Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Importance of Magnetic-Field-Oriented Thermal Conduction in the Interaction of SNR Shocks with Interstellar Clouds

We explore the importance of magnetic-field-oriented thermal conduction in the interaction of supernova remnant (SNR) shocks with radiative gas clouds and in determining the mass and energy exchange between the clouds and the hot surrounding medium. We perform 2.5-dimensional MHD simulations of a shock impacting on an isolated gas cloud, including anisotropic thermal conduction and radiative cooling; we consider the representative case of a Mach 50 shock impacting on a cloud 10 times denser than the ambient medium. We consider different configurations of the ambient magnetic field and compare MHD models with or without thermal conduction. The efficiency of thermal conduction in the presence of a magnetic field is, in general, reduced with respect to the unmagnetized case. The reduction factor strongly depends on the initial magnetic field orientation, and it is at a minimum when the magnetic field is initially aligned with the direction of the shock propagation. Thermal conduction contributes to the suppression of hydrodynamic instabilities, reducing the mass mixing of the cloud and preserving the cloud from complete fragmentation. Depending on the magnetic field orientation, the heat conduction may determine a significant energy exchange between the cloud and the hot surrounding medium which, while remaining always at levels less than those in the unmagnetized case, leads to a progressive heating and evaporation of the cloud. This additional heating may offset the radiative cooling of some parts of the cloud, preventing the onset of thermal instabilities.
On the rise and fall of ISPs

The Internet topology has witnessed significant changes ove r the years with the rise and fall of several Internet Service Prov iders (ISP). In this paper, we propose a new economic model that can aid in understanding the evolution of the Internet topology and provide insight into why certain ISPs fail and others succeed. O ur economic model is motivated by the Cournot model for characterizing oligopolistic markets. We model the Internet topo l gy as a conglomeration of Cournot markets across different geogr aphic regions comprising of regional markets within each geograp hic region and transit markets across geographic regions. By anal yzing the Nash equilibrium of the overall system, we character ize a simple relationship between the Nash price, demand, the num ber of ISPs and fraction of traffic exchange across regions. Our e conomic model is powerful enough to provide a simplified charac terization of the aggregate evolution of the Internet topology within and across geographic regions without the need for capturin g individual variations across each ISP. Based on this model, we sh ow evidence that existing bandwidth pricing trends are in stri king contrast with the expected Nash equilibrium behavior thereby r sulting in the rise and fall of ISPs. We also corroborate the model bas ed on analyzing Internet topology evolution from 2002 to 2008.
Airwriting: demonstrating mobile text input by 3D-space handwriting

We demonstrate our airwriting interface for mobile hands-free text entry. The interface enables a user to input text into a computer by writing in the air like on an imaginary blackboard. Hand motion is measured by an accelerometer and a gyroscope attached to the back of the hand and data is sent wirelessly to the processing computer. The system can continuously recognize arbitrary sentences based on a predefined vocabulary in real-time. The recognizer uses Hidden Markov Models (HMM) together with a statistical language model. We achieve a user-independent word error rate of 11% for a 8K vocabulary based on an experiment with nine users.
Mechanics-based control of underactuated 3D robotic walking: Dynamic gait generation under torque constraints

This paper presents a novel method of stabilizing hybrid models of torque-constrained, underactuated walking robots - without using nonlinear gait optimization - by leveraging properties of the mechanics of the robot. At its core, the controller stabilizes the transfer of angular momentum from one leg to the next through continuous-time control coupled with hybrid system models that capture impacts that occur at foot strike. In particular, conservation of angular momentum at impact allows for computation of the exact transfer of momentum as a function of the robot's step length and vertical center of mass velocity just prior to foot impact. This motivates the construction of continuous-time reference trajectories for the robot's step length and vertical center of mass with endpoints corresponding to a desired transfer of angular momentum. Stabilization to these trajectories results in stable walking, as indicated by numeric Poincaré analysis. The controller is implemented in simulation of a five-link, underactuated 3D robot via Model Predictive Control which provides a means of achieving walking under non-trivial actuation limits.
Xenopus embryonic cell adhesion to fibronectin: position-specific activation of RGD/synergy site-dependent migratory behavior at gastrulation

During Xenopus laevis gastrulation, the basic body plan of the embryo is generated by movement of the marginal zone cells of the blastula into the blastocoel cavity. This morphogenetic process involves cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin (FN). Regions of FN required for the attachment and migration of involuting marginal zone (IMZ) cells were analyzed in vitro using FN fusion protein substrates. IMZ cell attachment to FN is mediated by the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence located in the type III-10 repeat and by the Pro-Pro-Arg- Arg-Ala-Arg (PPRRAR) sequence in the type III-13 repeat of the Hep II domain. IMZ cells spread and migrate persistently on fusion proteins containing both the RGD and synergy site sequence Pro-Pro-Ser-Arg-Asn (PPSRN) located in the type III-9 repeat. Cell recognition of the synergy site is positionally regulated in the early embryo. During gastrulation, IMZ cells will spread and migrate on FN whereas presumptive pre-involuting mesoderm, vegetal pole endoderm, and animal cap ectoderm will not. However, animal cap ectoderm cells acquire the ability to spread and migrate on the RGD/synergy region when treated with the mesoderm inducing factor activin-A. These data suggest that mesoderm induction activates the position-specific recognition of the synergy site of FN in vivo. Moreover, we demonstrate the functional importance of this site using a monoclonal antibody that blocks synergy region-dependent cell spreading and migration on FN. Normal IMZ movement is perturbed when this antibody is injected into the blastocoel cavity indicating that IMZ cell interaction with the synergy region is required for normal gastrulation.
The role of caveolae in the pathophysiology of lung diseases

Caveolae are flask-shaped plasma membrane invaginations formed by constitutive caveolin proteins and regulatory cavin proteins. Caveolae harbor a range of signaling components such as receptors, ion channels and regulatory molecules. There is now increasing evidence that caveolins and cavins play an important role in a variety of diseases. However, the mechanisms by which these caveolar proteins affect lung health and disease are still under investigation, with emerging data suggesting complex roles in disease pathophysiology. This review summarizes the current state of understanding of how caveolar proteins contribute to lung structure and function and how their altered expression and/or function can influence lung diseases.
Inference of regulatory networks with MCMC sampler guided by mutual information

Computationally efficient and exact inference of regulatory network topology is an open problem in System Biology. In this work we investigate the use of prior information about the network topology as a guide to a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler of network structures. The prior information is obtained from a coarser and faster network inference method, the Relevance Networks with Mutual Information scores. Moreover, the regulatory networks are represented by the Bayesian Networks model. The results show that the use of prior information drastically improves the convergence of the MCMC sampler. Therefore, the use of a more refined method is justified as it is likely to lead to more reliable results with less MCMC iterations.
Medial Septum-Diagonal Band of Broca (MSDB) GABAergic Regulation of Hippocampal Acetylcholine Efflux Is Dependent on Cognitive Demands

The septohippocampal pathway contains cholinergic, GABAergic, and glutamatergic projections and has an established role in learning, memory, and hippocampal theta rhythm. Both GABAergic and cholinergic neurons in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca (MSDB) have been associated with spatial memory, but the relationship between the two neuronal populations is not fully understood. The present study investigated the effect of selective GABAergic MSDB lesions on hippocampal acetylcholine (ACh) efflux and spatial memory during tasks that varied in memory demand. Male Sprague Dawley rats were given GABAergic lesions of the MSDB using GAT1-saporin (GAT1-SAP) and examined on spontaneous exploration (Experiment 1) and non-matching to position without (NMTP; Experiment 2) and with a delay (DNMTP; Experiment 3), while concurrently using in vivo microdialysis to measure hippocampal ACh efflux. Intraseptal GAT1-SAP treatment did not alter baseline or behaviorally stimulated hippocampal ACh efflux or maze exploration (Experiment 1). Moreover, GAT1-SAP did not alter evoked hippocampal ACh efflux related to NMTP nor did it impair working memory in NMTP (Experiment 2). In contrast, both ACh efflux and performance in DNMTP were impaired by intraseptal GAT1-SAP. Thus, GABAergic MSDB neurons are important for spatial working memory and modulate hippocampal ACh efflux under conditions of high memory load. The relationship between the septohippocampal cholinergic and GABAergic systems and working memory will be discussed.
Action control while seeing mirror images of one's own movements: Effects of perspective on spatial compatibility

It is examined whether and how the perspective of seeing one's own movements exerted an influence on action control. Such change in the perspective challenges an information processor, as she or he has to handle successfully the discrepancies between the tactile/proprioceptive feedback and the visual feedback on a projection screen. In the experiments participants responded to visual stimuli, but saw their responses either from the top or with an x-axis reflection, a y-axis reflection, or a reflection about both axes. The results showed that a change in perspective did not impair performance as long as the left–right relations corresponded with the body space (e.g., with visual feedback reflected about the x-axis). By contrast, performance was drastically reduced when visual feedback was reflected about the y-axis or about both axes, so that performed left-side (right-side) movements were seen as right-side (left-side) movements. It is concluded that an actor preferably relies on the information of the visual system, but refers to the tactile/proprioceptive information when it facilitates the task demands.
An extended Kalman filter with a computed mean square error bound

The paper proposes a new recursive filter for non-linear systems that inherently computes a valid bound on the mean square estimation error. The proposed filter, bound based extended Kalman, (BEKF) is in the form of an extended Kalman filter. The main difference of the proposed filter from the conventional extended Kalman filter is in the use of a computed mean square error bound matrix, to calculate the filter gain, and to serve as bound on the actual mean square error. The paper shows that when the system is linear the proposed filtering algorithm reduces to the conventional Kalman filter. The theory presented in the paper is applicable to a wide class of systems, but if the system is polynomial, then the recently developed theory of positive polynomials considerably simplifies the filter's implementation.
Electronic voting machine — A review

Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is a simple electronic device used to record votes in place of ballot papers and boxes which were used earlier in conventional voting system. Fundamental right to vote or simply voting in elections forms the basis of democracy. All earlier elections be it state elections or centre elections a voter used to cast his/her favorite candidate by putting the stamp against his/her name and then folding the ballot paper as per a prescribed method before putting it in the Ballot Box. This is a long, time-consuming process and very much prone to errors. This situation continued till election scene was completely changed by electronic voting machine. No more ballot paper, ballot boxes, stamping, etc. all this condensed into a simple box called ballot unit of the electronic voting machine. Because biometric identifiers cannot be easily misplaced, forged, or shared, they are considered more reliable for person recognition than traditional token or knowledge based methods. So the Electronic voting system has to be improved based on the current technologies viz., biometric system. This article discusses complete review about voting devices, Issues and comparison among the voting methods and biometric EVM.
Polymorphism of Murine Endogenous Proviruses Revealed by Using Virus Class-Specific Oligonucleotide Probes

Inbred mice contain three classes of endogenous nonecotropic murine leukemia virus-related sequences, namely xenotropic, polytropic, and modified polytropic proviruses. Oligonucleotide probes specific for the three different classes were prepared and used to examine the diversity of endogenous sequences present in eight different strains of mice: HRS/J, BALB/cJ, A/J, AKR/J, C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, C57L/J, and C3H/HeJ. A high degree of polymorphism was observed. Overall, the strains showed between 17% (A/J and HRS/J) and 65% (C57BL/6J and C57L/J) shared proviruses, and only four proviruses were present in all eight strains. The similarity among the strains is due in part to the few proviruses present in all of the strains but also represents the independent assortment of a limited set of proviruses. These oligonucleotides provide a basis for determining the stability, distribution, and mutagenic potential of nonecotropic proviruses within the mouse genome.
Extracellular Matrix Metalloproteinase Inducer Regulates Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity in Cardiovascular Cells: Implications in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background— Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are thought to promote progression of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular complications such as plaque rupture. It has been suggested that, on tumor cells, the extracellular MMP inducer (EMMPRIN) is involved in MMP synthesis by as yet unknown mechanisms. On cardiovascular cells, regulation of EMMPRIN in vivo or any functional relevance for MMP induction in vitro has not yet been studied. Thus, we studied EMMPRIN expression on monocytes in acute myocardial infarction (MI) and its potential relevance for MMP activation. Methods and Results— In 20 patients with acute MI, surface expression of EMMPRIN was significantly enhanced on monocytes compared with in 20 patients with chronic stable angina. EMMPRIN upregulation was associated with increased expression of the membrane type 1 MMP (MT1-MMP) on monocytes (flow cytometry) as well as MMP-9 activity (gelatin zymography) in the plasma. At 6 months after successful revascularization, EMMPRIN, MT1-MMP, and MMP-9 had normalized. The secretion of MMP-9 by monocytes was induced by monocyte adhesion to immobilized recombinant EMMPRIN or to EMMPRIN-transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells. Moreover, adherent EMMPRIN-transfected monocytic cells stimulated MMP-2 activity of human vascular smooth muscle cells. Gene silencing of EMMPRIN by small-interfering RNA hindered lipopolysaccharide-induced monocyte secretion of MMP-9, indicating a predominant role of EMMPRIN in MMP-9 induction. Conclusions— EMMPRIN and MT1-MMP are upregulated on monocytes in acute MI. During cellular interactions, EMMPRIN stimulates MMP-9 in monocytes and MMP-2 in smooth muscle cells, indicating that EMMPRIN may display a key regulatory role for MMP activity in cardiovascular pathologies.
Contextual-MDPs for PAC-Reinforcement Learning with Rich Observations

We propose and study a new tractable model for reinforcement learning with rich observations called Contextual-MDPs, generalizing contextual bandits to sequential decision making. These models require an agent to take actions based on observations (features) with the goal of achieving long-term performance competitive with a large set of policies. To avoid barriers to sample-efficient learning associated with large observation spaces and general POMDPs, Contextual-MDPs can be summarized by a small number of hidden states and long-term rewards are predictable by a reactive function class. In this setting, we design a new reinforcement learning algorithm that engages in global exploration and analyze its sample complexity. We prove that the algorithm learns near optimal behavior after a number of episodes that is polynomial in all relevant parameters, logarithmic in the number of policies, and independent of the size of the observation space. This represents an exponential improvement over all existing alternative approaches and provides theoretical justification for reinforcement learning with function approximation.
A 0.18 $\mu {\rm m}$ Biosensor Front-End Based on $1/f$ Noise, Distortion Cancelation and Chopper Stabilization Techniques

This paper presents a novel sensor front-end circuit that addresses the issues of 1/f noise and distortion in a unique way by using canceling techniques. The proposed front-end is a fully differential transimpedance amplifier (TIA) targeted for current mode electrochemical biosensing applications. In this paper, we discuss the architecture of this canceling based front-end and the optimization methods followed for achieving low noise, low distortion performance at minimum current consumption are presented. To validate the employed canceling based front-end, it has been realized in a 0.18 μm CMOS process and the characterization results are presented. The front-end has also been tested as part of a complete wireless sensing system and the cyclic voltammetry (CV) test results from electrochemical sensors are provided. Overall current consumption in the front-end is 50 μA while operating on a 1.8 V supply.
Towards observational measurement of social competence in youth with chronic health conditions: Development of peer interaction scales for youth with spina bifida

This study aimed to create observational scales that were then validated with comparisons to relevant self-report measures in a sample of 106 children with spina bifida and their peers. Dyads completed questionnaires, interviews, and videotaped interaction tasks, the latter of which were coded on a variety of social functioning items. Five scales (i.e., Conflict, Prosocial Skills, Positive Affect, Conflict, and Dyadic Cohesion) were rationally derived. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability at the scale level were good-to-excellent. Interscale correlations were in the low-to-moderate range for four scales, although Dyadic Cohesion was highly correlated with two other scales and was dropped. Convergent and discriminant validity were established by comparing comparable questionnaire and interview measures with the four remaining scales. A principal components analysis demonstrated that a four-factor structure best fit the data. The four observational scales appear to be reliable and valid measures of social competence and may enhance multi-method research efforts.
Variations of R-Tree Structure for Indexing of Spatial Objects

The data structures suitable for indexing of large spatial objects in databases are considered. Some generalizations of existing tree methods concerned approximation of spatial objects and composite optimization criteria are proposed. The efficient algorithms, including one for spatial join operation, providing for optimize considered methods are described. The results of experimental measurements of different variations of R-trees and proposed methods are presented and compared.
A Building-Block Approach to Hybrid Fuzzy Modeling

In the last years, many authors have solved the data-driven fuzzy modeling (DDFM) problem by combining different techniques into hybrid strategies. Moreover, the hybridization in DDFM has demonstrated to be a successful approach. However, these combinations are made in an ad hoc manner and there exists a lack of mechanisms to make these combinations in an easy and unified manner. This work proposes a new DDFM reference model called METHOD starting from which frameworks for hybridization could be designed. This model offers the functionalities needed to seamlessly combine techniques as building blocks into hybrid strategies for DDFM tasks
Natural Language Does Not Emerge ‘Naturally’ in Multi-Agent Dialog

A number of recent works have proposed techniques for end-to-end learning of communication protocols among cooperative multi-agent populations, and have simultaneously found the emergence of grounded human-interpretable language in the protocols developed by the agents, learned without any human supervision! In this paper, using a Task & Talk reference game between two agents as a testbed, we present a sequence of ‘negative’ results culminating in a ‘positive’ one – showing that while most agent-invented languages are effective (i.e. achieve near-perfect task rewards), they are decidedly not interpretable or compositional. In essence, we find that natural language does not emerge ‘naturally’,despite the semblance of ease of natural-language-emergence that one may gather from recent literature. We discuss how it is possible to coax the invented languages to become more and more human-like and compositional by increasing restrictions on how two agents may communicate.
An ontology of diabetes self management

This work is part of a planned larger project to develop an intelligent mobile personalised guidance service for the management of diabetes by harnessing the power of the new generation of smart phones. Existing mobile applications enable diabetic patients to record blood glucose readings, carbohydrates consumed, insulin dosage, physical activity undertaken, and other activities and observations. Our aim is to develop a lightweight ontology that captures the kinds of information recorded by such applications, and which would facilitate interoperation. In order to establish a list of terms that must be captured by the ontology, we have undertaken a systematic review of applications (limited, for the moment to the iOS platform). We use this list to establish suitable classes and properties for the ontology, and then investigate how it can be mapped on to existing standards such as HL7 RIM and OpenEHR.