Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Framework for Planning and Controlling Non-Periodic Bipedal Locomotion

This study presents a theoretical framework for planning and controlling agile bipedal locomotion based on robustly tracking a set of non-periodic apex states. Based on the prismatic inverted pendulum model, we formulate a hybrid phase-space planning and control framework which includes the following key components: (1) a step transition solver that enables dynamically tracking non-periodic apex or keyframe states over various types of terrains, (2) a robust hybrid automaton to effectively formulate planning and control algorithms, (3) a phase-space metric to measure distance to the planned locomotion manifolds, and (4) a hybrid control method based on the previous distance metric to produce robust dynamic locomotion under external disturbances. Compared to other locomotion frameworks, we have a larger focus on non-periodic gait generation and robustness metrics to deal with disturbances. Such focus enables the proposed control framework to robustly track non-periodic apex states over various challenging terrains and under external disturbances as illustrated through several simulations. Additionally, it allows a bipedal robot to perform non-periodic bouncing maneuvers over disjointed terrains.
Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems ( PACIS ) PACIS 2009 Proceedings Association for Information Systems Year 2009 MANAGEMENT OF IT-ENABLED BUSINESS PROCESSES – USING FRAMEWORKS FOR CONSTRAINED MODELING

A model-driven approach to semi-automatic manage IT based business processes implies to interlink language concepts of the business and IT domain. The paradigm of service-oriented architecture provides a technological basis for reacting to business requirements in a distributed application environment. Services encapsulate functionality to be reused in different processes and can be easily described in design models that should be the result of analyzing the business requirements described in conceptual models. However, this process is nontrivial, iterative, and cannot be fully automated. This paper presents an approach to introduce artifacts to establish a consensus on language level which enhances the comparability of models and allows to semi-automate the transformation process by weakening the strict separation of language creation and language usage.
Quasi-Monte Carlo studies of spatial averages of quadratic maps

Using Quasi-Monte Carlo integration, we found numerically that the spatial averages of chaotic quadratic maps either uctuate periodically or converge to constants. 1. Introduction A series of papers 3] 4] 5] 7] motivated us to study the dynamics of spatial averages of dynamical systems, especially, those with chaotic behaviors. The problem arises naturally when one considers the collective behavior of a large lattice system with subsystems being identical and chaotic. The main interest of the study is to investigate the dynamics of the thermodynamic limit of some global quantities such as spatial averages as the lattice size tends to innnity. In numerical simulations , the problem is often approached by taking a large lattice size. However such approach has major diiculties when the dimension of the lattice is even moderately high. In a previous paper 2], we rst proved the existence of the thermodynamic limit under very general assumptions. As an easy consequence of Ergodic Theorem, we then obtained an explicit formula for the thermodynamic limit of spatial averages. This enables us to study the dynamics of spatial averages independent of the lattice size. We showed that the dynamics of spatial averages is closely related to the existence of an asymptotic invariant measure (SRB-measure) for the local subsystem when the interactions among subsystems are weak. If such measure exists, the spatial average converges to a constant.
Young People and the Great Recession

This article reviews the effects of the Great Recession on youth labour markets. We argue that young people aged 16-24 have suffered disproportionately during the recession. Using the USA and UK as case studies, we analyse youth unemployment using microdata. We argue that there is convincing evidence that the effects of unemployment when young impose costs on individuals and society well into the future. Though the effects of current policies on youth unemployment are uncertain, there is still a strong case for policy intervention to address the difficulties that the young are having in accessing employment.
Compact and Broadband Coplanar Waveguide Left-Handed Metamaterial Transmission Line for RF/ MICC Application

A GaAs solid state passive coplanar waveguide (CPW) left-handed metamaterial medium is proposed and validated by measured results. The unit cell of the fabricated structures has a size of 0.09 mm2. The left handedness range of the solid state left-handed structure extends from 2.3 GHz to 17.5 GHz. The compactness and broad left-handed operating bandwidth make the presented left-handed metamaterial be well incorporated with RF/MMIC applications
Hemodynamic Support by Left Ventricular Assist Devices Reduces Cardiomyocyte DNA Content in the Failing Human Heart

Background— Whether adult cardiomyocytes have the capacity to regenerate in response to injury and, if so, to what extent are still issues of intense debate. In human heart failure, cardiomyocytes harbor a polyploid genome. A unique opportunity to study the mechanism of polyploidization is provided through the setting of hemodynamic support by left ventricular assist devices. Hence, the cardiomyocyte DNA content, nuclear morphology, and number of nuclei per cell were assessed before and after left ventricular assist device support. Methods and Results— In 23 paired myocardial samples, cardiomyocyte ploidy was investigated by DNA image cytometry, flow cytometry, and in situ hybridization. Nuclear cross-sectional area and perimeters were measured morphometrically, and the binucleated cardiomyocytes were counted. The median of the cardiomyocyte DNA content and the number of polyploid cardiomyocytes both declined significantly from 6.79 c to 4.7 c and 40.2% to 23%, whereas a significant increase in diploid cardiomyocytes from 33.4% to 50.3% and in binucleated cardiomyocytes from 4.5% to 10% after unloading was observed. Conclusions— The decrease in polyploidy and increase in diploidy after left ventricular assist device suggest a numeric increase in diploid cardiomyocytes (eg, through cell cycle progression with completion of mitosis or by increased stem cells). The cardiac regeneration that follows may serve as a morphological correlate of the recovery observed in some patients after unloading.
The Electrode Registration System Based on the Scale ICP

The registration of EEG electrodes with a head model is the initial step for advanced EEG data analysis such as inverse problem solution and various high-resolution mapping. This paper presents a real-time system for registering the point set of EEG electrodes to head model reconstructed from an anatomic MRI. In this system, a friendly interface is designed for user to select the desired reference points using mouse click conveniently, and these selected reference points are adopted for the Iterative Closest Points (ICP) based registration routine. Considering the possible bias introduced by the mismatch scale between two point-sets, we used an improved ICP algorithm, i.e., Scaling Iterative Closest Point (SICP), to perform the registration. The comparison between the original ICP and SICP demonstrates that SICP could robustly register the electrode points to the head model even if the two points are of large scale difference.
Flatness Based Control of a Buck-Converter/DC-Motor Combination

This paper shows a control law designed for a DC/DC Buck-Power-Converter and DC-motor system by using the differential flatness property of the plant model. This approach is meant to perform angular speed control for tracking trajectory applications. The flatness property of the DC motor model is exploited in order to propose a high hierarchal control system, which allows the angular speed to track a desired trajectory. This controller provides the voltage profiles that must be tracked by the Buck converter and a low-hierarchical control is designed in order to ensure the aforementioned. This is accomplished using another flatness based control. The findings are verified through numerical simulations with Mat lab-Simulink software.
Supplementary Figures

t t t t t t a b c d e f a(t) a(t) D data D data d(t) d(t) Supplementary Figure 1: Examples of changes in linear trend and CUSUM. (a) The existence of an abrupt jump (a) and a slope change (b). The traces are fitted with straight lines a fit (t) (grey lines). (c) and (d) are the difference time series d(t) = a(t) − a fit (t) of the traces in (a) and (b), respectively. (e) and (f) are the CUSUM curves of (c) and (d), respectively. The total fluctuation of the CUSUM curves are denoted as D data .
A campus-scale mobile crowd-tasking platform

By effectively utilizing smartphones to reach out and engage a large population of mobile users, mobile crowd-sourcing can become a game-changer for many urban operations, such as last mile logistics and municipal monitoring. To overcome the uncertainties and risks associated with a purely best-effort, opportunistic model of such crowd-sourcing, we advocate a more centrally-coordinated approach, that (a) takes into account the predicted movement paths of workers and (b) factors in typical human behavioral responses to various incentives and deadlines. To experimentally tackle these challenges, we design, develop and experiment with a real-world mobile crowd-tasking platform on an urban campus in Singapore. In this paper, we first introduce TA$Ker and then demonstrate the effectiveness of different behavioral experiments, such as bundling and differential task pricing methods.
Future Learning Landscapes: Transforming Pedagogy through Social Software

In both mainstream society and education, Web 2.0 has inspired intense and growing interest, particularly as wikis, weblogs (blogs), really simple syndication (RSS) feeds, social networking sites, tag-based folksonomies, and peer-to-peer media-sharing applications have gained traction in all sectors of the education industry (Allen 2004; Alexander 2006). Also referred to as the "Read-Write Web” (Richardson 2006) because it goes beyond the one-way provision of downloadable content by allowing users to become contributors, Web 2.0 allows customization, personalization, and rich opportunities for networking and collaboration, all of which offer considerable potential for addressing the needs of today's diverse student body (Bryant 2006).
Speech Sensorimotor Learning through a Virtual Vocal Tract

Studies of speech sensorimotor learning often manipulate auditory feedback by modifying isolated acoustic parameters such as formant frequency or fundamental frequency using near real-time resynthesis of a participant’s speech. An alternative approach is to engage a participant in a total remapping of the sensorimotor working space using a virtual vocal tract. To support this approach for studying speech sensorimotor learning, we have developed a system to control an articulatory synthesizer using electromagnetic articulography data. Articulator movement data from the NDI Wave System are streamed to a Maeda articulatory synthesizer. The resulting synthesized speech provides auditory feedback to the participant. This approach allows the experimenter to generate novel articulatory-acoustic mappings. Moreover, the acoustic output of the synthesizer can be perturbed using acoustic resynthesis methods. Since no robust speech-acoustic signal is required from the participant, this system will allow for the study.
RF-sputtered BST film microwave tunable device on comparison between MgO(111) and (100) substrate

We have increased sufficiently figure-of-merit of (Ba,Sr)TiO3(BST) film microwave tunable device by a few times in frequency range of 20 GHz on MgO(111) from that on MgO(100) substrate. Also found the possibility that it is deeply related to the difference in the film strain.
Multiwavelength observations of the transitional millisecond pulsar binary XSS J12270-4859

We present an analysis of X-ray, ultraviolet and optical/near-IR photometric data of the transitional millisecond pulsar binary XSS J12270−4859, obtained at different epochs after the transition to a rotation-powered radio pulsar state. The observations, while confirming the large-amplitude orbital modulation found in previous studies after the state change, also reveal an energy dependence of the amplitudes as well as variations on time-scale of months. The amplitude variations are anticorrelated in the X-ray and the UV/optical bands. The average X-ray spectrum is described by a power law with Γ index of 1.07(8) without requiring an additional thermal component. The power-law index Γ varies from ∼1.2 to ∼1.0 between superior and inferior conjunction of the neutron star. We interpret the observed X-ray behaviour in terms of synchrotron radiation emitted in an extended intrabinary shock, located between the pulsar and the donor star, which is eclipsed due to the companion orbital motion. The G5-type donor dominates the UV/optical and near-IR emission and is similarly found to be heated up to ∼6500 K as in the disc state. The analysis of optical light curves gives a binary inclination 46° ≲ i ≲ 65° and a mass ratio 0.11 ≲ q ≲ 0.26. The donor mass is found to be 0.15 ≲ M2 ≲ 0.36 M⊙ for a neutron star mass of 1.4 M⊙. The variations in the amplitude of the orbital modulation are interpreted in terms of small changes in the mass-flow rate from the donor star. The spectral energy distribution from radio to gamma-rays is composed by multiple contributions that are different from those observed during the accretion-powered state.
A New Method of Formant Analysis

This paper presents a novel method of formant tracking. It shows that formant information can be extracted from the cepstrum coefficients . Explicit nonlinear formulas has been developed to map psd (power spectral density) of speech signal to formant frequencies. Formants can be tracked by ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques). An ”‘constrained”’ ESPRIT solution was proposed via MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) spectrum. Higher accuracy of formant tracking is expected by Baysian’s method and by using the nonlinear mapping function developed in this paper.
Pluses and minuses of ammonium and nitrate uptake and assimilation by phytoplankton and implications for productivity and community composition, with emphasis on nitrogen‐enriched conditions

Anthropogenic activities are altering total nutrient loads to many estuaries and freshwaters, resulting in high loads not only of total nitrogen (N), but in some cases, of chemically reduced forms, notably NH4+ . Long thought to be the preferred form of N for phytoplankton uptake, NH4+ may actually suppress overall growth when concentrations are sufficiently high. NH4+ has been well known to be inhibitory or repressive for NO3‐ uptake and assimilation, but the concentrations of NH4+ that promote vs. repress NO3‐ uptake, assimilation, and growth in different phytoplankton groups and under different growth conditions are not well understood. Here, we review N metabolism first in a “generic” eukaryotic cell, and the contrasting metabolic pathways and regulation of NH4+ and NO3− when these substrates are provided individually under equivalent growth conditions. Then the metabolic interactions of these substrates are described when both are provided together, emphasizing the cellular challenge of balancing nutrient acquisition with photosynthetic energy balance in dynamic environments. Conditions under which dissipatory pathways such as dissimilatory NO3− / NO2− reduction to NH4+ and photorespiration that may lead to growth suppression are highlighted. While more is known about diatoms, taxon‐specific differences in NH4+ and NO3− metabolism that may contribute to changes in phytoplankton community composition when the composition of the N pool changes are presented. These relationships have important implications for harmful algal blooms, development of nutrient criteria for management, and modeling of nutrient uptake by phytoplankton, particularly in conditions where eutrophication is increasing and the redox state of N loads is changing.
A PC-based Flexible Solution for Virtual Instrumentation of a Multi-Purpose Test Bed

The aim of the paper is to give an overview of a test bed set up for lightweight flexible structures. The purpose of the test bed is to compare different concepts for suppressing structural vibrations. It is demonstrated that such a complex measurement and actuation task can be easily implemented on a single PC using standard software like Matlab/SIMULINK® with a minimum of custom hardware. With the help of this PC standard engineering tasks like measuring, identification of transfer functions, as well as controller design and implementation in soft real-time can be carried out easily (rapid prototyping). The resulting system is flexible and scalable, enabling an engineer to perform all the above mentioned tasks for a given test object within minimum time. Additionally, the utilization of Matlab/SIMULINK® facilitates the realization of a versatile virtual instrumentation system which is easy to use and may also be remote-controlled.
Coding schemes for integrated transport and storage reliability

IP storage area networks are based on bulk data transfer over a binary erasure channel and associated bulk data storage in end systems, which are also subjected to erasures. The paper motivates a possibility of an integrated approach to transport and data storage reliability in storage area networks (SAN) which reduces the protocol processing complexities. The integrated transport/storage reliability is sought through the novel Ying-Yang code and the convolution code with new decoding techniques
Loss is its own Reward: Self-Supervision for Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning optimizes policies for expected cumulative reward. Need the supervision be so narrow? Reward is delayed and sparse for many tasks, making it a difficult and impoverished signal for end-to-end optimization. To augment reward, we consider a range of self-supervised tasks that incorporate states, actions, and successors to provide auxiliary losses. These losses offer ubiquitous and instantaneous supervision for representation learning even in the absence of reward. While current results show that learning from reward alone is feasible, pure reinforcement learning methods are constrained by computational and data efficiency issues that can be remedied by auxiliary losses. Self-supervised pre-training and joint optimization improve the data efficiency and policy returns of end-to-end reinforcement learning.
The Genomic and Transcriptomic Landscape of a HeLa Cell Line

HeLa is the most widely used model cell line for studying human cellular and molecular biology. To date, no genomic reference for this cell line has been released, and experiments have relied on the human reference genome. Effective design and interpretation of molecular genetic studies performed using HeLa cells require accurate genomic information. Here we present a detailed genomic and transcriptomic characterization of a HeLa cell line. We performed DNA and RNA sequencing of a HeLa Kyoto cell line and analyzed its mutational portfolio and gene expression profile. Segmentation of the genome according to copy number revealed a remarkably high level of aneuploidy and numerous large structural variants at unprecedented resolution. Some of the extensive genomic rearrangements are indicative of catastrophic chromosome shattering, known as chromothripsis. Our analysis of the HeLa gene expression profile revealed that several pathways, including cell cycle and DNA repair, exhibit significantly different expression patterns from those in normal human tissues. Our results provide the first detailed account of genomic variants in the HeLa genome, yielding insight into their impact on gene expression and cellular function as well as their origins. This study underscores the importance of accounting for the strikingly aberrant characteristics of HeLa cells when designing and interpreting experiments, and has implications for the use of HeLa as a model of human biology.
Word order variations and spoken man-machine dialogue in French : a corpus analysis on the ATIS domain

During the last decade, spoken man-machine dialogue has known significant improvements that should lead shortly to the development of real use systems. In spite of these indisputable advances, numerous limitations restrict still the expansion of common use spoken dialogue systems. In particular, present researches in spoken man-machine communication lack seriously genericity. Most of spoken dialogue systems are indeed concerned by a unique application domain : transport information (ATIS domain). This task is very restricted, what allows the achievement of ad hoc processing methods that ignore most of the structure of the sentence — see for instance (Minker, 1999) for an overview concerning sp eech understanding. Although these approaches show a significant robustness on spontaneous speech, their portab ility to other application domains remains an open issue (Hirschman, 1998) : one should reasonably assume that less restricted tasks require a more detailed linguistic analysis.
Polar bodies—more a lack of understanding than a lack of respect

Polar bodies are as diverse as the organisms that produce them. Although in many animals these cells often die following meiotic maturation of the oocyte, in other organisms they are an essential and diverse part of embryonic development. Here we highlight some of this diversity and summarize the evolutionary basis for their utility. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 78:3–8, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
From scarcity to surplus: A contribution to the critique of neoclassical foundations

Author(s): Isler, Ozan | Advisor(s): Cullenberg, Stephen E | Abstract: This dissertation is composed of two halves: "economies of scarcity," and "economies of surplus. " The first part, "economies of scarcity," performs a philosophical critique of modernism by discussing the inherent limits of the foundations of neoclassical economic discourse. Here, rather than formulating utility functions that can better take account of our inherent cognitive biases -- as, for example, behavioral economics does -- I focus on the formal foundations common to all such "utility functions" and describe their shared inherent limits. The purpose of this critique is to deconstruct the neoclassical use of choice theory in order to assemble an alternative theoretical space in the proximity of this formal foundation without being dominated by its logic. Ultimately, I am after a flexible theoretical framework that can be used to make sense of social processes of valuation at work across different "discursive fields. " The thesis of this first chapter is that, within the complex variety of mainstream discourses one can identify a particular theoretical order imposed by the use of choice theory as the maximization of a utility function. I describe this discursive order as the process where the abstract framework of the utility function concretizes as a relation of scarcity, as scarcity in dominance; Dominance of scarcity results in the forgetting of the existence of the effectivity of surplus, how its logic and lure shape social relations. Here, in light of my observations from the first part, and as opposed to neoclassical economics, I consider the relationship between means and ends as ongoing, incomplete and indeterminate discursive processes of making sense. Consequently, to explain the possible establishment of an order within particular means-ends relations, I propose a philosophy of discursive "hegemony" as an alternative to the modernist philosophy of dominance. From this perspective, when scarcity is not fully present, the concept of surplus assumes a normative meaning in relation to the concept of use-value.