Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fractal trajectories for online non-uniform aerial coverage

We propose a novel method for non-uniform terrain coverage using Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The existing methods for coverage path planning consider a uniformly interesting target area and hence all the regions are covered with high resolution. However in many real world applications items of interest are not uniformly distributed but form patches of locally high interest. Therefore, with sparse sampling of uninteresting sections of the environment and high resolution sampling of interesting patches, the trajectory of the robot can become shorter. In this paper, we present a novel coverage strategy based on Space-Filling Curves that can accomplish non-uniform coverage of regions in the target area. Simulations and real robot experiments indicate that with the new strategy, travel time / cost of the task can be (almost) always less than a regular `lawnmower' coverage pattern.
Classification of cause of motor weakness in traumatic brain injury using diffusion tensor imaging.

BACKGROUND Many studies have attempted to elucidate the causes of motor weakness in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Most of these studies have focused on the specific cause of motor weakness. However, little is known about the classification and elucidation of the causes of motor weakness in consecutive patients with TBI. OBJECTIVE To attempt to classify with diffusion tensor imaging the causes of motor weakness in patients with TBI by conducting an analysis of the injury mechanism of the corticospinal tract (CST). DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Rehabilitation department of a university hospital. Patients We recruited 41 consecutive patients who showed motor weakness among patients with TBI admitted for rehabilitation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We classified the causes of weakness according to the injury mechanism of the CST on diffusion tensor imaging. RESULTS Injury mechanisms of the CST were classified as follows, in order: diffuse axonal injury, 24 patients (58.5%); traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage, 9 patients (21.9%); transtentorial herniation, 6 patients (14.6%); and focal cortical contusion, 4 patients (9.8%). In patients with diffuse axonal injury, the mean number of lesions composing CST injury was 3.6 (range, 2-6) and CST injury locations were as follows: the pons (61%), the cerebral peduncle (50%), the medulla (40%), the posterior limb of the internal capsule (17%), and the corona radiata (13%). CONCLUSION We found that diffusion tensor imaging was useful in elucidation and classification of the causes of motor weakness resulting from CST injury in patients with TBI.
The Unexpected Effects of Inclusion on the Families of Students with Learning Disabilities: A Focus-Group Study

This study investigated the unexpected effects of inclusion on the families of students with learning disabilities. A focus group interview was conducted with 13 parents who have children with learning disabilities. The children's ages ranged from 5 to 24 years. Findings are reported regarding participants' comments in response to two guiding questions: How has the inclusion of your child(ren) with learning disabilities changed (a) your (the parents') lives and (b) the lives of your other children (siblings) in ways that you did not expect? Major themes were derived using content analysis. Themes regarding parents were: Stress and Frustration, Becoming an Advocate and Expert on Learning Disabilities, Responsibility and Personal Cost of Constant Care, Challenging Interactions with the Schools, Financial Burden, Helplessness and Pain, Extra Task Demands and Exhaustion, Altered Parent-child Relationships, and Positive Supports. Themes related to siblings were: Social Responsibility and Advocacy for Sibling with Learning Disabilities, Humiliations and Loss of Parental Attention, and Unrealistic Expectations. Implications for improving the impact of inclusion on families are suggested.
Pre-entry Characteristics, Perceived Social Support, Adjustment and Academic Achievement in First-Year Spanish University Students: A Path Model

ABSTRACT Transition to university is a multifactorial process to which scarce consideration has been given in Spain, despite this being one of the countries with the highest rates of academic failure and attrition within the European Union. The present study proposes an empirical model for predicting Spanish students' academic achievement at university by considering pre-entry characteristics, perceived social support and adaptation to university, in a sample of 300 traditional first-year university students. The findings of the path analysis showed that pre-university achievement and academic and personal–emotional adjustment were direct predictors of academic achievement. Furthermore, gender, parents' education and family support were indirect predictors of academic achievement, mediated by pre-university grades and adjustment to university. The current findings supporting evidence that academic achievement in first-year Spanish students is the cumulative effect of pre-entry characteristics and process variables, key factors that should be taken into account in designing intervention strategies involving families and that establish stronger links between research findings and university policies.
Flight Activity and Dispersal of the Cabbage Seedpod Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are Related to Atmospheric Conditions

ABSTRACT The cabbage seedpod weevil, Ceutorhynchus obstrictus (Marsham) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an invasive pest of canola (Brassica napus L. and Brassica rapa L.) in western Canada. Under current climatic conditions, C. obstrictus is spreading from established populations in southwestern Alberta at ≈55 km/yr. We studied the influence of climatic conditions on C. obstrictus flight behavior in 2007 and 2008 and eastward dispersal from the western border of Saskatchewan from 2002 to 2007. Positive linear relationships between increases in mean temperature and flight height and between greater mean maximum temperature and expanded dispersal distances were significant. Increases in relative humidity were associated with reduced flight heights and dispersal distances. We developed models that predict the relationships of temperature and relative humidity with flight height and with dispersal distance. We also discuss implications for C. obstrictus dispersal under current climatic conditions and in the context of predicted climate change.
Modeling Pharmacological Clock and Memory Patterns of Interval Timing in a Striatal Beat-Frequency Model with Realistic, Noisy Neurons

In most species, the capability of perceiving and using the passage of time in the seconds-to-minutes range (interval timing) is not only accurate but also scalar: errors in time estimation are linearly related to the estimated duration. The ubiquity of scalar timing extends over behavioral, lesion, and pharmacological manipulations. For example, in mammals, dopaminergic drugs induce an immediate, scalar change in the perceived time (clock pattern), whereas cholinergic drugs induce a gradual, scalar change in perceived time (memory pattern). How do these properties emerge from unreliable, noisy neurons firing in the milliseconds range? Neurobiological information relative to the brain circuits involved in interval timing provide support for an striatal beat frequency (SBF) model, in which time is coded by the coincidental activation of striatal spiny neurons by cortical neural oscillators. While biologically plausible, the impracticality of perfect oscillators, or their lack thereof, questions this mechanism in a brain with noisy neurons. We explored the computational mechanisms required for the clock and memory patterns in an SBF model with biophysically realistic and noisy Morris–Lecar neurons (SBF–ML). Under the assumption that dopaminergic drugs modulate the firing frequency of cortical oscillators, and that cholinergic drugs modulate the memory representation of the criterion time, we show that our SBF–ML model can reproduce the pharmacological clock and memory patterns observed in the literature. Numerical results also indicate that parameter variability (noise) – which is ubiquitous in the form of small fluctuations in the intrinsic frequencies of neural oscillators within and between trials, and in the errors in recording/retrieving stored information related to criterion time – seems to be critical for the time-scale invariance of the clock and memory patterns.
Diffraction Structural Biology Synchrotron Radiation Experiences with Archived Raw Diffraction Images Data: Capturing Cisplatin after Chemical Conversion of Carboplatin in High Salt Conditions for a Protein Crystal

The archiving of raw diffraction images data is the focus of an IUCr Diffraction Data Deposition Working Group (see http://forums.iucr.org/). Experience in archiving and sharing of raw diffraction images data in collaboration between Manchester and Utrecht Universities, studying the binding of the important anti-cancer agents, cisplatin and carboplatin to histidine in a protein, has recently been published. Subsequently, these studies have been expanded due to further analyses of each data set of raw diffraction images using the diffraction data processing program XDS. The raw diffraction images, measured at Manchester University, are available for download at Utrecht University and now also mirrored at the Tardis Raw Diffraction Data Archive in Australia. Thus a direct comparison of processed diffraction and derived protein model data from XDS with the published results has been made. The issue of conversion of carboplatin to cisplatin under a high chloride salt concentration has been taken up and a detailed crystallographic assessment is provided. Overall, these new structural chemistry research results are presented followed by a short summary of developing raw data archiving policy and practicalities as well as documenting the challenge of making appropriate and detailed recording of the metadata for crystallography.
Time course profiling of the retinal transcriptome after optic nerve transection and optic nerve crush

Purpose A time-course analysis of gene regulation in the adult rat retina after intraorbital nerve crush (IONC) and intraorbital nerve transection (IONT). Methods RNA was extracted from adult rat retinas undergoing either IONT or IONC at increasing times post-lesion. Affymetrix RAE230.2 arrays were hybridized and analyzed. Statistically regulated genes were annotated and functionally clustered. Arrays were validated by means of quantative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT–PCR) on ten regulated genes at two times post-lesion. Western blotting and immunohistofluorescence for four pro-apoptotic proteins were performed on naïve and injured retinas. Finally, custom signaling maps for IONT- and IONC-induced death response were generated (MetaCore, Genego Inc.). Results Here we show that over time, 3,219 sequences were regulated after IONT and 1,996 after IONC. Out of the total of regulated sequences, 1,078 were commonly regulated by both injuries. Interestingly, while IONT mainly triggers a gene upregulation-sustained over time, IONC causes a transitory downregulation. Functional clustering identified the regulation of high interest biologic processes, most importantly cell death wherein apoptosis was the most significant cluster. Ten death-related genes upregulated by both injuries were used for array validation by means of qRT–PCR. In addition, western blotting and immunohistofluorescence of total and active Caspase 3 (Casp3), tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 associated death domain (TRADD), tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1a (TNFR1a), and c-fos were performed to confirm their protein regulation and expression pattern in naïve and injured retinas. These analyses demonstrated that for these genes, protein regulation followed transcriptional regulation and that these pro-apoptotic proteins were expressed by retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). MetaCore-based death-signaling maps show that several apoptotic cascades were regulated in the retina following optic nerve injury and highlight the similarities and differences between IONT and IONC in cell death profiling. Conclusions This comprehensive time course retinal transcriptome study comparing IONT and IONC lesions provides a unique valuable tool to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying optic nerve injury and to design neuroprotective protocols.
Requirement for Abasic Endonuclease Gene Homologues in Arabidopsis Seed Development

Arabidopsis thaliana has three genes, Ape1L, Ape2, and Arp, that show homology to abasic (apurinic/apyrimidinic) endonuclease genes of bacterial, yeast, or animal cells. In bacteria, yeast, and animals, abasic endonucleases function in base excision repair of oxidized and other modified DNA bases. Here we report that plants with knock-out mutations in any one of Ape1L, Ape2, or Arp show no apparent differences from wild type in growth rate, growth habit, and fertility. However, coincident knock-out mutations in Ape1L and Ape2 are lethal and lead to abortion of developing embryos. Mutations of Arp are not deleterious, even in combination with one of the other two mutations. The results are consistent with the interpretation that the process of base excision repair, involving at least one intact copy of Ape1L or Ape2, is required in the process of embryogenesis.
On the Implications of the Solvability of the Supervisory Control Problem for Certain In nite-State Discrete Event Dynamic systems

We show that certain forbidden-state, and forbidden-string 6, 5, 11] supervisory control problems involving innnite-state systems has a solution if and only if a corresponding problem for every nite-state subsystem of the original innnite-state system has a solution. Using this observation we argue the existence of a solution procedure for certain innnite-state systems (cf. 10, 8, 9]) implies it is computationally ben-eecial to model certain large, nite-state systems as innnite-state systems and use the procedures developed to handle innnite-state systems in place of those developed to handle nite-state systems (cf.2]). We illustrate this approach using two examples.
Hydrodynamics of a robotic fish tail: effects of the caudal peduncle, fin ray motions and the flow speed

Recent advances in understanding fish locomotion with robotic devices have included the use of biomimetic flapping based and fin undulatory locomotion based robots, treating two locomotions separately from each other. However, in most fish species, patterns of active movements of fins occur in concert with the body undulatory deformation during swimming. In this paper, we describe a biomimetic robotic caudal fin programmed with individually actuated fin rays to mimic the fin motion of the Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) and coupled with heave and pitch oscillatory motions adding to the robot to mimic the peduncle motion which is derived from the undulatory fish body. Multiple-axis force and digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) experiments from both the vertical and horizontal planes behind the robotic model were conducted under different motion programs and flow speeds. We found that both mean thrust and lift could be altered by changing the phase difference (φ) from 0° to 360° between the robotic caudal peduncle and the fin ray motion (spanning from 3 mN to 124 mN). Notably, DPIV results demonstrated that the caudal fin generated multiple wake flow patterns in both the vertical and horizontal planes by varying φ. Vortex jet angle and thrust impulse also varied significantly both in these two planes. In addition, the vortex shedding position along the spanwise tail direction could be shifted around the mid-sagittal position between the upper and lower lobes by changing the phase difference. We hypothesize that the fish caudal fin may serve as a flexible vectoring propeller during swimming and may be critical for the high maneuverability of fish.
Response to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) in normal man.

Synthetic thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) was administered intravenously to normal human subjects to define the normal range of serum thyrotropin (TSH) response to TRH and some of the variables that affect this response. The maximum increase in serum TSH (maximum ΔTSH) following TRH was employed as the index of response. These were the results: 1) The maximum ΔTSH increased linearly when the TRH dose was increased from 6.25 to 400 μg. Since 800 μg produced no greater response than 400 μg, 400 μg is recommended as the standard test dose for evaluating TSH secretion. 2) Consistency of TSH response was evaluated by administration of the same dose (400 μg) of TRH to each of five subjects on four different occasions. The coefficients of variation of the maximum ΔTSH's in each subject ranged from 11–22% in four subjects and was 40% in the fifth. 3) TSH responsiveness to TRH was not significantly affected by sex. maximum ΔTSH in 20–39 year-old females was 16.8 ± 1.6 μU/ml (mean ± sem), and that in height- an.
Prevalence and Predictors of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center, Riyadh City, KSA

Background. Antibiotics are responsible for most dramatic improvement in medical therapy in history. These medications contributed significantly to the decreasing mortality and morbidity when prescribed based on evidence of microbial infection. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of self-prescription with antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center, Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods. Cross-sectional study was conducted in Al Wazarat Health Center between February 2014 and November 2014. Respondents were randomly selected using a multistage clustered random sampling technique. Data was entered into SPSS version 21 and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression models were applied. Results. A total of 681 patients have participated in this study with a response rate of 92%. The prevalence of self-prescription with antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center was 78.7%. Amoxicillin was the most used self-prescribed antibiotic with prevalence of (22.3%). Friend advice on self-prescription of antibiotics use (p = 0.000) and pharmacy near to the participants (p = 0.002) were the most common predictors for self-prescription with antibiotics. Conclusion. The level of self-prescribing antibiotics is relatively high among participants. Health education on the appropriate use of antibiotics is highly recommended. The proper use of treatment guidelines for antibiotic therapy will significantly reduce self-prescription with antibiotics.
H∞ control for discrete-time systems by quantized state feedback

This paper is concerned with the quantized state feedback Hinfin control problem for discrete-time linear time- invariant (LTI) systems. The quantizer considered here is dynamic and composed of an adjustable "zoom" parameter and a static quantizer. Static quantizer ranges are with practical significance and fully considered here. Firstly, by taking quantization errors into account, a quantized control strategy is derived such that the quantized closed-loop system is asymptotically stable and with a prescribed Hinfin performance bound. Then, based on this result, an iterative LMI-based optimization algorithm is proposed to optimize the static quantizer ranges with meeting Hinfin performance requirements for closed-loop systems. An example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Basic Scale on Insomnia complaints and Quality of Sleep (BaSIQS): Reliability, initial validity and normative scores in higher education students

Based on successive samples totaling more than 5000 higher education students, we scrutinized the reliability, structure, initial validity and normative scores of a brief self-report seven-item scale to screen for the continuum of nighttime insomnia complaints/perceived sleep quality, used by our team for more than a decade, henceforth labeled the Basic Scale on Insomnia complaints and Quality of Sleep (BaSIQS). In study/sample 1 (n = 1654), the items were developed based on part of a larger survey on higher education sleep–wake patterns. The test–retest study was conducted in an independent small group (n = 33) with a 2–8 week gap. In study/sample 2 (n = 360), focused mainly on validity, the BaSIQS was completed together with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). In study 3, a large recent sample of students from universities all over the country (n = 2995) answered the BaSIQS items, based on which normative scores were determined, and an additional question on perceived sleep problems in order to further analyze the scale’s validity. Regarding reliability, Cronbach alpha coefficients were systematically higher than 0.7, and the test–retest correlation coefficient was greater than 0.8. Structure analyses revealed consistently satisfactory two-factor and single-factor solutions. Concerning validity analyses, BaSIQS scores were significantly correlated with PSQI component scores and overall score (r = 0.652 corresponding to a large association); mean scores were significantly higher in those students classifying themselves as having sleep problems (p < 0.0001, d = 0.99 corresponding to a large effect size). In conclusion, the BaSIQS is very easy to administer, and appears to be a reliable and valid scale in higher education students. It might be a convenient short tool in research and applied settings to rapidly assess sleep quality or screen for insomnia complaints, and it may be easily used in other populations with minor adaptations.
Atherosclerosis of Cynomolgus Monkeys Hyper‐ and Hyporesponsive to Dietary Cholesterol: Lack of Effect of Vasectomy

A moderately atherogenlc diet was fed to young adult cynomolgus macaque males that were observed to be either hypoor hyperresponsive to dietary cholesterol and who were randomized Into groups to be either vasectomlzed or sham-vasectomlzed. The extent of atherosclerosis was found to be considerably greater at all arterial sites studied for the monkeys that were hyperresponsive to dietary cholesterol. The differences in atherosclerosis development among the hyperresponder monkeys occurred primarily In the proximal portions of the coronary arteries, the proximal and distal portions of the common carotid arteries, and only In the most proximal portions of the femoral arteries. There were no significant effects of vasectomy or sham vasectomy on atherosclerosis extent In either the hyperor the hyporespond- Ing groups, although there was a suggestion of somewhat larger lesions In the left circumflex coronary artery of hyperresponder monkeys that were vasectomlzed and somewhat smaller atherosclerotic lesions In the left common carotid arteries of vasectomlzed monkeys. The data presented here do not support our first report of worsened atherosclerosis among cynomolgus monkeys fed diets high In cholesterol. The findings of the current study are consistent with recent epidemlologlcal studies of vasectomlzed and nonvasectomlzed human males.