Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Position Tracking for Non-linear Teleoperators with Variable Time Delay

In this paper the problem of position tracking in the presence of variable time delay is studied. It is proved that simple P-like and PD-like controllers can stabilize the teleoperator under variable time delays and, moreover, they provide position tracking. Then, a controller based on the scattering transformation that also provides position tracking is proposed. In this paper we present the conditions under which the velocities and position error of the non-linear teleoperator, for the three controllers, are bounded, and if the human does not move the local manipulator and the remote manipulator does not interact with the environment, then it is proved that velocities and position error converge to zero. Simulations and real experiments, using the Internet from Urbana-Champaign (USA) to Barcelona (Spain), validate the proposed schemes.
The Relationship between Thyroid Hormones, Vitamin D and Fasting Blood Glucose Level During Summer and Winter in Nondiabetic Adults

Background and Aims: 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 is recognized to be an essential element for healthy body; however, its deficiency has been identified as a risk factor for thyroid disease, diabetes mellitus and other autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases. Thyroid disease is common in the general population that its prevalence increases proportional to age. Subjects with poorly controlled diabetes, with or without its complications, may experience some changes in their thyroid function tests. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between thyroid hormones, vitamin D3 and fasting blood glucose (FBS) level during summer and winter in nondiabetic adults. Materials and Methods : A total of 1093 Caucasian adults without diabetes were chosen for study. The serum levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D3, thyroxin (T4)
Improving self-alignment of strapdown INS using measurement augmentation

An alternative solution to the velocity based self-alignment of strapdown inertial navigation system is proposed. It is well known that a simple Kalman filter based solution to the above problem fails to provide accurate azimuth alignment due to the inherent lack of observability of the model in the presence of instrument bias. Earlier researchers use external digital filters to obtain improved estimation of selected states and substitute these into the filter. The current paper demonstrates that a simple augmentation of the output vector with the inertial measurement unit signals and an extended Kalman filter would yield similar or better alignment performance compared to such ad hoc additional digital filters. The proposed method improves the convergence rate of azimuth attitude error even in the presence of gyro bias and makes it relatively independent of the gyro noise. Results of comparative performance of the two filters using Monte Carlo simulation have been provided.
Exploring the relationship between gambling, debt and financial management in Britain

The issue of how and why gamblers end up in debt has received comparatively little attention in the literature. Data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) revealed that although problem gamblers were more likely than non-problem gamblers to have forms of financial debt, just under two-thirds of problem gamblers (62%) reported having no debt. Using a qualitative approach, this study aimed to explore the issue from the perspective of gamblers themselves through interviews with 27 purposively sampled gamblers drawn from participants who took part in the APMS and the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2010. Analysis, using the Framework method, suggested the existence of four kinds of gamblers categorized by their approach to gambling spending and their approach to their general spending: ‘controlled gamblers’, ‘uncontrolled gamblers’, ‘uncontrolled spenders’ and ‘chaotic spenders’. Also proposed on the basis of these data is an ecological model which aims to capture the different levels of personal and environmental factors that influenced people's financial decisions, including cognitive factors, control and compulsion, normative spending, resource and financial management, and the credit environment. The implications for practice are also discussed.
23.4 A Filtering Technique to Lower Oscillator Phase Noise

Wireless applications are pushing the required phase noise in integrated oscillators to ever lower levels. Integrated oscillator circuits published so far use tuning inductors that are either fully integrated, partly integrated, or discrete, with quality factors spanning a large range. However, lacking a clear understanding of the physical processes of phase noise, it is difficult to compare the relative merits of these VCOs in a normalized sense. An LC oscillator consists of a lossy resonator, and an active circuit across it to overcome this loss (Figure 23.4.1). In steady-state, the active circuit presents a large-signal negative resistance equal to the equivalent parallel loss resistance R across the resonator. The phase noise sidebands around the oscillation frequency are given by: 4FkTR ω 0 2 L(wm) = ––––––– (––––––) 1) V 2 RMS 2Qwm where the active circuit noise density is F–1 times the resonator noise, and VRMS is the RMS oscillation amplitude. If the negative resistor generates the same noise as the resonator loss resistor , F=2. In reality, the active circuit realizing the negative resistor may generate less noise. The resulting F defines a fundamental lower limit on oscillator phase noise. A recently-developed physical model of phase noise in the differential LC VCO [1] shows that during current-limited operation, that is, for amplitudes where the current source FET remains in saturation, F consists of the following terms arising from the res-onator loss, the commutating differential pair, and the current source: 4γRI 8 F = 1 + ––––– + γ – gmbias R 2) πV0 9 I is the bias current, γ is the FET noise factor (2/3 for long channels), and g mbias refers to the current source FET. The analysis [1] gives two important insights. First, the middle term in 3) signifying phase noise induced by differential pair thermal noise is independent of the specifics of the transistors in the pair. Second, the commutating differential pair translates noise originating in the current source at frequencies around the 2 nd harmonic to the oscillation frequency and to the 3 rd harmonic. Half of the translated noise at the fundamental contributes phase noise. The differential pair also upconverts baseband noise in the current source into amplitude noise across the resonator [1]. Now the oscillator circuit may be designed for least phase noise. Equation 2 shows that the relative contribution of the resonator loss is fixed. In the current-limited regime, the amplitude …
The advantages and disadvantages of using ICT as a mediating artefact in classrooms compared to alternative tools

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using information and communication technology (ICT) as a mediating artefact in the classroom compared to alternative tools with illustrations from a qualitative classroom study. The aim of the article is to describe and show the conditions that have to be satisfied if ICT is to have an advantage over alternative tools in a classroom. The main focus is on the importance of the context of the learning activities, in which the teacher plays an important part. Theories on language and learning are presented and the article concludes with reflections on the teacher’s role in the use of ICT in the classroom.
What's Natural About Naturalistic Language Intervention?

This review sought to identify the characteristics of child language intervention approaches described as "naturalistic" in the research literature. Thirty-four interventions were analyzed. We identified an exhaustive list of the treatment techniques or components that were included in at least 8 of the studies. Each intervention was analyzed according to the inclusion of 8 teaching techniques that manipulated antecedent stimuli and 3 techniques that manipulated consequences. Results demonstrated that naturalistic language interventions varied considerably in the teaching techniques included. A continuum highlighting the degree to which interventions included adult-directed and child-directed strategies is presented. In addition, ratings of naturalness of intervention contexts were derived. These analyses revealed an apparent lack of agreement on what constitutes "naturalistic" language intervention.
The relationships between p53 protein expression and the clinicopathological features in the uveal melanomas

Background: p53 alterations are common events in cancer and may have some prognostic ramifications. Objectives: To investigate the uveal melanoma for: 1) the p53 expression patterns, 2) the relationships among p53 expression and clinicopathological features of these lesions. Materials and methods: Using Immunoperoxidase-staining methods and mouse monoclonal antibodies, the expression of p53 protein in 60 uveal melanomas was examined. Results: Based on p53 immunoreactivity, the lesions were divided into two groups: the first group included 9 tumors (15%) and had p53 protein overexpression. The second group included 51 (85%) tumors and was lacking p53 expression. p53 protein overexpression was significantly associated with extraocular extension and vascular invasion ( p values, 0.01 and 0.04). No significant correlation was found between p53 protein expression and the clinicopathologic features of these lesions Conclusions: p53 protein overexpression occurs in the uveal melanoma and may be associated with some unfavorable histological features (invasion).
Plastoglobules Are Lipoprotein Subcompartments of the Chloroplast That Are Permanently Coupled to Thylakoid Membranes and Contain Biosynthetic Enzymes

Plastoglobules are lipoprotein particles inside chloroplasts. Their numbers have been shown to increase during the upregulation of plastid lipid metabolism in response to oxidative stress and during senescence. In this study, we used state-of-the-art high-pressure freezing/freeze-substitution methods combined with electron tomography as well as freeze-etch electron microscopy to characterize the structure and spatial relationship of plastoglobules to thylakoid membranes in developing, mature, and senescing chloroplasts. We demonstrate that plastoglobules are attached to thylakoids through a half-lipid bilayer that surrounds the globule contents and is continuous with the stroma-side leaflet of the thylakoid membrane. During oxidative stress and senescence, plastoglobules form linkage groups that are attached to each other and remain continuous with the thylakoid membrane by extensions of the half-lipid bilayer. Using three-dimensional tomography combined with immunolabeling techniques, we show that the plastoglobules contain the enzyme tocopherol cyclase (VTE1) and that this enzyme extends across the surface monolayer into the interior of the plastoglobules. These findings demonstrate that plastoglobules function as both lipid biosynthesis and storage subcompartments of thylakoid membranes. The permanent structural coupling between plastoglobules and thylakoid membranes suggests that the lipid molecules contained in the plastoglobule cores (carotenoids, plastoquinone, and tocopherol [vitamin E]) are in a dynamic equilibrium with those located in the thylakoid membranes.
Coded Slotted ALOHA: A Graph-Based Method for Uncoordinated Multiple Access

In this paper, a random access scheme is introduced, which relies on the combination of packet erasure correcting codes and successive interference cancellation (SIC). The scheme is named coded slotted ALOHA. A bipartite graph representation of the SIC process, resembling iterative decoding of generalized low-density parity-check codes over the erasure channel, is exploited to optimize the selection probabilities of the component erasure correcting codes through a density evolution analysis. The capacity (in packets per slot) of the scheme is then analyzed in the context of the collision channel without feedback. Moreover, a capacity bound is developed, and component code distributions tightly approaching the bound are derived.
Social and Psychosocial Factors Predicting Depression in Old Age: A Longitudinal Study

The predictive value of social and psychosocial factors for the occurrence of depression in elderly Finns is described using a longitudinal design. A population determined as not being depressed in an epidemiological study in 1984–1985 was clinically interviewed and examined in a follow-up study in 1989–1990 (N = 679). The potential predictive factors for depression were analyzed by contrasting the persons depressed in 1989–1990 with the ones not depressed. In men, depression was predicted by a poor relationship with one's wife and feelings about low appreciation of old persons or of the participant himself during the initial study and the loss of a mother while under 20 years of age. Certain changes and life events during the follow-up were related to the occurrence of depression in men, such as a change in the relationship with one's wife into a poorer direction, a decrease in the amount of hobbies, getting married, a grandchild's divorce, separation from someone important, moving into long-term institutional care, giving up hobbies or a position in a voluntary organization, and alcohol problems of a close person. In women, depression was predicted by living together with one's husband, living with other people, and a low activity in participating in religious events during the initial study and a loss of father while under 20 years of age. The risk of women living alone was lower compared to women not living alone. Also, certain changes and life events during the follow-up were associated with a high risk of depression in women, including a change in the relationship with one's neighbors into a poorer direction, an increase in the amount of time spent alone, a decline of the social activity level, getting married, occurrence of serious marital problems, separation from someone important, giving up hobbies or a position in a voluntary organization, alcohol problems of a close person, and a small number of social growth events. The results support the hypothesis about psychosocial factors playing a role in the etiology of depression in old age.
Research Note: Personality and Music Preference: Extraversion and Excitement Seeking or Openness to Experience?

The NEO Personality Inventory and an abbreviated version of the Little and Zuckerman (1986) Music Preference questionnaire were administered to university students to test the relation of openness and extraversion to music preferences. Replicating the findings of other researchers, extraversion was positively related to one kind of music with high arousal properties (jazz), and excitement seeking to another (hard rock). However, as predicted, openness to experience related to enjoyment of a variety of musical forms outside the mainstream of popular and rock music.
Mathematics Teachers' Reasoning About Fractions and Decimals Using Drawn Representations

This qualitative study considers middle grades mathematics teachers' reasoning about drawn representations of fractions and decimals. We analyzed teachers' strategies based on their response to multiple-choice tasks that required analysis of drawn representations. We found that teachers' flexibility with referent units played a significant role in understanding drawn representations with fractions and decimals. Teachers who could correctly identify or flexibly use the referent unit could better adapt their mathematical knowledge of fractions validating their choice, whereas teachers who did not attend to the referent unit demonstrated four problem-solving strategies for making sense of the tasks. These four approaches all proved to be limited in their generalizability, leading teachers to make incorrect assumptions about and choices on the tasks.
Modelling the evolution of galaxy clustering

Measurements of galaxy clustering are now becoming possible over a range of redshifts out to z∼ 3. We use a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation to compute the expected evolution of the galaxy correlation function with redshift. We illustrate how the degree of clustering evolution is sensitive to the details of sample selection. For a fixed apparent magnitude limit, galaxies selected at higher redshifts are located in progressively rarer dark matter haloes, compared with the general population of galaxies in place at each redshift. As a result these galaxies are highly biased tracers of the underlying dark matter distribution and exhibit stronger clustering than the dark matter. In general, the correlation length measured in comoving units, decreases at first with increasing redshift, before increasing again at higher redshift. We show that the e-model often used to interpret the angular correlation function of faint galaxies gives an inadequate description of the evolution of clustering, and offers no physical insight into the clustering process. We compare our predictions with those of a simple, popular model in which a one-to-one correspondence between galaxies and dark haloes is assumed. Qualitatively, this model reproduces the correct evolutionary behaviour at high redshift, but the quantitative results can be significantly in error. Our theoretical expectations are in good agreement with the high redshift clustering data of Carlberg et al. and Postman et al. but are higher than the measurements of Le Fevre et al.
Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: meta-analysis of multilevel studies

Objective To provide quantitative evaluations on the association between income inequality and health. Design Random effects meta-analyses, calculating the overall relative risk for subsequent mortality among prospective cohort studies and the overall odds ratio for poor self rated health among cross sectional studies. Data sources PubMed, the ISI Web of Science, and the National Bureau for Economic Research database. Review methods Peer reviewed papers with multilevel data. Results The meta-analysis included 59 509 857 subjects in nine cohort studies and 1 280 211 subjects in 19 cross sectional studies. The overall cohort relative risk and cross sectional odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) per 0.05 unit increase in Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, was 1.08 (1.06 to 1.10) and 1.04 (1.02 to 1.06), respectively. Meta-regressions showed stronger associations between income inequality and the health outcomes among studies with higher Gini (≥0.3), conducted with data after 1990, with longer duration of follow-up (>7 years), and incorporating time lags between income inequality and outcomes. By contrast, analyses accounting for unmeasured regional characteristics showed a weaker association between income inequality and health. Conclusions The results suggest a modest adverse effect of income inequality on health, although the population impact might be larger if the association is truly causal. The results also support the threshold effect hypothesis, which posits the existence of a threshold of income inequality beyond which adverse impacts on health begin to emerge. The findings need to be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity between studies, as well as the attenuation of the risk estimates in analyses that attempted to control for the unmeasured characteristics of areas with high levels of income inequality.
Effect of Vorapaxar Alone and in Combination with Aspirin on Bleeding Time and Platelet Aggregation in Healthy Adult Subjects

The effect of the protease‐activated receptor‐1 (PAR‐1) antagonist vorapaxar on human bleeding time is not known. This was a randomized, two‐period, open‐label trial in healthy men (n = 31) and women (n = 5). In period 1, subjects received 81 mg aspirin q.d. or a vorapaxar regimen achieving steady‐state plasma concentrations equivalent to chronic 2.5 mg q.d. doses, for 7 days. In period 2, each group added 7 days of the therapy alternate to that of period 1 without washout. Bleeding time and platelet aggregation using arachidonic acid, ADP, and TRAP agonists were assessed. Bleeding time geometric mean ratio (90% CI) for vorapaxar/baseline was 1.01 (0.88–1.15), aspirin/baseline was 1.32 (1.15–1.51), vorapaxar + aspirin/vorapaxar was 1.47 (1.26–1.70), and vorapaxar + aspirin/aspirin was 1.12 (0.96–1.30). Unlike aspirin, vorapaxar did not prolong bleeding time compared with baseline. Bleeding time following administration of vorapaxar with aspirin was similar to that following aspirin alone.
Supplemental protein and energy for beef cows consuming endophyte-infected tall fescue.

Effects of energy and protein supplementation of endophyte (Acremonium coenophialum)-infected (E+) and noninfected (E-) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) on forage intake, digestibility, N flow to the small intestine, and cow-calf productivity was evaluated in two experiments. In Exp. 1, 10 ruminally and duodenally cannulated steers were fed either E- or E+ hay with four supplements or E- or E+ hay unsupplemented. Four supplements formulated with either cracked corn or soybean hulls with 100 or 200 g/d of ruminally undegraded intake protein (UIP) were compared. Levels of UIP were varied by adding soybean meal or blood meal. Hay OM intake was not affected (P > .20) by source of energy of level of UIP; however, intake of E- was greater (P < .05) than that of E+. True ruminal OM digestion tended to be greater (P < .12) for steers fed 200 g/d of UIP than for steers fed 100 g/d. Steers receiving 200 g/d of UIP had increased (P < .10) total N flow to the duodenum compared with steers receiving 100 g/d but similar (P > .20) microbial efficiencies. In Exp. 2, 30 cows (average initial BW 459 +/- 26 kg) and their calves (average initial BW 74 +/- 5 kg and 74 +/- 5 d of age) grazed an 8.1-ha E+ pasture from late May to late July. Cows were individually fed supplements used in Exp. 1 each day. Cows that received cracked corn lost . 10 kg/d when fed 100 g/d of UIP but gained . 33 kg/d when fed 200 g/d. Cows fed soybean hulls and 100 g/d of UIP gained . 07 kg/d, whereas cows provided 200 g/d lost . 10 kg/d. Calves nursing cows supplemented with 100 g/d of UIP gained more (P < .08) BW because of increased (P < .07) milk consumption and slightly greater (P < .19) forage intake than calves nursing cows supplemented with 200 g/d of UIP.