Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online trajectory generation in an amphibious snake robot using a lamprey-like central pattern generator model

This article presents a control architecture for controlling the locomotion of an amphibious snake/lamprey robot capable of swimming and serpentine locomotion. The control architecture is based on a central pattern generator (CPG) model inspired from the neural circuits controlling locomotion in the lamprey's spinal cord. The CPG model is implemented as a system of coupled nonlinear oscillators on board of the robot. The CPG generates coordinated travelling waves in real time while being interactively modulated by a human-operator. Interesting aspects of the CPG model include (1) that it exhibits limit cycle behavior (i.e. it produces stable rhythmic patterns that are robust against perturbations), (2) that the limit cycle behavior has a closed-form solution which provides explicit control over relevant characteristics such as frequency, amplitude and wavelength of the travelling waves, and (3) that the control parameters of the CPG can be continuously and interactively modulated by a human operator to offer high maneuverability. We demonstrate how the CPG allows one to easily adjust the speed and direction of locomotion both in water and on ground while ensuring that continuous and smooth setpoints are sent to the robot's actuated joints.
Control design and small-signal modeling of multi-parallel virtual synchronous generators

With a high penetration of renewable energy in the grid, virtual synchronous generator (VSG) technology is proposed to be a solution for stability controlling of micro-source inverter. VSG can effectively solve the problem of renewable energy actively connected to the grid. This paper focuses on the control design and small-signal modeling of multi-parallel VSGs. Simplified virtual inertia controller of VSG is proposed to avoid the affect of frequency reference fluctuation on the system stability, and the small-signal model of multi-parallel VSGs which considers dynamic characteristics and the changing of steady state operation point is derived for system analysis and parameters design. Based on the small-signal model, the influence rules of the eigenvalues by droop constant, line parameters, VSGs parameters and parameters of low pass filter is acquired. Simulation and experimental results are shown to verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed method.
Speaker verification with ensemble classifiers based on linear speech transforms

For most classifier architectures realistic training schemes only allow classifiers corresponding to local optima of the training criteria to be constructed. One way of dealing with this problem is to work with classifier ensembles: multiple classifiers are trained for the same classification problem and combined into one “super” classifier. The problem addressed in this paper is text prompted speaker verification by means of phoneme dependent Radial Basis Function networks trained by gradient descent error minimisation. In this context ensemble techniques are introduced by combining different classifiers that classify feature vectors, which have been pre-processed using different linear transforms. Four different types of linear transforms are studied: the Fisher transform, the LDA transform, the PCA transform and the cosine transform. The verification system is evaluated on the Gandalf database, where the equal error rate is reduced from 3.6% to 3.2% when ensemble techniques are introduced.
Positively-Charged Semi-Tunnel Is a Structural and Surface Characteristic of Polyphosphate-Binding Proteins: An In-Silico Study

Phosphate is essential for all major life processes, especially energy metabolism and signal transduction. A linear phosphate polymer, polyphosphate (polyP), linked by high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds, can interact with various proteins, playing important roles as an energy source and regulatory factor. However, polyP-binding structures are largely unknown. Here we proposed a putative polyP binding site, a positively-charged semi-tunnel (PCST), identified by surface electrostatics analyses in polyP kinases (PPKs) and many other polyP-related proteins. We found that the PCSTs in varied proteins were folded in different secondary structure compositions. Molecular docking calculations revealed a significant value for binding affinity to polyP in PCST-containing proteins. Utilizing the PCST identified in the β subunit of PPK3, we predicted the potential polyP-binding domain of PPK3. The discovery of this feature facilitates future searches for polyP-binding proteins and discovery of the mechanisms for polyP-binding activities. This should greatly enhance the understanding of the many physiological functions of protein-bound polyP and the involvement of polyP and polyP-binding proteins in various human diseases.
Mechanistic implications of proton transfer coupled to electron transfer.

The kinetics of electron transfer for the reactions cis-[Ru(IV)(bpy)2(py)(O)]2+ + H+ + [Os(II)(bpy)3]2+ <==> cis-[Ru(III)(bpy)2(py)(OH)]2+ + [Os(III)(bpy)3]3+ and cis-[Ru(III)(bpy)2(py)(OH)]2+ + H+ + [Os(II)(bpy)3]2+ <==> cis-[Ru(II)(bpy)2(py)(H2O)]2+ + [Os(III)(bpy)3]3+ have been studied in both directions by varying the pH from 1 to 8. The kinetics are complex but can be fit to a double "square scheme" involving stepwise electron and proton transfer by including the disproportionation equilibrium, 2cis-[Ru(III)(bpy)2(py)(OH)]2+ <==> (3 x 10(3) M(-1) x s(-1) forward, 2.1 x 10(5) M(-1) x s(-1) reverse) cis-[Ru(IV)(bpy)2(py)(O)]2+ + cis-[Ru(II)(bpy)2(py)(H2O)]2+. Electron transfer is outer-sphere and uncoupled from proton transfer. The kinetic study has revealed (1) pH-dependent reactions where the pH dependence arises from the distribution between acid and base forms and not from variations in the driving force; (2) competing pathways involving initial electron transfer or initial proton transfer whose relative importance depends on pH; (3) a significant inhibition to outer-sphere electron transfer for the Ru(IV)=O2+/Ru(III)-OH2+ couple because of the large difference in pK(a) values between Ru(IV)=OH3+ (pK(a) < 0) and Ru(III)-OH2+ (pK(a) > 14); and (4) regions where proton loss from cis-[Ru(II)(bpy)2(py)(H2O)]2+ or cis-[Ru(III)(bpy)2(py)(OH)]2+ is rate limiting. The difference in pK(a) values favors more complex pathways such as proton-coupled electron transfer.
Skew Estimation of Document Images Using Bagging

This paper proposes a general-purpose method for estimating the skew angles of document images. Rather than to derive a skew angle merely from text lines, the proposed method exploits various types of visual cues of image skew available in local image regions. The visual cues are extracted by Radon transform and then outliers of them are iteratively rejected through a floating cascade. A bagging (bootstrap aggregating) estimator is finally employed to combine the estimations on the local image blocks. Our experimental results show significant improvements against the state-of-the-art methods, in terms of execution speed and estimation accuracy, as well as the robustness to short and sparse text lines, multiple different skews and the presence of nontextual objects of various types and quantities.
Reconfigurable Feedback Shift Register Based Stream Cipher for Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure wireless communications among sensor nodes is critical to the deployment of wireless sensor networks. However, resource limited sensor nodes cannot afford complex cryptographic algorithms. In this letter, we propose a low complexity and energy efficient reconfigurable feedback shift register (RFSR) stream cipher. The RFSR adds one new dimension, reconfigurable cipher structure, to the existing stream ciphers. The proposed RFSR is then implemented on a field programmable gate array platform. Simulation results show that much lower power consumption, delay and transmission overhead are achieved compared to the existing microprocessor based cipher implementations.
An introduction to disk drive modeling

Although disk storage densities are improving impressively (60% to 130% compounded annually), performance improvements have been occurring at only about 7% to 10% compounded annually over the last decade. As a result, disk system performance is fast becoming a dominant factor in overall svstem behavior. Naturally, researchers want to improve overall I/O performance, of which a large component is the performance of the disk drive itself. This research often involves using analytical or simulation models to compare alternative approaches, and the quality of these models determines the quality of the conclusions: indeed, the wrong modeling assumptions can lead to erroneous conclusions. Nevertheless, little work has been done to develop or describe accurate disk drive models. This may explain the commonplace use of simple, relatively inaccurate models. We believe there is much room for improvement. This article demonstrates and describes a calibrated, high-quality disk drive model in which the overall error factor is 14 times smaller than that of a simple first-order model. We describe the various disk drive performance components separately, then show how their inclusion improves the simulation model. This enables an informed trade-off between effort and accuracy. In addition, we provide detailed characteristics for two disk drives, as well as a brief description of a simulation environment that uses the disk drive model. <<ETX>>
Extreme winds associated with a collapsing core on the Mobile waterfront during the landfall of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina struck the northern Gulf Coast on 29 August 2005 with the third lowest pressure on record for a landfalling U.S. hurricane. The core of the storm moved inland over southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi, producing catastrophic damage in these areas. However, very strong squalls in the northeastern quadrant of the storm also moved inland across coastal Alabama. One of these squalls dislodged a large vessel along the Alabama coast in the Mobile River. 2. OVERVIEW
Switching in the activity state of an interneuron that controls coordination of the hearts in the medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis).

The rhythmically active heart interneuron HN(5) in the medicinal leech exhibits two distinct activity states, which have been associated with different coordination states of the two hearts. During the active state, it discharges high-frequency bursts of action potentials interrupted by rhythmic inhibitory input from other interneurons. In the inactive state, the same cell receives rhythmic inhibition but the membrane potential remains subthreshold between these volleys, producing few or no action potentials. We investigated differences in the membrane properties of the cell during the active and inactive states. The membrane potential in the active state oscillates on average between about -56 +/- 6 mV (S.D.) and -45 +/- 7 mV; the mean oscillation amplitude is 11 +/- 4 mV. In the inactive state, the membrane potential oscillates on average between -58 +/- 6 mV and -55 +/- 6 mV with a mean amplitude of 3 +/- 1 mV. The overall conductance of an HN(5) interneuron during the active state is approximately 10 nS lower than that during the inactive state, indicating that an outward current is turned off during the active state or turned on during the inactive state. This outward current is not voltage-dependent in the range -80 mV to -10 mV, as shown in voltage-clamp experiments by a linear current-voltage relationship. The reversal potential of this current is approximately -60 mV, indicating that chloride or potassium ions underlie the current. Using dynamic-clamp, we show that by adding an artificial current with a linear voltage-dependence (leak conductance) to an HN(5) interneuron (conductance 15 nS, reversal potential -60 mV), the cell can be transferred from its active to its inactive state.
Muscle strain is modulated more with running slope than speed in wild turkey knee and hip extensors

SUMMARY We examined the length changes and electromyographic (EMG) activity of two hindlimb muscles in wild turkeys, to determine how these muscles modulate mechanical function with changes in running speed and slope. The muscles studied were the iliotibialis lateralis pars postacetabularis (ILPO), a biarticular knee and hip extensor, and the femorotibialis lateralis (FT), a knee extensor. Muscle length changes were recorded using sonomicrometry, and EMG activity was recorded from indwelling bipolar electrodes as the animals walked and ran at a range of speeds (1–3.5 m s–1). Treadmill slope was also varied, from a 12° uphill slope to a downhill slope of –12°. To test the hypothesis that the strain pattern in active muscles reflects the demand for mechanical work, we compared strain in the ILPO and FT across the range of slopes. Both muscles underwent active lengthen–shorten cycles during stance. We analyzed the lengthening and shortening part of the strain pattern separately to determine the response of muscle strain to surface slope. In both muscles stance phase shortening strain increased over the range of slopes studied, from 7.8±3.5% (ILPO) and 1.9±2.2% (FT) during downhill running at –12°, to 30.3±3.9% (ILPO) and 8.2±5.6% (FT) during uphill running at 12°. Stance-phase lengthening strain was also modulated with slope, from– 15.6±3.2% (ILPO) and –22.1±9.6% (FT) during downhill running at –12°, to –4.2±2.5% (ILPO) and– 9.0±5.6% (FT) during uphill running at 12°. The results suggest that for the ILPO and FT a change in net mechanical work output with running slope is likely mediated by a change in both the lengthening, energy absorbing portion of the contraction and the shortening, energy producing part of the contraction. We also found changes in the timing of EMG activity, and the relative portion of the stance period spent lengthening, which were consistent with a shift in muscle function from energy absorption during downhill running, to net energy production during uphill running. Generally, muscle strain was less affected by speed than by slope. Shortening strains were not significantly correlated with running speed. Only FT lengthening strain changed significantly with speed, ranging from– 6.8±4.3% at 1 m s–1 to –15.3±4.7% at 3.5 m s–1. The consistent patterns of strain changes with running slope are evidence that strain pattern is modulated to meet the changes in demand for net mechanical work. The relatively poor relationship between strain and running speed may reflect the fact that changes in running speed during level running are not associated with a change in demand for net mechanical work. Taken together, the speed and slope results suggest that the demand for mechanical work is an important determinant of muscle length patterns in running and walking.
Animal models of head trauma

SummaryAnimal models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are used to elucidate primary and secondary sequelae underlying human head injury in an effort to identify potential neuroprotective therapies for developing and adult brains. The choice of experimental model depends upon both the research goal and underlying objectives. The intrinsic ability to study injury-induced changes in behavior, physiology, metabolism, the blood/tissue interface, the blood brain barrier, and/or inflammatory- and immune-mediated responses, makes in vivo TBI models essential for neurotrauma research. Whereas human TBI is a highly complex multifactorial disorder, animal trauma models tend to replicate only single factors involved in the pathobiology of head injury using genetically well-defined inbred animals of a single sex. Although such an experimental approach is helpful to delineate key injury mechanisms, the simplicity and hence inability of animal models to reflect the complexity of clinical head injury may underlie the discrepancy between preclinical and clinical trials of neuroprotective therapeutics. Thus, a search continues for new animal models, which would more closely mimic the highly heterogeneous nature of human TBI, and address key factors in treatment optimization.
A unique in vivo assessment of 4‐[10B]borono‐L-phenylalanine in tumour tissues for boron neutron capture therapy of malignant melanomas using positron emission tomography and 4‐borono-2-[18F]fluoro‐L-phenylalanine

A unique in vivo approach to assessing the concentrations of 4-[10B]borono-L-phenylalanine (L-BPA), a melanoma targeting compound for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), was investigated using L-BPA labelled with positron-emitting 18F (half-life = 110 min), i.e., 4-[10B]borono-2-[18F]fluoro-L-phenylalanine (L-[18F]FBPA). High melanoma uptake of L-[18F]FBPA was reduced slightly by competition with L-BPA in the two animal models of the murine B16 melanoma and the melanotic Greene's melanoma No. 179 in hamsters. In mice given L-[18F]FBPA and L-BPA, the concentrations of 10B in B16 estimated from 18F radioactivity were lower than those measured by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. Lower estimated values were dependent on the time after injection and on the loading dose of L-BPA. The estimated 10B concentrations for Green's melanomas were comparable to the measured values. Positron emission tomography (PET) using L-[18F]FBPA allowed Greene's melanomas to be clearly visualized. In conclusion, when L-[18F]FBPA is used as a probe for L-BPA in BNCT of malignant melanomas, the melanoma can be localized and the 10B concentrations in tissues can be assessed in vivo using 18F radioactivity by PET.
SeqGL Identifies Context-Dependent Binding Signals in Genome-Wide Regulatory Element Maps

Genome-wide maps of transcription factor (TF) occupancy and regions of open chromatin implicitly contain DNA sequence signals for multiple factors. We present SeqGL, a novel de novo motif discovery algorithm to identify multiple TF sequence signals from ChIP-, DNase-, and ATAC-seq profiles. SeqGL trains a discriminative model using a k-mer feature representation together with group lasso regularization to extract a collection of sequence signals that distinguish peak sequences from flanking regions. Benchmarked on over 100 ChIP-seq experiments, SeqGL outperformed traditional motif discovery tools in discriminative accuracy. Furthermore, SeqGL can be naturally used with multitask learning to identify genomic and cell-type context determinants of TF binding. SeqGL successfully scales to the large multiplicity of sequence signals in DNase- or ATAC-seq maps. In particular, SeqGL was able to identify a number of ChIP-seq validated sequence signals that were not found by traditional motif discovery algorithms. Thus compared to widely used motif discovery algorithms, SeqGL demonstrates both greater discriminative accuracy and higher sensitivity for detecting the DNA sequence signals underlying regulatory element maps. SeqGL is available at http://cbio.mskcc. org/public/Leslie/SeqGL/.
Analysis of Features for Rigid Structure Vehicle Type Recognition

We describe an investigation into feature representations for rigid structure recognition framework for recognition of objects with a multitude of classes. The intended application is automatic recognition of vehicle type for secure access and traffic monitoring applications, a problem not hitherto considered at such a level of accuracy. We demonstrate that a relatively simple set of features extracted from sections of car front images can be used to obtain high performance verification and recognition of vehicle type (both car model and class). We describe the approach and resulting system in full, and the results of experiments comparing a wide variety of different features. The final system is capable of recognition rates of over 93% and verification equal error rates of fewer than 5.6% when tested on over 1000 images containing 77 different classes. The system is shown to be robust for a wide range of weather and lighting conditions.
Recurrent Timing Neural Networks for Joint F0-Localisation Estimation

A novel extension to recurrent timing neural networks (RTNNs) is proposed which allows such networks to exploit a joint interaural time difference-fundamental frequency (ITD-F0) auditory cue as opposed to F0 only. This extension involves coupling a second layer of coincidence detectors to a two-dimensional RTNN. The coincidence detectors are tuned to particular ITDs and each feeds excitation to a column in the RTNN. Thus, one axis of the RTNN represents F0 and the other ITD. The resulting behaviour allows sources to be segregated on the basis of their separation in ITD-F0 space. Furthermore, all grouping and segregation activity proceeds within individual frequency channels without recourse to across channel estimates of F0 or ITD that are commonly used in auditory scene analysis approaches. The system has been evaluated using a source separation task operating on spatialised speech signals.
DETERMINING CRITERIA WEIGHTS AS A FUNCTION OF THEIR RANKS IN MULTIPLE-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING

The problem of assigning weights from ordinal ranks appears in many contexts in multi-criteria decision making. In this paper, we present an empirical methodology for converting an ordinal ranking of a number of criteria into numerical weights. Based on this methodology, the weight for each criterion is expressed as a simple mathematical function of its rank and the total number of criteria. The proposed methodology is empirically developed, evaluated, and validated based on a set of experiments involving university students and faculty members. The proposed method is compared with well-known methods in the literature and has shown superiority in assigning criteria weights from ordinal ranks.
Muscle synergy analysis for similar upper limb motion tasks

Muscle synergy is considered as a vector specifying a pattern of relative muscle activation. The goal of this paper is to explore whether there exists similarities between muscle synergies in similar upper limb motion tasks. One center-out-center reaching task and two path movement tasks with regard to the elbow and shoulder joints were designed, and seven healthy adults were recruited in this study. Surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals were recorded from 10 upper arm and shoulder muscles, and muscle synergies were extracted using nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm. Although there existed individual differences among subjects, experimental results showed that the structures of muscle synergies extracted from these three similar tasks were similar on the ground of the values of Pearson's correlation coefficient was greater than 0.85. Through this finding, the neuromuscular control strategies of upper limb in similar tasks could be explained clearly, which also provided significant evidence to support the hypothesis of muscle synergies.
Användning av BLE-beacons för inomhuspositionering

I detta examensarbete undersoks hur Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons kan anvandas for att implementera ett inomhuspositioneringssystem. For att gora detta utvecklades en prototyp som bestar av en Android-applikation och en DynamoDB-databas. Att anvanda sig av trilateration for positionering har redan testats och utvarderats ett flertal ganger, darfor fokuserar detta arbete istallet pa en alternativ metod. Genom att placera ut ett beacon i var rum eller plats som man vill ha med i systemet (som man vill ska visas i applikationen). Det beacon vars signaler har storst signalstyrka antas vara det som ar narmast. Denna plats markeras pa en karta i applikationen. I prototypen finns en karta over ett kontor dar prototypen testades. En extern webbaserad statistiksida implementerades aven som visar hur manga besokare det har varit i var tillagt rum under en given dag. Sa lange varje beacon stalls in pa en lamplig signalstyrka med tanke pa rummets storlek samt vaggarnas tjocklek och material fungerade denna metod bra vid utvarderingar. Denna slags system tros ha potential, delvis med tanke pa ett okande antal foretag som utvecklar inomhuspositioneringssystem. Aven andra anvandningar av BLE-beacons kan vaxa, sarskilt om beaconen blir annu mindre och energisnalare skulle det vara sannolikt att dessa anvands annu mer i bland annat butiker och liknande. (Less)