Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Animation of Bubbles in Liquid

We present a new fluid animation technique in which liquid and gas interact with each other, using the exampleof bubbles rising in water. In contrast to previous studies which only focused on one fluid, our system considersboth the liquid and the gas simultaneously. In addition to the flowing motion, the interactions between liquid andgas cause buoyancy, surface tension, deformation and movement of the bubbles. For the natural manipulationof topological changes and the removal of the numerical diffusion, we combine the volume‐of‐fluid method andthe front‐tracking method developed in the field of computational fluid dynamics. Our minimum‐stress surfacetension method enables this complementary combination. The interfaces are constructed using the marching cubesalgorithm. Optical effects are rendered using vertex shader techniques.
Segmentation semi-automatique en plans pour la générationde cartes denses de disparités Semi-automatic Planar Segmentation Applied to the Generation of Dense Disparity Maps

This work falls under computer vision framework and more precisely planar segmentation applied to the generation of dense disparity maps. The goal is to produce new stereoscopic images with ground truth in order to evaluate and to compare precisely stereovision algorithms. We consider piecewise planar scenes and we propose a semi-automatic segmentation method based on the active contour models in the case of polygonal shapes. We analyze the disparity maps to evaluate the accuracy of the segmentation and new image pairs are proposed.
An assessment of the power quality

The power quality (PQ) issues commonly envisage the robustness of electrical power to customer devices as huge assessments of the power systems at which the voltage, frequency and phasor measurements units are invited to utilities for the uninterrupted power with improved performance of the systems. The term power quality is also used to portray the electric power with equipments through load and the load's facsimile. Power apparatus may cause malfunction owing to drawal of abnormal load which ensures a pitiable quality power judged by substantial standards. The outstanding categories of power not only ensure the reliability of the system but also decrease the power loss as optimal load demand.
Observations on the effectiveness of procedures and some improvement techniques

We will describe in this article a method allowing the simulation of financial models. This method is often useful in the context of financial mathematics, because it allows calculating the price of any option as long as we know to express it in the form of the expectation of a random variable that we simulate. In this case, the Monte Carlo method described later allows then writing quickly an algorithm to evaluate this option and it is often very greedy in time calculation. Effective procedure leads to a sufficient precision at the cost of a limited calculation time. To identify more precisely the efficiency notation and indicate some techniques to increase it, we assume that we want to estimate by Monte Carlo simulations, a parameter e of the distribution of V (T, − → Y (t)). It can be a quantile of this distribution (that is the case when it comes to appreciating a V aR), of an expectation (for example if we try to evaluate an option) or of any time of the distribution V (T, − → Y (t)). On the other hand, Monte Carlo simulations, in the standard form is not suitable for the evaluation of american options. The reason is that the opportunity to exercise at any time requires to calculate at each date and each trajectory a conditional expectation, thus to remove trajectories at each step. This is infeasible in practice, even if it is limited to a finite number of possible exercise dates. Thus, we use the techniques of improving the adaptation of Monte Carlo method to make it suitable for the evaluation of american options.
Fast 2D model-to-image registration using vanishing points for sports video analysis

This article focuses on the field-to-image registration for TV sports-related image processing through basic geometrical reasoning. We propose a robust automatic line-based method that can cope with imprecisions in the line detection steps through a hypothesis generation/pruning paradigm where the number of hypotheses is reduced by using the vanishing points. The results are satisfying and illustrated with examples from sport.
Governance arrangements targeting diversity in Europe: how New Public Management impacts working with social cohesion

ABSTRACT This article analyses how policies to foster social cohesion within diverse and unequal urban contexts are affected by New Public Management and austerity policies. Based on the analysis of a handful of governance arrangements in three cities that differ in their institutional structure and diversity policy approaches (Copenhagen, Leipzig and Milan), it is shown that negative effects are quite widespread yet cushioned by a strong welfare state structure, solid local government and high priority given to the recognition of diversity. Nevertheless, the shift towards the application of market logic to social work reduces innovative potential, increases efforts spent on procedures and weakens public coordination.
Exosomes and Their Role in the Life Cycle and Pathogenesis of RNA Viruses

Exosomes are membrane-enclosed vesicles actively released into the extracellular space, whose content reflect the physiological/pathological state of the cells they originate from. These vesicles participate in cell-to-cell communication and transfer of biologically active proteins, lipids, and RNAs. Their role in viral infections is just beginning to be appreciated. RNA viruses are an important class of pathogens and affect millions of people worldwide. Recent studies on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), and Dengue Virus (DENV) have demonstrated that exosomes released from infected cells harbor and deliver many regulatory factors including viral RNA and proteins, viral and cellular miRNA, and other host functional genetic elements to neighboring cells, helping to establish productive infections and modulating cellular responses. Exosomes can either spread or limit an infection depending on the type of pathogen and target cells, and can be exploited as candidates for development of antiviral or vaccine treatments. This review summarizes recent progress made in understanding the role of exosomes in RNA virus infections with an emphasis on their potential contribution to pathogenesis.
Variational Bayesian multi-channel robust NMF for human-voice enhancement with a deformable and partially-occluded microphone array

This paper presents a human-voice enhancement method for a deformable and partially-occluded microphone array. Although microphone arrays distributed on the long bodies of hose-shaped rescue robots are crucial for finding victims under collapsed buildings, human voices captured by a microphone array are contaminated by non-stationary actuator and friction noise. Standard blind source separation methods cannot be used because the relative microphone positions change over time and some of them are occasionally shaded by rubble. To solve these problems, we develop a Bayesian model that separates multichannel amplitude spectrograms into sparse and low-rank components (human voice and noise) without using phase information, which depends on the array layout. The voice level at each microphone is estimated in a time-varying manner for reducing the influence of the shaded microphones. Experiments using a 3-m hose-shaped robot with eight microphones show that our method outperforms conventional methods by the signal-to-noise ratio of 2.7 dB.
Time-delay feedback cooperative adaptive cruise control of connected vehicles by heterogeneous channel transmission

In this paper, we consider the cooperative adaptive cruise control problem of connected autonomous vehicles networked by heterogeneous wireless channel transmission. The cooperative adaptive cruise control model with variable input delays is established to describe the varying time-delays induced from vehicular actuators and heterogeneous channel transmission. Then a set of decentralized time-delay feedback cooperative adaptive cruise control controllers is computed in such way that each vehicle evaluates its own adaptive cruise control strategy using only neighborhood information. In order to establish string stability of the connected vehicle platoon with the decentralized controllers, the sufficient conditions are obtained in the form of linear matrix inequalities. The scenarios, consisting of four different cars with three heterogeneous wireless channels, are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented method.
Vascular Relaxation Induced by C-Type Natriuretic Peptide Involves the Ca2+/NO-Synthase/NO Pathway

Aims C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and nitric oxide (NO) are endothelium-derived factors that play important roles in the regulation of vascular tone and arterial blood pressure. We hypothesized that NO produced by the endothelial NO-synthase (NOS-3) contributes to the relaxation induced by CNP in isolated rat aorta via activation of endothelial NPR-C receptor. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the putative contribution of NO through NPR-C activation in the CNP induced relaxation in isolated conductance artery. Main Methods Concentration-effect curves for CNP were constructed in aortic rings isolated from rats. Confocal microscopy was used to analyze the cytosolic calcium mobilization induced by CNP. The phosphorylation of the residue Ser1177 of NOS was analyzed by Western blot and the expression and localization of NPR-C receptors was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Key Findings CNP was less potent in inducing relaxation in denuded endothelium aortic rings than in intact ones. L-NAME attenuated the potency of CNP and similar results were obtained in the presence of hydroxocobalamin, an intracellular NO0 scavenger. CNP did not change the phosphorylation of Ser1177, the activation site of NOS-3, when compared with control. The addition of CNP produced an increase in [Ca2+]c in endothelial cells and a decrease in [Ca2+]c in vascular smooth muscle cells. The NPR-C-receptors are expressed in endothelial and adventitial rat aortas. Significance These results suggest that CNP-induced relaxation in intact aorta isolated from rats involves NO production due to [Ca2+]c increase in endothelial cells possibly through NPR-C activation expressed in these cells. The present study provides a breakthrough in the understanding of the close relationship between the vascular actions of nitric oxide and CNP.
Spatial Data Dynamic Balancing Distribution Method for Parallel Spatial Database

Spatial data balancing distribution can evidently improve the performance of parallel spatial database in shared nothing parallel architecture. Considering spatial locality and unstructured variable length characteristics of spatial data, this paper proposes a dynamic spatial data balancing distribution method under shared nothing parallel database environment. By using Hilbert ordering code to keep spatial locality relationship between spatial objects, the presented method can fulfill spatial data static balancing distribution status, which depends on hierarchically decomposing Hilbert space-filling curve code to allocate approximately even spatial data volume to parallel nodes in distributed network. Then spatial proximity index is introduced to resolve spatial data unbalancing problem caused by spatial database dynamic updating. Through moving spatial data fragments to goal node which is the minimum spatial proximity with data moving out node, the spatial database redistributing strategy can attain dynamic data balance among all network parallel nodes. Our experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve parallel performance deterioration resulted from spatial data unbalancing and achieve spatial data dynamic balancing distribution in parallel spatial database.
Essential Bacterial Functions Encoded by Gene Pairs

ABSTRACT To address the need for new antibacterials, a number of bacterial genomes have been systematically disrupted to identify essential genes. Such programs have focused on the disruption of single genes and may have missed functions encoded by gene pairs or multiple genes. In this work, we hypothesized that we could predict the identity of pairs of proteins within one organism that have the same function. We identified 135 putative protein pairs in Bacillus subtilis and attempted to disrupt the genes forming these, singly and then in pairs. The single gene disruptions revealed new genes that could not be disrupted individually and other genes required for growth in minimal medium or for sporulation. The pairwise disruptions revealed seven pairs of proteins that are likely to have the same function, as the presence of one protein can compensate for the absence of the other. Six of these pairs are essential for bacterial viability and in four cases show a pattern of species conservation appropriate for potential antibacterial development. This work highlights the importance of combinatorial studies in understanding gene duplication and identifying functional redundancy.
Analysis of Individual Protein Regions Provides Novel Insights on Cancer Pharmacogenomics

The promise of personalized cancer medicine cannot be fulfilled until we gain better understanding of the connections between the genomic makeup of a patient's tumor and its response to anticancer drugs. Several datasets that include both pharmacologic profiles of cancer cell lines as well as their genomic alterations have been recently developed and extensively analyzed. However, most analyses of these datasets assume that mutations in a gene will have the same consequences regardless of their location. While this assumption might be correct in some cases, such analyses may miss subtler, yet still relevant, effects mediated by mutations in specific protein regions. Here we study such perturbations by separating effects of mutations in different protein functional regions (PFRs), including protein domains and intrinsically disordered regions. Using this approach, we have been able to identify 171 novel associations between mutations in specific PFRs and changes in the activity of 24 drugs that couldn't be recovered by traditional gene-centric analyses. Our results demonstrate how focusing on individual protein regions can provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the drug sensitivity of cancer cell lines. Moreover, while these new correlations are identified using only data from cancer cell lines, we have been able to validate some of our predictions using data from actual cancer patients. Our findings highlight how gene-centric experiments (such as systematic knock-out or silencing of individual genes) are missing relevant effects mediated by perturbations of specific protein regions. All the associations described here are available from http://www.cancer3d. org.
Evolution and colors of helium-core white dwarf stars with high-metallicity progenitors

Aims. Motivated by the recent detection of single and binary He-core white dwarfs in metal-rich clusters, we present a full set of evolutionary calculations and colors appropriate to the study of these white dwarfs. The paper is also aimed at investigating whether stable hydrogen burning may constitute a major source of energy for massive He-core white dwarfs resulting from high-metallicity progenitors. Methods. White dwarf sequences are derived by considering the evolutionary history of progenitor stars with supersolar metallicities. We also incorporate a self-consistent, time-dependent treatment of gravitational settling and chemical diffusion, as well as of the residual nuclear burning. Results. We find that the influence of residual nuclear burning during the late stages of white dwarf evolution is strongly dependent on the chemical diffusion at the base of the hydrogen-rich envelope. When no diffusion is considered, residual hydrogen burning strongly influences the advanced stages of white dwarf cooling, introducing evolutionary delays of several Gyr. By contrast, when diffusion is taken into account, the role of residual nuclear burning is strongly mitigated, and the evolution is only dictated by the thermal content stored in the ions. In addition, for all of our sequences, we provide accurate color and magnitudes on the basis of new and improved non-gray model atmospheres that explicitly include Lyα quasi-molecular opacity.
Distributed storage for proximity based services

We consider a wireless network, where the users (nodes) themselves can be used to store data in a distributed fashion. We show how regenerating codes can be used to decrease the energy consumption of such networks. This is possible if internodal data transmission is less expensive, in terms of energy consumption per bit, than transmitting data between a node and a remote source. We show that, thence, the expected total energy consumption of distributed storage with regenerating codes can be lower than that of uncoded distributed storage.
Breakfast consumption is positively associated with nutrient adequacy in Canadian children and adolescents

Although breakfast is associated with more favourable nutrient intake profiles in children, limited data exist on the impact of breakfast on nutrient adequacy and the potential risk of excessive intakes. Accordingly, we assessed differences in nutrient intake and adequacy among breakfast non-consumers, consumers of breakfasts with ready-to-eat cereal (RTEC) and consumers of other types of breakfasts. We used cross-sectional data from 12 281 children and adolescents aged 4–18 years who took part in the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey, 2004. Mean nutrient intakes (obtained using a multiple-pass 24 h recall method) were compared among the breakfast groups using covariate-adjusted regression analysis. Usual nutrient intake distributions, generated using the National Cancer Institute method, were used to determine the prevalence of nutrient inadequacy or the potential risk of excessive intakes from food sources alone and from the combination of food plus supplements. Of these Canadian children, 10 % were breakfast non-consumers, 33 % were consumers of RTEC breakfasts and 57 % were consumers of other types of breakfasts. Non-consumption of breakfast increased with age (4–8 years: 2 %; 9–13 years: 9 %; 14–18 years: 18 %). Breakfast consumers had higher covariate-adjusted intakes of energy, many nutrients and fibre, and lower fat intakes. The prevalence of nutrient inadequacy for vitamin D, Ca, Fe and Mg (from food alone or from the combination of food plus supplements) was highest in breakfast non-consumers, intermediate in consumers of other types of breakfasts and lowest in consumers of RTEC breakfast. For vitamin A, P and Zn, breakfast non-consumers had a higher prevalence of nutrient inadequacy than both breakfast groups. The potential risk of excessive nutrient intakes was low in all groups. Efforts to encourage and maintain breakfast consumption in children and adolescents are warranted.
Analysis and Simulation of a Mesoscale Model of Diffusive Resistance of Bacterial Biofilms to Penetration of Antibiotics

Most bacteria live in biofilm communities, which offer protection against harmful external impacts. This makes treatment of biofilm borne bacterial infections with antibiotics difficult. We discuss a dynamic mathematical model that focuses on the diffusive resistance that a growing biofilm exerts against penetration of antibiotics. This allows bacteria in the protected inner layers to grow while those in the outer rim are inactivated. The model consists of four parabolic partial differential equations for the dependent variables antibiotic concentration, oxygen concentration, active biomass fraction and inert biomass fraction. The equations for the last two variables show power law degeneracy (like the porous medium equation) as the dependent variable vanishes, and a power law singularity (like the fast diffusion equation) as the dependent variable approaches its a priori known maximum value, and thus are highly non-linear. We show the existence of solutions to this model. This proof uses a positivity criterion, which is formulated and proved as a Lemma for more general nonlinear parabolic systems. Furthermore, a number of computer simulations are carried out to illustrate the behavior of the antibiotic disinfection model in dependence of the antibiotics added to the system. MSC: 35K57, 35K65, 37M05, 37N25, 68U20, 92D25
Thirty years of sexual behaviour at a Canadian university: Romantic relationships, hooking up, and sexual choices

Abstract:Every 10 years from 1980 to 2010, students in a British Columbia university were surveyed about age of sexual initiation, number of partners, and degree of emotional intimacy within their partnerships. Between 1980 and 1990, the socially acceptable prerequisite for premarital sex appeared to shift from the promise of marriage to mutual love. This change was demonstrated by a fall in the virginity rate among unmarried females, and the rise of monogamous romantic relationships for males. From 1980 through 2010, men reported more sexual partners than did women, with a smaller, though rising, proportion of serious relationships. Since 1990, never-married students were classified into three sexual behavioural groups: monogamists (about 55%), abstainers (30%), and multi-partnered “experimenters” (20% of men throughout each decade, and 7.6% of women in 1990–2000, rising to 14.4% in 2010). Experimenters generally reported concurrent partners, most of them casual. Since 1980, most sexually active students have experienced both romantic relationships and casual sexual partnerships, yet since at least 1990, the majority have been primarily monogamous. This article traces the changes and continuities in romantic relationships, casual sex, and sexual behavioural groups over 30 years, concluding that contrary to the claims of popular media and some academics, casual sex (“hookup culture”) has not replaced romantic relationships as the most common form of student sexual behaviour.
PHENOMENAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE ALLOCENTRIC-EGOCENTRIC INTERFACE

I propose and defend the Allocentric-Egocentric Interface Theory of Consciousness. Mental processes form a hierarchy of mental representations with maximally egocentric (self-centered) representations at the bottom and maximally allocentric (other-centered) representations at the top. Phenomenally conscious states are states that are relatively intermediate in this hierarchy. More specifically, conscious states are hybrid states that involve the reciprocal interaction between relatively allocentric and relatively egocentric representations. Thus a conscious state is composed of a pair of representations interacting at the Allocentric-Egocentric Interface. What a person is conscious of is determined by what the contributing allocentric and egocentric representations are representations of. The phenomenal character of conscious states is identical to the representational content of the reciprocally interacting egocentric and allocentric
School-based mindfulness intervention supports adolescent resiliency: A randomized controlled pilot study

ABSTRACT This research evaluated the effects of a seven-session mindfulness intervention, Learning to BREATHE, on an ethnically diverse at-risk high school student sample. Two classrooms were randomly assigned to intervention or normal health-education programming. Results indicated significant effects to self-reported psychosocial resilience, with students receiving the intervention reporting stable levels of resilience over time and students in the control condition reporting significant reductions. Intervention groups did not evidence change to self-reported psychosocial problem behavior, school attendance, and quarterly academic grades. Findings suggest that MBI may offer an effective strategy for enhancing student dispositional resilience, and suggestions for further research are offered.