Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Output-feedback Stabilization for a Class of Uncertain Stochastic Nonlinear Systems with Time-varying Time Delays

In this paper, robust output-feedback stabilization is presented for a class of uncertain stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying time delays. First, the conditions of existence and uniqueness of the solution process are provided and two new stability notions are introduced for stochastic time-delay systems. Based on these preparations, for a class of uncertain stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying time delays, a systematic design procedure is presented for a memoryless output-feedback control law. It is shown that under the control law based on a reduced-order and memoryless observer, the equilibrium of the closed-loop system is globally asymptotically stable in probability. An example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Lexical Representation and Processing in Cross-Script Urdu-English Bilinguals: The Case of Frequency-Balanced and Frequency-Unbalanced Cognates and Noncognates

The overall goal of this study was to examine the nature of lexical access and representation of frequency-balanced and frequency-unbalanced cognate and noncognate words in a previously unexamined cross-script language pair. More specifically, Experiment 1 was designed to determine if the cognate advantage obtained for same-script languages in the simple lexical decision task will also be obtained for the Urdu-English language pair. Both facilitation and inhibition effects were obtained for cognate words when participants were tested in English. This indicated nonselective lexical access and interconnectivity of the bilingual mental lexicon. However, when participants were tested in Urdu, a statistically significant cognate effect was not obtained. Experiment 2 was designed to examine whether the discrepancy in findings across cross-script studies in terms of the magnitude of the cognate and noncognate priming effect in a masked priming task can be attributed to frequency differences in the word stimuli as proposed previously. No significant priming effect was obtained for cognates or noncognates in any of the frequency-balanced conditions unlike the results from previous studies. However, a significant cognate and noncognate priming effect was found for some of the frequency-unbalanced conditions and again both facilitation and inhibition effects were suggested. The current version of the BIA+ model does not incorporate lateral inhibition effects at the phonological level for cross-script cognates. The findings from this study are explained within the BIA+ framework by allowing for lateral inhibition at the phonological level. In addition, the role of individual differences in language proficiency and processing strategy is also considered.
Differential Listeria monocytogenes Strain Survival and Growth in Katiki, a Traditional Greek Soft Cheese, at Different Storage Temperatures

ABSTRACT Katiki Domokou is a traditional Greek cheese, which has received the Protected Designation of Origin recognition since 1994. Its microfloras have not been studied although its structure and composition may enable (or even favor) the survival and growth of several pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes. The persistence of L. monocytogenes during storage at different temperatures has been the subject of many studies since temperature abuse of food products is often encountered. In the present study, five strains of L. monocytogenes were aseptically inoculated individually and as a cocktail in Katiki Domokou cheese, which was then stored at 5, 10, 15, and 20°C. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to monitor strain evolution or persistence during storage at different temperatures in the case of the cocktail inoculum. The results suggested that strain survival of L. monocytogenes was temperature dependent since different strains predominated at different temperatures. Such information is of great importance in risk assessment studies, which typically consider only the presence or absence of the pathogen.
Optimal Teaching for Limited-Capacity Human Learners

Basic decisions, such as judging a person as a friend or foe, involve categorizing novel stimuli. Recent work finds that people's category judgments are guided by a small set of examples that are retrieved from memory at decision time. This limited and stochastic retrieval places limits on human performance for probabilistic classification decisions. In light of this capacity limitation, recent work finds that idealizing training items, such that the saliency of ambiguous cases is reduced, improves human performance on novel test items. One shortcoming of previous work in idealization is that category distributions were idealized in an ad hoc or heuristic fashion. In this contribution, we take a first principles approach to constructing idealized training sets. We apply a machine teaching procedure to a cognitive model that is either limited capacity (as humans are) or unlimited capacity (as most machine learning systems are). As predicted, we find that the machine teacher recommends idealized training sets. We also find that human learners perform best when training recommendations from the machine teacher are based on a limited-capacity model. As predicted, to the extent that the learning model used by the machine teacher conforms to the true nature of human learners, the recommendations of the machine teacher prove effective. Our results provide a normative basis (given capacity constraints) for idealization procedures and offer a novel selection procedure for models of human learning.
Face recognition based on Independent Component Analysis on wavelet subband

In this paper a multi-resolution analysis based on Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for face recognition is examined. We extract image features of facial images from various wavelet transforms (Haar, Daubechies, Coiflet, Symlet, Biothogonal and Reverse Biorthogonal) by decomposing face image in subbands 1 to 8. These features are analyzed by ICA and Euclidean distance measure. A series of experiments based on ORL database were then performed to evaluate the performance. The results show that for the entire wavelets, subbands 2 and 3 give the best accuracy and are computationally most efficient. Reverse Biorthogonal and 8th order Symlet are found to be the best among all. Our experiments also prove that face recognition accuracy using ICA on wavelet subbands is higher than ICA used alone.
Structure‐Dependent Dynamic Mechanical Behavior of Fibrous Caps From Human Atherosclerotic Plaques

BackgroundAlthough thrombosis associated with a fissured atherosclerotic plaque is believed to be the most common cause of acute coronary syndromes, the underlying factors that trigger plaque rupture are currently unknown. However, the mechanical behavior of the plaque is probably of critical importance. Methods and ResultsTo test the hypothesis that the mechanical properties of a plaque are dependent on its composition and, in particular, that the stiffness of fibrous caps changes within the range of frequencies carried by a physiological pressure wave, the stress-strain relation was studied in 27 fibrous caps and related to the underlying histological structure of the fibrous cap. Fibrous caps were obtained during 14 autopsies from the abdominal aorta and were classified by histological examination as cellular (n =7), hypocellular (n =9), or calcified (n =11). Hypocellular fibrous caps were 1–2 times stiffer than cellular caps (p < 0.005), and calcified caps were 4–5 times stiffer than cellular caps (p < 0.005). All 27 fibrous caps demonstrated an increase in stiffness with increasing frequencies of stress ranging from 0.05 to 10 Hz; the increase in stiffness was similar in all three histological classes. ConclusionsWe conclude that the stiffness of fibrous caps from human atherosclerotic plaques is related to the underlying histological structure and that the stiffness increases with frequency in the range of physiological heart rates. The protective benefit of /3-adrenergic receptor blocking agents in coronary artery disease may, in part, be related to the frequency dependence of atherosclerotic plaque stiffness.
On the possibilities and limitations of pseudodeterministic algorithms

We study the possibilities and limitations of pseudodeterministic algorithms, algorithms, a notion put forward by Gat and Goldwasser (2011). These are probabilistic algorithms that solve search problems such that on each input, with high probability, they output the same solution, which may be thought of as a canonical solution. We consider both the standard setting of (probabilistic) polynomial-time algorithms and the setting of (probabilistic) sublinear-time algorithms. Some of our results are outlined next. In the standard setting, we show that pseudodeterministic algorithms are more powerful than deterministic algorithms if and only if \cP\neq\BPP, but are weaker than general probabilistic algorithms. In the sublinear-time setting, we show that if a search problem has a pseudodeterministic algorithm of query complexity q, then this problem can be solved deterministically making O(q4) queries. This refers to total search problems. In contrast, for several natural promise search problems, we present pseudodeterministic algorithms that are much more efficient than their deterministic counterparts.
Real-time expressive gaze animation for virtual humans

Gaze is an extremely important aspect of human face to face interaction. Over the course of an interaction, a single individual's gaze can perform many different functions, such as regulating communication, expressing emotion, and attending to task performance. When gaze shifts occur, where they are directed, and how they are performed all provide critical information to an observer of the gaze shift. The goal of this work is to allow virtual humans to mimic the gaze capabilities of humans in face to face interaction. This paper introduces the SmartBody Gaze Controller (SBGC), a highly versatile framework for realizing various manners of gaze through a rich set of input parameters. Using these parameters, the SBCG controls aspects of movement such as velocity, postural bias, and the selection of joints committed to a particular gaze task. We provide a preliminary implementation that demonstrates how related work on the Expressive Gaze Model (EGM) can be used to inform management of these input parameters. The EGM is a model for manipulating the style of gaze shifts for the purpose of expressing emotion [11]. The SBGC is fully compatible with all aspects of the SmartBody system [23].
The “Educational Alliance” as a Framework for Reconceptualizing Feedback in Medical Education

Feedback has long been considered a vital component of training in the health professions. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to enact the feedback process effectively. In part, this may be because, historically, feedback has been framed in the medical education literature as a unidirectional content-delivery process with a focus on ensuring the learner’s acceptance of the content. Thus, proposed solutions have been organized around mechanistic, educator-driven, and behavior-based best practices. Recently, some authors have begun to highlight the role of context and relationship in the feedback process, but no theoretical frameworks have yet been suggested for understanding or exploring this relational construction of feedback in medical education. The psychotherapeutic concept of the “therapeutic alliance” may be valuable in this regard. In this article, the authors propose that by reorganizing constructions of feedback around an “educational alliance” framework, medical educators may be able to develop a more meaningful understanding of the context—and, in particular, the relationship—in which feedback functions. Use of this framework may also help to reorient discussions of the feedback process from effective delivery and acceptance to negotiation in the environment of a supportive educational relationship. To explore and elaborate these issues and ideas, the authors review the medical education literature to excavate historical and evolving constructions of feedback in the field, review the origins of the therapeutic alliance and its demonstrated utility for psychotherapy practice, and consider implications regarding learners’ perceptions of the supervisory relationship as a significant influence on feedback acceptance in medical education settings.
Hemin and Carbon Monoxide Modulate the Immunological Response of Human Basophils

M) or after exposure to 100% CO (30 min exposure and kept in air for 10 min), the cells were challenged in vitro with anti–IgE (1 μg ml–1) in the presence or in the absence of HbO2 (10–4 M) and of ODQ (10 –4 M). Histamine release was measured fluorimetrically. HO activity was evaluated as bilirubin formed mg –1 protein. Human basophil activation was evaluated using a Coulter cytometry. Cells were double stained with fluorescent antibodies to label the IgE on human basophil membranes and to label CD63 antigen expressed on activated cells. Human basophil activation was evaluated as the percentage of CD63 expressing cells. Human basophils stimulated with anti-IgE express an increase of CD63 protein on cell membrane and histamine release. Preincubation with hemin significantly decreases the number of CD63 expressing cells and the release of histamine in response to antigen. Control values were obtained when preincubation with hemin was carried out in the presence of HbO2 or ODQ (table 1). Exposure to CO also significantly decreases the immunological activation and histamine release, which were restored by ODQ or HbO 2 treatment. Human basophils possess the inducible isoform Granulocyte Biology
NP might not be as easy as detecting unique solutions

We construct an oracle A such that PA = PA and NPA = EXPA: This relativized world has several amazing properties: The oracle A gives the first relativized world where one can solve satisfiability on formulae with at most one assignment yet P 6= NP. The oracle A is the first where PA = UPA 6= NPA = coNPA: The construction gives a much simpler proof than that of Fenner, Fortnow and Kurtz of a relativized world where all the NP-complete sets are polynomial-time isomorphic. It is the first such computable oracle. Relative to A we have a collapse of EXPA ZPPA PA/poly. We also create a different relativized world where there exists a set L in NP that is NP-complete under reductions that make one query to L but not complete under traditional many-one reductions. This contrasts with the result of Buhrman, Spaan and Torenvliet showing that these two completeness notions for NEXP coincide. Research done at Yale and the University of Maryland. Address: Elect Eng Comp Science, 19 Memorial Dr W Ste 2, Bethlehem PA 180153084, USA. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants CCR-8958528, CCR-9415410 and CCR-9700417 and by NASA under grant NAG 52895. Email: beigel@eecs.lehigh.edu. http://www.eecs.lehigh.edu/ beigel/ xAddress: CWI, Kruislaan 413, 1098SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Partially supported by the Dutch foundation for scientific research (NWO) by SION project 612-34-002, and by the European Union through NeuroCOLT ESPRIT Working Group Nr. 8556, and HC&M grant nr. ERB4050PL93-0516. Email: buhrman@cwi.nl. http://www.cwi.nl/ buhrman/ {Research done while on leave at CWI. Address: University of Chicago, Department of Computer Science, 1100 E. 58th. St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Supported in part by NSF grant CCR 92-53582, the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO) and a Fulbright Scholar award. Email: fortnow@cs.uchicago.edu. http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/ fortnow
Growth and Characterization of Vanadate Laser Crystals

Based on the invention and widely application of the Czochralski pulling method, vanadate crystals have been grown and commercialized in recent decades. In this paper, the growth and characterization of a series of neodymium doped vanadate crystals have been reviewed, including Nd:YVO4, Nd:GdVO4, and Nd:LuVO4. The excellent thermal-mechanical and laser property make them to be used in many respects.
Comparative effects of intraduodenal whey protein hydrolysate on antropyloroduodenal motility, gut hormones, glycemia, appetite, and energy intake in lean and obese men.

BACKGROUND In lean individuals, intraduodenal protein and lipid modulate gastrointestinal motor and hormone functions and reduce energy intake in a load-dependent manner; protein also stimulates insulin, with modest effects on reducing blood glucose. The effect of intraduodenal lipid on gastrointestinal motor and hormone responses is diminished in obesity; whether the effects of protein are also attenuated remains unclear. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to characterize the load-dependent effects of intraduodenal whey protein hydrolysate on antropyloroduodenal pressures, gut hormones, glycemia, appetite, and energy intake in obese subjects and to compare the responses to the higher protein load with those in lean subjects. DESIGN We measured antropyloroduodenal pressures, plasma cholecystokinin (CCK), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon, insulin, blood glucose, appetite, and energy intake in 12 nondiabetic obese men on 3 separate occasions, in a double-blind, randomized order, during 60-min intraduodenal infusions of hydrolyzed whey protein at either 0 (saline control), 1.5, or 3 kcal/min. Twelve age-matched lean individuals received a 3-kcal/min infusion only. Immediately after the infusions, energy intake from a buffet lunch was quantified. RESULTS In obese subjects, protein suppressed antral and duodenal pressures; stimulated plasma CCK, GLP-1, GIP, insulin, and glucagon (all r > 0.57, P < 0.01); and tended to reduce energy intake (r = -10.38, P = 0.057) in a dose-dependent manner. In response to the 3-kcal/min protein load, antropyloroduodenal pressures, CCK, GLP-1, and glucagon did not differ between lean and obese subjects. Insulin release was greater, and GIP release less, in obese than in lean subjects (both P < 0.05), whereas the reduction in glucose was comparable. Energy intake tended to be higher in obese subjects (P = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS The gastrointestinal effects of hydrolyzed whey protein remain relatively intact in obesity; however, the observed changes in insulin and GIP suggest early disturbances in the insulin-incretin axis. This study was registered at www.anzctr. org.au as ACTRN 12612000203853.
Optimal scheduling of jobs with a DHR tail in the M/G/1 queue

We consider the mean delay optimization in the M/G/1 queue for jobs with a service time distribution that has a tail with decreasing hazard rate (DHR). If the DHR property is valid for the whole distribution, then it is known that the Foreground-Background (FB) discipline, which gives priority to the job with least amount of attained service, is optimal among nonanticipating scheduling disciplines. However, FB may fail to be optimal if the DHR property is valid only for the tail of the distribution. An important example is the Pareto distribution bounded away from zero. In this paper we show that for a class of service time distributions with a DHR tail (including the Pareto distribution), the optimal nonanticipating discipline is a combination of FCFS and FB disciplines, which gives priority to the jobs with attained service less than some fixed threshold θ*. These priority jobs are served in the FCFS manner. If there are no jobs with attained service less than θ*, priority is given to the job with least amount of attained service.
Development of Methodology for Design and Analysis of Physically Cooperating Robot and Applications to Other Robotic Systems

There is a need to develop a methodology to model physically cooperating mobile robots so as to systematically design and analyze such systems. Our approach is to treat the linked mobile robots as a multiple degree-of-freedom object, comprising an articulated open kinematic chain, which is being manipulated by pseudo robots (p-robots) at the ground interaction points. Dynamics of the open chain are computed independently of the constraints, thus allowing the same set of equations to be used as the constraint conditions change, and simplifying the addition of multiple robots to the chain. The decoupling achieved through constraining the p-robots facilitates the analysis of kinematic as well as force constraints, not possible with direct analysis. We introduce the idea of a ‘tipping cone’, similar to a standard friction cone, to test whether forces on the robots cause undesired tipping. We have carried out static as well as dynamic analysis for a 2-robot cooperation case. Also, we have demonstrated that introduction of redundant actuation, by an additional third robot, can help in improving the friction requirements. We also present our preliminary ideas for employing this newly designed framework to analyze other interesting multi-body robotic systems.
Proteomic analysis of nipple aspirate fluid using SELDI‐TOF‐MS

Proteomic analysis of body fluids, including breast nipple aspirate fluid (NAF), holds promise to aid in early cancer detection. We conducted a prospective trial that collected NAF from women scheduled for diagnostic breast surgery to determine 1) the consistency of proteomic results, 2) protein masses associated with breast cancer, 3) subsets of women with a unique proteomic profile and 4) a breast cancer predictive model. NAF was collected preoperatively in 114 women and analyzed by SELDI‐TOF mass spectrometry over a 3–50 kDa range using H4, NP and SAX ProteinChips. For all 3 chips, the same protein peaks were detected over 90% of the time in duplicate samples. The overall coefficient of variation was ≤ 0.17% for each chip for the internal standard and ≤ 0.29% for the unknown proteins. Seven candidate protein ion masses frequently expressed in NAF were identified. Three (5,200‐H4, p=.04, 11,880‐H4, p=.07 and 13,880 Da‐SAX, p=.03) were differentially expressed in women with/without breast cancer. Protein expression differed between women with/without pathologic nipple discharge (PND), but the 5,200, 11,880 and 13,880 proteins remained associated with breast cancer even if PND samples were excluded. Subset analysis identified differences in expression between benign disease and DCIS and between DCIS and invasive cancer for the 5,200 and 33,400 Da proteins. The best cancer detection model included age, parity and the 11,880 Da protein, and excluded women with PND. 1) NAF proteomic analysis using SELDI‐TOF is reproducible with the same sample set across different platforms, 2) differential proteomic expression exists between women/without breast cancer and 3) combining proteomic and clinical information that are available before surgery optimizes the prediction of which women have breast cancer. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The gender gap in environmental attitudes : The case of perceived vulnerability to risk : Research on the environment

Surveys demonstrate somewhat consistent gender differences in environmental concern, but there is no consensus on reasons for these differences. This research makes the case that differences in perceived vulnerability to risk explain the gender gap found in environmental surveys and other, quite distinct, areas of potential risk as well. Two national surveys, administered simultaneously and each involving very different environmental risks (hazardous waste sites and global warming), are analyzed in terms of gender differences. In both surveys, in every question that involves reactions to a specific risk, women are more concerned than men. Standard deviations also are consistently smaller for women. When health-risk perceptions enter equations accounting for environmental concerns, however, the gender gap disappears. Questionnaire items that imply specific risks tend to produce significant gender differences. These types of survey results can be construed as communication events in which respondents who feel vulnerable answer in ways that urge caution on policymakers