plus a well-trained spelling-to-pronunciation (STP) engine.
Holonomic control operators in quantum completely integrable Hamiltonian systems

We provide geometric quantization of a completely integrable Hamiltonian system in the action-angle variables around an invariant torus with respect to the angle polarization. The carrier space of this quantization is the pre-Hilbert space of smooth complex functions on the torus. A Hamiltonian of a completely integrable system in this carrier space has a countable spectrum. If it is degenerate, its eigenvalues are countably degenerate. We study nonadiabatic perturbations of this Hamiltonian by a term depending on classical time-dependent parameters. It is originated by a connection on the parameter space, and is linear in the temporal derivatives of parameters. One can choose it commuting with a degenerate Hamiltonian of a completely integrable system. Then the corresponding evolution operator acts in the eigenspaces of this Hamiltonian, and is an operator of parallel displacement along a curve in the parameter space.
Cost effective hardware based demosaicking algorithm for embedded system

With the growing need of the high quality image captured by the camera in smartphones and other portable equipment, it is necessary to implement the demosaicking algorithm hardcore into the embedded system to balance the tradeoff between the power and performance. However, current demosaicking algorithms either produce poor image quality due to their focus on low cost hardware, or are too complex to be implemented into the embedded system. In this paper, we propose a cost effective demosaicking algorithm based on edge-orientation map and realize the algorithm in hardware. The proposed algorithm can reduce great hardware cost by adjusting the interpolation flow and simplifying the topology of edge-orientation map. The algorithm has been verified to be high performance by subjective measurement and color peak signal to noise ratio (CPSNR) and has been implemented in Altera FPGA with greatly reduced resources and a real time speed of 200MHz.
Myeloperoxidase-mediated Methionine Oxidation Promotes an Amyloidogenic Outcome for Apolipoprotein A-I*

Background: Amyloids made of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) contribute to the growth of the atherosclerotic plaques. Results: ApoA-I methionine oxidation by physiological levels of myeloperoxidase induces amyloid formation. Conclusion: Myeloperoxidase-mediated oxidation not only impairs the physiological functions of apoA-I but also promotes protein loss in form of amyloids. Significance: Our findings identify the physiological mechanism transforming wild-type apoA-I into an amyloidogenic protein. High plasma levels of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) correlate with cardiovascular health, whereas dysfunctional apoA-I is a cause of atherosclerosis. In the atherosclerotic plaques, amyloid deposition increases with aging. Notably, apoA-I is the main component of these amyloids. Recent studies identified high levels of oxidized lipid-free apoA-I in atherosclerotic plaques. Likely, myeloperoxidase (MPO) secreted by activated macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions is the promoter of such apoA-I oxidation. We hypothesized that apoA-I oxidation by MPO levels similar to those present in the artery walls in atherosclerosis can promote apoA-I structural changes and amyloid fibril formation. ApoA-I was exposed to exhaustive chemical (H2O2) oxidation or physiological levels of enzymatic (MPO) oxidation and incubated at 37 °C and pH 6.0 to induce fibril formation. Both chemically and enzymatically oxidized apoA-I produced fibrillar amyloids after a few hours of incubation. The amyloid fibrils were composed of full-length apoA-I with differential oxidation of the three methionines. Met to Leu apoA-I variants were used to establish the predominant role of oxidation of Met-86 and Met-148 in the fibril formation process. Importantly, a small amount of preformed apoA-I fibrils was able to seed amyloid formation in oxidized apoA-I at pH 7.0. In contrast to hereditary amyloidosis, wherein specific mutations of apoA-I cause protein destabilization and amyloid deposition, oxidative conditions similar to those promoted by local inflammation in atherosclerosis are sufficient to transform full-length wild-type apoA-I into an amyloidogenic protein. Thus, MPO-mediated oxidation may be implicated in the mechanism that leads to amyloid deposition in the atherosclerotic plaques in vivo.
Three-dimensional conformal radiation treatment planning and delivery for low- and intermediate-grade gliomas.

Three-Dimensional conformal radiation treatment (3D-CRT) planning and delivery is an external beam radiation therapy modality that has the general goal of conforming the shape of a prescribed dose volume to the shape of a 3-dimensional target volume, simultaneously limiting dose to critical normal structures. 3-Dimensional conformal therapy should include at least one volumetric imaging study of the patient. This image should be obtained in the treatment position for visualizing the target and normal anatomic structures that are potentially within the irradiated volume. Most often, computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used; however, recently, other imaging modalities such as functional MRI, MR spectroscopy, and positron emission tomography (PET) scans have been used to visualize the clinically relevant volumes. This article will address the clinically relevant issues with regard to low- and intermediate-grade gliomas and the role of 3D-CRT planning. Specific issues that will be addressed will include normal tissue tolerance, target definition, treatment field design in regard to isodose curves and dose-volume histograms, and immobilization.
Emotion Recognition from Body Expressions with a Neural Network Architecture

The recognition of emotions plays an important role in our daily life and is essential for social communication. Although multiple studies have shown that body expressions can strongly convey emotional states, emotion recognition from body motion patterns has received less attention than the use of facial expressions. In this paper, we propose a self-organizing neural architecture that can effectively recognize affective states from full-body motion patterns. To evaluate our system, we designed and collected a data corpus named the Body Expressions of Emotion (BEE) dataset using a depth sensor in a human-robot interaction scenario. For our recordings, nineteen participants were asked to perform six different emotions:anger, fear, happiness, neutral, sadness, and surprise. In order to compare our system with human-like performance, we conducted an additional experiment by asking fifteen annotators to label depth map video sequences as one of the six emotion classes. The labeling results from human annotators were compared to the results predicted by our system. Experimental results showed that the recognition accuracy of the system was competitive with human performance when exposed to body motion patterns from the same dataset.
Scholarship@cornell Law: a Digital Repository Facilitative Moderation for Online Participation in Erulemaking Recommended Citation Facilitative Moderation for Online Participation in Erulemaking

This paper describes the use of facilitative moderation strategies in an online rulemaking public participation system. Rulemaking is one of the U.S. government's most important policymaking methods. Although broad transparency and participation rights are part of its legal structure , significant barriers prevent effective engagement by many groups of interested citizens. Regulation Room, an experimental open-government partnership between academic researchers and government agencies, is a socio-technical participation system that uses multiple methods to lower potential barriers to broader participation. To encourage effective individual comments and productive group discussion in Regulation Room, we adapt strategies for facilitative human moderation originating from social science research in deliberative democracy and alternative dispute resolution [24, 1, 18, 14] for use in the demanding online participation setting of eRulemaking. We develop a moderation protocol, deploy it in " live " Department of Transportation (DOT) rulemakings, and provide an initial analysis of its use through a manual coding of all moderator interventions with respect to the protocol. We then investigate the feasibility of automating the moderation protocol: we employ annotated data from the coding project to train machine learning-based classifiers to identify places in the online discussion where human moderator intervention is required. Though the trained classifiers only marginally outperform the baseline, the improvement is statistically significant in spite of limited data and a very basic feature set, which is a promising result. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.
Systematic analysis of clinically applicable conditions leading to a high efficiency of transduction and transgene expression in human T cells

The transduction of human peripheral blood T cells with retroviral vectors constitutes an attractive approach for the correction of a number of genetic diseases. In this study we have conducted a systematic analysis of the relevance of a large number of parameters currently considered to affect the transduction of, and transgene expression in, human T cells.
Collection and analysis of on-line handwritten Japanese character patterns

This paper describes our second collection of online handwritten character patterns and their analysis. 163 writers presented about 10,000 character patterns, covering 4,438 categories mainly in the context of sentences. Together with our first collection, the Kuchibue database containing 12,000 patterns from 120 writers, we have now collected about 3 million patterns. For this second collection of online patterns, named Nakayosi, we analyzed stroke number and order variations.
CREATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION, PRECISE DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS OF OCEAN CITY AND ASSATEAGUE ISLAND, MD

Researchers of NASA’s GSFC are currently developing a scanning airborne photon-counting laser altimeter. This paper summarizes the creation of high resolution, precise DEMs from repeat passes of airborne laser scanning surveys to validate this new system. To study coastal erosion several sections of the Atlantic and Pacific coast have been mapped by NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) conical scanning altimeter. We selected two 5 km long and about 1 km wide stretches of the coast in Maryland to create precise Digital Elevation Models. One site is urban area (southern Ocean City) and the other is characterized by coastal marshes and beaches (northern Assateague Island). To obtain a dense data set, we combine laser altimetry data from 21 swaths acquired in 4 different missions. Laser points over planar surfaces, such as flat roofs and parking lots were analyzed to check the the repeatibility of the measurements. The absolute accuracy of the laser scanning was assessed by comparing surfaces extracted from the laser point cloud with GPS and photogrammetry results. These studies confirm the 0.1-0.2 m vertical and submeter horizontal accuracy of the ATMsystem. At the heart of the interpolation procedure is a bilinear interpolation that determines the surface elevation at the grid posts from planes fitted through the points located withi n2mb y 2m grid cells. Outlier observations are detected by using a robust estimator. The residual of the plane fitting and the uniformity of the distribution of the observations within the grid cells are used to assess the accuracy of the DEM. These parameters suggest an accuracy of 0.3 m or better for 90.4 % of the DEMpoints on the urban area, and 48.5 % of the points have an accuracy of 0.1 m or better. Similar accuracy is achieved on the site covered by natural vegetation on Assateague Island.
Understanding driver behavior using multi-dimensional CMAC

In this paper, detailed studies have been conducted to model individual driving behavior in order to identify features that may be efficiently and effectively used to profile each driver. The brake and gas pedal pressure are used to identify uniqueness in driving maneuver of each driver. These differences in the driving habits could be due to the way our subconscious mind works and respond. In addition the switching between the subconscious to conscious mind will also produce unique respond on how the brain perform. Since the activation of movements are controlled by the cerebellum we propose the use of cerebellum model articulation controller (CMAC), introduced by Albus, to model each driver behavior. In this paper we only focus on using the gas pedal and brake pedal pressure of the driver to understand the driver behavior under difference environment. Experimental results from the CMAC profiles show the potential of extracting features of drivers' behavior for identification, verification, emotion recognition, stress and many other behavioral conditions.
STEP: The VST survey of the SMC and the Magellanic Bridge. I. Overview and first results

STEP (the SMC in Time: Evolution of a Prototype interacting late-type dwarf galaxy) is a Guaranteed Time Observation survey being performed at the VST (the ESO VLT Survey Telescope). STEP will image an area of 74 deg$^2$ covering the main body of the Small Magellanic Cloud (32 deg$^2$), the Bridge that connects it to the Large Magellanic Cloud (30 deg$^2$) and a small part of the Magellanic Stream (2 deg$^2$). Our $g,r,i,H_{\alpha}$ photometry is able to resolve individual stars down to magnitudes well below the main-sequence turnoff of the oldest populations. In this first paper we describe the observing strategy, the photometric techniques, and the upcoming data products of the survey. We also present preliminary results for the first two fields for which data acquisition is completed, including some detailed analysis of the two stellar clusters IC\,1624 and NGC\,419.
Yeast flocculation: Reconciliation of physiological and genetic viewpoints

Yeast floccultion results from surface expression of specific proteins (lectins). Two flocculation phenotypes were suggested by physiological and biochemical tests, whereas genetic data suggested a larger number of mechanisms of flocculation. After reviewing the biochemistry, physiology and genetics of flocculation, a new hypothesis combining the data available from these different sources, is proposed.
Crowdsourcing an emotional wardrobe

Selecting clothing online requires decision-making about sensorial experiences, but online environments provide only limited sensorial information. Inferences are therefore made on the basis of product pictures and their textual description. This is often unreliable as it is either based on the designer's understanding of the product or deprived of perceptual content due to the difficulty of expressing such experiences. Using a purpose built website that combines and cross references multi-modal descriptive media, this study aims at investigating the possibility of using crowdsourcing mechanisms and multi-modal language to engage consumers in providing enriched descriptions of their tactile experiences of garments.