Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Misconceptions of PD control in animation

In this paper, we address certain misconceptions that have been perpetuated in the animation practice and research for quite some time related to the proportional-derivative (PD) control of physics-based systems. Because in animation we often think in terms of targeting keyframes, we tend to forget that PD control, in its simple form, has a very specific asymptotic behavior that approaches zero (or an offset) with zero velocity as time approaches infinity. We pay particular attention to the issue of introducing a "desired" or "end" velocity term in the equation of a proportional-derivative controller, and discuss how this term should be interpreted and how it relates to feedforward control rather than an end derivative problem.
Activation of different Cl currents in Xenopus oocytes by Ca liberated from stores and by capacitative Ca influx

Xenopus oocytes are an excellent model system for studying Ca signaling. The purpose of this study was to characterize in detail the Ca-activated Cl currents evoked by injection of inositol 1,4,5- trisphosphate (IP3) into Xenopus oocytes voltage-clamped with two microelectrodes. Injection of IP3 into Xenopus oocytes activates two different Ca-activated Cl currents. ICl-1 is stimulated rapidly (within 5 s after IP3 injection), exhibits time-dependent activation upon depolarization, a linear instantaneous IV relationship with a reversal potential near ECl, and a curvilinear activation curve with an approximate half-maximal activation voltage of > 200 mV. ICl-2D is stimulated slowly after IP3 injection (half-maximal stimulation occurs approximately 3 min after injection). ICl-2D has a strongly outwardly rectifying instantaneous IV relationship with a reversal potential near ECl and is activated by hyperpolarization with a half-maximal activation voltage of -105 mV. ICl-2D cannot be activated by Ca released from stores but is activated by Ca influx. In contrast, ICl-1 can be stimulated by Ca released from intracellular Ca stores. It can also be stimulated by Ca influx through store-operated channels if the Ca driving force is increased by a hyperpolarization immediately before the depolarization that gates ICl-1 channels. The description of two currents activated by influx and Ca release from stores provides new insights into and questions about the regulation of Ca in Xenopus oocytes.
How the Body Can Feel Wrong : : Sensory Processing and Neural Body Representation in Transsexuality and Anorexia Nervosa

While most people take identification with their bodies for granted, conditions like phantom limb pain, alien hand syndrome, and Xenomelia demonstrate that feelings of bodily congruence or incongruence are tied to neural construction of body image. Individuals with Xenomelia, for example, show reduced right parietal representation of body parts they find over-present and aversive. Similarly, transsexual individuals often find their untreated sexed body parts incongruent and aversive. Could differences in representation of these body parts in the right parietal lobe underlie this sense of bodily incongruity? Moreover, could a similar mechanism be involved in the counterfactual feelings of fatness in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN)? In this dissertation I investigate sensory processing and neural body representation of congruent and incongruent-feeling body parts in presurgical female-to-male (FTM) transsexual individuals, and dysphoric and neutral-feeling body parts in people with AN. Experiment 1 demonstrates heightened skin conductance response to tapping of the breast in presurgical FTM individuals, suggesting that aversion to body parts that feel incongruent extends to the level of automatic sensory processing. Utilizing magnetoencephalography (MEG), Experiment 2 demonstrates different integration of sensation from a body part that feels incongruent with one's gender. Experiment 3 reports diminished visual-tactile integration in individuals with AN, suggesting either greater reliance on somatosensory information or deficits in multisensory integration. Experiment 4 discusses differences in the somatosensory response (measured through MEG) to sensation from the abdomen between individuals with and without AN. Experiment 5 reports preliminary research on the use of allocentric mirror viewing strategies to correct body image distortion. I also report within-subject effects of body satisfaction on visual and tactile estimates of body size, suggesting rapid top-down modulation of sensory body representation. In summary, these studies demonstrate the presence of low-level differences in somatosensory processing for body parts that feel incongruent or dysphoric, suggesting strong connections between lower- level sensory representations of the body and higher-level, explicit body image and body dysphoria. This work advances our understanding of the involvement of sensory processing and sensory integration in the construction of experiences of body and self
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Preterm Birth and Later Systolic Blood Pressure

Lower birth weight because of fetal growth restriction is associated with higher blood pressure later in life, but the extent to which preterm birth (<37 completed weeks' gestation) or very low birth weight (<1500 g) predicts higher blood pressure is less clear. We performed a systematic review of 27 observational studies that compared the resting or ambulatory systolic blood pressure or diagnosis of hypertension among children, adolescents, and adults born preterm or very low birth weight with those born at term. We performed a meta-analysis with the subset of 10 studies that reported the resting systolic blood pressure difference in millimeters of mercury with 95% CIs or SEs. We assessed methodologic quality with a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The 10 studies were composed of 1342 preterm or very low birth weight and 1738 term participants from 8 countries. The mean gestational age at birth of the preterm participants was 30.2 weeks (range: 28.8–34.1 weeks), birth weight was 1280 g (range: 1098–1958 g), and age at systolic blood pressure measurement was 17.8 years (range: 6.3–22.4 years). Former preterm or very low birth weight infants had higher systolic blood pressure than term infants (pooled estimate: 2.5 mm Hg [95% CI: 1.7–3.3 mm Hg]). For the 5 highest quality studies, the systolic blood pressure difference was slightly greater, at 3.8 mm Hg (95% CI: 2.6–5.0 mm Hg). We conclude that infants who are born preterm or very low birth weight have modestly higher systolic blood pressure later in life and may be at increased risk for developing hypertension and its sequelae.
ON-State Degradation in AlGaN/GaN-on-Silicon Schottky Barrier Diodes: Investigation of the Geometry Dependence

In this paper, we present the results of a combined measurement/simulation analysis of the degradation induced by on-state stress in Au-free AlGaN/gallium-nitride-on-Si Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). Turn-on voltage (VTON) and on-resistance (RON) are affected by charge carrier trapping/detrapping, occurring in different regions and caused by different mechanisms, when a high stress current is applied to the device. In particular, we have investigated the degradation of SBDs adopting different stress conditions and analyzing the influence of the diode geometry; consequently, we were able to identify the physical mechanisms responsible for long-term degradation of VTON and RON. In addition, thanks to this approach, a critical electric field for the RON degradation has been determined.
Introduction to theory of mind: Children, autism and apes.

What is theory of mind? evolution and a meeting of minds in apes the drawing of an understanding of minds in apes background of autism theory of mind hypothesis of autism beyond the theory of mind hypothesis of autism the normal development of an understanding mind a radical shift in the child's understanding? deception pretence and communication.
Inner retinal neurons display differential responses to N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor activation

The N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) responses of neurons from within the inner rabbit retina were mapped using a channel permeable cation, 1‐amino‐4‐guanidobutane (agmatine, AGB). Serial sections were subsequently probed with immunoglobulins targeting AGB, glutamate, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glycine to visualize the NMDA responses of neurochemical subpopulations of neurons. Most inner retinal subpopulations of neurons demonstrated an NMDA concentration‐dependent increase in activation. This NMDA‐induced activation displayed a distinct pattern, with the most sensitive class to least sensitive class ranking being GC > GABA cAC > GABA/Gly cAC > Gly cAC > GABA dAC (GC, ganglion cells; AC, amacrine cells; c, conventional; d, displaced; Gly, glycine). The variable NMDA response may reflect differences in NMDA receptor subunit disposition or differences in receptor density. In addition to the variable NMDA activation pattern, we found that virtually all ganglion cells (87%) showed NMDA‐gated AGB entry, compared with only 58% of amacrine cells. We conclude that a large cohort of amacrine cells do not possess functional NMDA receptors. In addition to most ganglion cells being activated by NMDA, a large subpopulation displayed the highest sensitivity to NMDA application. The functional significance of this finding is that the ganglion cell population will be the first neuronal class to be susceptible to glutamate‐induced neurotoxicity mediated through the NMDA receptor. The addition of betaxolol significantly reduced NMDA‐mediated AGB entry into most neuronal groups (ganglion cells, GABA, and glycine amacrine cells), with the greatest effect being on ganglion cells. Betaxolol had no significant effect on NMDA‐gated entry of AGB on the GABA/Gly amacrine cell population. J. Comp. Neurol. 465:38–56, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of Fresh Garlic on Lipid Oxidation and Microbiological Changes of Pork Patties during Refrigerated Storage

The effects of two levels (1.4 vs 2.8%) of fresh garlic on lipid oxidation and microbial growth in pork patties were evaluated. Hunter color (L, a, b), pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), oxidative volatile compounds, total bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae in the pork patties with or without fresh garlic were measured during storage at 4℃. Addition of fresh garlic decreased redness (a), while increased pH and yellowness (b) values of the fresh pork patties were observed, regardless of the levels added. The TBARS values of the pork patties were increased with the addition of fresh garlic (p<0.05). Similar results were observed in oxidative volatile compounds. A total of 13 volatile compounds were detected in the patties (5 sulfur-containing compounds, including allyl mercaptan, allyl methyl sulfide, diallyl sulfide, methyl-(E)-propenyl-disulfide, and diallyl disulfide, and the 8 other oxidative compounds, including 1-pentanol, hexanal, 1-hexanol, heptanal, (E)-2-heptenal, 1-octen-3-ol, (E)-2-octenal and nonanal). Fresh garlic accelerated development of oxidative products in the pork patties, especially hexanal and the total oxidative volatile compounds. However, the addition of 1.4 and 2.8% of fresh garlic inhibited the growth of total bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae, indicating low total bacterial counts and Enterobacteriaceae than the controls.
Rapid carbon turnover beneath shrub and tree vegetation is associated with low soil carbon stocks at a subarctic treeline

Climate warming at high northern latitudes has caused substantial increases in plant productivity of tundra vegetation and an expansion of the range of deciduous shrub species. However significant the increase in carbon (C) contained within above‐ground shrub biomass, it is modest in comparison with the amount of C stored in the soil in tundra ecosystems. Here, we use a ‘space‐for‐time’ approach to test the hypothesis that a shift from lower‐productivity tundra heath to higher‐productivity deciduous shrub vegetation in the sub‐Arctic may lead to a loss of soil C that out‐weighs the increase in above‐ground shrub biomass. We further hypothesize that a shift from ericoid to ectomycorrhizal systems coincident with this vegetation change provides a mechanism for the loss of soil C. We sampled soil C stocks, soil surface CO2 flux rates and fungal growth rates along replicated natural transitions from birch forest (Betula pubescens), through deciduous shrub tundra (Betula nana) to tundra heaths (Empetrum nigrum) near Abisko, Swedish Lapland. We demonstrate that organic horizon soil organic C (SOCorg) is significantly lower at shrub (2.98 ± 0.48 kg m−2) and forest (2.04 ± 0.25 kg m−2) plots than at heath plots (7.03 ± 0.79 kg m−2). Shrub vegetation had the highest respiration rates, suggesting that despite higher rates of C assimilation, C turnover was also very high and less C is sequestered in the ecosystem. Growth rates of fungal hyphae increased across the transition from heath to shrub, suggesting that the action of ectomycorrhizal symbionts in the scavenging of organically bound nutrients is an important pathway by which soil C is made available to microbial degradation. The expansion of deciduous shrubs onto potentially vulnerable arctic soils with large stores of C could therefore represent a significant positive feedback to the climate system.
Bupropion: a review of its mechanism of antidepressant activity.

BACKGROUND The mechanism of action of the novel antidepressant bupropion remains unclear after many years of study. A review of the relevant biochemical, in vivo brain microdialysis, electrophysiologic, behavioral, and clinical data clarifies what is known about this unique compound and suggests possible modes of action. METHOD A panel of 11 experts was convened for a conference to discuss bupropion's mechanism of antidepressant activity. Four of the panelists presented current research findings, followed by a discussion. RESULTS (1) Biochemical studies suggest down-regulation of postsynaptic beta-adrenoceptors and desensitization of the norepinephrine-stimulated adenylate cyclase in the rat cortex occur only after chronic administration of very high doses of bupropion. (2) In vivo brain microdialysis studies demonstrate that, after chronic administration, there is an enhancement of bupropion-induced increases in extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. (3) Electrophysiologic data show that with acute dosing, bupropion reduces the firing rates of noradrenergic neurons in the locus ceruleus. The firing rates of dopaminergic neurons are reduced by bupropion in the A9 and A10 areas of the brain, but only at very high doses, and bupropion does not alter the firing rates of serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe. (4) Behavioral studies show that the most active metabolite of bupropion, hydroxybupropion (306U73), appears to be responsible for a large part of the compound's effects in animal models of antidepressant activity. (5) Clinical studies indicate that bupropion enhances noradrenergic functional activity as reflected by an increased excretion of the hydroxy metabolite of melatonin, while at the same time producing a presumably compensatory decrease in norepinephrine turnover. In one study, bupropion elevated plasma levels of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid in nonresponders, but not in responders. CONCLUSION The mechanism of action of bupropion appears to have an unusual, not fully understood, noradrenergic link. The bupropion metabolite hydroxybupropion probably plays a critical role in bupropion's antidepressant activity, which appears to be predominantly associated with long-term noradrenergic effects. The mild central nervous system activating effects of bupropion appear to be due to weak dopaminergic mechanisms. There is some evidence that dopamine may contribute to bupropion's antidepressant properties. Antidepressant effects of bupropion are not serotonergically mediated.
Anomalous large-time behaviour of the p-Laplacian flow in an exterior domain in low dimension

We study the large time behaviour of weak nonnegative solutions of thep-Laplace equa- tion posed in an exterior domain in space dimensionN < p with boundary conditionsuD 0. The description is done in terms of matched asymptotics: the outer asymptotic profile is a dipole-like self-similar solution with a singularity at x D 0 and anomalous similarity exponents. The inner asymptotic behaviour is given by a separate-variable profile. We gather both estimates in a global approximant and we also study the behaviour of the free boundary for compactly supported solu- tions. We complete in this way the analysis made in a previous work for high space dimensions N p, a range in which the large-time influence of the holes is less dramatic. We are concerned with understanding the effect of the presence of one or several holes in the domain on the large-time behaviour of the solutions of nonlinear diffusion equations. In this paper we study the question for the evolutionp-Laplace equation and find interest- ing non-standard asymptotics. To be specific, we consider an exterior domainD R N nG whereG is a bounded domain in R N with smooth boundary, and study the asymptotic be- haviour of the solutions of the exterior Dirichlet problem with zero boundary conditions: 8
Sex-Related Effects of an Immune Challenge on Growth and Begging Behavior of Barn Swallow Nestlings

Parent-offspring conflicts lead the offspring to evolve reliable signals of individual quality, including parasite burden, which may allow parents to adaptively modulate investment in the progeny. Sex-related variation in offspring reproductive value, however, may entail differential investment in sons and daughters. Here, we experimentally manipulated offspring condition in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) by subjecting nestlings to an immune challenge (injection with bacterial lipopolysaccharide, LPS) that simulates a bacterial infection, and assessed the effects on growth, feather quality, expression of morphological (gape coloration) and behavioral (posture) begging displays involved in parent-offspring communication, as well as on food allocation by parents. Compared to sham-injected controls, LPS-treated chicks suffered a depression of body mass and a reduction of palate color saturation. In addition, LPS treatment resulted in lower feather quality, with an increase in the occurrence of fault bars on wing feathers. The color of beak flanges, feather growth and the intensity of postural begging were affected by LPS treatment only in females, suggesting that chicks of either sex are differently susceptible to the immune challenge. However, irrespective of the effects of LPS, parents equally allocated food among control and challenged offspring both under normal food provisioning and after a short period of food deprivation of the chicks. These results indicate that bacterial infection and the associated immune response entail different costs to offspring of either sex, but a decrease in nestling conditions does not affect parental care allocation, possibly because the barn swallow adopts a brood-survival strategy. Finally, we showed that physiological stress induced by pathogens impairs plumage quality, a previously neglected major negative impact of bacterial infection which could severely affect fitness, particularly among long-distance migratory birds.
Causal Boxes: Quantum Information-Processing Systems Closed Under Composition

Complex information-processing systems, for example, quantum circuits, cryptographic protocols, or multi-player games, are naturally described as networks composed of more basic information-processing systems. A modular analysis of such systems requires a mathematical model of systems that is closed under composition, i.e., a network of these objects is again an object of the same type. We propose such a model and call the corresponding systems <italic>causal boxes</italic>. Causal boxes capture superpositions of causal structures, e.g., messages sent by a causal box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> can be in a superposition of different orders or in a superposition of being sent to box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Furthermore, causal boxes can model systems whose behavior depends on time. By instantiating the abstract cryptography framework with causal boxes, we obtain the first composable security framework that can handle arbitrary quantum protocols and relativistic protocols.
A novel 15 to 45 GHz monolithic passive balun for MMICs applications

This paper presents the design and performance characteristics of a novel broadband monolithic passive balun that has been developed for MMIC's applications. The new balun utilizes a multi-dielectric layer structure to achieve a broadband performance of up to 3:1 in a simple coplanar configuration. A return loss better than 15 dB, with a maximum insertion loss of 4.5 dB including the 3 dB power splitting loss from 15 to 45 GHz has been realized. The developed balun also achieves better than 0.35 dB and 1.5/spl deg/ of amplitude and phase imbalance over the same frequency band. This performance is specially important to the intended use with wideband double balanced mixers, and amplifiers.
Prolonged systemic inflammation persistently modifies synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus: modulation by the stress hormones

Transient systemic inflammation has been shown to cause altered behavior both in humans and in laboratory animals through activation of microglia and heightened level of cytokines detected in the brain and in the body. Furthermore, both activated microglia and the increased cytokines level have been associated with the sudden clinical deterioration in demented people or in aged patients upon systemic inflammation. Whilst it is increasingly becoming clear the role of transient systemic inflammation in promoting dementia in aged individuals, it is still a matter of debate whether prolonged systemic inflammation might persistently modify the brain. In this study, we examined the influence of a systemic long term inflammatory event on synaptic plasticity. We report that while a short exposure to LPS produces transient deficit in long term potentiation (LTP) expression, systemic prolonged inflammation impairs LTP in slices of animals previously primed by a Complete Freund’s adjuvant injection. Interestingly, steroids are able to modulate this effect: whereas glucocorticosteroid (GR) activation further reduces LTP, mineralocorticosteroid receptors (MR) activation promotes the full recovery of LTP. We believe that this research advances the current understandings on the role of the immune system in the onset and progression of cognitive deficits following long lasting systemic inflammation, and proposes possible insights on future strategies in order to prevent early dementia in these predisposed individuals.