Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A dynamical characterization of internally-actuated microgravity mobility systems

The in-situ exploration of small Solar System bodies (such as asteroids or comets) is becoming a central objective for future planetary exploration. Such bodies are characterized by very weak gravitational fields, which make hopping mobility platforms one of the preferred mobility strategies for microgravity surface exploration, as recognized by space agencies worldwide. However, little is known about the dynamical behavior of hopping platforms in low gravity environments, where small bodies' rotational dynamics can have a critical effect. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to study in detail the “dynamic envelope” of hopping microgravity rovers, with a focus on internal actuation. Specifically, we first perform a static analysis with the goal of determining regions of a small body where an internally-actuated hopping rover can stably remain at rest. Then, we perform a dynamic analysis and discuss the actuation and instrument pointing performance of hopping microgravity platforms as a function of a number of system and environmental parameters (e.g., rover shape, body rotation rate). Finally, we tailor our analysis to a potential mission to Mars' moon Phobos. Collectively, our results show that internally-actuated rovers, from an actuation standpoint, are a viable mobility solution for a vast class of small Solar System bodies. Also, our analysis represents a key first step to develop path planning algorithms for microgravity explorers to safely explore dynamically feasible regions.
Predicting Stock Volatility Using After-Hours Information

We use realized volatilities based on after hours high frequency returns to predict next day volatility. We extend GARCH and long-memory forecasting models to include additional information: the whole night, the preopen, the postclose realized variance, and the overnight squared return. For four NASDAQ stocks (MSFT, AMGN, CSCO, and YHOO) we find that the inclusion of the preopen variance can improve the out-of-sample forecastability of the next day conditional day volatility. Additionally, we find that the postclose variance and the overnight squared return do not provide any predictive power for the next day conditional volatility. Our findings support the results of prior studies that traders trade for non-information reasons in the postclose period and trade for information reasons in the preopen period.
Enhancing Science Generic Skills in Vocational Secondary School by Using Generative Learning Model

Vocational secondary school was designed to help students quickly enter the workforce with hands-on training based on generic science skills. The four generic science skills that will be addressed in this study include: symbolic functioning and language, logical consistency, mathematical modeling and concept formation. This paper presents a model of generative learning for examining and investigating how effective this model related to generic science skills in physics. The independent variable in this study is the generative learning model while the dependent variables are generic science skills in physics. The design study that was used in one group was the pretest-post-test design. The data was collected from students (N = 33) grade 10 from a vocational secondary school who adopted a learning process through the generative learning model. Descriptive analysis showed an average score on students’ generic science skills test of 6.09 with a deviation standard of 2.55 before using the generative learning model. After the use of generative learning, the score was 16.48 with a deviation standard of 2.62. The results showed with N-Gain of 0.60. These findings suggest that the generative learning model can enhance generic science skills in vocational secondary school level.
Role of miR-24, Furin, and Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Signal Pathway in Fibrosis After Cardiac Infarction

Background Cardiac fibrosis after primary infarction is a type of pathological phenomena as shown by increased collagen in myocardial cells. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 is a critical factor participating in myocardial fibrosis. A previous study has shown the inhibitory role on TGF-β1 by microRNA-24 (miR-24) via targeting Furin. This study thus investigated the role of miR-24 and Furin/TGF-β1 in rat myocardial fibrosis. Material/Methods A total of 40 adult SD rats (both males and females) were prepared for myocardial infarction model by ligating the descending branch of left coronary artery after anesthesia. HE staining was performed to observe myocardial fibrosis after 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Tissue RNA was extracted to detect mRNA levels of Furin, TGF-β1, and miR-24 by real-time PCR. Western blotting was used to quantify protein expression of Furin and TGF-β1 in myocardial tissues. Results Increased connective tissues were observed in myocardial tissues at 4 weeks after infarction by HE staining, which also revealed widening of the intra-myocardial cleft, along with more inflammatory cells and fibroblast hypertrophy. miR-24 expression was significantly depressed at 2 and 4 weeks after cardiac infarction (p<0.05). mRNA levels of Furin and TGF-β1 were elevated after infarction (p<0.05). With prolonged time periods of myocardial infarction, protein levels of Furin and TGF-β1 were further increased. The level of miR-24 was positively correlated with left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, left ventricular systolic diameter, and left ventricular ejection fraction. However, the level of Furin or TGF-b1 was negatively correlated with the above parameters. Conclusions This study demonstrated the important role of abnormal expression of miR-24 in myocardial fibrosis after infarction, and may provide drug targets for treating myocardial fibrosis.
Orchestration des ressources et efficience des entreprises de spectacle sportif

L’objectif de cette these est de tendre vers le niveau meta de la strategie en conciliant une analyse du contenu et des processus strategiques. Pour y parvenir, le cadre theorique de l’orchestration des ressources est applique a un terrain de recherche transparent, les clubs de football professionnels francais. La performance de ces organisations est evaluee a partir de la methode d’enveloppement de donnees, permettant notamment de tenir compte du caractere multidimensionnel et idiosyncratique de leurs objectifs. Les scores d’efficience manageriale pure obtenus sont par ailleurs decomposes au niveau des processus (structuration du portfolio, regroupement et mise en œuvre des ressources) afin d’ouvrir la boite noire des organisations et de mieux localiser les origines des differentiels de performance. Les resultats indiquent notamment l’existence d’un avantage concurrentiel issu de l’imperfection du marche du travail. Il repose sur les trois micro-fondations d’un tel avantage base sur le capital humain (attirer, garder et motiver ses salaries a un prix inferieur aux concurrents). Cette analyse du contenu permet par la suite de s’interesser a trois problemes strategiques auxquels sont confrontees les entreprises de spectacle sportif : la definition de leur objectif organisationnel en fonction des opportunites et menaces survenant dans leur environnement ; les determinants des successions manageriales ; la capacite de resilience de ces organisations face a une turbulence. La volonte de tendre vers le niveau meta de la strategie aura permis de montrer que les theories contradictoires identifiees sur ces differentes thematiques peuvent co-exister.
E-Government and E-Governance Best Practices in Cities and Countries Compared between 2003 and 2012: Fad or Diffused Innovation?

By examining evaluations of worldwide city and country Websites from 2003 to 2012, this study compares their digitized government performance. Defined as dual variables, digitized government represents e-government services and e-governance collaboration. For each jurisdiction, this time-series assessment determines whether the innovation is developing linearly (in stages) or diffusing (leveling off) over time. The results are bifurcated. They convey that diffusion is occurring among worldwide municipal government Websites for both e-government and e-governance. The country findings, however, are inconsistent. The discussion explains the findings by applying a well-known four-fold typology of information technology (IT) and social change to them. The conclusions affirm digitized government's multidimensional qualities.
Data-driven model comparing the effects of glial scarring and interface interactions on chronic neural recordings in non-human primates

Objective. We characterized electrode stability over twelve weeks of impedance and neural recording data from four chronically-implanted Utah arrays in two rhesus macaques, and investigated the effects of glial scarring and interface interactions at the electrode recording site on signal quality using a computational model. Approach. A finite-element model of a Utah array microelectrode in neural tissue was coupled with a multi-compartmental model of a neuron to quantify the effects of encapsulation thickness, encapsulation resistivity, and interface resistivity on electrode impedance and waveform amplitude. The coupled model was then reconciled with the in vivo data. Histology was obtained seventeen weeks post-implantation to measure gliosis. Main results. From week 1–3, mean impedance and amplitude increased at rates of 115.8 kΩ/week and 23.1 μV/week, respectively. This initial ramp up in impedance and amplitude was observed across all arrays, and is consistent with biofouling (increasing interface resistivity) and edema clearing (increasing tissue resistivity), respectively, in the model. Beyond week 3, the trends leveled out. Histology showed that thin scars formed around the electrodes. In the model, scarring could not match the in vivo data. However, a thin interface layer at the electrode tip could. Despite having a large effect on impedance, interface resistivity did not have a noticeable effect on amplitude. Significance. This study suggests that scarring does not cause an electrical problem with regard to signal quality since it does not appear to be the main contributor to increasing impedance or significantly affect amplitude unless it displaces neurons. This, in turn, suggests that neural signals can be obtained reliably despite scarring as long as the recording site has sufficiently low impedance after accumulating a thin layer of biofouling. Therefore, advancements in microelectrode technology may be expedited by focusing on improvements to the recording site-tissue interface rather than elimination of the glial scar.
Selective ensemble of SVDDs based on information theoretic learning

To make the traditional support vector data description (SVDD) achieve better generalization performance and more robust against noise, a selective ensemble method based on correntropy and Renyi entropy is proposed. In this proposed ensemble method, the correntropy between the radii of the basis classifiers and the radius of the ensemble is utilized to substitute the sum-squared-error (SSE) criterion. The Renyi entropy of the distances between the training samples and the center of ensemble is defined as the diversity measure for the proposed ensemble. Moreover, an ℓ1-norm based regularization term is introduced into the objective function of the proposed ensemble to implement the selective ensemble. Experimental results on synthetic and benchmark data sets show that the proposed ensemble strategy can achieve better performance than its related approaches.
The discipline of teams.

Groups don't become teams because that is what someone calls them. Nor do teamwork values by themselves ensure team performance. So what is a team? How can managers know when the team option makes sense and what they can do to ensure team success? In this article, drawn from their recent book The Wisdom of Teams, McKinsey partners Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith answer these questions and outline the discipline that makes a real team. The essence of a team is shared commitment. Without it, groups perform as individuals; with it, they become a powerful unit of collective performance. The best teams invest a tremendous amount of time shaping a purpose that they can own. The best teams also translate their purpose into specific performance goals. And members of successful teams pitch in and become accountable with and to their teammates. The fundamental distinction between teams and other forms of working groups turns on performance. A working group relies on the individual contributions of its members for group performance. But a team strives for something greater than its members could achieve individually. In short, an effective team is always worth more than the sum of its parts. Katzenbach and Smith identify three basic types of teams: teams that recommend things--task forces or project groups; teams that make or do things--manufacturing, operations, or marketing groups; and teams that run things--groups that oversee some significant functional activity. For managers, the key is knowing where in the organization real teams should be encouraged. Team potential exists anywhere hierarchy or organizational boundaries inhibit good performance. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Hürthle cell tumors: using molecular techniques to define a novel classification system.

BACKGROUND Since ret/PTC gene rearrangements are specific to papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), the diagnosis of Hürthle cell PTC (HCPTC) has recently been expanded to include a subset of Hürthle cell tumors (HCTs) that may lack both papillary architecture and/or classic nuclear features but that harbor a ret/PTC gene rearrangement. We hypothesize that such HCPTCs behave in a fashion analogous to other papillary carcinomas, while Hürthle cell carcinomas (HCCs) behave similarly to follicular carcinomas. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES At the conclusion of this article, participants should be able to discuss HCTs and to identify HCPTCS using molecular techniques. METHODS A retrospective chart review was carried out on 56 patients with HCTs. All pathological specimens were analyzed for ret/PTC gene rearrangements. Hürthle cell adenoma (HCA) was defined as an HCT that did not exhibit capsular and/or vascular invasion and that lacked a ret/PTC gene rearrangement when evaluated by immunohistochemical and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis. An HCC was defined as an HCT with capsular and/or vascular invasion that lacked a ret/PTC gene rearrangement, and an HCPTC was defined as any HCT that harbored a ret/PTC gene rearrangement. RESULTS The subclassification of the 56 HCTs was as follows: 21 HCAs, 15 HCCs, and 20 HCPTCs. No patients with HCA or HCC were ret/PTC positive. Five of the 6 patients with definite lymph node metastasis were in the HCPTC group, demonstrating that molecular analysis helps to explain biological behavior. CONCLUSIONS Hürthle cell neoplasms can now be classified using histopathological as well as molecular criteria. It appears that the new subclassification of malignant HCTs into follicular (HCC) and papillary (HCPTC) variants identifies 2 distinct biological groups.
Seismic wave attenuation and dispersion resulting from wave-induced flow in porous rocks — A review

One major cause of elastic wave attenuation in heterogeneous porous media is wave-induced flow of the pore fluid between heterogeneities of various scales. It is believed that for frequencies below 1 kHz, the most important cause is the wave-induced flow between mesoscopic inhomogeneities, which are large compared with the typical individual pore size but small compared to the wavelength. Various laboratory experiments in some natural porous materials provide evidence for the presence of centimeter-scale mesoscopic heterogeneities. Laboratory and field measurements of seismic attenuation in fluid-saturated rocks provide indications of the role of the wave-induced flow. Signatures of wave-induced flow include the frequency and saturation dependence of P-wave attenuation and its associated velocity dispersion, frequency-dependent shear-wave splitting, and attenuation anisotropy. During the last four decades, numerous models for attenuation and velocity dispersion from wave-induced flow have been developed with varying degrees of rigor and complexity. These models can be categorized roughly into three groups according to their underlying theoretical framework. The first group of models is based on Biot’s theory of poroelasticity. The second group is based on elastodynamic theory where local fluid flow is incorporated through an additional hydrodynamic equation. Another group of models is derived using the theory of viscoelasticity. Though all models predict attenuation and velocity dispersion typical for a relaxation process, there exist differences that can be related to the type of disorder periodic, random, space dimension and to the way the local flow is incorporated. The differences manifest themselves in different asymptotic scaling laws for attenuation and in different expressions for characteristic frequencies. In recent years, some theoretical models of wave-induced fluid flow have been validated numerically, using finite-difference, finite-element, and reflectivity algorithms applied to Biot’s equations of poroelasticity. Application of theoretical models to real seismic data requires further studies using broadband laboratory and field measurements of attenuation and dispersion for different rocks as well as development of more robust methods for estimating dissipation attributes from field data.
Processing frequent itemset discovery queries by division and set containment join operators

SQL-based data mining algorithms are rarely used in practice today. Most performance experiments have shown that SQL-based approaches are inferior to main-memory algorithms. Nevertheless, database vendors try to integrate analysis functionalities to some extent into their query execution and optimization components in order to narrow the gap between data and processing. Such a database support is particularly important when data mining applicatons need to analyze very large datasets or when they need access current data, not a possibly outdated copy of it.We investigate approaches based on SQL for the problem of finding frequent itemsets in a transaction table, including an algorithm that we recently proposed, called Quiver, which employs universal and existential quantifications. This approach employs a table schema for itemsets that is similar to the commonly used vertical layout for transactions: each item of an itemset is stored in a separate row. We argue that expressing the frequent itemset discovery problem using quantifications offers interesting opportunities to process such queries using set containment join or set containment division operators, which are not yet available in commercial database systems. Initial performance experiments reveal that Quiver cannot be processed efficiently by commercial DBMS. However, our experiments with query execution plans that use operators realizing set containment tests suggest that an efficient processing of Quiver is possible.
Themes Updating Model Based on TIBG

Only considering freshness or total click number of a certain theme may lead to unreasonable themes updating. To improve the reasonableness of updating themes on homepage, this paper proposes a novel model based on Theme Interestingness of Browser Group (TIBG). TIBG can be used to calculate the theme’s real-time popularity which tracks information related to theme browser’s actual interest. Firstly, utilizing data mining methods, some data extracted from web log of AUST campus network are used to analyze the continuously changing trend of TIBG of every theme. Secondly, based on the achieved dynamic trend of every theme, we propose a model for updating multi-themes on homepage. According to this model, all TIBG of themes on a homepage can be calculated. Further, an integrated index reflecting the popularity of homepage can be obtained to measure the reasonableness of updating multi-themes. Experiment results show that our proposed model can implement reasonable updating of multi-themes and be effectively applied to the updating problems such as education resource, news theme on campus network. Keywords-theme updating; data mining; theme interestingness; updating model
Seismic Analysis of a S-Curved Viaduct using Stick and Finite Element Models

Stick models are widely used in studying the behaviour of straight as well as skew bridges and viaducts subjected to earthquakes while carrying out preliminary studies. The application of such models to highly curved bridges continues to pose challenging problems. A viaduct proposed in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India is chosen for the study. It is having 8 simply supported spans @ 30 m c/c. It is doubly curved in horizontal plane with 20 m radius. It is inclined in vertical plane as well. The superstructure consists of a box section. Three models have been used: a conventional stick model, an improved stick model and a 3D finite element model. The improved stick model is employed by making use of body constraints in order to study its capabilities. The first 8 frequencies are about 9.71% away in the latter two models. Later the difference increases to 80% in 50 mode. The viaduct was subjected to all three components of the El Centro earthquake of May 1940. The numerical integration was carried out using the HilberHughes-Taylor method as implemented in SAP2000. Axial forces and moments in the bridge piers as well as lateral displacements at the bearing levels are compared for the three models. The maximum difference in the axial forces and bending moments and displacements vary by 25% between the improved and finite element model. Whereas, the maximum difference in the axial forces, moments, and displacements in various sections vary by 35% between the improved stick model and equivalent straight stick model. The difference for torsional moment was as high as 75%. It is concluded that the stick model with body constraints to model the bearings and expansion joints is not desirable in very sharp S curved viaducts even for preliminary analysis. This model can be used only to determine first 10 frequency and mode shapes but not for member forces. A 3D finite element analysis must be carried out for meaningful results. Keywords—Bearing, body constraint, box girder, curved viaduct, expansion joint, finite element, link element, seismic, stick model, time history analysis.