Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On computing robust n-finger force-closure grasps of 3D objects

The paper deals with computing frictional force-closure grasps of 3D objects problem. The key idea of the presented work is the demonstration that wrenches associated to any three non-aligned contact points of 3D objects form a basis of their corresponding wrench space. This result permits the formulation of a new sufficient force-closure test. Our approach works with general objects, modelled with a set of points, and with any number n of contacts (n é 4). A quality criterion is also introduced. A corresponding algorithm for computing robust force-closure grasps has been developed. Its efficiency is confirmed by comparing it to the classical convex-hull method [26].
Dynamic Pose-Robust Facial Expression Recognition by Multi-View Pairwise Conditional Random Forests

Automatic facial expression classification (FER) from videos is a critical problem for the development of intelligent human-computer interaction systems. Still, it is a challenging problem that involves capturing high-dimensional spatio-temporal patterns describing the variation of one's appearance over time. Such representation undergoes great variability of the facial morphology and environmental factors as well as head pose variations. In this paper, we use Conditional Random Forests to capture low-level expression transition patterns. More specifically, heterogeneous derivative features (e.g., feature point movements or texture variations) are evaluated upon pairs of images. When testing on a video frame, pairs are created between this current frame and previous ones and predictions for each previous frame are used to draw trees from Pairwise Conditional Random Forests (PCRF) whose pairwise outputs are averaged over time to produce robust estimates. Moreover, PCRF collections can also be conditioned on head pose estimation for multi-view dynamic FER. As such, our approach appears as a natural extension of Random Forests for learning spatio-temporal patterns, potentially from multiple viewpoints. Experiments on popular datasets show that our method leads to significant improvements over standard Random Forests as well as state-of-the-art approaches on several scenarios, including a novel multi-view video corpus generated from a publicly available database.
Radiographic analyses of "advanced" marginal bone loss around Brånemark dental implants.

BACKGROUND Dental implant failures have a multifactorial background; dependency within patient/jaw exists. Failures caused by bone loss are rare. Lately, advanced bone loss around implants has been discussed. PURPOSES Our aim was to study advanced bone level changes (>or=2 mm) regarding "clustering effect," prediction, and dependency. Further, we also aimed to study if the number of radiographs/radiographic examinations could be reduced. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six hundred and forty patients (3,462 Brånemark implants) with radiographic follow-ups >or=5 years were included, whereas patients with overdentures and augmentation procedures were excluded. RESULTS Progression rate for implants with advanced bone loss was largest during the first year; thereafter, slow. A cluster effect was found with more advanced bone loss in few patients. Position was important for lower jaw implants with larger bone loss for implants placed close to midline. Age, jaw type, and implant placement were identified as predictors. The longer the follow-ups, the more bone loss around a randomly selected and examined implant, and the more implants per patient, the higher the risk for bone loss >or=2 mm around any other implant. Still, it seems safe to exclude radiographic follow-ups during the first 5 years. Dependency within the patient was found, hence the "one-implant-per-patient technique" can be applied. CONCLUSION The number of intraoral radiographs per examination and, more importantly, radiographic examinations can be reduced without jeopardizing good clinical management, a statement valid even for Brånemark implants with advanced bone loss.
Bandwidth enhancement of single-mode VCSEL with lateral optical feedback of slow light

In this paper a novel method to increase the modulation bandwidth of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) is proposed. The modeling predicts that the modulation bandwidth can be enhanced by 60% with lateral optical feedback. Even if the relaxation oscillation frequency is below 15GHz without optical feedback, the modulation bandwidth can reach at 40GHz beyond the limit of a relaxation oscillation frequency. Small and large-signal-modulation analysis is carried out. The result shows a potential of high-speed modulation beyond 40Gbps for use in low-power consumption optical interconnects.
Experimental investigation on BOF slag oxidation in air

Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag contains a significant amount of iron-containing species, which is considered to be iron resources and therefore need to be recovered. In this work, the oxidation behaviour of BOF slag under air (at selected oxidation temperatures and holding time) was investigated to explore the potential of transforming non-magnetic wustite in the BOF slag into magnetic spinel, which may subsequently be recovered by magnetic separation. The experimental results show that the iron-containing spices in the BOF slag can be oxidised into magnetic spinel phases in the investigated temperature range of 1000–1150°C and thereafter be recovered by magnetic separation. The formation of these phases is closely related to the oxidation temperatures and holding time: a higher oxidation temperature and longer holding time lead to a larger amount of formed magnetic species; however, the amount of formed magnetic species decreases at elevated temperature (>1050°C) and with extended holding time (>40 min).
Characteristics of ferrocement sandwich aerated concrete wall elements incorporating pozzolanic waste materials

Sandwich construction is defined as a structure that is constructed using ferrocement and aerated concrete. In contrast to the conventional concrete system, it is usually made of thin face sheets or encasement of high performance material and a thick, lightweight and low strength material as core element. Partial substitution of cement with pozzolanic materials and replacement of fine aggregate with bottom ash in this sandwich system could, be a viable strategy for reducing cement and fine aggregate consumption without impairing the performance of the system. However, the main problem of a sandwich construction is the delamination of the face sheets leading to their premature failure which is believed can be avoided by providing encasement over the core. This research focuses on the development and the characteristics of ferrocement sandwich aerated concrete wall elements by partial substitution of cement with palm oil fuel ash (POFA), pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and fine aggregate with bottom ash (BA) at varying proportions. The tests conducted involved the optimization of POFA, PFA and BA in binary and ternary cement blends in producing self-compacting and aerated concrete of desired properties for ferrocement encasement and core. In addition, the development of ferrocement encased lightweight aerated concrete sandwich wall elements as well as the investigation of strength characteristics and the durability properties were also conducted. The performance of the mixes was studied in terms of the workability, density and compressive strength. The partial replacement of cement with pozzolanic materials was done by weight in the range of 0 to 50% of the cement. Other aspects of the study included, failure mode, flexural behaviour, load-deflection behaviour, loaddeformation behaviour and load-strain behaviour. From the study, it was observed that the workability of the mixes containing POFA and PFA were significantly improved by 116%, as well as the compressive strength (93%) and unit weight by 45%. The performance of one layer wire mesh (WM) and plastic mesh (PM) showed satisfactory results in ductility and deformation. An increase of 166% (WM) and 66% (PM) for compressive were observed. At the same time, for flexure strength an increase of 39% (WM) and 95% (PM) were achieved. No delamination were found for both WM and PM wall element. In addition, the durability test on the wall elements in terms of permeability, acid attack and elevated temperature demonstrated high potentials of the specimens to be used under aggressive environment. Furthermore, the deformations of wall elements were validated with Finite element model using ANSYS software and the values predicted from the ANSYS software models were 85% - 90% accuracy compared to the experimental results. Finally, the sandwich incorporating one layer of plastic mesh can be used as a wall unit with minimum risk of delamination.
Hepatocyte‐specific Ptpn6 deletion promotes hepatic lipid accretion, but reduces NAFLD in diet‐induced obesity: Potential role of PPARγ

Hepatocyte‐specific Shp1 knockout mice (Ptpn6H‐KO) are protected from hepatic insulin resistance evoked by high‐fat diet (HFD) feeding for 8 weeks. Unexpectedly, we report herein that Ptpn6H‐KO mice fed an HFD for up to 16 weeks are still protected from insulin resistance, but are more prone to hepatic steatosis, as compared with their HFD‐fed Ptpn6f/f counterparts. The livers from HFD‐fed Ptpn6H‐KO mice displayed 1) augmented lipogenesis, marked by increased expression of several hepatic genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, 2) elevated postprandial fatty acid uptake, and 3) significantly reduced lipid export with enhanced degradation of apolipoprotein B (ApoB). Despite more extensive hepatic steatosis, the inflammatory profile of the HFD‐fed Ptpn6H‐KO liver was similar (8 weeks) or even improved (16 weeks) as compared to their HFD‐fed Ptpn6f/f littermates, along with reduced hepatocellular damage as revealed by serum levels of hepatic enzymes. Interestingly, comparative microarray analysis revealed a significant up‐regulation of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) gene expression, confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Elevated PPARγ nuclear activity also was observed and found to be directly regulated by Shp1 in a cell‐autonomous manner. Conclusion: These findings highlight a novel role for hepatocyte Shp1 in the regulation of PPARγ and hepatic lipid metabolism. Shp1 deficiency prevents the development of severe hepatic inflammation and hepatocellular damage in steatotic livers, presenting hepatocyte Shp1 as a potential novel mediator of nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases in obesity. (Hepatology 2014;59:1803–1815)
Are parents more willing to vaccinate their children than themselves?

Risk perception studies have focused on personal risks; yet many decisions are taken for others. Some studies have suggested that parents are especially sensitive to risks to their children. We compared 245 parents’ willingness to vaccinate their child versus themselves in nine hypothetical scenarios relating to influenza strains. Scenarios varied according to non-vaccination risk (low, medium and high) and ‘risk target’ (oneself, one’s child or, as a comparator, one’s elderly parent). Participants were more willing to vaccinate their child (61% acceptance) than themselves (54%) or their parent (56%). Parents may be more risk-sensitive when deciding for their child than for themselves.
A rare case of isoniazid-induced erythroderma

Tuberculosis is a common infectious disease in developing countries. Isoniazid is established the first-line antitubercular drug and an essential component of all antitubercular regimens. Erythroderma caused by isoniazid is an uncommon but serious adverse drug reaction. We report here a case of a 63-year-old female patient who presented with generalized redness and scaling with itching after 8 weeks of antitubercular treatment (ATT). ATT was stopped immediately, and antihistaminics were started. The patient improved over a period of 2 weeks. On sequential rechallenge, she developed similar lesions all over the body with isoniazid, hence confirming the diagnosis of isoniazid-induced erythroderma.
Security behaviors of smartphone users

Purpose – This paper aims to report on the information security behaviors of smartphone users in an affluent economy of the Middle East. Design/methodology/approach – A model based on prior research, synthesized from a thorough literature review, is tested using survey data from 500 smartphone users representing three major mobile operating systems. Findings – The overall level of security behaviors is low. Regression coefficients indicate that the efficacy of security measures and the cost of adopting them are the main factors influencing smartphone security behaviors. At present, smartphone users are more worried about malware and data leakage than targeted information theft. Research limitations/implications – Threats and counter-measures co-evolve over time, and our findings, which describe the state of smartphone security at the current time, will need to be updated in the future. Practical implications – Measures to improve security practices of smartphone users are needed urgently. The findings ind.
Effect of Feeding of Dried Distillers Grains on Feedlot Performance of Tellicherry Goats

A trial was conducted to assess the postweaning growth performance of Tellicherry kids under feeding varying levels of dried distillers grains in an organized goat farm, Injambakkam, Chennai. Thirty six numbers of Tellicherry male kids were randomly divided into four groups. The kids fed with concentrate and roughage in a ratio of 60:40 based on 4 per cent body weight. The concentrate mixture contained varying levels of dried distillers grains T1 (0 per cent) as a control diet, T2 (5 per cent DDG), T3 (10 per cent DDG) and T4 (15 per cent DDG). Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) straw was used as a sole source of roughage. The results showed that there was significant increase in postweaning body weight in T4 followed by T3, T2 and T1. The average daily dry matter intake and body measurements were not significant different among treatment groups but higher in dried distillers grains supplemented groups than control. The average daily gain was significant higher in T4, T3 and T2. The feed conversion ratio was lower in dried distillers grains supplemented group than control. However, inclusion of dried distillers grains up to 15 per cent in concentrate diet as an alternative feed for goats and it can replace a portion of soybean meal and maize up to 15 per cent of the concentrate diet in growing meat goats.
Monitoring cotton bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac in two counties of northern China during 2009-2013.

BACKGROUND Transgenic cotton that expresses a gene derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been deployed for combating cotton bollworm in China since 1997. As a follow-up on research started in 2002, the quantitative shifts in larval Cry1Ac resistance of field Helicoverpa armigera populations were monitored from 2009-2013 using bioassays of isofemale lines. RESULTS A total of 2837 lines from Xiajin and 2055 lines from Anci were screened for growth rate on normal artificial diet and on a diet containing 1.0 µg mL(-1) of Cry1A(c) toxin. In 2009-2013, the mean relative average development rates (RADRs) of H. armigera larvae in the Xiajin population were 0.62, 0.59, 0.59, 0.58 and 0.62 respectively, and in the Anci population 0.54, 0.58, 0.60, 0.53 and 0.62 respectively. CONCLUSIONS Compared with previous results in 2002, there was an increase in the RADR of H. armigera during 2009-2013, with ratios of 1.53-1.63 and 1.77-2.07 in the respective Xiajin and Anci populations, suggesting that resistance to Cry1Ac has increased in H. armigera populations in northern China.
Rule model simplification

Due to its high performance and comprehensibility, fuzzy modelling is becoming more and more popular in dealing with nonlinear, uncertain and complex systems for tasks such as signal processing, medical diagnosis and financial investment. However, there are no principal routine methods to obtain the optimum fuzzy rule base which is not only compact but also retains high prediction (or classification) performance. In order to achieve this, two major problems need to be addressed. First, as the number of input variables increases, the number of possible rules grows exponentially (termed curse of dimensionality). It inevitably deteriorates the transparency of the rule model and can lead to over-fitting, with the model obtaining high performance on the training data but failing to predict the unknown data successfully. Second, gaps may occur in the rule base if the problem is too compact (termed sparse rule base). As a result, it cannot be handled by conventional fuzzy inference such as Mamdani. This Ph.D. work proposes a rule base simplification method and a family of fuzzy interpolation methods to solve the aforementioned two problems. The proposed simplification method reduces the rule base complexity via Retrieving Data from Rules (RDFR). It first retrieves a collection of new data from an original rule base. Then the new data is used for re-training to build a more compact rule model. This method has four advantages: 1) It can simplify rule bases without using the original training data, but is capable of dealing with combinations of rules and data. 2) It can integrate with any rule induction or reduction schemes. 3) It implements the similarity merging and inconsistency removal approaches. 4) It can make use of rule weights. Illustrative examples have been given to demonstrate the potential of this work. The second part of the work concerns the development of a family of transformation based fuzzy interpolation methods (termed HS methods). These methods first introduce the general concept of representative values (RVs), and then use this to interpolate fuzzy rules involving arbitrary polygonal fuzzy sets, by means of scale and move transformations. This family consists of two sub-categories: namely, the original HS methods and the enhanced HS methods. The HS methods not only inherit the common advantages of fuzzy interpolative reasoning – helping reduce rule base complexity and allowing inferences to be performed within simple and sparse rule bases –
BACE2 as a new diabetes target: a patent review (2010 – 2012)

Introduction: When two novel aspartyl proteases were published in 1999 and 2000, beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) was confirmed as the long sought after beta-secretase and Alzheimer's disease drug target. However, the role of its paralogue, BACE2, proved elusive until a 2011 publication implicated it as a Collectrin (TMEM27) secretase controlling pancreatic beta-cell proliferation and a new therapeutic intervention for diabetes. Areas covered: This review, using SureChemOpen, encompasses early validation compounds and small-molecule BACE2 inhibitors for diabetes. Since 2010, one assay patent and several chemical series have been published by Roche but these were followed by filings from Novartis and Schering in 2012. The patents from these three companies include BACE2-only filings but also some specifying both BACE1 and BACE2 inhibitors. Expert opinion: Roche's early collaborative target validation has given them a lead in BACE2 medicinal chemistry. However, the extensive data output for BACE1 in patents and papers over the last decade, plus liganded crystal structures for both proteases, should expedite the design of BACE2 inhibitors by other organisations. This may also shorten the development time for clinical candidates that, unlike those now entering Phase I trials for BACE1, would not need to be brain-penetrant.
Coping strategies, quality of life and pain in women with breast cancer

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among Iranian women and is a significant stressor in women's life that may affect their coping strategies and quality of life. This study aimed to investigate coping strategies, quality of life and pain of women with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which held in Seyed-AL shohada hospital and two private offices in Isfahan, Iran. Target population was women with confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer in a recent year and between 18 and 60 years old. Data were collected via3 questionnaires (Brief cope, EORTC QLQ-C30 and Brief pain Inventory). The reliability and validity of these questionnaires were confirmed in different studies. Sixty-two patients completed the questionnaires. Analysis included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test where necessary. All analysis were conducted using the SPSS version 16.0 and P-value of less than 0.05 considered as statistically significant. Results: Sixty-two women with breast cancer completed questionnaires. The mean age of respondents was 45/81±6/78 years; most married (93/5%), high school-educated (41/97%), house wife (82/3%) and stage II (46/8%). The most common coping strategies were religion, acceptance, self-distraction, planning, active coping, positive reframing and denial. Mean score for the worst pain during the past 24 hours was 6/24 ± 2/55 and for the least pain was 3/19 ± 2/17. The global health scale was 60.34 ± 21.10. Emotion-focused coping strategies were positively and significantly related to symptom aspect of quality of life (r = 0/43 P ≤ 0/01) and affective interference of pain (r = 0/36 P = 0/004) and also was inversely correlated to functional health status (r = −0/38 P = 0/002). There was no significant correlation between problem-focused coping strategies and dimensions of quality of life and also different aspects of pain. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that the care of breast cancer should address physical, psychological and social wellbeing and the findings point to the importance of taking individual coping strategies into account when evaluating the impact of breast cancer on psychosocial wellbeing. Description of coping strategies might be useful for identifying patients in need to particular counseling and support.
SEX RATIO AT BIRTH AND FAMILY COMPOSITION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: INTER-COUPLE VARIATIONS

Summary In this study, sex ratios at birth (male/female births) were found to vary according to family composition. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) maternity histories from sub-Saharan Africa, the study shows that the sex ratio at birth increases with the number of previous male births and decreases with the number of previous female births. For families with only males, the sex ratio increases from 1·046 for the first birth to 1·083 for the 8th birth. For families with only females, the sex ratio decreases from 1·046 for the first birth to 0·942 for the 8th birth. The differences were highly significant when tested with a linear logistic model (p=0·018 for males; p=1·85✕10−11 for females). The effect was not symmetrical, and was found to be significantly stronger for females. These effects could be reproduced assuming a strong heterogeneity between couples. The distribution of sex ratios was fitted with an asymmetrical log-gamma function, which revealed a wide range of variation in the sex ratio between 0·50 and 1·30, and a peak around 1·14. The results and their implications are discussed in the light of former findings in France and in the United States of America.