Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real-time global localization with a pre-built visual landmark database

In this paper, we study how to build a vision-based system for global localization with accuracies within 10 cm. for robots and humans operating both indoors and outdoors over wide areas covering many square kilometers. In particular, we study the parameters of building a landmark database rapidly and utilizing that database online for real-time accurate global localization. Although the accuracy of traditional short-term motion based visual odometry systems has improved significantly in recent years, these systems alone cannot solve the drift problem over large areas. Landmark based localization combined with visual odometry is a viable solution to the large scale localization problem. However, a systematic study of the specification and use of such a landmark database has not been undertaken. We propose techniques to build and optimize a landmark database systematically and efficiently using visual odometry. First, topology inference is utilized to find overlapping images in the database. Second, bundle adjustment is used to refine the accuracy of each 3D landmark. Finally, the database is optimized to balance the size of the database with achievable accuracy. Once the landmark database is obtained, a new real-time global localization methodology that works both indoors and outdoors is proposed. We present results of our study on both synthetic and real datasets that help us determine critical design parameters for the landmark database and the achievable accuracies of our proposed system.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and Decreased Isokinetic Strength

This study was designed to quantify decrease in muscle function that occur during peak periods of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) resulting from eccentric biased exercise. Ten subjects performed fatiguing eccentric exercise utilizing the elbow flexor muscles of one arm, the experimental arm. The other arm served as the control arm. Pre-exercise, 24 and 48 hours post-exercise measurements of soreness, and elbow extension range of motion (ROM) were obtained. Maximal extension forces of both arms were determined prior to exercise and 48 hours post-exercise. Marked perception of soreness in the experimental arm was accompanied by a statistically significant (p<0.01) decrease of ROM and isokinetic strength. The experimental arm exhibited a 16-degree decrease in ROM at 24 hours and a 28-degree decrease at 48 hours. Similarly, peak torque was reduced by 10.6, 7.1 and 4.7 Nm in the experimental arm at the respective angular velocities of 60, 180 and 240 degrees at 48 hours. Because of the marked decrease in ROM and peak torque that occurred following fatiguing eccentric exercise, it was suggested that a reduction in the training regimen be considered during the first few days following eccentric exercise when DOMS is the greatest and isokinetic strength is altered.
Distinctions that Matter: Ethical Differences at Large and Small Newspapers

Qualitative interviews with top-level editors at twenty-eight newspapers across the United States (fourteen at “large” newspapers and fourteen at “small” newspapers) revealed how community and newsroom size impact the ways editors conceptualize and deal with certain ethical dilemmas. The findings provide some support for the theory of “connectivity” in journalism: that journalists in small markets are likely to he more in touch with, and more concerned with, community values than journalists in large markets. At large newspapers, journalists approach ethics with more concern for their newspapers' professional reputations, whereas journalists at small newspapers are more concerned about their newspapers' relationships with their communities.
Effect of elevated dietary amino acid levels in high canola meal diets on productive traits and cecal microbiota population of broiler chickens in a pair‐feeding study

&NA; A pair‐feeding study was conducted to determine if reduced feed intake (FI) in broiler chickens fed high canola meal (CM) diets per se accounts for reduced growth performance and whether this lower growth rate can be mitigated by increasing dietary amino acid (AA) levels. Five experimental wheat‐based diets were formulated as follows: soybean meal (SBM) diet, high CM diet with normal AA concentration, and high CM diets with 3, 6, or 9% additional AA concentration (Lys, Met+Cys, Thr, Ile, Arg, and Val). Another group of birds was pair‐fed with SBM diet to the consumption levels of birds fed CM diet with normal AA. There were 6 replicates of 17 male 10‐day‐old Ross 308 chicks per treatment over grower and finisher periods. Birds fed the CM diets had reduced FI and BWG, but improved FCR (P < 0.01) compared to SBM ad libitum fed birds. The SBM pair‐fed birds gained the same weight and exhibited similar FCR compared to CM fed birds. Additional 9% AA improved FCR (P < 0.01) compared to SBM and CM diets with normal AA. No significant differences were observed in ileal digestibility of DM, energy, crude protein, and AA between CM with normal AA and SBM diets. The additional 6 and 9% AA in CM diets increased digestibility of crude protein and some AA (P < 0.05). SBM ad libitum and CM + 6 and 9% AA fed birds had the highest and lowest relative weight of abdominal fat, respectively (P < 0.05). Addition of 6 and 9% AA in CM diets increased relative carcass and breast yields (P < 0.01). Serum triglyceride level was higher in SBM ad libitum fed birds (P < 0.05). The composition of microbiota in the ceca was not affected by treatments. This study showed that reduced growth of birds fed high CM diets is primarily mediated through reduced FI. This growth depression could partially be ameliorated by increasing dietary AA levels.
Word learning in 6-16 month old infants

Understanding words requires infants to not only isolate words from the speech around them and delineate concepts from their world experience, but also to establish which words signify which concepts, in all and only the right set of circumstances. Previous research places the onset of this ability around infants' first birthdays, at which point they have begun to solidify their native language phonology, and have learned a good deal about categories, objects, and people. In this dissertation, I present research that alters this accepted timeline. In Study 1, I find that by 6 months of age, infants demonstrate understanding of around a dozen words for foods and body parts. Around 13-14 months of age, performance increases significantly. In Study 2, I find that for a set of early non-nouns, e.g. `uh-oh' and `eat', infants do not show understanding until 10 months, but again show a big comprehension boost around 13-14 months. I discuss possible reasons for the onset of noun-comprehension at 6 months, the relative delay in non-noun comprehension, and the performance boost for both word-types around 13-14 months. In Study 3, I replicate and extend Study 1's findings, showing that around 6 months infants also understand food and body-part words when these words are spoken by a new person, but conversely, by 12 months, show poor word comprehension if a single vowel in the word is changed, even when the speaker is highly familiar. Taken together, these results suggest that word learning begins before infants have fully solidified their native language phonology, that certain generalizations about words are available to infants at the outset of word comprehension, and that infants are able to learn words for complex object and event categories before their first birthday. Implications for language acquisition and cognitive development more broadly are discussed.
Enzyme-linked immunochemical measurement of estrogen receptor in gynecologic tumors, and an overview of steroid receptors in ovarian carcinoma.

We tested whether a newly available enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA) validly measures estrogen receptor (ER) in gynecologic tumors. We first documented that ER so measured agreed with results by established radioligand-based assays [dextran-coated charcoal (DCC) and hydroxylapatite (HAP)] for in-house breast carcinomas and for proficiency testing specimens. Then, for gynecologic tumors, we found strong correlations between results for ER as measured by the two methods; e.g., for 27 ovarian carcinomas, r greater than or equal to 0.86. The same was true for ER measured in nine specimens of ovarian carcinoma from women who had undergone chemotherapy: r greater than or equal to 0.94. Radioinert estradiol or serum had no discernible effect on EIA measurements of ER, whereas our DCC assay was rendered uninterpretable. Evidently the EIA validly measures ER in steroidogenic tissues, including ovarian, and also in breast and uterine carcinomas. Clinical management of the latter is now based in part on results of steroid receptor assays. For ovarian carcinomas, ER assay can be helpful for determining the probable primary site of adenocarcinomas of unknown origin, and it is providing a rational basis for development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
The effect of paramagnetic manganese cations on 1H MR spectroscopy of the brain

Introduction The paramagnetic properties of divalent manganese cations (Mn) and their in vivo resemblance to calcium cations (Ca) has led to their use in morphological [1] and neural pathway [2] imaging. Mn is taken up through Ca-channels during neural activity and subsequently transported anterograde along microtubules at a velocity equivalent to fast axonal transport thereby making the metal suitable for neural tract tracing [2]. Mn is an essential trace element found at low concentrations in the brain. Elevated levels of Mn are neurotoxic and influence a range of neurophysiologic and metabolic processes and chronic exposure to Mn may lead to neurodegeneration [3]. The administration of Mn to observe, for example, neural pathways may therefore influence those same pathways due to the high local concentrations of Mn required to provide MRI contrast. As a result, the use of H MRS to obtain a metabolic profile of the brain may be influenced by both Mn-induced metabolic changes and the effect of the paramagnetic metal ion on the relaxation of the metabolites themselves if the Mn cations and metabolites are in the same cellular compartment. Consequently, this study has investigated the effect of Mn on H MR spectroscopy using an in vivo Mn-enhanced optic tract imaging model [2] together with phantom experiments.
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission . VI. CoRoT-Exo-3b: the first secure inhabitant of the brown-dwarf desert

Context. The CoRoT space mission routinely provides high-precision photometric measurements of thousands of stars that have been continuously observed for months. Aims. The discovery and characterization of the first very massive transiting planetary companion with a short orbital period is reported. Methods. A series of 34 transits was detected in the CoRoT light curve of an F3V star, observed from May to October 2007 for 152 days. The radius was accurately determined and the mass derived for this new transiting, thanks to the combined analysis of the light curve and complementary ground-based observations: high-precision radial-velocity measurements, on-off photometry, and high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. Results. CoRoT-Exo-3b has a radius of 1.01 ± 0.07 R Jup and transits around its F3-type primary every 4.26 days in a synchronous orbit. Its mass of 21.66 ± 1.0 M Jup , density of 26.4 ± 5.6 g cm -3 , and surface gravity of log g = 4.72 clearly distinguish it from the regular close-in planet population, making it the most intriguing transiting substellar object discovered so far. Conclusions. With the current data, the nature of CoRoT-Exo-3b is ambiguous, as it could either be a low-mass brown-dwarf or a member of a new class of “superplanets”. Its discovery may help constrain the evolution of close-in planets and brown-dwarfs better. Finally, CoRoT-Exo-3b confirms the trend that massive transiting giant planets ( M ≥ 4 M Jup ) are found preferentially around more massive stars than the Sun.
Constant Envelope Pilot-Based Low-Complexity CFO Estimation in Massive MU-MIMO Systems

In this paper we consider a constant envelope pilot signal based carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The proposed algorithm performs spatial averaging on the periodogram of the received pilots across the base station (BS) antennas. Our study reveals that the proposed algorithm has complexity only linear in $M$ (the number of BS antennas). Further our analysis and numerical simulations also reveal that with fixed number of users and a fixed pilot length, the minimum required transmit pilot power decreases as $\frac{1}{\sqrt{M}}$ with increasing $M$, while maintaining a fixed desired mean squared error (MSE) of CFO estimation.
HRIR customization using common factor decomposition and joint support vector regression

A two-stage approach for the customization of head-related impulse response (HRIR) for individual subject is proposed. In the first stage, a two-dimension common factor decomposition (2D-CFD) algorithm is applied to extract a subject-dependent impulse response (SDIR) from full HRIR dataset of a subject. The SDIR is then represented as the weighted sum of some principal components using independent component analysis to further reduce the dimensionality of HRIR dataset. In the second stage, joint support vector regression is applied to construct a nonlinear model for mapping the weightings of a target subject from its anthropometric parameters where correlations between different weightings are also exploited. The proposed approach achieves a more accurate and consistent result as compared to the original support vector regression algorithm.
Palonosetron has superior prophylactic antiemetic efficacy compared with ondansetron or ramosetron in high-risk patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery: a prospective, randomized, double-blinded study

Background Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) continues to be a major problem, because PONV is associated with delayed recovery and prolonged hospital stay. Although the PONV guidelines recommended the use of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT3) receptor antagonists as the first-line prophylactic agents in patients categorized as high-risk, there are few studies comparing the efficacies of ondansetron, ramosetron, and palonosetron. The aim of present study was to compare the prophylactic antiemetic efficacies of three 5HT3 receptor antagonists in high-risk patients after laparoscopic surgery. Methods In this prospective, randomized, double-blinded trial, 109 female nonsmokers scheduled for elective laparoscopic surgery were randomized to receive intravenous 4 mg ondansetron (n = 35), 0.3 mg ramosetron (n = 38), or 75 µg palonosetron (n = 36) before anesthesia. Fentanyl-based intravenous patient-controlled analgesia was administered for 48 h after surgery. Primary antiemetic efficacy variables were the incidence and severity of nausea, the frequency of emetic episodes during the first 48 h after surgery, and the need to use a rescue antiemetic medication. Results The overall incidence of nausea/retching/vomiting was lower in the palonosetron (22.2%/11.1%/5.6%) than in the ondansetron (77.1%/48.6%/28.6%) and ramosetron (60.5%/28.9%/18.4%) groups. The rescue antiemetic therapy was required less frequently in the palonosetron group than the other groups (P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the order of prophylactic efficacy in delaying the interval to use of a rescue emetic was palonosetron, ramosetron, and ondansetron. Conclusions Single-dose palonosetron is the prophylactic antiemetics of choice in high-risk patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery.
Proper Names as Controllers of Discourse Focus

An important aspect of the psychological focus of character-based discourse is the character that is the most prominent at any given point during reading, since prominent characters can control a number of processes leading to the cohesiveness of text. In this paper, three experiments are reported which investigate the proposition that the use of a proper name for a character (e.g., Louise) makes that character more prominent than does a role description (e.g., The hairdresser), even when the description denotes the same individual, playing the same narrative role. The studies show that named characters are more likely to be used in continuations of stories (referential availability), and that sentences containing pronominal anaphoric references to named characters are read more rapidly than those referring to corresponding role descriptions (referential accessibility). Naming thus appears to be a major factor in focus control. Some explanations and implications are discussed.
People's conceptions of intelligence.

Abstract : Three experiments are reported investigating experts' and laypersons' conceptions of intelligence. In the first experiment, persons studying in a college library, entering a supermarket, and waiting for trains in a railroad station were asked to list behaviors characteristic of either 'intelligence,' 'academic intelligence,' 'everyday intelligence,' or 'unintelligence,' and to rate themselves on each of the three kinds of intelligence. In the second experiment, experts and laypersons (excluding students) were asked to rate various properties of the behaviors listed in Experiment 1; the laypersons also rated themselves on the three kinds of intelligence and took an IQ test. In the third experiment, laypersons received written descriptions of behaviors characterizing fictitious people, and were asked to rate these people's intelligence. We found that people have well-formed prototypes corresponding to the various kinds of intelligence, that these prototypes are quite similar for experts and laypersons, that the prototypes are closely related to certain psychological theories of intelligence, and that the prototypes are used in the evaluation of one's own and others' intelligence. Moreover, proximity of one's behavioral self-characterizations to an ideal prototype is quite strongly related to intelligence as measured by an IQ test. (Author)
Collaborating With a Skilled Peer: The Influence of Achievement Goals and Perceptions of Partners' Competence on the Participation and Learning of Low-Achieving Students

Abstract The authors examined whether motivational goals influenced the participation and performance of low-achieving students during collaborative problem solving with a high-achieving partner. Thirty-five pairs of 4th- and 5th-grade students were randomly assigned a set of instructions designed to induce students to adopt a learning goal or a performance goal. The following day, the students were individually given a posttest on problems similar to those worked on collaboratively. The low-achieving students given learning-goal instructions performed better on the posttest problems and perceived their partner's competence as more similar to their own than did the low-achieving students given performance-goal instructions. No differences in overall amount or level of low achievers' participation during collaborative problem solving were observed. Implications of the findings for the use of peer learning in heterogeneous classrooms are discussed.
Chronology of Islet Differentiation Revealed By Temporal Cell Labeling

OBJECTIVE Neurogenin 3 plays a pivotal role in pancreatic endocrine differentiation. Whereas mouse models expressing reporters such as eGFP or LacZ under the control of the Neurog3 gene enable us to label cells in the pancreatic endocrine lineage, the long half-life of most reporter proteins makes it difficult to distinguish cells actively expressing neurogenin 3 from differentiated cells that have stopped transcribing the gene. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In order to separate the transient neurogenin 3 –expressing endocrine progenitor cells from the differentiating endocrine cells, we developed a mouse model (Ngn3-Timer) in which DsRed-E5, a fluorescent protein that shifts its emission spectrum from green to red over time, was expressed transgenically from the NEUROG3 locus. RESULTS In the Ngn3-Timer embryos, green-dominant cells could be readily detected by microscopy or flow cytometry and distinguished from green/red double-positive cells. When fluorescent cells were sorted into three different populations by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter, placed in culture, and then reanalyzed by flow cytometry, green-dominant cells converted to green/red double-positive cells within 6 h. The sorted cell populations were then used to determine the temporal patterns of expression for 145 transcriptional regulators in the developing pancreas. CONCLUSIONS The precise temporal resolution of this model defines the narrow window of neurogenin 3 expression in islet progenitor cells and permits sequential analyses of sorted cells as well as the testing of gene regulatory models for the differentiation of pancreatic islet cells.
Midwives' experiences of managing women in labour in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

INTRODUCTION The objective of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of midwives managing women during labour at a tertiary care hospital in the Limpopo Province. An exploratory, descriptive, contextual and inductive design was applied to this qualitative research study. Purposive sampling was used to select midwives who were working in the childbirth unit and had managed women during labour. A sample of 12 midwives participated in this study. Data were collected by means of unstructured individual interviews and analysed through an open coding method by the researchers and the independent co-coder. FINDINGS Categories identified were lack of mutual participation and responsibility sharing, dependency and lack of decision-making, lack of information-sharing, empowering autonomy and informed choices opportunities, lack of open communication and listening, non-accommodative midwifery actions, and lack of human and material infrastructure. To ensure the validity of the results, criteria to measure trustworthiness were utilized. CONCLUSIONS This study has implications for woman-centered care by midwives managing women in labour and provides appropriate guidelines that should be integrated into the Batho-Pele Principles.
Modelling biomechanics of bark patterning in grasstrees.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Bark patterns are a visually important characteristic of trees, typically attributed to fractures occurring during secondary growth of the trunk and branches. An understanding of bark pattern formation has been hampered by insufficient information regarding the biomechanical properties of bark and the corresponding difficulties in faithfully modelling bark fractures using continuum mechanics. This study focuses on the genus Xanthorrhoea (grasstrees), which have an unusual bark-like structure composed of distinct leaf bases connected by sticky resin. Due to its discrete character, this structure is well suited for computational studies. METHODS A dynamic computational model of grasstree development was created. The model captures both the phyllotactic pattern of leaf bases during primary growth and the changes in the trunk's width during secondary growth. A biomechanical representation based on a system of masses connected by springs is used for the surface of the trunk, permitting the emergence of fractures during secondary growth to be simulated. The resulting fracture patterns were analysed statistically and compared with images of real trees. KEY RESULTS The model reproduces key features of grasstree bark patterns, including their variability, spanning elongated and reticulate forms. The patterns produced by the model have the same statistical character as those seen in real trees. CONCLUSIONS The model was able to support the general hypothesis that the patterns observed in the grasstree bark-like layer may be explained in terms of mechanical fractures driven by secondary growth. Although the generality of the results is limited by the unusual structure of grasstree bark, it supports the hypothesis that bark pattern formation is primarily a biomechanical phenomenon.