Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A kinematics analysis of the lower limb during running with different sports shoes

The study aimed to investigate the differences in lower limb joint angles during running with three different sports shoes: basketball shoes, football shoes, and running shoes. Fifteen male subjects (age: 25 ± 2.2 years, height: 1.79 ± 0.05 m, and mass: 70.8 ± 3.4 kg) were asked to run on a treadmill at their preferred running speed. The Vicon 3D motion analysis system was used to capture the kinematics of the lower extremity during running. A one-way analysis of variance was used to determine whether any statistical significance existed between the three types of shoes (α < 0.05). Significant differences existed in the lower limb joints between the three sports shoes, particularly at the knee joint. Running shoes presented more knee flexion than basketball shoes and football shoes. In the frontal plane, basketball shoes showed less knee abduction than running shoes and football shoes. No significant difference occurred in ankle external rotation between basketball shoes and football shoes, and both of them presented greater range of motion of the ankle and knee than running shoes.
Are Graphic Warning Labels Stopping Millions of Smokers? A Comment on Huang, Chaloupka, and Fong

Graphic warning labels are gruesome images on cigarette packages depicting diseased body parts, suffering, and death. An increasing number of countries have mandated them. The scholarly literature unequivocally concludes that they are effective, as measured by elicited cognitive and emotional reactions, increased motivation to quit smoking, and greater awareness of the risks and warnings. But studies investigating actual changes in smoking behavior are more limited. Focusing on a widely cited difference-in-difference study in Tobacco Control by Jidong Huang, Frank Chaloupka, and Geoffrey Fong (2014), we discuss some of the challenges faced in attempting to estimate the impact of cigarette graphic warning labels on population smoking rates in Canada. We demonstrate that spurious correlation may arise when the key underlying assumptions of the difference-in-difference methodology do not hold, or when the specification is plagued by such issues as serial correlation or omitted variables. Our findings suggest that there remains uncertainty in the causal relationship between Canada’s policy that mandates graphic warning labels and smoking rates. Estimates could be improved with additional data, better-specified instruments for problematic data, or alternative methods that would address the limitations identified in the present study.
Framework for Landmark Selection and Nyström Kernel Approximation : Bounds , Algorithms , and Applications

In recent years, the spectral analysis of appropriately defined kernels has emerged as a principled way to extract the nonlinear structure inherent in vision tasks as diverse as segmentation and recognition. For computational reasons, a landmark selection process is often employed to choose a partial kernel, followed by a Nyström extension that provides its minimally positive definite completion. The literature remains open on the question of optimal landmark selection, however, and here we develop an analysis framework for this problem that subsumes previous approaches. We first show how it leads to quantitative performance bounds for both existing and new algorithms. We then discuss a range of methods for optimizing the landmark selection process through a stochastic procedure, and finally demonstrate their effectiveness in two key applications: the low-level vision task of image segmentation, and the high-level task of nonlinear dimensionality reduction from video data.
Molecular Dynamics Study of a Surfactant-Mediated Decane-Water Interface: Effect of Molecular Architecture of Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate

The effect of molecular architecture of a surfactant, particularly the attachment position of benzene sulfonate on the hexadecane backbone, at the decane−water interface was investigated using atomistic MD simulations. We consider a series of surfactant isomers in the family of alkyl benzene sulfonates, denoted by m-C16, indicating a benzene sulfonate group attached to the mth carbon in a hexadecane backbone. The equilibrated model systems showed a well-defined interface between the decane and water phases. We find that surfactant 4-C16 has a more compact packing, in terms of the interfacial area and molecular alignment at the interface, than other surfactants simulated in this study. Furthermore, surfactant 4-C16 leads to the most stable interface by having the lowest interface formation energy. The interfacial thickness is the largest in the case of surfactant 4-C16, with the thickness decreasing when the benzene sulfonate is located farther from the attachment position of 4-C16 (the 4th carbon). The interfacial tension profile was calculated along the direction perpendicular to the interface using the Kirkwood−Buff theory. From the comparison of the interfacial tension obtained from the interfacial tension profile, we found that surfactant 4-C16 induces the lowest interfacial tension and that the interfacial tension increases with decreasing interfacial thickness as a function of the attachment position of benzene sulfonate. Such a relationship between the interfacial thickness and interfacial tension is rationalized in terms of the miscibility of the alkyl tail of surfactant m-C16 with decane by comparing the “effective” length of the alkyl tail with the average end-to-end length of decane. Among the surfactants, the effective length of the 4-C16 alkyl tail (9.53 ± 1.36 A) was found to be closest to that of decane (9.97 ± 1.03 A), which is consistent with the results from the density profile and the interfacial tension profile.
Literature Review of Language Planning and Language Policy since 21st Century

As a major part of sociolinguistics, language planning has become a major research topic for many scholars. As a branch of Applied Linguistics, language planning is not a theoretical field of academic research, but mainly based on solving language problems in society. In the past 50 years, language planning research has been deepened and the coverage has gradually expanded. Especially, since 1990s, language planning has become a subject of rejuvenation, which has increasingly highlighted its importance and research prospects. This paper will review and analyze the general situation of language planning research in the past 20 years at home and abroad, and look forward to the future trend of language planning research.
A re-evaluation of cytoplasmic gelsolin localization

Gelsolin is a 90,000-mol-wt Ca2+-binding, actin-associated protein that can nucleate actin filament growth, sever filaments, and cap barbed filament ends. Brevin is a closely related 92,000-mol-wt plasma protein with similar properties. Gelsolin has been reported to be localized on actin filaments in stress fibers, in cardiac and skeletal muscle I- bands, and in cellular regions where actin filaments are known to be concentrated. Previous localization studies have used sera or antibody preparations that contain brevin. Using purified brevin-free IgG and IgA monoclonal antibodies or affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies for gelsolin and brevin, we find no preferential stress fiber staining in cultured human fibroblasts or I-band staining in isolated rabbit skeletal muscle sarcomeres. Cardiac muscle frozen sections show no pronounced I-band staining, except in local areas where brevin may have penetrated from adjacent blood vessels. Spreading platelets show endogenous gelsolin localized at the cell periphery, in the central cytoplasmic mass and on thin fibers that radiate from the central cytoplasm. Addition of 3-30 micrograms/ml of brevin to the antibodies restores intense stress fiber and I-band staining. We see no evidence for large-scale severing and removal of filaments in stress fibers in formaldehyde-fixed, acetone-permeabilized cells even at brevin concentrations of 30 micrograms/ml. The added brevin or brevin antibody complex binds to actin filaments and is detected by the fluorescently tagged secondary antibody. Brevin binding occurs in either Ca2+ or EGTA, but is slightly more intense in EGTA suggesting some severing and filament removal may occur in Ca2+. The I-band staining is limited to the region where actin and myosin do not overlap. In addition, brevin does not appear to bind at the Z-line. A comparison of cells double- labeled with fluorescein-phallotoxin, exogenous brevin, and a monoclonal antibody, detected with a rhodamine-labeled secondary antibody, shows almost complete co-localization of F-actin with the brevin-gelsolin-binding sites. A major exception is in the area of the adhesion plaque. A quantitative comparison of the fluorescein-rhodamine fluorescence intensities along a stress fiber and into the adhesion plaque shows that the fluorescein signal, associated with F-actin, increases while the rhodamine signal decreases. We infer that exogenous brevin or endogenous gelsolin can bind to and potentially sever most actin filaments, but that actin-associated proteins in the adhesion plaque can prevent binding and severing. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Dynamic Bayesian Networks in Educational Measurement: Reviewing and Advancing the State of the Field

ABSTRACT As the popularity of rich assessment scenarios increases so must the availability of psychometric models capable of handling the resulting data. Dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs) offer a fast, flexible option for characterizing student ability across time under psychometrically complex conditions. In this article, a brief introduction to DBNs is offered, followed by a review of the existing literature on the use of DBNs in educational and psychological measurement with a focus on methodological investigations and novel applications that may provide guidance for practitioners wishing to deploy these models. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions for research in the field.
Unusual Broad Absorption Line Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has confirmed the existence of populations of broad absorption line (BAL) quasars with various unusual properties. We present and discuss 23 such objects and consider the implications of their wide range of properties for models of BAL outflows and quasars in general. We have discovered one BAL quasar with a record number of absorption lines. Two other similarly complex objects with many narrow troughs show broad Mg II absorption extending longward of their systemic host galaxy redshifts. This can be explained as absorption of an extended continuum source by the rotation-dominated base of a disk wind. Five other objects have absorption that removes an unprecedented ∼90% of all flux shortward of Mg II. The absorption in one of them has varied across the ultraviolet with an amplitude and rate of change as great as ever seen. This same object may also show broad Hβ absorption. Numerous reddened BAL quasars have been found, including at least one reddened mini-BAL quasar with very strong Fe II emission. The five reddest objects have continuum reddenings of E(B-V) ≃ 0.5, and in two of them we find strong evidence that the reddening curve is even steeper than that of the SMC. We have found at least one object with absorption from Fe III but not Fe II. This may be due to a high column density of moderately high ionization gas, but the Fe III level populations must also be affected by some sort of resonance. Finally, we have found two luminous, probably reddened high-redshift objects that may be BAL quasars whose troughs partially cover different regions of the continuum source as a function of velocity.
A facial animation based on emotional model for characters in 3D games

A believable virtual human should have both geometry shape, and autonomous emotion Based on previous researches on emotion models. In order to make player in games be capable of emotion expression, a suitable mathematical model should be first used to describe emotions. This paper presents a method to express character's facial animation and an emotional model d based on psychology theory and ortony, clore, collins (OCC) model the architecture of a virtual character is presented and a formalization of a virtual character's motivation is proposed. In addition, a character could confirm the range of perception dynamically according to his appraises to other objects in the environment. The Demo showed that the emotion model can drive player to be more facial animation.
Acute Pancreatitis in Type 2 Diabetes Treated With Exenatide or Sitagliptin

OBJECTIVE Cases of acute pancreatitis have been reported in association with exenatide, sitagliptin, and type 2 diabetes without use of these medications. It remains unknown whether exenatide or sitagliptin increase the risk of acute pancreatitis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A retrospective cohort study of a large medical and pharmacy claims database was performed. Data for 786,656 patients were analyzed. Cox proportional hazard models were built to compare the risk of acute pancreatitis between diabetic and nondiabetic subjects and between exenatide, sitagliptin, and control diabetes medication use. RESULTS Incidence of acute pancreatitis in the nondiabetic control group, diabetic control group, exenatide group, and sitagliptin group was 1.9, 5.6, 5.7, and 5.6 cases per 1,000 patient years, respectively. The risk of acute pancreatitis was significantly higher in the combined diabetic groups than in the nondiabetic control group (adjusted hazard ratio 2.1 [95% CI 1.7–2.5]). Risk of acute pancreatitis was similar in the exenatide versus diabetic control group (0.9 [0.6–1.5]) and sitagliptin versus diabetic control group (1.0 [0.7–1.3]). CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrated increased incidence of acute pancreatitis in diabetic versus nondiabetic patients but did not find an association between the use of exenatide or sitagliptin and acute pancreatitis. The limitations of this observational claims-based analysis cannot exclude the possibility of an increased risk.
Combination of physics-based and image-based features for landmine identification in ground penetrating radar data

Abstract. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a powerful technology for detection and identification of buried explosives, especially with little or no metal content. However, subsurface clutter and soil distortions increase false alarm rates of current GPR-based landmine detection and identification methods. Most existing algorithms use shape-based, image-based, and physics-based techniques. Analysis of these techniques indicates that each type of algorithm has a different perspective to solve the landmine detection and identification problem. Therefore, one type of method has stronger and weaker points with respect to the other types of algorithms. To reduce false alarm rates of the current GPR-based landmine detection and identification methods, we propose a combined feature utilizing both physics-based and image-based techniques. Combined features are classified with a support vector machine classifier. The proposed algorithm is tested on a simulated data set that contained more than 500 innocuous object signatures and 400 landmine signatures, over half of which are completely nonmetal. The results presented indicate that the proposed method has significant performance benefits for landmine detection and identification in GPR data.
Sequence-repeat polymorphisms exhibit the signature of recombination in lodgepole pine chloroplast DNA.

The chloroplast genome is widely used in plant systematic studies (Olmstead and Palmer 1994), in part because it is slowly evolving and is assumed to be nonrecombining (Clegg 1993). Microsatellite markers have also been identified within this genome (Powell et al. 1995; Provan et al. 1996; Vendramin et al. 1996; Newton et al. 1999), and these markers are sufficiently variable for phylogeographic studies within a species (Schaal et al. 1998; Newton et al. 1999; Marshall, Newton, and Ritland 2001). Lack of recombination reduces homoplasy, which in turn increases the precision of phylogenetic inference in such studies. However, recently there has emerged some evidence of recombination in another organelle, the mitochondrion. Lunt and Hyman (1997) found end products of mitochondrial genome recombination in the nematode Meloidogyne javanica. Saville, Kohli, and Anderson (1998) reported a discrepancy in the expected genotypic structure of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences in the fungus Armillaria gallica relative to expectations under purely clonal transmission, consistent with observations of mitochondrial heteroplasmy. Using both sequence and restriction fragment length polymorphism data from humans, Awadalla, Eyre-Walker, and Maynard Smith (1999) found linkage disequilibria to decrease with increasing physical distance, consistent with mtDNA recombination. Phylogenetic trees constructed using similar data contained a larger number of homoplasies than expected on the basis of simulated data, which may indicate recombination (Eyre-Walker, Smith, and Maynard Smith 1999). Biologically, mtDNA recombination in humans is feasible, since mitochondria contain the necessary enzymes (Thyagarajan, Padua, and Campbell 1996), and a few paternal mitochondria are contributed to the egg during fertilization. The human mtDNA recombination issue is, however, still the subject of much debate (see EyreWalker 2000; Ingman et al. 2000). Here, we look for signatures of recombination in the chloroplast of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). Lodgepole pine is common in the forests of western North America, with a climactically and edaphically diverse natural range covering over 2.6 3 107 ha. A windpollinated outcrosser and aggressive pioneer, it is thought to have colonized its present range in a north-
Range and Vision Sensors Fusion for Outdoor 3D Reconstruction

The conscience of the surrounding environment is inevitable task for several applications such as mapping, autonomous navigation and localization. In this paper we are interested by exploiting the complementarity of a panoramic microwave radar and a monocular camera for 3D reconstruction of large scale environments. Considering the robustness to environmental conditions and depth detection ability of the radar on one hand, and the high spatial resolution of a vision sensor on the other hand, makes these tow sensors well adapted for large scale outdoor cartography. Firstly, the system model of the two sensors is represented and a new 3D reconstruction method based on sensors geometry is introduced. Secondly, we address the global calibration problem which consists in finding the exact transformation between radar and camera coordinate systems. The method is based on the optimization of a non-linear criterion obtained from a set of radar-to-image target correspondences. Both methods have been validated with synthetic and real data.
Petri Nets and Ontologies: Tools for the "Learning Player" Assessment in Serious Games

Serious games are now an increasingly used tool in business training. The question of the effectiveness of such devices on learning is a research issue. The indicators provided at the end of a video game are insufficient to understand and follow the path of a learning player. It is therefore necessary to track not only the player's actions but also to provide tools in order to analyze and diagnose the knowledge acquisition of the learner. We developed an approach based on Petri nets, used to model the accurate behavior of the player. We complete this tool with ontology to explain learner's mistakes.
Classifying malicious system behavior using event propagation trees

Behavior-based analysis of dynamically executed software has become an established technique to identifying and analyzing potential malware. Most solutions rely on API or system call patterns to determine whether a sample is exhibiting malicious activity. Analysis is usually performed on demand and offers little insight into the current system state. In addition, the fixed nature of behavioral patterns is known to cause false-positives whenever a certain, potentially malicious action is used in a benign context. To combat these shortcomings, this paper proposes an analysis system capable of building event propagation trees from real-time kernel monitoring data. Distance-based anomaly detection is then used to find and highlight activities deviating from a predefined baseline established through heuristic clustering. The system was tested on a set of real-world data collected by a number of host-based agents distributed across a corporate network.
Testing for human perceptual categories in a physician-in-the-loop CBIR system for medical imagery

We address the following question: to what extent should the domain experts (in our case, physicians), be believed with regard to what they claim to see in images that allows them to recognize different types of pathology? Until recently our approach was to have a physician delineate the pathology bearing regions in the images. We then used what could be referred to as a scattershot approach to the characterization of these regions, meaning that we'd extract a very large number of features from these regions. Subsequently, we'd reduce the dimensionality of this feature space by using standard search techniques, such as the Sequential Forward Selection method. The article represents an alternative to the scattershot approach to initial feature extraction. We first describe the perceptual categories that the physicians claim to use for classifying images as belonging to different diseases. We then describe the specific low-level features that need to be extracted to determine the presence or the absence of the various perceptual categories. We subsequently show the discriminatory power of the perceptual categories by presenting retrieval results obtained when a query image is matched with the database images on the basis of the presence or the absence of the various perceptual categories.
Potlačení nežádoucí variability ve fMRI datech při analýze pomocí psychofyziologických interakcí

The objective of the thesis is to get familiar with the method of psychophysiological interactions and its common inplementation. It is explaining the usual methods of removing disruptive signals from the data processed in correlation analysis and presents the possibility of their implementation. In the practical part it is focused on cerating suggested program and its testing on the real data sets.