Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A delay and energy aware coordination mechanism for WSAN

In this paper, a delay and energy aware coordination mechanism (DEACM) has been devised for wireless sensor–actor networks. In DEACM, a two‐level hierarchical K‐hop clustering mechanism is used to organize the sensors and actors for communication. In the first level, sensors form a K‐hop cluster using actors as cluster heads, and sink is made as the cluster head in the second level to form a cluster among actors. Sensor nodes, which are 1‐hop away from the actors, also called as relay nodes are elected as backup cluster head (BCH) based on the residual energy and node degree. BCH collects the data from sensors when an actor is away to perform actions in the affected area. The scheme is evaluated through exhaustive simulation in NS2 along with other existing schemes. Different parameters like average event waiting time, event reliability, and average energy dissipation are compared, varying the number of sensors, actors, and data transfer rate. In general, it is observed that the proposed DEACM outperforms other existing schemes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Postoperative evaluation of surgery for craniosynostosis based on image registration techniques

Craniosynostosis consists of a premature fusion of the sutures in an infant skull, which restricts the skull and brain growth. During the last decades there has been a rapid increase of fundamentally diverse surgical treatment methods. At present, the surgical outcome has been assessed using global variables such as cephalic index, head circumerence and intracranial volume. However, the variables have failed in describing the local deformations and morphological changes, which are proposed to more likely induce neurological disorders.
dELL is an essential RNA polymerase II elongation factor with a general role in development

Several eukaryotic proteins increase RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription rates in vitro. The relative contributions of these factors to gene expression in vivo is unknown. The ELL family of proteins promote Pol II elongation in vitro, and the Drosophila ELL homolog (dELL) is associated with Pol II at sites of transcription in vivo. The purpose of this study was to test whether an ELL family protein is required for gene expression in vivo. We show that dELL is encoded by the Suppressor of Triplo-lethal locus [Su(Tpl)]. We have characterized seven distinct mutant alleles of Su(Tpl) and show that a dELL transgene rescues recessive lethality of Su(Tpl). Su(Tpl) mutations cause abnormal embryonic segmentation and dominantly modify expression of diverse genes during development. These data show that an ELL family elongation factor is essential, acts broadly in development, and is not functionally redundant to other elongation factors in vivo.
Okapi at TREC-3

City submitted two runs each for the automatic ad hoc, very large collection track, automatic routing and Chinese track; and took part in the interactive and filtering tracks. The method used was : expansion using terms from the top documents retrieved by a pilot search on topic terms. Additional runs seem to show that we would have done better without expansion. Twor runs using the method of city96al were also submitted for the Very Large Collection track. The training database and its relevant documents were partitioned into three parts. Working on a pool of terms extracted from the relevant documents for one partition, an iterative procedure added or removed terms and/or varied their weights. After each change in query content or term weights a score was calculated by using the current query to search a second protion of the training database and evaluating the results against the corresponding set of relevant documents. Methods were compared by evaluating queries predictively against the third training partition. Queries from different methods were then merged and the results evaluated in the same way. Two runs were submitted, one based on character searching and the other on words or phrases. Much of the work involved investigating plausible methods of applying Okapi-style weighting to phrases
The Association Between Interleukin-10 Gene Promoter Polymorphism and Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Insulin resistance is a major characteristic of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Inflammation plays an important role in increased insulin resistance, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine with lower circulating levels in T2DM. We aimed to examine the association between IL-10 and insulin resistance, and to evaluate IL-10 gene promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position -592 C/A and serum IL-10 level as risk factors for insulin resistance and T2DM. This study was carried out on 200 subjects divided into 2 groups: 110 patients with T2DM (group I), and 90 healthy subjects served as controls (group II). All participants were investigated for; fasting and 2 hour post prandial blood glucose, serum lipids, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum IL-10 and fasting serum insulin. HOMA-IR was used for assessment of insulin resistance and β cell activity. Genotyping of -592 C/A (rs1800872) SNP of IL-10 gene promoter and genotype frequencies were analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP). The results of the present study showed significant statistical decrease in serum IL-10 levels in group I compared to group II. A significant negative correlation was found between serum IL-10 and HOMA-IR. Significant differences were observed for -592 C/A genotype distributions between both groups with increased frequency of the AA genotype in diabetic patients and increased frequency of CC genotype in controls. AA genotypes of -592 C/A was found to be a genetic risk factor for T2DM. Our results show that IL-10 has a positive association with insulin sensitivity, and SNP-592 C/A of IL-10 gene promoter and its serum level can contribute to susceptibility to insulin resistance and T2DM.
Using Mobile Relays in Multi-Robot Exploration

Many robotics tasks require autonomous exploration by teams of robots. In dicult or large environments, communication drop-out complicates this task. Several approaches exist that aim to keep the team connected, but even so there is an inherent limit to the range that can be explored. In this paper we describe and examine Role-Based Exploration, an approach that uses mobile relays to ferry information back and forth within the team, and compare it to methods that do not. There are signicant advantages in the use of such relays, such as improved coordination and responsiveness, and adaptability to unexpected communication dropout. The approaches are implemented and validated on a team of real robots.
Hybrid routing in delay tolerant networks

This work addresses the integration of today\'s infrastructure-based networks with infrastructure-less networks. The resulting Hybrid Routing System allows for communication over both network types and can help to overcome cost, communication, and overload problems. Mobility aspect resulting from infrastructure-less networks are analyzed and analytical models developed. For development and deployment of the Hybrid Routing System an overlay-based framework is presented.
A miscarriage of justice in the RATPAC trial?

To the Editor Having read the three papers published on the Randomised Assessment of Treatment using Panel Assay of Cardiac Markers (RATPAC) trial,1–3 I have come to the conclusion that there has been a major miscarriage of justice. That miscarriage of justice relates to diagnostic equipment used in the standard treatment protocols for the hospitals involved in the RATPAC trial (Beckman Access, Centaur CP and Roche E170). The point-of-care testing (POCT) was not convincingly vindicated in this trial but the other equipment and methods were deemed by association of the data to be inadequate. A cursory examination …
Semantic feature analysis: incorporating typicality treatment and mediating strategy training to promote generalization.

PURPOSE This investigation was designed to examine the generalization effects of semantic treatment for word retrieval deficits in people with aphasia. Semantic feature analysis (SFA; Boyle & Coelho, 1995), typicality treatment (Kiran & Thompson, 2003), and mediating strategy training were combined to maximize potential generalization effects. METHOD Treatment, which included SFA and a semantic feature judgment task, was conducted with 9 participants with chronic aphasia in the context of multiple baseline designs across behaviors. Typical and atypical exemplars were trained across animate and inanimate categories. Treatment was sequentially modified to overtly train the use of SFA as a mediating strategy. RESULTS Eight of the 9 participants demonstrated improvements in naming of trained stimuli. Positive generalization effects were limited overall; possible response generalization was evident for 5 participants. Instruction in the use of a mediating strategy resulted in improved naming of treated words for all participants; however, generalization to untreated words did not occur. CONCLUSION Treatment using SFA resulted in improved naming of treated typical and atypical exemplars in both animate and inanimate categories for 8 of 9 participants. Training in a mediating strategy also resulted in improved retrieval of experimental words. Regardless of intervention approach, generalization to untreated items was limited.
Dual-band MIMO antenna using a symmetric slotted structure for 4G USB dongle application

A compact dual-band MIMO antenna using a symmetric slotted structure is proposed for next generation USB dongle applications. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of two printed dual-band PIFAs with a symmetric slotted strip. The first resonance frequency is controlled by the total length of the main radiating strip with coupling slot (W1 = 2 mm and W2 = 2 mm) has a length of 70 mm, which is about 0.18 wavelengths at 0.77 GHz, but it can easily generate a resonant mode to cover LTE band 13 (LTE Band 13; 0.746–0.787 GHz) and the second one is tuned by the width of the slot (W1 and W2) and the position of the port 1 and 2 (P1 and P2) to cover mobile world interoperability for microwave access band (M-WiMAX Band; 2.5–2.69 GHz). In order to improve the isolation characteristic at the LTE and M-WiMAX bands, a symmetric slotted structure and the jointed shorting line are used to reduce the interaction between the two PIFAs. The proposed MIMO antenna has an isolation of approximately 20 dB at LTE band 13 and the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of the two antennas is less than 0.2 over the whole LTE band 13. To evaluate the performance of the proposed antenna, key performance parameters such as the total efficiency, ECC, mean effective gain (MEG), MEG ratio and actual diversity gain are analyzed.
Use of Drawings to Identify Thought Impairment Among Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: An Exploratory Study

This study explores how children's drawings, as rated on the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS), are related to their emotional and behavioral health. Participating students (ages 8-16, N=53), attending a therapeutic day school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, drew a picture of a person picking an apple from a tree (PPAT). A discriminant function analysis indicated that ratings on five subscales— Integration, Realism, Problem-Solving, Developmental Level, and Details of Objects and Environment—predicted group membership into impaired vs. nonimpaired thinking (74% of cases correctly classified). This study broadens the use of the FEATS to a child clinical population. Further, results validate the use of children's art forms as a basis for clinical insight and suggest that children's drawings can be a helpful tool for diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation purposes.
Implementation of a design concept of a moulded, soft battery cell

In this work, a moulded electrochemical battery cell made completely of soft silicone rubber is designed. A wet cell battery, similar to the galvanic cell, was fabricated using soft and stretchable silicone rubber impregnated with filler metal powders. The capacity to produce electrical power is demonstrated by measuring the voltage. The battery can produce between 0.2 - 0.4V per cell. This demonstrated concept has application in using the skin of a soft robot in powering low energy sensors attached to a soft robot and in medical applications. The moulded soft cells can be connected in series and parallel to increase the current or voltage capacity. Finally, the possible potential applications of this demonstrated concept is discussed.
On the Convergence of the LMS Algorithm with Adaptive Learning Rate for Linear Feedforward Networks

We consider the problem of training a linear feedforward neural network by using a gradient descent-like LMS learning algorithm. The objective is to find a weight matrix for the network, by repeatedly presenting to it a finite set of examples, so that the sum of the squares of the errors is minimized. Kohonen showed that with a small but fixed learning rate (or stepsize) some subsequences of the weight matrices generated by the algorithm will converge to certain matrices close to the optimal weight matrix. In this paper, we show that, by dynamically decreasing the learning rate during each training cycle, the sequence of matrices generated by the algorithm will converge to the optimal weight matrix. We also show that for any given ∊ > 0 the LMS algorithm, with decreasing learning rates, will generate an ∊-optimal weight matrix (i.e., a matrix of distance at most ∊ away from the optimal matrix) after O(1/∊) training cycles. This is in contrast to (1/∊log 1/∊) training cycles needed to generate an ∊-optimal weight matrix when the learning rate is kept fixed. We also give a general condition for the learning rates under which the LMS learning algorithm is guaranteed to converge to the optimal weight matrix.
X‐ray crystallographic studies on fibrinogen and fibrin

Summary. More than a dozen crystal structures of fibrinogen and fibrin fragments have been reported, including a structure of a native fibrinogen. The majority of the other structures are fragments D and d‐dimer crystallized in the presence or absence of synthetic peptide ligands patterned on the A and B ‘knobs’. Overall, fibrinogens or their fragments from four different species – human, bovine, chicken and lamprey – have been studied so far, with only minor differences in the structures being observed. Although these studies have thrown much light on the details of the fibrinogen to fibrin conversion, much remains to be found out.
Online support for arbitration: designing software for a flexible business process

This paper looks at the challenge of developing a single online system to correctly handle the workflow of any legal arbitration case. In arbitration, the parties are always free to decide the process they will follow but existing online systems lack the flexibility to deal with general arbitration cases. A better system that can guide parties through the chosen process without compromising its legal status is needed. This single system needs to be flexible enough to support a wide range of different arbitration service providers. Conventional requirements engineering attacks uncertainty by getting the client to make choices. Flexible system design requires a different mindset that keeps these choices open until the system is in use. The key is in deciding which design decisions to offer and how they are presented to the user. This problem, and some strategies to deal with it, are illustrated by the analysis developed in the E-Arbitration-T project. The application of human activity simulation to validate the final design is also discussed.
Projecting changes in future heavy rainfall events for Oahu, Hawaii: A statistical downscaling approach

[1] A statistical model based on nonlinear artificial neural networks is used to downscale daily extreme precipitation events in Oahu, Hawaii, from general circulation model (GCM) outputs and projected into the future. From a suite of GCMs and their emission scenarios, two tests recommended by the International Panel on Climate Change are conducted and the ECHAM5 A2 is selected as the most appropriate one for downscaling precipitation extremes for Oahu. The skill of the neural network model is highest in drier, leeward regions where orographic uplifting has less influence on daily extreme precipitation. The trained model is used with the ECHAM5 forced by emissions from the A2 scenario to simulate future daily precipitation on Oahu. A BCa bootstrap resampling method is used to provide 95% confidence intervals of the storm frequency and intensity for all three data sets (actual observations, downscaled GCM output from the present-day climate, and downscaled GCM output for future climate). Results suggest a tendency for increased frequency of heavy rainfall events but a decrease in rainfall intensity during the next 30 years (2011–2040) for the southern shoreline of Oahu.
Dislocation reactions, grain boundaries, and irreversibility in two-dimensional lattices using topological tweezers

Significance The properties of real-world materials are typically determined by small collections of defects within them. One common defect––a dislocation––results from removing half a row of atoms from a crystal, leaving behind the other half that now ends abruptly at a tip in the crystal. The termination point behaves like a point “particle” that carries a topological charge, obeys dynamical laws, and interacts with other such particles to create grain boundaries. We report a method to precisely manipulate dislocations by using specially designed light fields (“topological tweezers”) to massage an experimental model system consisting of microscopic colloids. We use this tool to study their interactions and complex collective dynamics that are not always as reversible as one might think. Dislocations, disclinations, and grain boundaries are topological excitations of crystals that play a key role in determining out-of-equilibrium material properties. In this article we study the kinetics, creation, and annihilation processes of these defects in a controllable way by applying “topological tweezers,” an array of weak optical tweezers which strain the lattice by weakly pulling on a collection of particles without grabbing them individually. We use topological tweezers to deterministically control individual dislocations and grain boundaries, and reversibly create and destroy dislocation pairs in a 2D crystal of charged colloids. Starting from a perfect lattice, we exert a torque on a finite region and follow the complete step-by-step creation of a disoriented grain, from the creation of dislocation pairs through their reactions to form a grain boundary and their reduction of elastic energy. However, when the grain is rotated back to its original orientation the dislocation reactions do not retrace. Rather, the process is irreversible; the grain boundary expands instead of collapsing.
Representations of Graphomotor Trajectories in the Human Parietal Cortex: Evidence for Controlled Processing and Automatic Performance

The aim of this study was to identify the cerebral areas activated during kinematic processing of movement trajectories. We measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during learning, performance and imagery of right‐hand writing in eight right‐handed volunteers. Compared with viewing the writing space, increases in rCBF were observed in the left motor, premotor and frontomesial cortex, and in the right anterior cerebellum in all movement conditions, and the increases were related to mean tangential writing velocity. No rCBF increases occurred in these areas during imagery. Early learning of new ideomotor trajectories and deliberately exact writing of letters both induced rCBF increases in the cortex lining the right intraparietal sulcus. In contrast, during fast writing of overlearned trajectories and in the later phase of learning new ideograms the rCBF increased bilaterally in the posterior parietal cortex. Imagery of ideograms that had not been practised previously activated the anterior and posterior parietal areas simultaneously. Our results provide evidence suggesting that the kinematic representations of graphomotor trajectories are multiply represented in the human parietal cortex. It is concluded that different parietal subsystems may subserve attentive sensory movement control and whole‐field visuospatial processing during automatic performance.
Preferential expression of antioxidant response element mediated gene expression in astrocytes

Transcriptional control of target genes by antioxidant/electrophile response elements has been well described in peripheral tissues. Genes that are regulated by this mechanism include the antioxidant enzymes NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase, γ‐glutamyl cystine synthetase and glutathione‐S‐transferase. Antioxidant/electrophile response elements within a gene's promoter confer induction by low‐molecular‐weight electrophilic compounds such as tert‐butylhydroquinone and dimethyl fumarate. We have now examined the ability of antioxidant/electrophile response elements to elicit gene expression in neurons and astrocytes in both brain slices and primary cultures using transient transfection of promoter reporter constructs. Our results using a heat‐stable human placental alkaline phosphatase reporter indicate that antioxidant/electrophile response element mediated gene expression is largely restricted to astrocyte cell populations. Placental alkaline phosphatase expression was significantly elevated in astrocytes treated with the antioxidant/electrophile response element inducer dimethyl fumarate. Mutant constructs lacking a functional antioxidant/electrophile response element abolished all placental alkaline phosphatase expression in astrocytes. We suggest that astrocytic metabolic processes that normally aid and/or protect neurons may be controlled via this inducible system.
Photolytically released nitric oxide produces a delayed but persistent suppression of LTP in area CA1 of the rat hippocampal slice

1 We have used flash photolysis of a caged form of nitric oxide (NO), potassium pentachloronitrosylruthenate (K2Ru(NO)Cl5), to apply known concentrations of NO, with a high degree of temporal resolution, to hippocampal slices prepared from juvenile male rats maintained in an interface recording chamber. 2 Photolytically released NO (1–4.5 μM) from bath applied caged NO reduced the magnitude of long‐term potentiation (LTP) in a concentration‐dependent manner. This effect was abolished in the presence of the NO scavenger haemoglobin. NO had no effect on pre‐established LTP. 3 Exposure to photolytically released NO had no effect on normal fast synaptic transmission, but did result in depression of N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor‐mediated transmission recorded using extracellular electrodes. The onset of NO‐induced depression was relatively slow, taking >40 s to manifest itself, and several minutes to achieve maximum depression (t½≈ 70 s). NO‐induced depression persisted for more than 2 h after photolysis. The time courses of the action of NO on NMDA receptor‐mediated responses and its action on the induction of LTP were similar. 4 These results suggest that released NO may play a role in determining the subsequent threshold for the induction of LTP at Schaffer‐commissural synapses through a reduction in the efficacy of NMDA receptor function when repeated conditioning trains are used.