Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards control and sensing for an autonomous mobile robotic assistant navigating assembly lines

There exists an increasing demand to incorporate mobile interactive robots to assist humans in repetitive, non-value added tasks in the manufacturing domain. Our aim is to develop a mobile robotic assistant for fetch-and-deliver tasks in human-oriented assembly line environments. Assembly lines present a niche yet novel challenge for mobile robots; the robot must precisely control its position on a surface which may be either stationary, moving, or split (e.g. in the case that the robot straddles the moving assembly line and remains partially on the stationary surface). In this paper we present a control and sensing solution for a mobile robotic assistant as it traverses a moving-floor assembly line. Solutions readily exist for control of wheeled mobile robots on static surfaces; we build on the open-source Robot Operating System (ROS) software architecture and generalize the algorithms for the moving line environment. Off-the-shelf sensors and localization algorithms are explored to sense the moving surface, and a customized solution is presented using PX4Flow optic flow sensors and a laser scanner-based localization algorithm. Validation of the control and sensing system is carried out both in simulation and in hardware experiments on a customized treadmill. Initial demonstrations of the hardware system yield promising results; the robot successfully maintains its position while on, and while straddling, the moving line.
Simple features for statistical Word Sense Disambiguation

In this paper, we describe our experiments on statistical word sense disambiguation (WSD) using two systems based on di(cid:11)erent approaches: Na(cid:127)(cid:16)ve Bayes on word tokens and Maximum Entropy on local syntactic and semantic features. In the (cid:12)rst approach, we consider a context window and a sub-window within it around the word to disambiguate. Within the outside window, only content words are considered, but within the sub-window, all words are taken into account. Both window sizes are tuned by the system for each word to disam-biguate and accuracies of 75% and 67% were respectively obtained for coarse and (cid:12)ne grained evaluations. In the second system, sense resolution is done using an approximate syntactic structure as well as semantics of neighboring nouns as features to a Maximum Entropy learner. Accuracies of 70% and 63% were obtained for coarse and (cid:12)ne grained evaluations.
Identification of computational hot spots in protein interfaces: combining solvent accessibility and inter-residue potentials improves the accuracy

MOTIVATION Hot spots are residues comprising only a small fraction of interfaces yet accounting for the majority of the binding energy. These residues are critical in understanding the principles of protein interactions. Experimental studies like alanine scanning mutagenesis require significant effort; therefore, there is a need for computational methods to predict hot spots in protein interfaces. RESULTS We present a new intuitive efficient method to determine computational hot spots based on conservation (C), solvent accessibility [accessible surface area (ASA)] and statistical pairwise residue potentials (PP) of the interface residues. Combination of these features is examined in a comprehensive way to study their effect in hot spot detection. The predicted hot spots are observed to match with the experimental hot spots with an accuracy of 70% and a precision of 64% in Alanine Scanning Energetics Database (ASEdb), and accuracy of 70% and a precision of 73% in Binding Interface Database (BID). Several machine learning methods are also applied to predict hot spots. Performance of our empirical approach exceeds learning-based methods and other existing hot spot prediction methods. Residue occlusion from solvent in the complexes and pairwise potentials are found to be the main discriminative features in hot spot prediction. CONCLUSION Our empirical method is a simple approach in hot spot prediction yet with its high accuracy and computational effectiveness. We believe that this method provides insights for the researchers working on characterization of protein binding sites and design of specific therapeutic agents for protein interactions. AVAILABILITY The list of training and test sets are available as Supplementary Data at http://prism.ccbb. ku.edu. tr/hotpoint/supplement.doc. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Artificial Neural Microcircuits as Building Blocks: Concept and Challenges

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are one of the most widely employed forms of bio-inspired computation. However the current trend is for ANNs to be structurally homogeneous. Furthermore, this structural homogeneity requires the application of complex training and learning tools that produce application specific ANNs, susceptible to pitfalls such as overfitting. In this paper, an new approach is explored, inspired by the role played in biology by Neural Microcircuits, the so called ``fundamental processing elements'' of organic nervous systems. How large neural networks, particularly Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) can be assembled using Artificial Neural Microcircuits (ANMs), intended as off-the-shelf components, is articulated; the results of initial work to produce a catalogue of such Microcircuits though the use of Novelty Search is shown; followed by efforts to expand upon this initial work, including a discussion of challenges uncovered during these efforts and explorations of methods by which they might be overcome.
DGSOI versus Bulk: A Quantum-Ballistic Study of 25 nm nMOSFETs

In this paper we study the performance of bulk and DGSOI nMOSFETs with 25 nm gate length in the quantum-coherent limit. The self-consistent wave functions are computed using a multi-sub-band scattering matrix formalism which allows to retain their full dimensionality and therefore eliminates the need for the adiabatic decomposition of the Schrödinger equation. We find that source-drain tunneling is negligibly small in both devices. Since the current is almost exclusively thermionic, the observed increase of the off-current with increasing drain bias can be attributed to drain-induced barrier lowering. The quantum-ballistic currents are by a factor of 2-3 larger than the quantum-drift-diffusion currents. The quantum-ballistic sub-threshold slope is almost the same for bulk and DGSOI MOSFET.
Comparing basic statistical concepts with diagnostic probabilities based on directly observed proportions to help understand the replication crisis

Instead of regarding an observed proportion as a sample from a population with an unknown parameter, diagnosticians intuitively use the observed proportion as a direct estimate of the posterior probability of a diagnosis. Therefore, a diagnostician might also regard a continuous Gaussian probability distribution of an outcome conditional on a study selection criterion to represents posterior probabilities. Fitting a distribution to its mean and standard deviation (SD) can be regarded as pooling data from an infinite number of imaginary or theoretical studies with an identical mean and SD but randomly different numerical values. For a distribution of possible means based on a SEM, the posterior probability Q of any theoretically true mean falling into a specified tail would be equal to the tail area as a proportion of the whole. If the reverse likelihood distribution of possible study means conditional on the same hypothetical tail threshold is assumed to be the same as the posterior probability distribution of means (as is customary) then by Bayes rule the P value equals Q. Replication involves doing two independent studies, thus doubling the variance for the combined posterior probability distribution. Thus, if the original effect size was 1.96, the number of observations was 100, the SEM was 1 and the original P value was 0.025, the theoretical probability of a replicating study getting a P value of up to 0.025 again is only 0.283. By applying the double variance to power calculations, the required number of observations is doubled compared to conventional approaches. If these theoretical probabilities of replication are consistent with empirical replication study results, this might explain the replication crisis and make the concepts of statistics easier to understand by diagnosticians and others.
Bilateral sequential lung transplantation for end stage septic lung disease.

BACKGROUND-- Bilateral sequential lung transplantation (BSLT) has been widely adopted as an alternative to combined heart and lung transplantation for the management of end stage septic lung disease in many transplant centres. METHODS-- A retrospective review was undertaken of the first 32 consecutive patients with septic lung disease to undergo BSLT at the Freeman Hospital. RESULTS-- Between April 1988 and October 1994 32 patients underwent BSLT. Survival at 30 days was 85% and actuarial survival at one year was 70%. Improved pulmonary function was seen in all surviving patients. CONCLUSION-- BSLT for septic lung disease offers comparable survival to heart-lung transplantation, with excellent functional results. Long term results may be superior because the disadvantages of transplanting the heart are avoided.
Coupled Requirements-driven Testing of CPS: From Simulation To Reality

Failures in safety-critical Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), both software and hardware-related, can lead to severe incidents impacting physical infrastructure or even harming humans. As a result, extensive simulations and field tests need to be conducted, as part of the verification and validation of system requirements, to ensure system safety. However, current simulation and field testing practices, particularly in the domain of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), are ad-hoc and lack a thorough, structured testing process. Furthermore, there is a dearth of standard processes and methodologies to inform the design of comprehensive simulation and field tests. This gap in the testing process leads to the deployment of sUAS applications that are: (a) tested in simulation environments which do not adequately capture the real-world complexity, such as environmental factors, due to a lack of tool support; (b) not subjected to a comprehensive range of scenarios during simulation testing to validate the system requirements, due to the absence of a process defining the relationship between requirements and simulation tests; and (c) not analyzed through standard safety analysis processes, because of missing traceability between simulation testing artifacts and safety analysis artifacts. To address these issues, we have developed an initial framework for validating CPS, specifically focusing on sUAS and robotic applications. We demonstrate the suitability of our framework by applying it to an example from the sUAS domain. Our preliminary results confirm the applicability of our framework. We conclude with a research roadmap to outline our next research goals along with our current proposal.
Reproductive Tract Tumours: The Scourge of Woman Reproduction Ails Indian Rhinoceroses

In Indian rhinoceros, extensive leiomyoma, a benign smooth muscle tumour, was sporadically diagnosed post mortem and commonly thought of as contributing factor for reduced fecundity of this species in captivity. However, to date, the prevalence of reproductive tract tumours and their relevance for fecundity are unknown. Our analysis of the international studbook now reveals that females cease reproducing at the age of 18.1±1.2 years; equivalent to a reproductive lifespan of just 9.5±1.3 years. This short reproductive life is in sharp contrast to their longevity in captivity of over 40 years. Here we show, after examining 42% of the captive female population, that age-related genital tract tumours are highly prevalent in this endangered species. Growth and development of these tumours was found to be age-related, starting from the age of 10 years. All females older than 12 years had developed genital tumours, just 7–9 years past maturity. Tumour sizes ranged from 1.5–10 cm. With age, tumours became more numerous, sometimes merging into one large diffuse tumour mass. These tumours, primarily vaginal and cervical, presumably cause widespread young-age infertility by the age of 18 years. In few cases, tumour necrosis suggested possible malignancy of tumours. Possible consequences of such genital tract tumour infestation are hindered intromission, pain during mating, hampered sperm passage, risk of ascending infection during pregnancy, dystocia, or chronic vaginal bleeding. In humans, leiomyoma affect up to 80% of pre-menopause women. While a leading cause for infertility, pregnancy is known to reduce the risk of tumour development. However, different from human, surgical intervention is not a viable treatment option in rhinoceroses. Thus, in analogy to humans, we suggest early onset and seamless consecutive pregnancies to help reduce prevalence of this disease, better maintain a self-sustained captive population and improve animal welfare.
Impact of exposure to elevated pCO2 on the physiology and behaviour of an important ecosystem engineer, the burrowing shrimp Upogebia deltaura

ABSTRACT: There is an increasing need to predict the effects of global climate change on ecologically important marine organisms and a demand for proactive solutions to reduce CO2 emissions. CO2 sequestration is one such method. While this offers a practical solution, recognition should be given to the potential for considerable localised effects on marine organisms in the event of leakage. This laboratory study quantifies the impact of exposure to elevated pCO2 conditions on the physiological and behavioural responses of a relatively tolerant marine organism. Burrowing shrimps Upogebia deltaura were exposed to CO2-enriched seawater for 35 d to treatments of 1396 μatm (pH 7.64), 2707 μatm (pH 7.35) and 14 110 μatm (pH 6.71). CO2 levels represented scenarios which included coastal ocean acidification and extremely elevated CO2 associated with geological CO2 sequestration leaks. Results were compared with those from shrimps maintained in a control treatment (pH 7.99). U. deltaura appeared to be tolerant to elevated pCO2 predicted to occur in the year 2100 (1396 μatm, pH 7.64). However, at 2707 μatm (pH 7.35) shrimps experienced extracellular acidosis, but no difference in haemolymph bicarbonate concentration, suggesting they have little or no buffering capacity, although there was no evidence of other physiological costs in terms of metabolism, osmotic regulation, shell mineralogy, growth and overall activity. At pH 6.71, before 100% mortality occurred, significant differences in activity were observed compared with shrimps in other pH treatments. Results suggest deleterious consequences for benthic ecosystems in the event of a CO2 sequestration leakage.
Thymic generation and regeneration

Summary: The thymus is a complex epithelial organ in which thymocyte development is dependent upon the sequential contribution of morphologically and phenotypically distinct stromal cell compartments. It is these microenvironments that provide the unique combination of cellular interactions, cytokines, and chemokines to induce thymocyte precursors to undergo a differentiation program that leads to the generation of functional T cells. Despite the indispensable role of thymic epithelium in the generation of T cells, the mediators of this process and the differentiation pathway undertaken by the primordial thymic epithelial cells are not well defined. There is a lack of lineage‐specific cell‐surface‐associated markers, which are needed to characterize putative thymic epithelial stem cell populations. This review explores the role of thymic stromal cells in T‐cell development and thymic organogenesis, as well as the molecular signals that contribute to the growth and expansion of primordial thymic epithelial cells. It highlights recent advances in these areas, which have allowed for a lineage relationship amongst thymic epithelial cell subsets to be proposed. While many fundamental questions remain to be addressed, collectively these works have broadened our understanding of how the thymic epithelium becomes specialized in the ability to support thymocyte differentiation. They should also facilitate the development of novel, rationally based therapeutic strategies for the regeneration and manipulation of thymic function in the treatment of many clinical conditions in which defective T cells have an important etiological role.
CIVIC: a Hypervisor based Virtual Computing Environment

The purpose of virtual computing environment is to improve resource utilization by providing a unified integrated operating platform for users and applications based on aggregation of heterogeneous and autonomous resources. With the rapid development in recent years, hypervisor technologies have become mature and comprehensive with four features, including transparency, isolation, encapsulation and manageability. In this paper, a hypervisor based computing infrastructure, named CIVIC, is proposed. Compared with existing approaches, CIVIC may benefit in several ways. It offers separated and isolated computing environment for end users, and realizes hardware and software consolidation and centralized management. Beside this, CIVIC provides a transparent view to upper layer applications, by hiding the dynamicity, distribution and heterogeneousness of underlying resources. Performance of the infrastructure is evaluated by an initial deployment and experiment. The result shows that CIVIC can facilitate installation, configuration and deployment of network-oriented applications.
Measuring Vulnerability: The Director's Cut

Traditional poverty measures neglect several important dimensions of household welfare. In this paper we construct a measure of \vulnerability" which allows us to quantify the welfare loss associated with poverty as well as the loss associated with any of a variety of difierent sources of uncertainty. Applying our measure to a panel dataset from Bulgaria in 1994, we flnd that poverty and risk play roughly equal roles in reducing welfare. Aggregate shocks are more important than idiosyncratic sources of risk, but households headed by an employed, educated male are less vulnerable to aggregate shocks than are other households. This is a longer, working-paper version of Ligon and Schechter (2003).
Factors to Heighten Success of Ball Acquisition in Kick-off and 50m Restart Kick Play in Rugby Football

In rugby football, a play starts by a drop kick at or behind the center of the halfway line at the beginning of a match1, at the beginning of the second half after the half-time interval, or after a score by either team. These kick-offs and 50m restart kicks (hereafter "KO"2) and ball contest plays directly tried after these kicks are, as assumed from the descriptions of technical guidance books (e.g. Winder, 1990; Williams & Hunter, 2000.; NSWRU, 2004), set plays, which tend to have been neglected compared with scrums and line-outs. Nakagawa et al. performed a series of game analysis studies and showed that success of ball acquisition in a KO play resulted in signifi cantly longer occupying time of the area after it and that this led to signifi cantly higher score acquisition rates (Nakagawa & Miyao, 1995, 1997; Nakagawa, 2006). They demonstrated that the KO play is an important set play in rugby games1. It is worth noting that KO plays are observed at the beginning of fi rst and second half or immediately after a point scored (a point allowed), which are key timings to win the match (Nakagawa et al., 2002; Nakamoto & Nakagawa, 2002). Accordingly, it should be aware that KO is not a mere starting (or Factors to Heighten Success of Ball Acquisition in Kick-off and 50m Restart Kick Play in Rugby Football
Durability with BookKeeper

Practical systems must often guarantee that changes to the system state are durable. Examples of such systems are databases, file systems, and messaging middleware with guaranteed delivery. One common way of implementing durability while keeping performance high is to use a log to persist updates to the system state. Such systems use the log to reconstruct the system state in the event of a crash. When implementing such a log, if the log is only stored locally, the system state is permanently lost when the server writing the log experiences a permanent hardware failure. BookKeeper is a system that exposes a log abstraction for building high performance, highly available distributed systems. BookKeeper transparently implements replication for high availability and striping for high performance. A Book- Keeper deployment comprises storage servers called bookies, which are designed to serve a large number of concurrent ledgers. BookKeeper is currently an open-source project and is in production use at Yahoo!
The role of peptidases in cancer of the rectum and sigmoid colon

Increased levels of peptidases are found in some human carcinomas and may be related to invasive potential. We therefore measured the activity of four peptidases in 50 specimens of tumour and normal colonic wall from patients with a rectal or sigmoid carcinoma, and correlated this with the stage, differentiation, fixity of the tumour and presence of venous invasion, determined histologically. Since acute phase reactant proteins (APRP) may inhibit these proteolytic enzymes we have also measured serum levels of two relevant APRPs, α1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) and C‐reactive protein (CRP) pre‐operatively. Activity of cathepsin B, cathepsin H and collagenase‐like peptidase (CLP) was determined fluorimetrically and collagenase photometrically. Significantly elevated activity of cathepsin B, CLP and collagenase was found in tumour compared with normal colonic wall (median values: (nmol (mg protein)−1 min−1) Cat B 0.71 and 0.42 (P<0.001), CLP 25.24 and 12.25 (P<0.001) and collagenase 0.49 and 0.31 (P<0.001)). There was no correlation between the activity of these enzymes expressed as a ratio of tumour/colonic wall, and differentiation or Dukes' stage of the tumour. However, there was significant elevation of activity of cathepsin B in tumours with local spread (n = 13) compared with those with no spread (n = 37) (median values 2.76 and 1.36 respectively (P<0.001)) and also in tumour with venous invasion (n = 24) compared with tumours without (n = 26) (median values 1.82 and 1.18 respectively (P<0.01)). Pre‐operative serum levels of CRP were inversely correlated with the activity of CLP and cathepsin H and collagenase in the tumours (rs = 0.332, 0.359 (P<0.05) and 0.302 (P = 0.05) respectively). Thus certain peptidases are raised in rectal and sigmoid tumours. Activity of cathepsin B appears related to local tumour invasion. APRP may have a role in inhibiting the activity of these enzymes. These findings may have therapeutic implications.
Spillover and Competition Effects: Evidence from the Sub-Saharan African Banking Sector

This paper examines the efficiency effects of foreign bank entry on domestic banks in sub-Saharan Africa during the period 1999-2006. Using a recently compiled dataset on foreign bank presence, the competition and spillover effects of North-South, regional and nonregional South-South banks are distinguished. The results show that the competitive pressure on domestic banks' net interest margins emanates only from regional South-South banks. There is evidence of spillover effects from North-South and regional South-South banks on domestic banks. As domestic banks invest in foreign technologies, their overhead costs increase in the short-run. Non-regional South-South banks seem to have little effect on the efficiency of domestic banks.