Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design guidelines for power assist robots for lifting heavy objects considering weight perception, grasp differences and worst-cases

This paper presents design guidelines for power assist robots for lifting heavy objects in industries. A 1-DOF power assist robot system was developed and human's weight perception was included in the dynamics and control. The robot system was simulated and subjects lifted objects of different sizes with the robot under three distinct lifting schemes – unimanual, bimanual and cooperative lift in usual working conditions. Then the subjects lifted objects with the robot in some worst-cases (unusual working conditions). Weight perception, load forces and object's motions in both usual and worst-cases were analysed and the findings were compared to each other. A novel control was applied to reduce excessive load forces in both usual and worst-cases that improved the system performances. The findings were then proposed as design guidelines to develop power assist robots for lifting heavy objects in industries such as manufacturing and assembly, mining, construction, forestry, agriculture, transport and logistics, etc.
Pyramid Match Kernels: Discriminative Classification with Sets of Image Features (version 2)

Discriminative learning is challenging when examples are sets of features, and the sets vary in cardinality and lack any sort of meaningful ordering. Kernel-based classification methods can learn complex decision boundaries, but a kernel over unordered set inputs must somehow solve for correspondences – generally a computationally expensive task that becomes impractical for large set sizes. We present a new fast kernel function which maps unordered feature sets to multi-resolution histograms and computes a weighted histogram intersection in this space. This “pyramid match” computation is linear in the number of features, and it implicitly finds correspondences based on the finest resolution histogram cell where a matched pair first appears. Since the kernel does not penalize the presence of extra features, it is robust to clutter. We show the kernel function is positive-definite, making it valid for use in learning algorithms whose optimal solutions are guaranteed only for Mercer kernels. We demonstrate our algorithm on object recognition tasks and show it to be accurate and dramatically faster than current approaches.
Asymmetric lithospheric instability facilitated by shear modulus contrast: implications for shear zones

SUMMARY Viscoplasticity has been considered to be a dominant element in causing the nucleation of shear instability leading to lithospheric weakening. Here, we propose that a simple contrast in shear moduli may be sufficient for explaining the fast timescale asymmetric shear instability in a bimaterial setting. Not much attention has been paid to heterogeneous elasticity in geodynamical modelling because it is dominant only for short timescales. Up to now, no studies have been made on asymmetric shear instability induced by elastic modulus contrast. Thermal–mechanical numerical simulations based on high-resolution (from 0.4 km × 0.4 km to 0.2 km × 0.4 km meshes) finite-element methods were performed to understand the effects of shear modulus contrast on inducing asymmetric instabilities. Strain-rate and stress-dependent rheology are used with a wide range of activation energy 0–850 kJ mol–1 for all models. Numerical results with enough shear modulus contrast show asymmetric shear instability, which is generated around the interface and then propagates across the interface. Two parts of the lithosphere with different shear moduli (stiff for higher and soft for lower shear modulus lithospheres), which are simply connected to each other without a pre-defined weak zone, were compressed at a constant rate of 2 cm yr–1. Having different shear modulus is justified by chemical heterogeneity of geological minerals and their pressure–temperature dependence. To explore the dynamical effects generated by the contrast in the elastic modulus, the shear modulus of the soft lithosphere is fixed at 32 GPa, whereas that of stiff lithosphere is increased systematically from 32 up to 640 GPa. We also examined the role of activation energy (0–850 kJ mol–1) on the geometrical pattern and the initiation time of asymmetric shear localization. The shear modulus contrast has to be close to two for triggering asymmetric shear instability and is found to be by far a more important controlling factor in causing shear instability than activation energy of the creep law. The instability develops rapidly between 250 000 and 500 000 yr after deformation begins, and thermal weakening in the shear zone is greater, when a stronger shear modulus contrast is prescribed. Our work suggests that initiation of lithosphere-scale asymmetric instability would be faster than previous considerations. Our finding stresses that naturally occurring shear modulus contrast has also important impact on many geological problems related to bimaterial instability.
Current Recommendations for Laboratory Testing and Use of Bone Turnover Markers in Management of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a major health problem worldwide, and is projected to increase exponentially due to the aging of the population. The absolute fracture risk in individual subjects is calculated by the use of algorithms which include bone mineral density (BMD), age, gender, history of prior fracture and other risk factors. This review describes the laboratory investigations into osteoporosis which include serum calcium, phosphate, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase and 25-hydroxyvitamin D and, additionally in men, testosterone. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is measured in patients with abnormal serum calcium to determine its cause. Other laboratory investigations such as thyroid function testing, screening for multiple myeloma, and screening for Cushing's syndrome, are performed if indicated. Measurement of bone turnover markers (BTMs) is currently not included in algorithms for fracture risk calculations due to the lack of data. However, BTMs may be useful for monitoring osteoporosis treatment. Further studies of the reference BTMs serum carboxy terminal telopeptide of collagen type I (s-CTX) and serum procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (s-PINP) in fracture risk prediction and in monitoring various treatments for osteoporosis may help expedite their inclusion in routine clinical practice.
A CSCL Model for Educational Multiplayer Games

Teaching computer programming to novices has always posed a major challenge to educators. Many novices acquire basic programming skills but they are unable to utilize them in a meaningful way to solve non-routine problems. As a result, they do not achieve any level of programming fluency. Collaboration has been identified as a useful tool to help overcome this problem if utilized at the right times during the programming/problem solving process. This paper presents a model for a synchronous gaming CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) application aimed at improving problem-solving skill. The model addresses some major issues in CSCL such as unequal participation among group members, increasing argumentative discussion and promoting positive interdependence and individual accountability. A game, Collaborative Online Problem Solving (COPS), which was developed using this model, is presented. COPS aims to improve the problem-solving skill of novice programmers, by requiring them to collaboratively build program flowcharts.
Access and quality of rural healthcare: Ethiopian Millennium Rural Initiative.

OBJECTIVE More than half the world's population lives in rural areas; however, we have limited evidence about how to strengthen rural healthcare services. We sought to determine the impact of a systems-based approach to improving rural care, the Ethiopian Millennium Rural Initiative, on key healthcare services indicators. DESIGN We conducted an 18-month longitudinal mixed methods study of the 10 primary healthcare units (PHCUs) serving ~400,000 people, using monthly indicator tracking and focus groups. SETTING Rural Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS Ten PHCUs and 140 focus group participants. INTERVENTION The Ethiopian Millennium Rural Initiative. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Antenatal care coverage, skilled birth attendant rates, HIV testing in antenatal care, HIV testing in the health center or at health posts overall, outpatient volume at the health center. Qualitative data assessed community members' perceptions of healthcare services. RESULTS We found significant increases (P-values of <0.05) in antenatal care coverage, skilled birth attendant rates, HIV testing in antenatal care and HIV testing at health center and health post levels. Outpatient visit rates also improved, but the change was not significant. Focus group data suggested that communities recognized substantial improvements but also voiced continued unmet needs. CONCLUSIONS A systems-based approach to strengthening rural healthcare units is feasible, although complex, particularly in rural settings. The combined use of quantitative and qualitative data is needed to provide a comprehensive view of impact. Future research is needed to understand the determinants of variation in improvement across health centers and regions.
Inhibition of receptor-mediated but not fluid-phase endocytosis in polymorphonuclear leukocytes

We have found that hypertonic medium inhibited the receptor-mediated uptake of the chemotactic peptide N-formylnorleucylleucylphenylalanine without affecting fluid-phase endocytosis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Morphological and biochemical evidence demonstrated that cells in hypertonic medium did not accumulate peptide in a receptor-mediated manner. However, the cells continued to form endosomes containing fluid-phase markers. Furthermore, the content of these endosomes was processed normally, i.e., both digested and intact material were released into the medium. The inhibition of receptor- mediated uptake was a function of the tonicity. Partial inhibition occurred in 0.45 and 0.6 osmolar medium and maximal inhibition occurred in 0.75 osmolar medium. The inhibition was independent of the solute used to increase the tonicity: sodium chloride, sucrose, and lactose all inhibited uptake to similar extents. Hypertonic medium had little effect on saturable peptide binding. However, it did prevent the clustering of surface molecules as indicated by the inhibition of capping of fluorescent concanavalin A. In addition, hypertonic medium prevented the peptide-stimulated increase in cytosolic calcium levels as measured by quin 2 fluorescence. The tonicity dependence of the inhibition of quin 2 fluorescence paralleled the inhibition of receptor- mediated uptake.
Time-Preference Tests Fail to Predict Behavior Related to Self-control

According to theory, choices relating to patience and self-control in domains as varied as drug use and retirement saving are driven by generalized preferences about delayed rewards. Past research has shown that measurements of these time preferences are associated with these choices. Research has also attempted to examine how well such measurements can predict choices, but only with inappropriate analytical methods. Moreover, it is not clear which of the many kinds of time-preference tests that have been proposed are most useful for prediction, and a theoretically important aspect of time preferences, nonstationarity, has been neglected in measurement. In Study 1, we examined three approaches to measuring time preferences with 181 users of Mechanical Turk. Retest reliability, for both immediate and 1-month intervals, was decent, as was convergent validity between tests, and association was similar to previous results, but predictive accuracy for 10 criterion variables (e.g., tobacco use) was approximately nil. In Study 2, we examined one other approach to measuring time preferences, and 40 criterion variables, using 7,127 participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Time preferences were significantly related to criterion variables, but predictive accuracy was again poor. Our findings imply serious problems for using time-preference tests to predict real-world decisions. The results of Study 1 further suggest there is little value in measuring nonstationarity separately from patience.
A Combination of Traditional and Polarimetric Features for Oil Spill Detection Using TerraSAR-X

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are operationally used for the detection of oil spills in the marine environment, as they are independent of sun light and weather-induced phenomena. Exploitation of radar polarimetric features for operational oil spill detection is relatively new and until recently those properties have not been extensively exploited. This paper describes the development of a oil spill detection processing chain using coherent dual-polarimetric (copolarized channels, i.e., HH-VV) TerraSAR-X images. The proposed methodology focuses on offshore platform monitoring and introduces for the first time a combination of traditional and polarimetric features for object-based oil spill detection and look-alike discrimination. A total number of 35 feature parameters were extracted from 225 oil spills and 26 look-alikes and divided into training and validation dataset. Mutual information content among extracted features have been assessed and feature parameters are ranked according to their ability to discriminate between oil spill and look-alike. Extracted features are used for training and validation of a support vector machine-based classifier. Performance estimation was carried out for the proposed methodology on a large dataset with overall classification accuracy of 90% oil spills and 80% for look-alikes. Polarimetric features such as geometric intensity, copolarization power ratio, span proved to be more discriminative than other polarimetric and traditional features.
PUNCH! Why Women Participate in Violent Sports

Over the past year, a startling development has occurred in the mainstream press: sportswriters have started taking note of women who participate in violent sports. Such women include Tonya Butler, who wants to be the first woman to play in a Division I football game; Laila Ali, a professional boxer with a winning record, who wants to follow in her father's footsteps; and Margaret McGregor, the first woman to fight a man in a professional boxing bout (she won). But there have always been women who participated in contact sports. Think of the women's hockey team who competed in the 1998 Olympics they've been playing the game for years. Or consider the Golden Gloves Boxing Championships, which allowed female competitors since 1995. Or consider the case of Susan Booth, nobody famous, a gym owner, mother of two and fifth-degree (master) black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She's been fighting for fifteen years. That women have participated in violent sports for some years doesn't mean women in contact sports is accepted or considered acceptable by most people. The Title IX regulation, which is supposed to guarantee equal opportunity for female college athletes, specifically excludes contact sports from its gender equity statement women who wished to participate in contact sports at a college and are not allowed to do so can have claim against the school; legally they are not being discriminated against. Sportswriter Leigh Montville has attacked women's boxing as "a sick athletic cartoon. " He claims that women participating in contact sports are being exploited. But the women involved don't seem to think so. "This is a dream of mine," says Freeda Foreman (daughter of George Foreman). "I want to let women know there are no limitations. " Laila Ali says, "I just love how it feels. " As female participation in violent sports such as boxing, hockey and martial arts grows, so do the questions. It can no longer be called a 'novelty' or a 'gimmick' as it has been in the past. So, why do women participate in violent sports and what does it mean? Including the author's personal experience as an athlete and the experiences and thoughts of other women in violent sports, some well-known, some not, all of them defying traditional gender roles. Through interviews and questionnaires with athletes, coaches and observers as well as trained mental health professionals interested in the phenomenon, the reasons why women participate in contact sports and what they get out of them are examined.
The Quantitative/Qualitative Debate and Feminist Research: A Subjective View of Objectivity

Research methods are "technique(s) for . gathering data" (HARDING 1986) and are generally dichotomised into being either quantitative or qualitative. It has been argued that methodology has been gendered (OAKLEY 1997; 1998), with quantitative methods traditionally being associated with words such as positivism, scientific, objectivity, statistics and masculinity. In contrast, qualitative methods have generally been associated with interpretivism, non-scientific, subjectivity and femininity. These associations have led some feminist researchers to criticise (REINHARZ 1979; GRAHAM 1983; PUGH 1990) or even reject (GRAHAM & RAWLINGS 1980) the quantitative approach, arguing that it is in direct conflict with the aims of feminist research (GRAHAM 1983; MIES 1983). It has been argued that qualitative methods are more appropriate for feminist research by allowing subjective knowledge (DEPNER 1981; DUELLI KLEIN 1983), and a more equal relationship between the researcher and the researched (OAKLEY 1974; JAYARATNE 1983; STANLEY & WISE 1990). This paper considers the quantitative/qualitative divide and the epistemological reasoning behind the debate before investigating two research methods, the statistical survey and the semi-structured interview, in respect of their use to feminist researchers. It concludes by arguing that different feminist issues need different research methods, and that as long as they are applied from a feminist perspective there is no need for the dichotomous "us against them", "quantitative against qualitative" debates.
Determining Early Mathematical Risk: Ideas for Extending the Research

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) specifies that children should be able to fluently add and subtract whole numbers by the end of third grade. Mathematical understanding of addition and subtraction emerges well before formal mathematic instruction begins, and when it emerges it reflects competence in a number of prerequisite skills and concepts. By the time children begin to formally learn the procedures associated with addition and subtraction, they will already understand that numbers have a fixed sequence, that numbers appearing earlier in the sequence represent lower magnitudes or quantities than do numbers appearing higher in the sequence, that objects can be counted, and that quantities can be compared and shifted by moving objects between sets and so on. There is agreement about which early mathematics skills are thought to be essential to longer term success (e.g., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001; National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, 2008) and, in fact, there has been relatively strong correspondence in the skills assessed by researchers in this area (Hojnoski, Silberglitt, & Floyd, 2009). It also seems clear that understanding of important mathematical concepts occurs as young children interact with adults, children, and materials in their environments. For example, there is some suggestion that subitivity (the ability to instantly recognize object sets ranging in size from 1 to 5) precedes the ability to count and may emerge in infancy (Clements, 1999). In turn, automatic recognition of object set sizes can facilitate the development of procedural skills like counting (one-to-one object correspondence and cardinality). The ability to count forward and backward fluently belies an understanding that numbers occur in a fixed position, with higher numbers representing greater quantity or magnitude than lower numbers. This understanding both prepares a child to understand that 1 is less than 2, and later, to understand negative numbers. For example, if I ask my 2-year-old whether she would like to have 2 MM Jordan, Huttenlocher, & Levine, 1992). Early intervention is necessary for some children and can successfully resolve early deficits and prevent longer term consequences (Gersten & Chard, 1999). In what is likely to be a seminal study, Slavin and Lake (2008) synthesized mathematics instruction studies for elementary-aged students and their findings echo the need for adults to be responsive to young children's mathematical development. Of the 256 studies reviewed, 87 met their rigorous inclusion criteria. Studies were categorized as curricula studies, computer-assisted instructional programs, or "instructional process" studies. Instructional process studies included studies that used procedures to adjust the instructional interaction between teachers and students in the classroom. The curricula studies had the greatest methodological limitations and also the lowest effect size (+0. …
Offshore wind farm cable connection configuration optimization using Dynamic Minimum Spanning Tree algorithm

A new approach, Dynamic Minimal Spanning Tree (DMST) algorithm, which is based on the MST algorithm is proposed in this paper to optimize the cable connection layout for large scale offshore wind farm collection system. The current carrying capacity of the cable is considered as the main constraint. The dynamic changing of the cable capacity, therefore, the cost during the searching process is presented in this work. Two wind farms are chosen as the studied case and the final results show that the proposed method can save the investment on cables 1.07% and 6.10% respectively compared with MST method. It is a more economical way for cable connection configuration design of offshore wind farm collection system.
Fostering Institutional Creativity at Multiple Levels: Towards Facilitated Institutional Bricolage

Problems occur when institutional arrangements for collective management of food and water systems fail to meet demands. Many of the problems characterising river basins and other collectively managed water resource systems can be ascribed largely to the failure of institutions to enable problems beyond the individual to be managed collectively. The nature of these demands, and the institutional responses to them, vary widely and are not amenable to simple definitions and prescriptions. We begin with a brief review of conventional approaches to analysing institutions and organisations, focused largely, but not exclusively, on river basins. We observe that attempts to reduce the institutional landscape of river basins to over-simplistic formulas introduces more problems than solutions, because the reality is that institutions evolve through complex creative processes that adopt and adapt diverse ingredients – rather like making a stew. Despite such intricacies, institutions are clearly non-random, so we continue a search for a means of describing them. We adopt the concept of bricolage, as proposed by Cleaver and others, and use it to show the value of promoting and facilitating an organic creative approach to building and strengthening river basin and other water management institutions.
Homotopy type of the complex of free factors of a free group

We show that the complex of free factors of a free group of rank n⩾2 is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres of dimension n−2 . We also prove that for n⩾2 , the complement of (unreduced) Outer space in the free splitting complex is homotopy equivalent to the complex of free factor systems and moreover is (n−2) ‐connected. In addition, we show that for every non‐trivial free factor system of a free group, the corresponding relative free splitting complex is contractible.