Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motivation and the Development of Activity Tracking number : 370 machine learning , planning , cognitive modeling

How do agents acquire competency in their environment? This is a core question of autonomous agents research. Competency may be hand-built into a system or it may be learned. We argue that for an agent to be truly autonomous, it must be capable to learn and direct its own behavior. In this paper, we present an architecture based on means-ends analysis planning that allows an agent to develop hierarchies of activity in a completely autonomous manner. Further, we show how an agent based on our architecture directs its behavior, creating its own goals using a technique called planning to act. The agent selects among these goals according to a motivational system, and in so doing, manages the tradeoff between exploring its environment and exploiting the knowledge it gathers. We present empirical results of such an agent working in
A new usage of functionalized oligodeoxynucleotide probe for site-specific modification of a guanine base within RNA

Site-specific modification of RNA is of great significance to investigate RNA structure, function and dynamics. Recently, we reported a new method for sequence- and cytosine-selective chemical modification of RNA based on the functional group transfer reaction of the 1-phenyl-2-methylydene-1,3-diketone unit of the 6-thioguanosine base incorporated in the oligodeoxynucleotide probe. In this study, we describe that the functionality transfer rate is greatly enhanced and the selectivity is shifted to the guanine base when the reaction is performed under alkaline conditions. Detailed investigation indicated that the 2-amino group of the enolate form of rG is the reactant of the functionality transfer reaction. As a potential application of this efficient functionality transfer reaction, a pyrene group as a relatively large fluorescent group was successfully transferred to the target guanine base of RNA with a high guanine and site selectivity. This functionality transfer reaction with high efficiency and high site-selectivity would provide a new opportunity as a unique tool for the study of RNA.
A Semi-Automatic Correctness Proof Procedure applied to Stoller's Leader Election Algorithm

In 1997, Stoller presented a leader election algorithm for a synchronous system with crash failures. The algorithm is an adaptation of Garcia-Molina's Bully Algorithm that uses failure detectors instead of explicit timeouts. Since the characteristics of the algorithm closely resemble the Bully Algorithm Stoller does not give a formal correctness proof. However, although the algorithms appear similar, there are non-trivial differences. The differences make it unclear if the original proof, by Garcia-Molina, actually carries over as indicated by Stoller. In this document we formalize the leader election algorithm using first-order logic, and prove its correctness with respect to the obvious safety property; it should not be possible to elect two different leaders at the same time.
Context-aware application programming for mobile devices

This research aims at facilitating the development of context-aware application software for mobile devices by providing a programming model, an implementation framework and a development environment. The programming model provides a multi-layered software architecture for context-aware application programming. The model supports developers to define contexts, behaviors and context-behavior binding rules through specifications and automates generation of context-aware application code based on the specifications. The implementation framework is a backbone program that implements the programming model. It facilitates the development in reducing the effort on the common tasks of context-awareness and help developers focus on the application-specific components. The development environment provides a series of tools to support the development of context-aware applications. These tools simplify the development process and provide the developed applications with robustness and testability.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids stimulate phosphatidylcholine synthesis in PC 12 cells

The synthesis of phospholipids in mammalian cells is regr-rlated by the availability of three critical precursor pools: those of choline, cytidirre triphosphatc and diacylglycerol. Diacylglycerols containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) apparently are preferentially utilized for phosphatide synthesis. PUFAs are known to play an important role in the development and function of mammalian brains. We therefore str"rdied the effects of unsaturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids on the overall rates of phospholipid biosynthesis in PCl2 rat plreoclrromocytorna cel ls. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA,22:6n-3), e icosapentaenoic acid (EPA,20:5n-3) and arachidonic acid (AA,20:4n-6) al l significantly stirnulated the incorporation of raC-choline into total cellular phospholipids. In contrast, monounsaturated oleic acid (OA) and the saturated palrnitic (PA) and stearic (SA) acids did not have this effect. The action of DHA was concentration-dependent between 5 and 50 pM; it beoatne statistically significant by 3 h after DHA treatment and then increased over the ensuing 3 h. DHA was preferentially incorporated into phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS), while AA predominatcd in phosphatidylcholine (PC). (() 2007 Elscvicr B.V. Al l r ichts rescrvcd.
3D surface reconstruction based on binocular vision

In this paper, a novel approach to represent human hand based on parallel binocular vision system is proposed. Firstly, object in the field of view of the two cameras is sliced into many cross-section regions by means of a number of two dimensional virtual slices. Secondly, an appropriate ellipse which approximate human hand profile curve is acquired. Then, 3D gesture surface reconstruction is completed, composed of sufficient ellipses. Experiments show the ability to reconstruct extremely clean and simple model from a stereo pair of images.
The Impact of Ambulance Practice on Acute Stroke Care

Background and Purpose— Few patients with acute stroke are treated with alteplase, often due to significant prehospital delays after symptom onset. The aims of this study were to: (1) identify factors associated with rapid first medical assessment in the emergency department after a call for ambulance assistance, and (2) determine the impact of ambulance practice on times from the ambulance call to first medical assessment in the emergency department. Methods— During a 6-month period in 2004, all ambulance-transported patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack arriving from a geographically defined region in Melbourne, Australia (population 383 000) to one of 3 hospital emergency departments were assessed prospectively. Ambulance records including the tape recording of the call for ambulance assistance and hospital medical records, were analyzed. Results— One hundred ninety-eight patients were included in the study. One hundred eighty-seven ambulance patient care records were complete and available for analysis. Factors associated with first medical assessment in the emergency department <60 minutes from the ambulance call and <10 minutes from hospital arrival were: Glasgow Coma Scale <13 (P<0.001 and P=0.021) and hospital prenotification (P=0.04 and P<0.001). Paramedic stroke recognition and hospital prenotification were associated with shorter times from the ambulance call to first medical assessment (P=0.001 and P<0.001). Conclusions— Paramedic stroke recognition and hospital prenotification are associated with shorter prehospital times from the ambulance call to hospital arrival and in-hospital times from hospital arrival to first medical assessment. This highlights the importance of including ambulance practice in comprehensive care pathways that span the whole process of stroke care.
Quality and complexity comparison of H.264 intra mode with JPEG2000 and JPEG

The recently proposed H.264 video coding standard offers significant coding gains over previously defined standards. An enhanced intra-frame prediction algorithm has been proposed in H.264 for efficient compression of I-frames. This paper investigates the scope of the intraframe coder of H.264 for image coding. We compare the quality of this coder and the complexity of its decoder with the commonly used image codecs (JPEG and JPEG2000). Our results demonstrate that H.264 has a strong potential as an alternative to JPEG and JPEG2000.
Principality and decidable type inference for finite-rank intersection types

Principality of typings is the property that for each typable term, there is a typing from which all other typings are obtained via some set of operations. Type inference is the problem of finding a typing for a given term, if possible. We define an intersection type system which has principal typings and types exactly the strongly normalizable ¿-terms. More interestingly, every finite-rank restriction of this system (using Leivant's first notion of rank) has principal typings and also has decidable type inference. This is in contrast to System F where the finite rank restriction for every finite rank at 3 and above has neither principal typings nor decidable type inference. This is also in contrast to earlier presentations of intersection types where the status (decidable or undecidable) of these properties is unknown for the finite-rank restrictions at 3 and above. Furthermore, the notion of principal typings for our system involves only one operation, substitution, rather than several operations (not all substitution-based) as in earlier presentations of principality for intersection types (without rank restrictions). In our system the earlier notion of expansion is integrated in the form of expansion variables, which are subject to substitution as are ordinary variables. A unification-based type inference algorithm is presented using a new form of unification, ß-unification.
Imaginarios sociales e identidades poscoloniales en la Revolución de las Sombrillas

Este articulo analiza la relacion entre las demandas de la Revolucion de las Sombrillas por una democracia plena en Hong Kong y la construccion de un imaginario social poscolonial sobre el cual se confecciona la identidad del movimiento. Ademas de discursos de autodeterminacion, autonomia y soberania, proponemos que estas manifestaciones son determinadas por un mimetismo poscolonial que funciona como discurso de resistencia ante la hegemonia politica del gobierno chino. Concluimos que este es parte de un continuum de movimientos sociales hongkoneses, que adecua el pasado colonial y el nacionalismo chino con estructuras politicas y sociales del presente global
The changes in complete blood count in thyroid cancer patients treated with radioactive iodine ablation therapy.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation therapy on the complete blood count (CBC) in thyroid cancer patients. METHODS One hundred sixty four patients undergoing RAI ablation therapy after total thyroidectomy were included. CBC results were available from the patients' medical records at the time of ablation and at the 1st, 6th, and 12th months after RAI therapy. RESULTS Hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell (WBC) and platelet (Plt) values were significantly lower than baseline at 1 month after treatment (p <0.0001). Hb and WBC values were increased at the 6th month and at the 1st year. Plt values increased at the 6th month but had decreased again at the 1st year. The values were usually in normal ranges except in the patients with low pretreatment Hb and WBC values. CONCLUSION RAI ablation therapy in thyroid cancer patients is a safe treatment modality without any serious or persistent hematological side effects.
Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 1

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1)—the one EBV antigen that is expressed in all EBV-associated malignancies—has long been thought to go undetected by the cell-mediated immune system. However, recent studies show that EBNA1 can be presented to both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, making it a potential new target for immunotherapy of EBV-related cancers.
A taxonomy of virtual worlds usage in education

Abstract Virtual worlds are an important tool in modern education practices as well as providing socialisation, entertainment and a laboratory for collaborative work. This paper focuses on the uses of virtual worlds for education and synthesises over 100 published academic papers, reports and educational websites from around the world. A taxonomy is then derived from these papers, delineating current theoretical and practical work on virtual world usage, specifically in the field of education. The taxonomy identifies rich veins of current research and practice in associated educational theory and in simulated worlds or environments, yet it also demonstrates the paucity of work in important areas such as evaluation, grading and accessibility. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic • The use of virtual worlds for supporting education is widespread and increasing. • There are numerous studies on virtual worlds usage in education. • Virtual worlds are mainly used for collaborative- or simulation-based education. What this paper adds • An analysis and synthesis of over 100 academic papers and virtual worlds, multi-user virtual environments and virtual learning environments. • A taxonomic differentiation based upon population, educational activity and learning theory. • A balance sheet of the disadvantages and advantages of using virtual worlds in education. • Identification of under developed areas of research into virtual worlds in education. Implications for practice and/or policy • Motivates the use of virtual worlds to support experiential learning, where real world experiential learning is difficult to achieve due to barriers of time, cost and place. • Identification of difficulties and challenges in the educational use of virtual worlds. These may be overcome through future work or help identify where the use of virtual worlds is not appropriate. • Identification of where the current development or research focus is: pedagogy, collaboration, enquiry-based learning and identity, etc.
The role of ozone flux and antioxidants in the suppression of ozone injury by elevated CO2 in soybean.

The projected rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to increase growth and yield of many agricultural crops. The magnitude of this stimulus will partly depend on interactions with other components of the atmosphere such as tropospheric O3. Elevated CO2 concentrations often lessen the deleterious effects of O3, but the mechanisms responsible for this response have received little direct examination. Previous studies have indicated that protection against O3 injury by elevated CO2 can be attributed to reduced O3 uptake, while other studies suggest that CO2 effects on anti-oxidant metabolism might also be involved. The aim of this experiment was to test further the roles of O3 flux and antioxidant metabolism in the suppression of O3 injury by elevated CO2. In a two-year experiment, soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] was exposed from emergence to maturity to charcoal-filtered air or charcoal-filtered air plus a range of O3 concentrations in combination with ambient or approximately twice-ambient CO2 concentrations in open-top field chambers. Experimental manipulation of O3 concentrations and estimates of plant O3 uptake indicated that equivalent O3 fluxes that suppressed net photosynthesis, growth, and yield at ambient concentrations of CO2 were generally much less detrimental to plants treated concurrently with elevated CO2. These responses appeared unrelated to treatment effects on superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and peroxidase activities and glutathione concentration. Total ascorbic acid concentration increased by 28-72% in lower canopy leaves in response to elevated CO2 and O3 but not in upper canopy leaves. Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 will likely ameliorate O3 damage to many crops due to reduced O3 uptake, increased carbon assimilation, and possibly as yet undetermined additional factors. The results of this study further suggest that elevated CO2 may increase the threshold O3 flux for biomass and yield loss in soybean.
VLSI architectures for turbo codes

A great interest has been gained in recent years by a new error-correcting code technique, known as "turbo coding", which has been proven to offer performance closer to the Shannon's limit than traditional concatenated codes. In this paper, several very large scale integration (VLSI) architectures suitable for turbo decoder implementation are proposed and compared in terms of complexity and performance; the impact on the VLSI complexity of system parameters like the state number, number of iterations, and code rate are evaluated for the different solutions. The results of this architectural study have then been exploited for the design of a specific decoder, implementing a serial concatenation scheme with 2/3 and 3/4 codes; the designed circuit occupies 35 mm/sup 2/, supports a 2 Mb/s data rate, and for a bit error probability of 10/sup -6/, yields a coding gain larger than 7 dB, with ten iterations.
Cytoskeletal self-organization in neuromorphogenesis

Self-organization of dynamic microtubules via interactions with associated motors plays a critical role in spindle formation. The microtubule-based mechanisms underlying other aspects of cellular morphogenesis, such as the formation and development of protrusions from neuronal cells is less well understood. In a recent study, we investigated the molecular mechanism that underlies the massive reorganization of microtubules induced in non-neuronal cells by expression of the neuronal microtubule stabilizer MAP2c. In that study we directly observed cortical dynein complexes and how they affect the dynamic behavior of motile microtubules in living cells. We found that stationary dynein complexes transiently associate with motile microtubules near the cell cortex and that their rapid turnover facilitates efficient microtubule transport. Here, we discuss our findings in the larger context of cellular morphogenesis with specific focus on self-organizing principles from which cellular shape patterns such as the thin protrusions of neurons can emerge.
Isolation and initial characterization of the mammalian midbody

Midbodies were isolated from synchronized cultures of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and their protein composition was studied by means of SDS PAGE. Gels of the midbodies included alpha and beta tubulins as major bands (approximately 30% of the total protein) and approximately 35 other bands, none of which constituted greater than 3.5% of the total protein. Extraction of the isolated midbodies with Sarkosyl NL-30- solubilized the midbody microtubules but left the central, dense matrix zone of the midbody intact. A protein doublet of approximately 115,000 mol wt was retained preferentially by the particulate fraction containing the matrix zones, indicating it to be a component of the matrix. The 115,000 mol wt doublet was also present in gels of isolated mitotic spindles from CHO cells. The overall protein composition of the isolated spindles was very similar to that of the isolated midbodies.
The Effect of Three Different Methods of Mental Training on Dart Throwing Performance

This study was designed to (a) determine whether three frequently used mental skills training programs enhance dart throwing performance beyond that obtained by physical practice and a no-practice control, (b) compare the relative effectiveness of the three methods of mental training programs, and (c) determine if these programs differentially affect subjects who were initially of high or low skill. The subjects (N=75) were college-age men and women who were matched between conditions on ability level. In addition to the three MT groups, there was one physical practice (PP) and one control group (C). The three methods of MT included Bennett and Pravitz’ (1982, 1987), Gauron’s (1984), and Unestahl’s (1983b) packaged programs. Significant group differences were found in posttest dart throwing performance; in particular, subjects receiving the Bennett and Pravitz and Unestahl MT differed from the control group. It was concluded that Bennett and Pravitz and Unestahl packaged programs were effective since they.
Identification in rat liver and serum of water-soluble class I MHC molecules possibly homologous to the murine Q10 gene product

We have identified large quantities of a water-soluble, non-RT1.A class I MHC molecule in the serum of the DA rat strain, with a similar molecule being found in aqueous extracts of DA liver. The non-RT1.A class I molecules have heavy chains of 41 kD, which is smaller than RT1.A class I molecules isolated from liver membranes (45 kD) but larger than water-soluble RT1.A class I molecules previously identified in serum and aqueous extracts of liver and kidney (40 kD). NH3-terminal amino acid sequencing of bulk-purified RT1.A class I molecules and of this novel non-RT1.A class I molecule revealed two substitutions, in the first 25 amino acids, Tyr----His at position 9, and Ala----Ser at position 24. The non-RT1.A class I molecule did not react with any of the well-characterized polymorphic and monomorphic antibodies directed against RT1.Aa class I molecules, but did react with the MRC OX18 antibody. A similar class I molecule could not be identified on liver membranes. The non-RT1.A class I molecule was found in large quantities (approximately 20 micrograms/ml) in the serum of the DA rat strain, and similarly large quantities appeared to be present in the sera of BN, PVG, and LEW.RT1a rats. WAG and LEW.RT1u rats had readily detectable but lower amounts of this molecule in their serum, while LEW and SHR rats had little if any present. This molecule probably represents the rat homologue of the murine Q10 gene product, and is the major class I product in the serum of the DA rat strain.
Query Based Expert Search Based on Relevance Class and Web Page Quality Ranking

-Expert search is mostly used in the areas of academic groups, organizations. The general expert search problem which is observed is searching experts on the web where lot of web pages and experts names are considered. It has two demanding issues namely: 1) The quality and noisy content of web pages. 2) The names of the experts are usually unclear. We propose to influence the huge amount of coexisting information to access relevance and reputation of a person name for a query. The coexisting structure is modeled using a hypergraph, on which a heat dissipation based ranking algorithm is proposed. The keywords in the query are concerned as sources of heat, and name of the person which is closely related with the query will receive most of the heat, and ranked high. Our algorithms are efficient for retrieving experts and surpass baseline algorithms notably. This work would be noticed as one step toward addressing the problem in searching experts from the web.
De la cotraitance au management relationnel : le cas d'une coopérative artisanale du secteur du bâtiment

Les recherches dans le domaine des cooperations interfirmes se sont essentiellement interessees aux grandes entreprises, parfois aux PME, mais beaucoup plus rarement aux tres petites entreprises artisanales. Nous visons a apporter une contribution au management relationnel a travers une etude qualitative portant sur une cooperation formalisee et reussie. L'interet de cette cooperative artisanale est de demontrer qu'une strategie de cotraitance imposee par le marche peut conduire a une veritable alliance, basee sur la gestion de leurs relations specifiques, coordonnee par la confiance et l'acceptation d'une constante evolution.