Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Mapping of Movement-Associated Areas in the Avian Brain: A Motor Theory for Vocal Learning Origin

Vocal learning is a critical behavioral substrate for spoken human language. It is a rare trait found in three distantly related groups of birds-songbirds, hummingbirds, and parrots. These avian groups have remarkably similar systems of cerebral vocal nuclei for the control of learned vocalizations that are not found in their more closely related vocal non-learning relatives. These findings led to the hypothesis that brain pathways for vocal learning in different groups evolved independently from a common ancestor but under pre-existing constraints. Here, we suggest one constraint, a pre-existing system for movement control. Using behavioral molecular mapping, we discovered that in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds, all cerebral vocal learning nuclei are adjacent to discrete brain areas active during limb and body movements. Similar to the relationships between vocal nuclei activation and singing, activation in the adjacent areas correlated with the amount of movement performed and was independent of auditory and visual input. These same movement-associated brain areas were also present in female songbirds that do not learn vocalizations and have atrophied cerebral vocal nuclei, and in ring doves that are vocal non-learners and do not have cerebral vocal nuclei. A compilation of previous neural tracing experiments in songbirds suggests that the movement-associated areas are connected in a network that is in parallel with the adjacent vocal learning system. This study is the first global mapping that we are aware for movement-associated areas of the avian cerebrum and it indicates that brain systems that control vocal learning in distantly related birds are directly adjacent to brain systems involved in movement control. Based upon these findings, we propose a motor theory for the origin of vocal learning, this being that the brain areas specialized for vocal learning in vocal learners evolved as a specialization of a pre-existing motor pathway that controls movement.
Dependent Session Types for Evolving Multiparty Communication Topologies

Many application-level distributed protocols and parallel algorithms are dynamic in nature: the number of participants, messages or repetitions is only known at run-time, and the communication topology may be altered during the execution. This paper proposes a dependent type theory for multiparty sessions which can statically guarantee type-safe, deadlock-free multiparty interactions among processes with dynamically evolving communication topologies. We use the primitive recursion operator from Gödel’s System T along with dependent product types to express a wide range of topologies where the structure of the multiparty communications depend on numerical parameters that are instantiated at run-time. To type individual distributed processes, a parameterised global type is projected onto a generic generator which represents a class of all possible end-point types. Termination of the type-checking algorithm is proved with the full multiparty session types including recursive types. The expressiveness of our type theory is demonstrated through non-trivial programming and verification examples with complex communication topologies taken from distributed parallel algorithms and Web services usecases.
NTT's CCLQA System for NTCIR-7 ACLIA

This paper describes our Complex Cross-Lingual Question Answering (CCLQA) system based on the technologies used in our past NTCIR systems for QAC and CLQA. We implemented a new rule-based English question analyzer to extract English query terms, which are translated into Japanese by translation dictionaries. For DEFINITION, BIOGRAPHY, and EVENT questions, we reused our definition module for QAC-4. For RELATIONSHIP questions, we developed a new module based on our why-QA approach for QAC-4. When these modules were not applicable, a simple sentence retriever was used. According to the organizers’ evaluation results, although our ENJA system performed rather poorly due to the low coverage of the translation dictionaries, our JA-JA system achieved the second best score among the four participants.
High accuracy gravitational waveforms from black hole binary inspirals using OpenCL

There is a strong need for high-accuracy and efficient modeling of extreme-mass-ratio binary black hole systems because these are strong sources of gravitational waves that would be detected by future observatories. In this article, we present sample results from our Teukolsky EMRI code: a time-domain Teukolsky equation solver (a linear, hyperbolic, partial differential equation solver using finite-differencing), that takes advantage of several mathematical and computational enhancements to efficiently generate long-duration and high-accuracy EMRI waveforms. We emphasize here the computational advances made in the context of this code. Currently there is considerable interest in making use of many-core processor architectures, such as Nvidia and AMD graphics processing units (GPUs) for scientific computing. Our code uses the Open Computing Language (OpenCL) for taking advantage of the massive parallelism offered by modern GPU architectures. We present the performance of our Teukolsky EMRI code on multiple modern processor architectures and demonstrate the high level of accuracy and performance it is able to achieve. We also present the code's scaling performance on a large supercomputer i.e. NSF's XSEDE resource, Keeneland1.
Verifying LVCSR Output at Different Levels with Generalized Posterior Probability

Generalized posterior probability (GPP), a statistical confidence measure, is used for verification of large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) output at subword, word and utterance levels. GPP is obtained by combining exponentially and optimally weighted products of acoustic and language model scores for reappeared units in the reduced search space (e.g., word graph). Experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of GPP for verifying LVCSR output at all three levels. Keyword confidence measure, posterior probability, large vocabulary continuous speech recognition 1 The author is now with Microsoft Research Asia.
Subspace-based blind and semi-blind channel estimation for OFDM systems

This paper proposes a new blind channel estimation method for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The algorithm makes use of the redundancy introduced by the cyclic prefix to identify the channel based on a subspace approach. Thus, the proposed method does not require any modification of the transmitter and applies to most existing OFDM systems. Semi-blind procedures taking advantage of training data are also proposed. These can be training symbols or pilot tones, the latter being used for solving the intrinsic indetermination of blind channel estimation. Identifiability results are provided, showing that in the (theoretical) situation where channel zeros are located on subcarriers, the algorithm does not ensure uniqueness of the channel estimation, unless the full noise subspace is considered. Simulations comparing the proposed method with a decision-directed channel estimator finally illustrates the performance of the proposed algorithm.
Generalizing Wiberg algorithm for rigid and nonrigid factorizations with missing components and metric constraints

In spite of intensive endeavor over decades, rigid and nonrigid factorizations under metric constraints, possibly in the presence of missing components, remain to be very challenging. In this work, we try to break the hard nut by generalizing to these problems the Wiberg algorithm, one of the most successful solutions for unconstrained bilinear factorization. To properly handle missing components, we advocate a bilinear factorization formulation with an extra mean vector. In spirit of the Wiberg algorithm, we first propose an efficient and initialization-insensitive algorithm for unconstrained factorization, posterior correction of whose solution offers reasonable initialization for metric upgrade. For factorization with metric constraints, we reformulate it into an unconstrained problem through quaternion parametrization, which merges elegantly into our unconstrained factorization algorithm. Extensive experiment results verify that our proposed methods are fast, accurate and robust to high percentage of missing components.
Generic High Voltage Power Module for Electrical Propulsion IEPC-2005-278

High Voltage Power Modules for Electrical Propulsion have been developed for the European Space Agency`s GOCE and ALPHABUS missions, featuring KaufmannType Ion Thrusters with power levels between 520W and 4.8 kW and output voltages from 1200V to 2000V. Based on these developments a new concept has been established for modular generic power modules being able to drive various types of ion thrusters, including new HEMP technology. Initial result have demonstrated that module efficiency can be increased to 97% by introduction of the Flattop ZVS converter especially designed for high voltage applications.
Quiet-Sun Magnetic Fields at High Spatial Resolution

We present spectropolarimetric observations of internetwork magnetic fields at the solar disk center. A Fabry-Pérot spectrometer was used to scan the two Fe I lines at 6301.5 and 6302.5 Å. High spatial resolution (0.″5) magnetograms were obtained after speckle reconstruction. The patches with magnetic fields above noise cover approximately 45% of the observed area. Such large coverage renders a mean unsigned magnetic flux density of some 20 G (or 20 Mx cm-2), which exceeds all previous measurements. Magnetic signals occur predominantly in intergranular spaces. The systematic difference between the flux densities measured in the two iron lines leads to the conclusion that, typically, we detect structures with intrinsic field strengths larger than 1 kG occupying only 2% of the surface.
Lecturers’ Social Presence and Personality in the Online Environment: The Perceptions of Off-Campus Postgraduate and On and Off-Campus Undergraduate Management Students

The first aim of this chapter is to present a literature review regarding two very important concepts for the online learning environment: social presence and personality. The second aim is to present the findings of an exploratory study that measured students’ perceptions regarding different aspects of their experience with the online learning environment including social presence and personality of lecturers in the online environment in particular. An online survey (developed using Qualtrix) was emailed to 474 off-campus postgraduate and 699 undergraduate students who are pursuing a coursework degree in management. To date, 62 responses from postgraduate and 41 from undergraduate students have been received, which indicates a response rate of 13 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively. Results show that social presence is not being successfully developed by lecturers, with discussion boards and chat rooms showing relatively low evaluations. In terms of lecturers’ personalities in the online environment, results show that some lecturers do not have a clear structure for their discussion boards and chat rooms and that the language used by lecturers in the online environment (especially discussion boards and chat rooms) differs from their language in face-to-face contexts. Other online learning tools, such as special Lecturers’ Social Presence and Personality in the Online Environment: The Perceptions of Off-Campus Postgraduate and On and Off-Campus Undergraduate Management Students
Astragalus and Paeoniae radix rubra extract inhibits liver fibrosis by modulating the transforming growth factor-β/Smad pathway in rats

It has been previously demonstrated that Astragalus and Paeoniae radix rubra extract (APE) had a protective effect against liver fibrosis in mice. The present study aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of APE on CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats. Liver fibrosis was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by intraperitoneal injection of 50% CCl4 twice a week for eight weeks. Organ coefficients, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hexadecenoic acid (HA), laminin (LN), procollagen type III (PCIII), hydroxyproline (Hyp), glutathione (GSH-Px), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) levels were measured in rats with hepatic fibrosis. Histopathological changes in affected livers were studied using hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s trichrome staining. The expression of transforming growth factor-β/Smad pathway proteins, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I and collagen III was observed in fibrotic livers using western blot analysis. The present study observed significant reductions in serum levels of AST, ALT, HA, LN, PCIII and Hyp in APE-treated (2.6 and 5.2 g/kg) rats, indicating the significant hepatoprotective effects of APE. Furthermore, the depletion of GSH-Px and SOD, in addition to the accumulation of MDA in liver tissue was suppressed by APE (2.6 and 5.2 g/kg). Pathological assessment of CCl4-induced fibrotic livers revealed a significant reduction of liver injury and development of hepatic fibrosis in rats treated with APE (2.6 and 5.2 g/kg). Moreover, APE (2.6 and 5.2 g/kg) decreased the elevation of TGF-β1, α-SMA, collagen I and collagen III expression, inhibited Smad2/3 phosphorylation as well as elevated the expression of the TGF-β1 inhibitor Smad7. These results suggested that APE may protect against liver damage and inhibit the progression of CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis. The mechanism of action of APE is hypothesized to proceed via scavenging free radicals, decreasing TGF-β1 levels and blocking of the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.
Bichromatic compatible matchings

For a set R of n red points and a set B of n blue points, a BR-matching is a non-crossing geometric perfect matching where each segment has one endpoint in B and one in R. Two BR-matchings are compatible if their union is also non-crossing. We prove that, for any two distinct BR-matchings M and M', there exists a sequence of BR-matchings M = M1, . , Mk = M' such that Mi-1 is compatible with Mi. This implies the connectivity of the compatible bichromatic matching graph containing one node for each BR-matching and an edge joining each pair of compatible BR-matchings, thereby answering the open problem posed by Aichholzer et al. in their paper "Compatible matchings for bichromatic plane straight-line graphs".
Discretization of analog communication signals by noise addition in reinforcement learning of communication

Towards the unified processing of symbols and patterns by neural networks, it was examined that symbols emerge using neural networks that is trained only by reinforcement learning. A very simple communication-learning task was assumed, and some noise is added to the communication signals. After learning, as the noise level during learning became larger, the communication signals were binarized more, and the system became more tolerant of noise unless the noise level was too large. The receiver was also trying to interpret the signals as binarized value. Furthermore, it was examined that recurrent neural networks promote the discretization.
Dynamic architecture for Wireless Sensor Network-implementation & analysis

In Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), there are mainly three types of architectures- flat, hierarchical and hybrid. In WSN, architecture cannot be changed after deployment. In such scenarios, if nodes are facilitated with feature to get configured dynamically based on application requirements (which may change with time), it will ease both pre deployment network planning complexities and post deployment network maintenance. In this paper, we have implemented a system with the aim to achieve this feature, which facilitate dynamically changing network architecture at any phase of deployment. The system comprises of a low memory embedded footprint and an intelligent Wireless Network Management Station (iWNMS). The embedded code has been optimized to run on low power nodes, thus removing the need for AC mains supply. Further power consumption has been minimized because network architecture related decisions are taken by iWNMS. Experimental deployment using this dynamic architecture has been implemented and the performance analysis of the thus formed cluster head can do a reliable data aggregation and transmission till 400ms rate, which is very well sufficient for real time applications.
p21Waf1/Cip1 plays a critical role in modulating senescence through changes of DNA methylation

It has been reported that genomic DNA methylation decreases gradually during cell culture and an organism's aging. However, less is known about the methylation changes of age‐related specific genes in aging. p21Waf1/Cip1 and p16INK4a are cyclin‐dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitors that are critical for the replicative senescence of normal cells. In this study, we show that p21Waf1/Cip1 and p16INK4a have different methylation patterns during the aging process of normal human 2BS and WI‐38 fibroblasts. p21Waf1/Cip1 promoter is gradually methylated up into middle‐aged fibroblasts but not with senescent fibroblasts, whereas p16INK4a is always unmethylated in the aging process. Correspondently, the protein levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and DNMT3a increase from young to middle‐aged fibroblasts but decrease in the senescent fibroblasts, while DNMT3b decreases stably from young to senescent fibroblasts. p21Waf1/Cip1 promoter methylation directly represses its expression and blocks the radiation‐induced DNA damage‐signaling pathway by p53 in middle‐aged fibroblasts. More importantly, demethylation by 5‐aza‐CdR or DNMT1 RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in an increased p21Waf1/Cip1 level and premature senescence of middle‐aged fibroblasts demonstrated by cell growth arrest and high β‐Galactosidase expression. Our results suggest that p21Waf1/Cip1 but not p16INK4a is involved in the DNA methylation mediated aging process. p21Waf1/Cip1 promoter methylation may be a critical biological barrier to postpone the aging process. J. Cell. Biochem. 98: 1230–1248, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Fast Feedback in Active Sensing: Touch-Induced Changes to Whisker-Object Interaction

Whisking mediated touch is an active sense whereby whisker movements are modulated by sensory input and behavioral context. Here we studied the effects of touching an object on whisking in head-fixed rats. Simultaneous movements of whiskers C1, C2, and D1 were tracked bilaterally and their movements compared. During free-air whisking, whisker protractions were typically characterized by a single acceleration-deceleration event, whisking amplitude and velocity were correlated, and whisk duration correlated with neither amplitude nor velocity. Upon contact with an object, a second acceleration-deceleration event occurred in about 25% of whisk cycles, involving both contacting (C2) and non-contacting (C1, D1) whiskers ipsilateral to the object. In these cases, the rostral whisker (C2) remained in contact with the object throughout the double-peak phase, which effectively prolonged the duration of C2 contact. These “touch-induced pumps” (TIPs) were detected, on average, 17.9 ms after contact. On a slower time scale, starting at the cycle following first touch, contralateral amplitude increased while ipsilateral amplitude decreased. Our results demonstrate that sensory-induced motor modulations occur at various timescales, and directly affect object palpation.
An Adaptive Scheme for Wheelchair Navigation Collaborative Control

In this paper we propose a system where machine and human cooperate at every situation via a reactive emergent behavior, so that the person is always in charge of his/her own motion. Our approach relies on locally evaluating the performance of the human and the wheelchair for each given situation. Then, both their motion commands are weighted according to those efficiencies and combined in a reactive way. This approach benefits from the advantages of typical reactive behaviors to combine different sources of information in a simple, seamless way into an emergent trajectory.
Evaluation Function of Drinking Ease from Aluminum Beverage Bottles Relative to Optimum 1 Bottle Opening Diameter and Beverage Type 2 3 Running title : Evaluation Function of Drinking Ease

*KURAに登録されているコンテンツの利用については,著作権法に規定されている私的使用や引用などの範囲内で行ってください。 *著作権法に規定されている私的使用や引用などの範囲を超える利用を行う場合には,著作権者の許諾を得てください。 ただし,著作権者 から著作権等管理事業者(学術著作権協会,日本著作出版権管理システムなど)に権利委託されているコンテンツの利用手続については ,各著作権等管理事業者に確認してください。 Title Evaluation function of drinking ease from aluminum beverage bottles relative to optimum bottle opening diameter and beverage type Author(s) Chihara, Takanori; Yamazaki, Koetsu Citation Applied Ergonomics, 43(1): 157-165 Issue Date 2012-01 Type Journal Article Text version author URL http://hdl.handle. net/2297/27837 Right
A COMPARISON OF SOME WAIT-FREE COMMUNICATIONS MECHANISMS

This paper presents an overview and assessment of those fully-asynchronous interprocess communications mechanisms (ACMs) which can operate in a wait-free manner. Using such ACMs can avoid temporal constraints between processes (of the kind needed to implement a synchronised rendezvous) which may lead to deadlock and unacceptable performance. The method of analysis and the comparisons use reachability-searches carried out on Petri Net models of each mechanism, and this enables the correctness to be demonstrated and/or conditions leading to failure to be identified, and so provides a useful tool to aid the designer. ACMs may become important because increased use of asynchronous designs is likely in future complex integrated circuit chips and mobile multimedia systems.
Novel photonic RF instantaneous frequency measurement system using a hibi fiber-based interferometer

A novel photonic RF instantaneous frequency measurement system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Measurements are performed considering purely sinusoidal RF signals with frequencies up to 20 GHz and different RF input powers. A peak-to-peak frequency error down to 50 MHz is achieved for an RF frequency range of 1 – 18 GHz. The trade-off between maximum measurement range and measurement sensitivity is discussed. Two solutions are proposed in order to surpass this limitation.
Parallel and Sequential Testing of Design Alternatives

An important managerial problem in product design in the extent to which testing activities are carried out in parallel or in series. Parallel testing has the advantage of proceeding more rapidly than serial testing but does not take advantage of the potential for learning between tests, thus resulting in a larger number of tests. We model this trade-off in the form of a dynamic program and derive the optimal testing strategy (or mix of parallel and serial testing) that minimizes both the total cost and time of testing. We derive the optimal testing strategy as a function of testing cost, prior knowledge, and testing lead time. Using information theory to measure the test efficiency, we further show that in the case of imperfect testing (due to noise or simulated test conditions), the attractiveness of parallel strategies decreases. Finally, we analyze the relationship between testing strategies and the structure of design hierarchy. We show that a key benefit of modular product architecture lies in the reduction of testing cost.