Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloud-Based Collaborative 3D Mapping in Real-Time With Low-Cost Robots

This paper presents an architecture, protocol, and parallel algorithms for collaborative 3D mapping in the cloud with low-cost robots. The robots run a dense visual odometry algorithm on a smartphone-class processor. Key-frames from the visual odometry are sent to the cloud for parallel optimization and merging with maps produced by other robots. After optimization the cloud pushes the updated poses of the local key-frames back to the robots. All processes are managed by Rapyuta, a cloud robotics framework that runs in a commercial data center. This paper includes qualitative visualization of collaboratively built maps, as well as quantitative evaluation of localization accuracy, bandwidth usage, processing speeds, and map storage.
‘In‐between’ Asia and the West: Asian women faculty in the transnational context

Asian women faculty (AWF) are an underrepresented and understudied population. I hypothesize that, while AWF should be included in a broader analysis of the intersection of gender, race, class, and ethnicity in the academy, their stories can also contribute to the existing literature on minority faculty by linking the local and global experiences of ‘Asians’ in the ‘West’. In this paper, I explore the higher education space by asking: ‘What would it mean to take a transnational feminist approach to the analysis of issues concerning AWF? ’ First, I will closely look at a transnational feminist approach as a theoretical framework and will locate the academy as a contested space within this framework. Second, I will look at narratives and insights of AWF by drawing on literature either dealing with AWF in North America or written by AWF who explicate their own experiences in the academic settings. By applying the transnational lens to the narratives, I hope to add a new angle to see the academy as a contested site to other literature and studies that attempt to bring social justice to higher education. Lastly, I will point out some of the implications, including strengths and limitations, of using a transnational feminist framework to look at the issues concerning AWF as a marginalized population.
Impacts of climate warming on terrestrial ectotherms across latitude

The impact of anthropogenic climate change on terrestrial organisms is often predicted to increase with latitude, in parallel with the rate of warming. Yet the biological impact of rising temperatures also depends on the physiological sensitivity of organisms to temperature change. We integrate empirical fitness curves describing the thermal tolerance of terrestrial insects from around the world with the projected geographic distribution of climate change for the next century to estimate the direct impact of warming on insect fitness across latitude. The results show that warming in the tropics, although relatively small in magnitude, is likely to have the most deleterious consequences because tropical insects are relatively sensitive to temperature change and are currently living very close to their optimal temperature. In contrast, species at higher latitudes have broader thermal tolerance and are living in climates that are currently cooler than their physiological optima, so that warming may even enhance their fitness. Available thermal tolerance data for several vertebrate taxa exhibit similar patterns, suggesting that these results are general for terrestrial ectotherms. Our analyses imply that, in the absence of ameliorating factors such as migration and adaptation, the greatest extinction risks from global warming may be in the tropics, where biological diversity is also greatest.
Several comments about the combinatorics of τ-covers

In a previous work with Mildenberger and Shelah, we showed that the combinatorics of the selection hypotheses involving τ -covers is sensitive to the selection operator used. We introduce a natural generalization of Scheepers’ selection operators, and show that: (1) A slight change in the selection operator, which in classical cases makes no difference, leads to different properties when τ -covers are involved. (2) One of the newly introduced properties sheds some light on a problem of Scheepers concerning τ -covers. Improving an earlier result, we also show that no generalized Luzin set satisfies Ufin(Γ, T).
Tell Me What You Did Today: A Visual Cueing Strategy for Children With ASD

A multiple-baseline design across participants was utilized to investigate the effects of a visual cueing system (VCS) on the ability of three children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to retell the events of their school day. The VCS comprised consistent pictures but text that changed to reflect each day’s activities. The participants utilized the VCS in a complete form and later in a partial form to respond to the prompt, “Tell me what you did today. ” All 3 participants demonstrated increases in the number of events they were able to report. The skill was largely maintained through generalization and follow-up phases. Large effect sizes and positive social validity were evidenced.
Using the Attribute Hierarchy Method to Make Diagnostic Inferences about Examinees’ Cognitive Skills in Critical Reading

The purpose of this study is to apply the attribute hierarchy method (AHM) to a subset of SAT critical reading items and illustrate how the method can be used to promote cognitive diagnostic inferences. The AHM is a psychometric procedure for classifying examinees’ test item responses into a set of attribute mastery patterns associated with different components from a cognitive model. The study was conducted in two steps. In step 1, three cognitive models were developed by reviewing selected literature in reading comprehension as well as research related to SAT Critical Reading. Then, the cognitive models were validated by having a sample of students think aloud as they solved each item. In step 2, psychometric analyses were conducted on the SAT critical reading cognitive models by evaluating the model-data fit between the expected and observed response patterns produced from two random samples of 2,000 examinees who wrote the items. The model that provided best data-model fit was then used to calculate attribute probabilities for 15 examinees to illustrate our diagnostic testing procedure.
Over Six Thousand Trypanosoma cruzi Strains Classified into Discrete Typing Units (DTUs): Attempt at an Inventory

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, presents wide genetic diversity. Currently, six discrete typing units (DTUs), named TcI to TcVI, and a seventh one called TcBat are used for strain typing. Beyond the debate concerning this classification, this systematic review has attempted to provide an inventory by compiling the results of 137 articles that have used it. A total of 6,343 DTU identifications were analyzed according to the geographical and host origins. Ninety-one percent of the data available is linked to South America. This sample, although not free of potential bias, nevertheless provides today’s picture of T. cruzi genetic diversity that is closest to reality. DTUs were genotyped from 158 species, including 42 vector species. Remarkably, TcI predominated in the overall sample (around 60%), in both sylvatic and domestic cycles. This DTU known to present a high genetic diversity, is very widely distributed geographically, compatible with a long-term evolution. The marsupial is thought to be its most ancestral host and the Gran Chaco region the place of its putative origin. TcII was rarely sampled (9.6%), absent, or extremely rare in North and Central America, and more frequently identified in domestic cycles than in sylvatic cycles. It has a low genetic diversity and has probably found refuge in some mammal species. It is thought to originate in the south-Amazon area. TcIII and TcIV were also rarely sampled. They showed substantial genetic diversity and are thought to be composed of possible polyphyletic subgroups. Even if they are mostly associated with sylvatic transmission cycles, a total of 150 human infections with these DTUs have been reported. TcV and TcVI are clearly associated with domestic transmission cycles. Less than 10% of these DTUs were identified together in sylvatic hosts. They are thought to originate in the Gran Chaco region, where they are predominant and where putative parents exist (TcII and TcIII). Trends in host-DTU specificities exist, but generally it seems that the complexity of the cycles and the participation of numerous vectors and mammal hosts in a shared area, maintains DTU diversity.
The Evolution of Female Coyness – Trading Time for Information

Females in socially monogamous species require a period of courtship before they start to reproduce. When female reproductive success depends on male assistance, such ‘coy’ behaviour might have evolved in response to male philandering. In this paper, we use a dynamic optimization model to demonstrate that female coyness can be maintained during evolution (provided that a female is able to reject a male and find a new one) if two conditions are met. First, both faithful and philandering males must be present. Second, a female must be able to learn more about a male’s intention by spending time with him. In our model the optimal duration of coyness is a trade-off between the benefit of waiting and gaining information about the male partner and the cost of postponing the onset of reproduction. This trade-off is influenced by several factors, such as the time needed to find a male, the level of male philandering and the possibility of detecting these males, the decline of the reproductive success with time and the disadvantage of reproducing with a philandering male.
A new controller for frequency protection of an islanded microgrid

MicroGrid is a local distribution system where loads are supplied by parallel-connected inverters controlled by decentralized active power/voltage frequency and reactive power/voltage magnitude droop controller. A paralleled ac system, such as a multi-inverter MicroGrid with droop controller, is susceptible to large variations in frequency/voltage magnitude. Therefore, the protection issues are very important in these systems. In this paper, a new controller is proposed to decrease the frequency drop during transient time after events such as load switching. Moreover, the proposed controller eliminates the frequency deviation in steady state. Analysis of simulation results validates that the proposed controller responses as reported in the paper.
HBV Genotype F: Natural History and Treatment

The analysis of the HBV genome revealed the existence of 10 genotypes, named A–J. Evidence of the influence of the different genotypes in the natural history and treatment response to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues or interferon-based regimens is scant. HBV genotype F is one of the most prevalent circulating genotypes in South America and the Arctic Circle. Since most of the available information on HBV is from Asia, the US and Europe, it refects their predominant genotypes: A, B, C and D. To date, the evidence is not fully confirmed, but it appears that genotype F chronic hepatitis B is associated with a more aggressive course of liver disease, refected by higher histological indexes, a higher risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma and a higher rate of liver-related mortality. In terms of treatment response, the available data is, unfortunately, even more limited; however, what data is available suggests acceptable and similar response rates to pegylated interferon-α2a in genotype F compared to genotype A. Response rates to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues is not influenced by genotype. The review of this limited data sheds light on the necessity to conduct further studies in South America and the Arctic Circle in order to better understand the different aspects of HBV genotype F, especially in relation to treatment response.
System source and dynamic features for speaker verification for limited data condition

The present work explains the speaker verification under limited data conditions. In real time situation such as forensic investigation the amount of speech data available for training and test may be less in terms of few seconds. Recognizing culprits in such condition is a challenging task as the available feature vectors are less in numbers. To increase the performance of speaker verification under limited data, one possibility is to combine the feature vectors extracted from different feature extraction techniques. This work carry-out the experimental evaluation of combination of Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and its derivatives Delta (Δ), Delta-Delta (ΔΔ), Linear Prediction Residual (LPR) and Linear Prediction Residual Phase (LPRP). The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and GMM-Universal background model (UBM) classifiers are used for comparative study. The NIST-2003 data base is used to carry out the experiments. The experimental results show that, the combination of MFCC, its derivatives and LPRP perform better compared to other combinations of features techniques. Further GMM-UBM modelling gives reduced equal error rate (EER) as compared to GMM.
The Quality of Friendships at Work and Job Satisfaction

The study examines the relationship between quality of a friendship at work and job satisfaction. Faculty and staff (N = 722) at two universities completed measures of the qualities of their best friendship at work and of job satisfaction. Multiple regressions for faculty and staff and for subjects whose best friend was a peer, supervisor or subordinate revealed that the quality of one's best friendship in the workplace is predictive of job satisfaction. A negative aspect of friendship, maintenance difficulty, was related to lower satisfaction for staff (but not faculty) and for workers whose best friend at work was a peer or supervisor. Wishing to spend free time with a best friend at work (voluntary interdependence) and an exchange orientation toward the friend were also negatively related to aspects of job satisfaction. The relationships between feelings about one's best friend at work and feelings about one's job are discussed.
Long‐chain acyl‐CoA esters and phosphatidylinositol phosphates modulate ATP inhibition of Katp channels by the same mechanism

Phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs, e.g. PIP2) and long‐chain acyl‐CoA esters (e.g. oleoyl‐CoA) are potent activators of Katp channels that are thought to link Katp channel activity to the cellular metabolism of PIPs and fatty acids. Here we show that the two types of lipid act by the same mechanism: oleoyl‐CoA potently reduced the ATP sensitivity of cardiac (Kir6.2/SUR2A) and pancreatic (Kir6.2/SUR1) Katp channels in a way very similar to PIP2. Mutations (R54Q, R176A) in the C‐ and N‐terminus of Kir6.2 that greatly reduced the PIP2 modulation of ATP sensitivity likewise reduced the modulation by oleoyl‐CoA, indicating that the two lipids interact with the same site. Polyvalent cations reduced the effect of oleoyl‐CoA and PIP2 on the ATP sensitivity with similar potency suggesting that electrostatic interactions are of similar importance. However, experiments with differently charged inhibitory adenosine phosphates (ATP4‐, ADP3‐ and 2′(3′)‐O‐(2,4,6‐trinitrophenyl)adenosine 5′‐monophosphate (TNP‐AMP2‐)) and diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A5‐) ruled out a mechanism where oleoyl‐CoA or PIP2 attenuate ATP inhibition by reducing ATP binding through electrostatic repulsion. Surprisingly, CoA (the head group of oleoyl‐CoA) did not activate but inhibited Katp channels (IC50= 265 ± 33 μM). We provide evidence that CoA and diadenosine polyphosphates (e.g. Ap4A) are ligands of the inhibitory ATP‐binding site on Kir6.2.
Adult Literacy and Postsecondary Education Students: Overlapping Populations and Learning Trajectories

Concerns about improving the literacy proficiencies of the nation's adults are increasingly evident in public discourse about education and workforce policy in the United States. Improved adult literacy has become a national education goal. Recent proposals to upgrade the skills of America's workforce and promote lifelong learning (among them the President's 1999 State of the Union address, the 1999 White House Lifelong Learning Summit, and the administration's fiscal year 2000 budget request) have highlighted the need to raise levels of adult literacy. This discussion has focused on expanding and strengthening the country's adult education system, which historically has served adults needing better basic skills and high school equivalency. The focus of adult literacy education programs in the United States has traditionally been to prepare adults who have not completed high school to gain the skills and knowledge needed to pass the GED (General Educational Development) tests or otherwise obtain high school equivalency certification.
Sparse coding methods for music induced emotion recognition

The paper concerns automatic recognition of emotion induced by music (MER, Music Emotion Recognition). Comparison of different sparse coding schemes in a task of MER is the main contribution of the paper. We consider a domain-specific categorization of emotions, called Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), which focuses on induced emotions rather than expressed emotions. We were able to find only one dataset, namely Emotify, in which data are annotated with GEMS categories, this set was used in our experiments. Our main goal was to compare different sparse coding approaches in a task of learning features useful for predicting musically induced emotions, taking into account categories present in the GEMS. We compared five sparse coding methods and concluded that sparse autoencoders outperform other approaches.
MELD score predicts 1‐year patient survival post‐orthotopic liver transplantation

The Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is an important predictor in patients awaiting orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, the model's association with posttransplant patient survival is unclear. We studied 1‐year patient survival in 404 adult patients who underwent OLT at the University of California Los Angeles. The hazard rates of patient survival according to the MELD strata and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) statuses were assessed by Proportional Hazard Cox regression analysis. The difference in survival for MELD strata and UNOS status were compared using the Cox model. There was a significant difference in 1‐year patient (P = .0006) survival using different MELD strata, whereas there was a trend according to UNOS status (P = .051). Increased rate of death was observed in recipients of OLT with higher MELD scores (> 36, hazard ratio 3.9; 95% CI 1.55, 10.27) and more urgent UNOS status (2A; hazard ratio, 1.99; 95% CI 1.07, 3.7). The MELD stratum is better associated with 1‐year patient survival in liver transplant recipients than UNOS statuses. Patient survival was worse with higher MELD scores.
D. KIMBROUGH OLLER REBECCA E. EILERS (eds), Language and literacy in bilingual children. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2002. Pp. vii+310. ISBN 1-85359-571-3 (hbk), 1-85359-570-5 (pbk).

Section A: Background 1. Assessing the Effects of Bilingualism - D. K. Oller and B.Z. Pearson 2. An Integrated Approach to Evaluating Effects of Bilingualism in Miami School Children - D. K. Oller and R. E. Eilers. Section B: Overall Results on Language use and Standardized Test Performance 3. Bilingualism and Cultural Assimilation in Miami Hispanic Children -R. E. Eilers, D. K. Oller and A. B. Cobo-Lewis 4. Effects of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education on Oral and Written English Skills -A. B. Cobo-Lewis, B. Z. Pearson, R. E. Eilers, and V. C. Umbel 5. Effects of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education on Oral and Written Spanish Skills - A. B. Cobo-Lewis, B. Z. Pearson, R. E. Eilers, and V. C. Umbel 6. Interdependence of Spanish and English Knowledge in Language and Literacy among Bilingual Children - A. B. Cobo-Lewis and R. E. Eilers. Section C: Probe Studies on Complex Language Capabilities 7. Narrative Competence among Monolingual and Bilingual School Children in Miami -B. Z. Pearson 8. Command of the Mass/count Distinction in Bilingual and Monolingual Children -V. C. Mueller Gathercole 9. Grammatical Gender in Bilingual and Monolingual Children - V. C. Mueller Gathercole 10. Monolingual and Bilingual Acquisition -V. C. Mueller Gathercole 11. The Ability of Bilingual and Monolingual Children to Perform Phonological Translation - D. K. Oller and A. B. Cobo-Lewis. Section D: A Retrospective View of the Research 12. Balancing Interpretations Regarding Effects of Bilingualism - D. K. Oller and R. E. Eilers
Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

This rating scale is designed to rate the severity and type of symptoms in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In general, the items depend on the patient's report; however, the final rating is based on the clinical judgment of the interviewer. Rate the characteristics of each item during the prior week up until and including the time of the interview. Scores should reflect the average (mean) occurrence of each item for the entire week.
Antitumor Efficacy Profile of PKI-402, a Dual Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Inhibitor

PKI-402 is a selective, reversible, ATP-competitive, equipotent inhibitor of class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3K), including PI3K-α mutants, and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR; IC50 versus PI3K-α = 2 nmol/L). PKI-402 inhibited growth of human tumor cell lines derived from breast, brain (glioma), pancreas, and non–small cell lung cancer tissue and suppressed phosphorylation of PI3K and mTOR effector proteins (e.g., Akt at T308) at concentrations that matched those that inhibited cell growth. In MDA-MB-361 [breast: Her2+ and PIK3CA mutant (E545K)], 30 nmol/L PKI-402 induced cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), a marker for apoptosis. In vivo, PKI-402 inhibited tumor growth in MDA-MB-361, glioma (U87MG), and lung (A549) xenograft models. In MDA-MB-361, PKI-402 at 100 mg/kg (daily for 5 days, one round) reduced initial tumor volume of 260 mm3 to 129 mm3 and prevented tumor regrowth for 70 days. In MDA-MB-361 tumors, PKI-402 (100 mg/kg, single dose) suppressed Akt phosphorylation (at T308) and induced cleaved PARP. Suppression of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) was complete at 8 hours and still evident at 24 hours. Cleaved PARP was evident at 8 and 24 hours. In normal tissue (heart and lung), PKI-402 (100 mg/kg) had minimal effect on p-Akt, with no detectable cleaved PARP. Preferential accumulation of PKI-402 in tumor tissue was observed. Complete, sustained suppression of Akt phosphorylation may cause tumor regression in MDA-MB-361 and other xenograft models. We are testing whether dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors can durably suppress p-Akt, induce cleaved PARP, and cause tumor regression in a diverse set of human tumor xenograft models. Mol Cancer Ther; 9(4); 976–84. ©2010 AACR.