Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploratory modeling with collaborative design spaces

Enabling ordinary people to create high-quality 3D models is a long-standing problem in computer graphics. In this work, we draw from the literature on design and human cognition to better understand the design processes of novice and casual modelers, whose goals and motivations are often distinct from those of professional artists. The result is a method for creating exploratory modeling tools, which are appropriate for casual users who may lack rigidly-specified goals or operational knowledge of modeling techniques. Our method is based on parametric design spaces, which are often high dimensional and contain wide quality variations. Our system estimates the distribution of good models in a space by tracking the modeling activity of a distributed community of users. These estimates drive intuitive modeling tools, creating a self-reinforcing system that becomes easier to use as more people participate. We present empirical evidence that the tools developed with our method allow rapid creation of complex, high-quality 3D models by users with no specialized modeling skills or experience. We report analyses of usage patterns garnered throughout the year-long deployment of one such tool, and demonstrate the generality of the method by applying it to several design spaces.
An API for Choreographing Data Accesses

Current APIs for multiprocessor multi-disk file systems are not easy to use in developing out-of-core algorithms that choreograph parallel data accesses. Consequently, the efficiency of these algorithms is hard to achieve in practice. We address this deficiency by specifying an API that includes data-access primitives for data choreography. With our API, the programmer can easily access specific blocks from each disk in a single operation, thereby fully utilizing the parallelism of the underlying storage system. Our API supports the development of libraries of commonly-used higher-level routines such as matrix-matrix addition, matrix-matrix multiplication, and BMMC (bit-matrix-multiply/complement) permutations. We illustrate our API in implementations of these three high-level routines to demonstrate how easy it is to use.
Temperature dependence of the current-induced domain wall motion from a modified Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch equation

We employ the Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch LLB equation to investigate current-induced domain wall motion at finite temperatures by numerical micromagnetic simulations. We extend the LLB equation with spin torque terms that account for the effect of spin-polarized currents and we find that the velocities depend strongly on the interplay between adiabatic and nonadiabatic spin torque terms. As a function of temperature, we find nonmonotonous behavior, which might be useful to determine the relative strengths of the spin torque terms experimentally.
Measurement of the traction force of biological cells by digital holography

The traction force produced by biological cells has been visualized as distortions in flexible substrata. We have utilized quantitative phase microscopy by digital holography (DH-QPM) to study the wrinkling of a silicone rubber film by motile fibroblasts. Surface deformation and the cellular traction force have been measured from phase profiles in a direct and straightforward manner. DH-QPM is shown to provide highly efficient and versatile means for quantitatively analyzing cellular motility.
Exploring a potential relationship between dual tasking and visual binding

The purpose of this study was to understand if dual tasking and visual binding share a similar cognitive architecture. Here, it was hypothesised that the binding process would alleviate the executive demands associated with dual tasking, and consequently reduce the dual task cost (i.e., the reduction in task accuracy). Participants were asked to remember object and colour information concurrently. In the control condition, objects and colours were not related, but the " typical " condition used objects and colours that were found to be reliably associated, and would therefore be likely to reflect hardwired bindings in long term memory. There was no significant difference between the dual task cost for each condition, but some participants clearly benefited from the presence of associated colours and objects. Furthermore, this benefit was predicted by a participants' verbal span and vividness of visual imagery. However, it is unclear whether the benefit is attributable to associative priming or visual binding, impeding any implications for the relationship between dual tasking and visual binding. As such, future directions are discussed that could hopefully delineate the cause of the benefit in the typical dual task condition. In spite of this ambiguity, the data nonetheless revealed ways in which dual task cost can be reduced; this in turn carries implications for the production and use of efficient dual task strategies.
Towards a Data-driven Approach to Identify Crisis-Related Topics in Social Media Streams

While categorizing any type of user-generated content online is a challenging problem, categorizing social media messages during a crisis situation adds an additional layer of complexity, due to the volume and variability of information, and to the fact that these messages must be classified as soon as they arrive. Current approaches involve the use of automatic classification, human classification, or a mixture of both. In these types of approaches, there are several reasons to keep the number of information categories small and updated, which we examine in this article. This means at the onset of a crisis an expert must select a handful of information categories into which information will be categorized. The next step, as the crisis unfolds, is to dynamically change the initial set as new information is posted online. In this paper, we propose an effective way to dynamically extract emerging, potentially interesting, new categories from social media data.
Analysis of the Genome and Transcriptome of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii Reveals Complex RNA Expression and Microevolution Leading to Virulence Attenuation

Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycetous yeast responsible for more than 600,000 deaths each year. It occurs as two serotypes (A and D) representing two varieties (i.e. grubii and neoformans, respectively). Here, we sequenced the genome and performed an RNA-Seq-based analysis of the C. neoformans var. grubii transcriptome structure. We determined the chromosomal locations, analyzed the sequence/structural features of the centromeres, and identified origins of replication. The genome was annotated based on automated and manual curation. More than 40,000 introns populating more than 99% of the expressed genes were identified. Although most of these introns are located in the coding DNA sequences (CDS), over 2,000 introns in the untranslated regions (UTRs) were also identified. Poly(A)-containing reads were employed to locate the polyadenylation sites of more than 80% of the genes. Examination of the sequences around these sites revealed a new poly(A)-site-associated motif (AUGHAH). In addition, 1,197 miscRNAs were identified. These miscRNAs can be spliced and/or polyadenylated, but do not appear to have obvious coding capacities. Finally, this genome sequence enabled a comparative analysis of strain H99 variants obtained after laboratory passage. The spectrum of mutations identified provides insights into the genetics underlying the micro-evolution of a laboratory strain, and identifies mutations involved in stress responses, mating efficiency, and virulence.
The interaction of asbestos and smoking in lung cancer: a modified measure of effect.

OBJECTIVES The ratio of the relative risk of lung cancer due to asbestos exposure in non-smokers to that in smokers has been termed the relative asbestos effect (RAE). In a review, Liddell [Liddell FDK (2001) Ann Occup Hyg; 45: 341-56] estimated that the RAE was approximately 2. This measure is satisfactory when there is an appreciable relative risk due to asbestos but does not generalize to lower levels of exposure. A modified measure is proposed to overcome this difficulty. The modified measure, RAEm, is defined as the ratio of the excess relative risk (RR - 1) in non-smokers to that in smokers. METHODS The cohort studies combined in Liddell's 2001 analysis have been used to give a combined estimate of the modified measure. RESULTS The combined value of RAEm is 3.19 with 95% confidence interval 1.67-6.13. CONCLUSION The excess relative risk of lung cancer from asbestos exposure is about three times higher in non-smokers than in smokers. The modified measure has been placed within a more versatile model of interaction. If interaction is present the relative risk from asbestos exposure changes only slightly between light and heavy smokers, but is higher in very light smokers and non-smokers. The relative risk estimated from epidemiological studies of a mixed population of non-smokers and smokers applies to smokers.
Multisystem dysregulation and bone strength: findings from the study of midlife in the United States.

CONTEXT Accumulated dysregulation across multiple physiological systems, or allostatic load (AL), has been proposed as the biological pathway from psychosocial adversity to poor health. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to examine whether AL, constructed using biomarkers and medication data from seven systems (sympathetic, parasympathetic, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, cardiovascular regulation, inflammation, and lipid and glucose metabolism), is associated with lower bone strength in a national sample. DESIGN This was a cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Seven hundred three community-dwelling men and women from the Study of Midlife in the United States participated in the study. OUTCOME MEASURES Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured in the femoral neck and lumbar spine. Femoral neck BMD was combined with bone size and body size to create composite indices of femoral neck strength relative to load in three failure modes: compression, bending, and impact. RESULTS In mixed-effects linear regression controlling for clustering within families and adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, menopausal transition stage, childhood socioeconomic status, adult finances, education level, and study center, each SD increment in AL score was associated with between 0.10 and 0.11 SD decrements in lumbar spine BMD and each of the three composite strength indices (all values of P < .05). Gender modified the association of AL only with femoral neck BMD; each SD increment in AL score was associated with 0.21 SD decrement in femoral neck BMD in men (P < .01) but not in women. CONCLUSIONS Accumulation of dysregulation across systems was modestly associated with lower bone strength. This study adds to the accumulating evidence that multisystem dysregulation, or AL, predicts a variety of adverse health outcomes.
NetMHC-3.0: accurate web accessible predictions of human, mouse and monkey MHC class I affinities for peptides of length 8–11

NetMHC-3.0 is trained on a large number of quantitative peptide data using both affinity data from the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB) and elution data from SYFPEITHI. The method generates high-accuracy predictions of major histocompatibility complex (MHC): peptide binding. The predictions are based on artificial neural networks trained on data from 55 MHC alleles (43 Human and 12 non-human), and position-specific scoring matrices (PSSMs) for additional 67 HLA alleles. As only the MHC class I prediction server is available, predictions are possible for peptides of length 8–11 for all 122 alleles. artificial neural network predictions are given as actual IC50 values whereas PSSM predictions are given as a log-odds likelihood scores. The output is optionally available as download for easy post-processing. The training method underlying the server is the best available, and has been used to predict possible MHC-binding peptides in a series of pathogen viral proteomes including SARS, Influenza and HIV, resulting in an average of 75–80% confirmed MHC binders. Here, the performance is further validated and benchmarked using a large set of newly published affinity data, non-redundant to the training set. The server is free of use and available at: http://www.cbs. dtu.dk/services/NetMHC.
Parallel Computing for Finite Element Structural Analysis on Workstation Cluster

Parallel computing has become a promising trend in science and engineering computing. In this paper, parallel finite element method using domain decomposition technique is adapted to a distributed parallel environment of workstation cluster. The algorithm is presented for solving the conjugate gradient method on a parallel platform with element based domain decomposition. Using the developed code, a dam structural analysis problem is solved on workstation cluster and results are given. The parallel performance is analyzed.
Strategies for Implementing SSL on Embedded System

With the hackers' attacks changing from the desktop to embedded applications, hardware and software security decision leads the whole design of the embedded systems. This paper describes from the characteristics of SSL protocol, concludes two aspects from external hardware cooperation and internal structure optimizations. It presents the strategies of implementing SSL protocol on both software and hardware design.
Neural Network Approach for Character Recognition and Text Detection: A Survey

Text detection and Character recognition from the image has been one of the most interesting and challenging research areas in field of pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, machine vision and image processing in the recent years. There are basically four steps that include preprocessing, feature extraction, candidate’s selection, and desired character recognition to develop any of the character recognition system. Optical character recognition is the technique to convert text from the image into computer or machine readable form. Like intelligent character recognition (ICR) one character is taken at a time to make it editable by the machine. There are several approaches for developing the OCR system but in this review we emphasis on OCR using artificial neural network trained by back propagation algorithm and fuzzy logic.
RFID supply chains of Purdue and Cephalon: Applying the TOE framework in seeking e-pedigree compliance

The adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) is expected to pick up speed in the pharmaceutical industry as the U.S. government has imposed a regulation requiring the generation of pedigrees or a historical record of the movement of prescription drugs through different supply chain nodes. ”Electronic” pedigrees require the use of electronic means to establish these records of custody. RFID is perceived to be a leading and promising technology for accelerating e-pedigree deployment among prescription drug firms. This qualitative descriptive study uses Tornatzky and Fleischer's (1990) technology-organization-environment (TOE) theoretical framework to analyze and understand the RFID implementation of two firms, Purdue Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon, as they seek to meet the e-pedigree requirement.
Foreign Accent Conversion Through Concatenative Synthesis in the Articulatory Domain

We propose a concatenative synthesis approach to the problem of foreign accent conversion. The approach consists of replacing the most accented portions of nonnative speech with alternative segments from a corpus of the speaker's own speech based on their similarity to those from a reference native speaker. We propose and compare two approaches for selecting units, one based on acoustic similarity [e.g., mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs)] and a second one based on articulatory similarity, as measured through electromagnetic articulography (EMA). Our hypothesis is that articulatory features provide a better metric for linguistic similarity across speakers than acoustic features. To test this hypothesis, we recorded an articulatory-acoustic corpus from a native and a nonnative speaker, and evaluated the two speech representations (acoustic versus articulatory) through a series of perceptual experiments. Formal listening tests indicate that the approach can achieve a 20% reduction in perceived accent, but also reveal a strong coupling between accent and speaker identity. To address this issue, we disguised original and resynthesized utterances by altering their average pitch and normalizing vocal tract length. An additional listening experiment supports the hypothesis that articulatory features are less speaker dependent than acoustic features.
Usability Evaluation of Hospital Websites in Pakistan

Usability is defined as the easiness with which a system is used by end users to achieve their goals. This important attribute helps end users to effectively use the software systems. Usability has become vital because end users of software systems are quite varied in their technology skills. Similarly, usability of websites is also becoming more important. In today's world when people hardly get time to visit a doctor, hospitals can facilitate them by making online appointments and discuss their health issues with the doctors via internet. This paper has conducted a survey on some of the hospital websites of Pakistan and has provided some suggestions about how these hospitals can improve their online services by increasing the usability aspects of their websites.
Biocompatible Colloidal Suspensions Based on Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization and Toxicological Profile

The use of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in biomedicine has evolved intensely in the recent years due to the multiple applications of these nanomaterials, mainly in domains like cancer. The aim of the present study was: (i) to develop biocompatible colloidal suspensions based on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as future theranostic tools for skin pathology and (ii) to test their effects in vitro on human keratinocytes (HaCat cells) and in vivo by employing an animal model of acute dermal toxicity. Biocompatible colloidal suspensions were obtained by coating the magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles resulted during the solution combustion synthesis with a double layer of oleic acid, as innovative procedure in increasing bioavailability. The colloidal suspensions were characterized in terms of dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The in vitro effects of these suspensions were tested by means of Alamar blue assay and the noxious effects at skin level were measured using non-invasive methods. The in vitro results indicated a lack of toxicity on normal human cells induced by the iron oxide nanoparticles colloidal suspensions after an exposure of 24 h to different concentrations (5, 10, and 25 μg·mL−1). The dermal acute toxicity test showed that the topical applications of the colloidal suspensions on female and male SKH-1 hairless mice were not associated with significant changes in the quality of barrier skin function.
Experimental Verification of Real-Time Trajectory Generation for Underactuated System

We have recently proved that a two relay controller produces oscillations at the scalar output of an underactuated system where the desired amplitude and frequency are reached by choosing its gains but being too sensitive to disturbances. In this paper we go much further and develop a reference model, based on two-relay controller, to generate a set of desired trajectories for the inertia wheel pendulum allowing the design of robust controllers. The desired trajectory is centered at the down position where the open-loop system becomes a minimum-phase system. Performance issues of the controller constructed are illustrated in an experimental study. Resumen — Se ha probado de manera reciente que un controlador con dos relevadores produce oscilaciones en la salida escalar de un sistema subactuado donde la amplitud y frecuencia deseada se obtiene a partir de sus ganancias pero siendo muy sensible ante disturbios. En el presente art́ıculo vamos más allá al desarrollar un modelo de referencia, basado en el controlador de dos relevadores, para generar las trayectorias deseadas para una rueda inercia permitiendo el diseño de controladores robustos. La trayectoria deseada está centrada en la posición de reposo donde el sistema de lazo abierto es de fase mı́nima. El funcionamiento del sistema se ilustra a través de experimentos. Index Terms — Variable structure systems, Underactuated systems, SelfOscillations.
Production of Online Word of Mouth : Peer Effects and the Moderating Role of User Characteristics ∗

We study peer effects on users’ contributions to an emerging form of online word of mouth—product reviews. Provided by either consumers or third-party professionals, online reviews are closely correlated with consumers’ purchasing decisions and product sales. Individuals have incentives of free riding and maximizing social capital when providing feedbacks online. We leverage a “natural experiment,” which leads to an exogenous expansion in the users population of a major online reviews platform, to better understand the trade-off between the two conflicting incentives. Our empirical findings are mainly two-fold. First, we find that a larger population of audience and peer review writers, an immediate consequence of the exogenous shock, causally leads to more reviews posted, higher and more diverse ratings assigned, and reviews of higher quality by the users. In addition, we find that these effects are moderated by user characteristics including activeness, expertise, and popularity. These results have implications for platforms that rely on user contributions, as well as for business in the management of their online product or service feedbacks.
Constructing Coherent Boundaries

This paper presents a new approach to the problem of gap bridging and junction detection. Perceptual groupings and evidence from existing boundaries are combined to produce joins which are consistent with the initial image structure. In particular, a new definition of co-curvilinea rity, which distinguishes between true and false co-curvilinearity, is given. Structural quantities are computed for all potential joins. A local non-iterative algorithm selects the best joins and/or junctions which satisfy specific structural conditions. No assumption, domain restriction, or model is needed. The current implementation is fully presented together with the results obtained.
Visa protocols for controlling interorganizational datagram flow

The increasing use of internetworking protocols to connect administratively heterogeneous networks has raised the question of how an organization can control the flow of information across its network boundaries. One method for doing so is the use of visas, a cryptographic technique for authenticating and authorizing a flow of datagrams. Two visa protocols are presented and evaluated: one that requires distributed state information in gateways and one that uses additional encryptions instead of distributed state. Applications for such visa protocols include access control, accounting and billing for packet transit, and network resource management. >