Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Support for intelligent interruption and augmented context recovery

We describe work to support task alertness, mitigating the negative effects of interruption of one task by others competing for attention. These effects are ameliorated in two ways. First, by comparing the relative priorities of tasks from two domains, we decide whether to interrupt immediately, negotiate to interrupt completely now or later, or to schedule the interruption at the next cognitive break. Second, after interruption we support context recovery of the interrupted task, done to various depths to speed recovery from interruption. Priorities of tasks (and as a result the interruption and recovery strategies) will be adjusted according to the cognitive workload of subjects as measured through biological/physiological sensors and the accuracy and speed of task completion. One task domain involves monitoring and assessing ship mechanical system status while the second task domain involves tracking logistics requests on behalf of forward deployed ground troops. The interruption and context recovery system will be exercised on the US Naval ship Sea Shadow (IX 529).
Simulation of the HikerNet

HikerNet is a store-and-forward messaging system for areas without ordinary communication infrastructure. The transport of the messages is accomplished by devices that are carried around. When devices are in close range to each other, messages can be exchanged based on peer-to-peer connections in an ad-hoc network. The messages are sent asynchronously in a store-and-forward pattern. We have implemented a simulation for HikerNet. Results and conclusions from simulations of the HikerNet are presented in this document.
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) Levels in an Expanded Market Basket Survey of U.S. Food and Estimated PBDE Dietary Intake by Age and Sex

Objectives Our objectives in this study were to expand a previously reported U.S. market basket survey using a larger sample size and to estimate levels of PBDE intake from food for the U.S. general population by sex and age. Methods We measured concentrations of 13 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners in food in 62 food samples. In addition, we estimated levels of PBDE intake from food for the U.S. general population by age (birth through ≥60 years of age) and sex. Results In food samples, concentrations of total PBDEs varied from 7.9 pg/g (parts per trillion) in milk to 3,726 pg/g in canned sardines. Fish were highest in PBDEs (mean, 1,120 pg/g; median, 616 pg/g; range, 11.14–3,726 pg/g). This was followed by meat (mean, 383 pg/g; median, 190 pg/g; range, 39–1,426 pg/g) and dairy products (mean, 116 pg/g; median, 32.2 pg/g; range, 7.9–683 pg/g). However, using estimates for food consumption (excluding nursing infants), meat accounted for the highest U.S. dietary PBDE intake, followed by dairy and fish, with almost equal contributions. Adult females had lower dietary intake of PBDEs than did adult males, based on body weight. We estimated PBDE intake from food to be 307 ng/kg/day for nursing infants and from 2 ng/kg/day at 2–5 years of age for both males and females to 0.9 ng/kg/day in adult females. Conclusion Dietary exposure alone does not appear to account for the very high body burdens measured. The indoor environment (dust, air) may play an important role in PBDE body burdens in addition to food.
Depot testosterone with etonogestrel implants result in induction of azoospermia in all men for long-term contraception.

BACKGROUND Combined testosterone and progestogen preparations are a promising approach to male hormonal contraception. We investigated the effect of s.c. etonogestrel with depot testosterone on spermatogenesis in normal men over a period of 48 weeks. METHODS Fifteen healthy men received three s.c. 68 mg etonogestrel implants. Testosterone pellets (400 mg) were administered at 12 weekly intervals. RESULTS Nine men completed 48 weeks of treatment. Four subjects chose to discontinue after 6 months, one man withdrew from the study early for personal reasons and one was withdrawn due to illness. Sperm concentrations of <1 x 10(6)/ml were achieved in all men by 16 weeks of treatment. All men became azoospermic, although the time to achieve this varied from 8 to 28 weeks. Azoospermia was maintained in eight of the nine men treated for 48 weeks, one subject showing partial recovery from 40 weeks. Testosterone levels remained in the physiological range throughout. Treatment did not result in weight gain, change in body composition or decline in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. CONCLUSIONS The combination of three etonogestrel implants with depot testosterone results in rapid and consistent suppression of spermatogenesis. This can be maintained for up to 1 year and may therefore be a suitable approach for a long-acting male hormonal contraceptive.
Search for an Effect of Satiation on Delayed Matching-To-Sample Performance

A study was made of the effects of satiation on the quality of a well-established delayed matching-to-sample performance. Drive levels were manipulated by (1) allowing Ss (3 white Carneaux pigeons) to run to satiation in prolonged sessions and (2) prefeeding Ss 10% of their working weights 2 hr. before the experimental sessions. Performance at low drive levels shows no decrements compared with that under control (high drive) conditions and may even be improved at long delays.
Reciprocal Regulation of Angiotensin Receptor-activated Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinases by β-Arrestins 1 and 2*

β-Arrestin2 not only plays essential roles in seven membrane-spanning receptor desensitization and internalization but also functions as a signal transducer in mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades. Here we show that the angiotensin II type 1A receptor-mediated activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) in HEK-293 cells is increased when the cellular level of β-arrestin1 is down-regulated by RNA interference but is decreased or eliminated when the cellular level of β-arrestin2 is diminished. Such reciprocal effects of down-regulated levels of β-arrestins 1 and 2 are primarily due to differences in the ability of the two forms of β-arrestins to directly mediate ERK activation. These results are the first to demonstrate reciprocal activity of β-arrestin isoforms on a signaling pathway and suggest that physiological levels of β-arrestin1 may act as “dominant-negative” inhibitors of β-arrestin2-mediated ERK activation.
On the Spraying Modality of Liquids by Pyroelectrohydrodynamics

We present for the first time an investigation on the spraying modality for the pyroelectrohydrodynamic (pyro-EHD) system. We show that the pyro-EHD spray (p-Spray) works well in the range from far field (d > 10 mm) to near field (d < 2 mm) without the need of external voltage and without the needs to change the experimental apparatus in that wide range of distances. Because the proposed method works without a counter electrode, no limitations are connected with the geometric shape of the substrate on which the spray coating is deposited. We report on several examples of the formation of disperse sprayed droplets, whose size can be varied between hundreds of micrometers and hundreds of nanometers, as well as on the production of sprayed pattern footpaths. The results reported here demonstrate the direct writing of spray patterns of nano/microdroplets with different materials in a very wide range, that is, from low- to high-viscous liquid solutions. Finally, as an example of application, we show the use of.
Reduced Basis Method for Real Time Multiple Heat Source Placement Optimization in Ablation Cancer Therapy

Thermal ablation treatments in cancer therapy heat a target volume, enough to cause it to burn, but leave healthy tissue and neighboring sensitive structures undamaged; see Chu and Dupuy (2014). The placement of the heat source and the control of its power are essential for an effective ablation, and are affected by the size and location of the target. In the following, we propose a novel approach to the power-placement problem by dissecting it into two parts.
Sojourn time approximations in a multi-class time-sharing server

We study a multi-class time-sharing discipline with relative priorities known as Discriminatory Processor Sharing (DPS), which provides a natural framework to model service differentiation in systems. The analysis of DPS is extremely challenging and analytical results are scarce. We develop closed-form approximations for the mean conditional and unconditional sojourn times. The main benefits of the approximations lie in its simplicity, the fact that it applies for general service requirements with finite second moments, and that it provides insights into the dependency of the performance on the system parameters. We show that the approximation for the mean (un)conditional sojourn time of a customer is decreasing as its relative priority increases. We also show that the approximation is exact in various scenarios, and that it is uniformly bounded in the second moments of the service requirements. Finally we numerically illustrate that the approximation is accurate across a broad range of parameters.
Requirement for Pbx 1 in skeletal patterning and programming chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation

Pbx1 is a TALE (t hree amino acid l oop extension) class homeodomain protein originally identified as the product of an oncogene in a subset of childhood leukemias (Nourse et al., 1990; Kamps et al., 1990). Subsequent studies have shown that Pbx1 is a homolog of Drosophila extradenticle (EXD) and a component of various protein complexes implicated in developmental gene expression (reviewed by Mann and Chan, 1996). The transcriptional activity of Pbx1 is regulated in part by nuclear import mediated by dimerization with other TALE class homedomain proteins such as Meis/Prep1 (Berthelsen et al., 1999). The latter are evolutionarily related to but distinct from Pbx proteins (Burglin, 1997; Chen et al., 1997; Moscow et al., 1995), with which they form stable, nuclear DNAbinding complexes (Bischof et al., 1998; Chang et al., 1997; Knoepfler et al., 1997; Berthelsen et al., 1998a; Berthelsen et al., 1999). Biochemical analyses suggest that heterodimers of Pbx and Meis-related proteins contribute to the regulation of several genes (Berthelsen et al., 1998; Berthelsen et al., 1999; Bischof et al., 1998; Swift et al., 1998) in different tissues. As a TALE heterodimer, Pbx displays an ability to simultaneously interact and bind DNA with Hox proteins thereby forming trimeric complexes on appropriate DNA sites (Berthelsen et al., 1998; Jacobs et al., 1999; Schnabel et al., 2000). Furthermore, two essential Hoxb1 hindbrain enhancers contain DNA binding sites that support the in vitro assembly of trimeric Hox-TALE complexes and are necessary for hindbrain enhancer activity in vivo (Jacobs et al., 1999; Ferretti et al., 2000). Numerous studies have demonstrated that interactions with Pbx1 result in enhanced Hox DNA binding affinities and specificities in vitro (Chan et al., 1994; Chang et al., 1995; Chang et al., 1996; Knoepfler and Kamps, 1995; Lu et al., 1995; Peers et al., 1995; Peltenberg and Murre, 1996; Phelan et al., 1995; Shen et al., 1996; van Dijk and Murre, 1994). These interactions are confined to a subset of Hox and ther homeodomain proteins that contain characteristic tryptophan-bearing dimerization motifs. Genetic analyses in 3543 Development 128, 3543-3557 (2001) Printed in Great Britain © The Company of Biologists Limited 2001 DEV6520
Path planning approach based on probabilistic roadmap for sensor based car-like robot in unknown environments

This paper describes a new motion planning approaches based on probabilistic roadmap (PRM) algorithm for path planning of car-like mobile robot in unknown environments. Although there are already some approaches which stem from PRM and deal with the path planning problems in this field, the main flaw is the high costs of the robots' paths, especially in the case that the environments are complex. The planning method in this paper makes a development of those current approaches. The improvements are mainly at two points: (1) the local free nodes regions are dwindled in order to decrease the cost of the path; and (2) the new algorithm creates another group of configurations around the robot within the sensors' detection distance in each step if the number of current nodes is smaller than an initially settled value, so that the narrow passages are not be ignored by the robot.
Graphene oxide and graphene fiber produced by different nozzle size, feed rate and reduction time with vitamin C

The processing conditions of graphene oxide and graphene fibers are important for final fiber properties. The effect of different processing conditions such as feed rate, nozzle size (length and diameter), and reduction time by vitamin C on fiber properties such as morphology, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity has been analyzed. It has been observed that at the constant feed rates, increase in nozzle length results in higher mechanical properties. For the samples produced with long nozzle, thinner nozzle results to higher mechanical properties than thicker one. Decrease in nozzle length and increase in feed rate and reduction time by vitamin C resulted in an increased crimpy structure of fiber surface. Higher fiber strength was observed when the reduction time was decreased. The increase in the feed rate resulted in an increase of fiber linear densities (tex). All fibers experimented were in the semiconductor range. In this study, it has been seen that short, thin nozzles with 10 ml/h feed rate and reduction with 2.5 h provided better mechanical properties along with electrical conductivity.
Dengue Virus Infection in Africa

Reported incidence of dengue has increased worldwide in recent decades, but little is known about its incidence in Africa. During 1960–2010, a total of 22 countries in Africa reported sporadic cases or outbreaks of dengue; 12 other countries in Africa reported dengue only in travelers. The presence of disease and high prevalence of antibody to dengue virus in limited serologic surveys suggest endemic dengue virus infection in all or many parts of Africa. Dengue is likely underrecognized and underreported in Africa because of low awareness by health care providers, other prevalent febrile illnesses, and lack of diagnostic testing and systematic surveillance. Other hypotheses to explain low reported numbers of cases include cross-protection from other endemic flavivirus infections, genetic host factors protecting against infection or disease, and low vector competence and transmission efficiency. Population-based studies of febrile illness are needed to determine the epidemiology and true incidence of dengue in Africa.
Hodge spectrum of hyperplane arrangements

In this article there are two main results. The first result gives a formula, in terms of a log resolution, for the graded pieces of the Hodge filtration on the cohomology of a unitary local system of rank one on the complement of an arbitrary divisor in a smooth projective complex variety. The second result is an application of the first. We give a combinatorial formula for the spectrum of a hyperplane arrangement. M. Saito recently proved that the spectrum of a hyperplane arrangement depends only on combinatorics. However, a combinatorial formula was missing. The formula is achieved by a different method.
Streaming Simplification of Tetrahedral Meshes

Unstructured tetrahedral meshes are commonly used in scientific computing to represent scalar, vector, and tensor fields in three dimensions. Visualization of these meshes can be difficult to perform interactively due to their size and complexity. By reducing the size of the data, we can accomplish real-time visualization necessary for scientific analysis. We propose a two-step approach for streaming simplification of large tetrahedral meshes. Our algorithm arranges the data on disk in a streaming, I/O-efficient format that allows coherent access to the tetrahedral cells. A quadric-based simplification is sequentially performed on small portions of the mesh in-core. Our output is a coherent streaming mesh which facilitates future processing. Our technique is fast, produces high quality approximations, and operates out-of-core to process meshes too large for main memory
Extent of copper tolerance and consequences for functional stability of the ammonia‐oxidizing community in long‐term copper‐contaminated soils

Adaptation of soil microbial communities to elevated copper (Cu) concentrations has been well documented. However, effects of long‐term Cu exposure on adaptation responses associated with functional stability and structural composition within the nitrifying community are still unknown. Soils were sampled in three field sites (Denmark, Thailand, and Australia) where Cu gradients had been established from 3 to 80 years prior to sampling. In each field site, the potential nitrification rate (PNR) decreased by over 50% with increasing soil Cu, irrespective of a 20 to >200‐fold increase in Cu tolerance (at the highest soil Cu) among the nitrifying communities. This increased tolerance was associated with decreasing numbers (15–120‐fold) of ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB), except in the oldest contaminated field site, decreasing numbers of ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA; 10–130‐fold) and differences in the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) composition of the AOB and, to a lesser extent, AOA communities. The sensitivity of nitrifying communities, previously under long‐term Cu exposure, to additional stresses was assessed. Nitrification in soils from the three field sites was measured following acidification, pesticide addition, freeze–thaw cycles, and dry–rewetting cycles. Functional stability of the nitrification process was assessed immediately after stress application (resistance) and after an additional three weeks of incubation (resilience). No indications were found that long‐term Cu exposure affected the sensitivity to the selected stressors, suggesting that resistance and resilience were unaffected. It was concluded that the nitrifying community changed structurally in all long‐term Cu‐exposed field sites and that these changes were associated with increased Cu tolerance but not with a loss of functional stability. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:27–37. © 2009 SETAC
75‐1: Distinguished Paper: High Resolution Photolithography for Direct View AMOLED AR Displays

High resolution RGB OLED frontplane is a key enabler for direct-view transparent AR displays. 1250 ppi passive displays and semi-transparent active displays are shown. T90 lifetime at 1000 nit is above 150 hours after patterning. OLED photolithography can provide pixel density above 1000 ppi while keeping high aperture ratio. Author
RNA Structure Modulates Splicing Efficiency at the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Major Splice Donor

ABSTRACT The untranslated leader of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA genome encodes essential sequence and structural motifs that control various replication steps. The 5′ splice site or splice donor (SD) is embedded in a semistable hairpin, but the function of this structure is unknown. We stabilized this SD hairpin by creating an additional base pair and demonstrated a severe HIV-1 replication defect. A splicing defect was apparent in RNA analyses of virus-infected cells and cells transfected with appropriate reporter constructs. We selected multiple virus revertants in search for interesting second-site escape pathways. Most revertants acquired an additional mutation that modulated the stability of the mutant SD hairpin. One revertant acquired a single nucleotide change in the upstream DIS hairpin. We demonstrate that a novel SD site is created by this upstream mutation, which obviously reduces the number of leader nucleotides that are included in spliced HIV-1 transcripts. These results suggest a novel role of RNA structure in the regulation of HIV-1 splicing.
Proterozoic Ocean Chemistry and Evolution: A Bioinorganic Bridge?

Recent data imply that for much of the Proterozoic Eon (2500 to 543 million years ago), Earth's oceans were moderately oxic at the surface and sulfidic at depth. Under these conditions, biologically important trace metals would have been scarce in most marine environments, potentially restricting the nitrogen cycle, affecting primary productivity, and limiting the ecological distribution of eukaryotic algae. Oceanic redox conditions and their bioinorganic consequences may thus help to explain observed patterns of Proterozoic evolution.
Connecting the dots: monocyte/DC and NK subsets in human peripheral blood.

To the editor: A recent paper in Blood reported that lineage (CD3/14/19)–negative CD56+ mononuclear cells in human peripheral blood contain 2 populations: bona fide CD7+ natural killer (NK) cells and CD7− monocyte/dendritic cells (DCs). [1][1] Whereas this study delivers a valuable improvement
Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies with Spitzer: The Infrared/Radio Properties

We study the correlation between the radio, mid-infrared, and far-infrared properties for a sample of 28 blue compact dwarf (BCD) and low-metallicity star-forming galaxies observed by Spitzer. We find that these sources extend the same far-infrared-to-radio correlation typical of star-forming late-type galaxies to lower luminosities. In BCDs, the 24 μm (or 22 μm) mid-infrared-to-radio correlation is similar to that of starburst galaxies, although there is somewhat larger dispersion in their q24 parameter compared to their qFIR. No strong correlations between the q parameter and galaxy metallicity or effective dust temperature have been detected, although there is a hint of decreasing q24 at low metallicities. The two lowest metallicity dwarfs in our sample, I Zw 18 and SBS 0335–052E, despite their similar chemical abundance, deviate from the average q24 ratio in opposite manners, displaying an apparent radio excess and dust excess, respectively.
Men's Attitudes Toward Receiving the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine

Objectives. To determine men's attitudes toward receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Materials and Methods. Five hundred seventy-one men read a 1-page informational sheet about HPV and the HPV vaccine before completing a 29-item questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated on all variables. Results. Of these men, 33% wanted to receive the HPV vaccine, 27% did not, and 40% were undecided. The main reasons for wanting the vaccine included a desire to stay healthy (67.4%); prevention of cancer in my sexual partner(s) (52.9%); prevention of anal, penile, and head and neck cancer (41.0%); fear of cancer (33.4%); and prevention of genital warts (32.8%). Being in a monogamous relationship and not at risk (18.9%), not interested (13.8%), and not enough evidence yet to prove that it will help men (8.2%) were the main reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated. Conclusions. Although many men want to receive the HPV vaccine, more remain undecided. Pending favorable safety and efficacy results from a clinical trial for men, substantial factual education will likely convince many ambivalent men to receive the HPV vaccine.
Secure Management of Distributed Collaboration Systems

Our goal is to construct secure distributed collaboration systems by coupling their high-level specifications with a policy-driven middleware. This paper addresses three problems related to decentralized management of collaboration systems by a middleware. To correctly enforce security and coordination policies, the middleware determines which nodes can be trusted for enforcing policies related to different aspects of a collaboration system. Secondly, the middleware ensures consistency in evaluation of coordination constraints. Lastly, security and integrity of event communication is addressed. Moreover, we present the steps for building collaboration systems using our middleware.