CONTROL SYNTHESIS IN COLORED CONDITION SYSTEMS

With complex systems, monolithic models become impractical and it becomes necessary to model them through subsystems and components. Unless these components and subsystems are structured, exploiting them in a methodical manner to develop a control logic for them also becomes complex. In the previous research, to characterize the input/output behavior of discrete state interacting, systems a condition language framework was defined and algorithms that can automatically generate a controller given the system model and the desired specification using this framework were presented. Though this framework and the control algorithms are ideally suited to simple systems, representation of components with large state spaces requires a more refined approach. In this thesis, we present the modelling framework namely Color condition systems, that compactly represent components with large state spaces. We also present algorithms that can automatically generate a controller that consists of a set of action type taskblocks, given the system model and the desired specification described using color condition systems. The modelling framework and the working of the algorithms are illustrated using figures and comments on the possible ways of optimizing the algorithms are also quoted. Finally, in the appendix, we also present the approach that can be taken to implement a few parts of the algorithm

Determining American Sign Language Joint Trajectory Similarity Using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)

As American Sign Language (ASL), the language used by Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH) Americans has grown in popularity in recent years, an unprecedented number of schools and organizations now offer ASL classes. Many hold misconceptions about ASL, assuming it is easily learned; however due to its rich, complex grammatical construction, it’s not mastered easily beyond a basic level. Therefore, it becomes ever more important to improve upon existing techniques to teach ASL. The Dartmouth Applied Learning Initiative (DALI) at Dartmouth college in coordination with the Robotics and Reality Lab developed an application on the Oculus Quest that helps D/HH individuals improve their ASL literacy. Though the app accurately predicts whether a user is signing letters correctly, it cannot verify signed words effectively due to the complexity involved in tracking motion and rotations. As a result this paper analyzes the effectiveness of using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), a popular motion similarity comparison technique, to compare user-signed joint trajectories. I compute an 84% accuracy rate as a low bound for my algorithm due to factors involved in this calculation. This is primarily driven by one of the signs being imperfectly signed, and when we exclude that sign from analysis, our accuracy rate jumps to 92%. Therefore, I’ve identified a successful metric for validating the correctness of a signed word

Quashing Racism: Presenting the 'Comprehensive Socio-Cultural Persecution Complex' as a Logical Extension and a Practical Application of the Certainty Uncertainty Principle for the Social Sciences

We begin this paper by attempting to define the highly nebulous, ambiguous and misleading concept of race, and review current literature to show that the term ‘race’ is a fundamentally a highly antiquated and flawed concept. We also revisit various other contemporary theories on human classification including anthropometric and genetic ones. We also summarize the principles, concepts and tenets of our paper of the ‘Certainty uncertainty principle’ for the social sciences which was published by us early in the year 2023, and show how the principles of this paper can be used to demonstrate how and why racism and scientific racism are highly dubious and questionable concepts. Even though these concepts have been more or less jettisoned by mainstream researchers and scientists, they continue to linger on in the collective imagination of the common folk, who harbour qualms and inhibitions about the absolute equality of all humans. We also discuss the ‘Flynn effect’ in all its ramifications, and propose the ‘Comprehensive socio-cultural persecution complex’ to account for alleged differences in IQ scores from across cultures and societies. We also not only discuss the merits and demerits of IQ tests, but also review the concepts of persecution complex, discrimination complex, and inferiority complex. Of course, the objective of any form of research is to get to the truth, and we stand steadfastly by this principle at all times. We only recommend that certain factors based on the ‘Certainty uncertainty principle’ for the social science must be isolated before getting to the absolute truth which would be the ultimate goal of any meaningful research

What Does Progressive Islam Look Like?

In recent years considerable attention has been paid in modern Islamic studies to the emergence of new Muslim intellectuals seeking to reformulate and reinvigorate elements of tradition and to open new avenues of inquiry to solve contemporary Muslim problems. This phenomenon has been seen, variously, as an ""Islamic reformation', 'Islamic modernism', 'progressive Islam', and 'liberal Islam', to cite but a few of the standard appellations currently in use. It has most frequently been associated with figures such as Abdolkarim Soroush, Fatima Mernissi, Nurcholish Madjid, Amina Wadud, Ali Bulac, Abdullahi an-Na'im, Khaled Abu el-Fadl, and Farid Esack - again, to name but a few. These writers have all undoubtedly made hugely important contributions to contemporary Muslim thought. It has, however, been extremely difficult to gauge the influence and impact of their ideas within the wider Muslim world. To a large extent, this is a problem of language - both linguistic and discursive. The majority of those associated with this trend tend towards an academic discourse which limits their readership to only the most highly educated. In a number of cases, key works have not been translated into Muslim languages, or face distribution problems and/or political barriers to wider dissemination. In short - and without seeking to belittle the crucial and in some cases revolutionary contributions that these writers have made - it could be argued that contemporary reformist Islam has become too closely associated with a narrow group of 'superstar' intellectuals

Altered gene expression and DNA damage in peripheral blood cells from Friedreich's ataxia patients: Cellular model of pathology

The neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is the most common autosomal-recessively inherited ataxia and is caused by a GAA triplet repeat expansion in the first intron of the frataxin gene. In this disease, transcription of frataxin, a mitochondrial protein involved in iron homeostasis, is impaired, resulting in a significant reduction in mRNA and protein levels. Global gene expression analysis was performed in peripheral blood samples from FRDA patients as compared to controls, which suggested altered expression patterns pertaining to genotoxic stress. We then confirmed the presence of genotoxic DNA damage by using a gene-specific quantitative PCR assay and discovered an increase in both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage in the blood of these patients (p<0.0001, respectively). Additionally, frataxin mRNA levels correlated with age of onset of disease and displayed unique sets of gene alterations involved in immune response, oxidative phosphorylation, and protein synthesis. Many of the key pathways observed by transcription profiling were downregulated, and we believe these data suggest that patients with prolonged frataxin deficiency undergo a systemic survival response to chronic genotoxic stress and consequent DNA damage detectable in blood. In conclusion, our results yield insight into the nature and progression of FRDA, as well as possible therapeutic approaches. Furthermore, the identification of potential biomarkers, including the DNA damage found in peripheral blood, may have predictive value in future clinical trials

Low-Temperature Operation of AlFaN Single-Quantum-Well Light-Emitting Diodes with Deep Ultraviolet Emission at 285 nm

We present a study of the electrical and optical characteristics of 285 nm emission deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes(LED) at temperatures from 10 to 300 K. At low bias, our data show the tunneling carrier transport to be the dominant conduction mechanism. The room-temperature performance is shown to be limited mostly by poor electron confinement in the active region and a pronounced deep level assisted recombination but not by the hole injection into the active region. At temperatures below 100 K, the electroluminescence peak intensity increases by more than one order of magnitude indicating that with a proper device design and improved material quality, milliwatt power 285 nm LED are viable

A novel approach for organelle-specific DNA damage targeting reveals different susceptibility of mitochondrial DNA to the anticancer drugs camptothecin and topotecan

DNA is susceptible of being damaged by chemicals, UV light or gamma irradiation. Nuclear DNA damage invokes both a checkpoint and a repair response. By contrast, little is known about the cellular response to mitochondrial DNA damage. We designed an experimental system that allows organelle-specific DNA damage targeting in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNA damage is mediated by a toxic topoisomerase I allele which leads to the formation of persistent DNA single-strand breaks. We show that organelle-specific targeting of a toxic topoisomerase I to either the nucleus or mitochondria leads to nuclear DNA damage and cell death or to loss of mitochondrial DNA and formation of respiration-deficient ‘petite’ cells, respectively. In wild-type cells, toxic topoisomerase I–DNA intermediates are formed as a consequence of topoisomerase I interaction with camptothecin-based anticancer drugs. We reasoned that targeting of topoisomerase I to the mitochondria of top1Δ cells should lead to petite formation in the presence of camptothecin. Interestingly, camptothecin failed to generate petite; however, its derivative topotecan accumulates in mitochondria and induces petite formation. Our findings demonstrate that drug modifications can lead to organelle-specific DNA damage and thus opens new perspectives on the role of mitochondrial DNA-damage in cancer treatment

Milliwatt Power Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Over Sapphire with Emission at 278 nm

We report on AlGaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW)-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes over sapphire with peak emission at 278 nm. A new buffer layer growth process was used to reduce the number of defects and hence the nonradiative recombination. The improved material quality and carrier confinement resulted in pulsed powers as high as 3 mW at 278 nm and a significantly reduced deep-level-assisted long-wavelength emission