Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning and Execution of Object Manipulation Tasks on Humanoid Robots

Equipping robots with complex capabilities still requires a great amount of effort. In this work, a novel approach is proposed to understand, to represent and to execute object manipulation tasks learned from observation by combining methods of data analysis, graphical modeling and artificial intelligence. Employing this approach enables robots to reason about how to solve tasks in dynamic environments and to adapt to unseen situations.
Identification of Different Modes of Molecular Motion in Polymers That Cause Thermorheological Complexity

Abstract The viscoelastic properties of amorphous polymers are reviewed with emphasis on the glass to rubber dispersion (often referred to as the transition zone). Deviations from thermorheologieal simplicity (where molecular retardation and relaxation mechanisms have the same temperature dependence) are identified. Most theories and models of polymer chain dynamics do not address or acknowledge thermorheological complexities and correlations, such as that between the temperature dependence and the breadth of viscoelastic and dielectric dispersions of the local segmental motion. Without successful theories of these phenomena the understanding of polymer chain dynamics must be considered incomplete. In this review, old and new experimental data are used to identify the different modes of molecular motions and the domains of their contributions to the time and frequency dependence of the mechanical response of amorphous polymers. The different modes are then shown generally to have their own dependence on t.
Nanostructured Tungsten Oxide – Properties, Synthesis, and Applications

Metal oxides are the key ingredients for the development of many advanced functional materials and smart devices. Nanostructuring has emerged as one of the best tools to unlock their full potential. Tungsten oxides (WOx) are unique materials that have been rigorously studied for their chromism, photocatalysis, and sensing capabilities. However, they exhibit further important properties and functionalities that have received relatively little attention in the past. This Feature Article presents a general review of nanostructured WOx, their properties, methods of synthesis, and a description of how they can be used in unique ways for different applications.
The effect of artifact correction on spectral estimates of heart rate variability

Spectral analysis of fetal heart rate variability might offer additional information that can be used for assessing the fetal condition more reliably. Clinical recordings of fetal heart rate are usually contaminated by artifacts. These artifacts can be detected and corrected or removed, but this can affect the spectral estimates obtained from the heart rate data. To determine what level of artifact correction is still acceptable for reliable calculation of spectral heart rate variability parameters, artifact correction is simulated on neonatal and fetal data that did originally not contain artifacts. 2000 data segments with various levels of artifact correction are analyzed spectrally, and calculated spectral estimates are compared to the values obtained from the original, artifact free data. In the very low (< 0.04 Hz) and low (0.04 – 0.15 Hz) frequency range, powers can be calculated reliably when up to 25% of the data are missing due to artifact correction. Powers in the high frequency range (0.15 – 0.4 Hz for adults, 0.4 – 1.5 Hz for newborns) cannot be calculated reliably when data are missing due to artifact correction. This is a major limitation for application in clinical practice, which might be solved by calculating power in the high frequency range at a shorter time scale than power in the low frequency range. Short segments of heart rate data that are free of artifacts can then be used to calculate powers in the high frequency range reliably, while segments that contain artifacts are excluded.
Not Just Another Type of Resistance - towards a Deeper Understanding of Supportive non-Use

Research on information system (IS) adoption and resistance has accumulated substantial theoretical and managerial knowledge. Surprisingly, the paradox that end users support and at the same time resist use of an IS has received relatively little attention. The investigation of this puzzle, however, is important to complement our understanding of resistant behaviours and consequently to strengthen the explanatory power of extant theoretical constructs on IS resistance. We investigate an IS project within the healthcare sector in the UK in which end-users, who were heavily involved during the design, implementation and roll out, expressed their support for the system, while simultaneously showing resistance. To examine this behaviour in detail, we applied Q methodology. As a result, we identified three different groups: (1) The convinced connector, waiting for collaborators. (2) The savvy explorer, sceptical about the tools’ benefits. (3) The ambivalent follower, overwhelmed by complexity. While the behaviour is similar across all three groups, the reasons for not using the system differ significantly. Based on these groups, as our main contribution, we explain the paradox of supportive nonuse. We further add a fine grained understanding of supportive non-use to the existing types of IS resistance.
Comment on Barabasi, Nature 435, 207 (2005)

In a recent letter, Barabasi claims that the dynamics of a number of human activities are scale-free [1]. He specifically reports that the probability distribution of time intervals tau between consecutive e-mails sent by a single user and time delays for e-mail replies follow a power-law with an exponent -1, and proposes a priority-queuing process as an explanation of the bursty nature of human activity. Here, we quantitatively demonstrate that the reported power-law distributions are solely an artifact of the analysis of the empirical data and that the proposed model is not representative of e-mail communication patterns.
SELC: a self-supervised model for sentiment classification

This paper presents the SELC Model (SElf-Supervised, (Lexicon-based and (Corpus-based Model) for sentiment classification. The SELC Model includes two phases. The first phase is a lexicon-based iterative process. In this phase, some reviews are initially classified based on a sentiment dictionary. Then more reviews are classified through an iterative process with a negative/positive ratio control. In the second phase, a supervised classifier is learned by taking some reviews classified in the first phase as training data. Then the supervised classifier applies on other reviews to revise the results produced in the first phase. Experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed model. SELC totally achieves 6.63% F1-score improvement over the best result in previous studies on the same data (from 82.72% to 89.35%). The first phase of the SELC Model independently achieves 5.90% improvement (from 82.72% to 88.62%). Moreover, the standard deviation of F1-scores is reduced, which shows that the SELC Model could be more suitable for domain-independent sentiment classification.
Capacity for financial decision making in multiple sclerosis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Cognitive impairment often occurs in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), and dysfunction involving executive function, new learning, and working memory is especially common. Compromised activities of daily living are linked to this cognitive impairment, and people with MS are apt to be unemployed and struggle to manage domestic responsibilities. Financial decision making is an important activity of daily living, and no study has examined whether it is compromised by neuropsychological dysfunction in people with MS. Method: A battery of neuropsychological tests and a measure of financial decision making (Financial Capacity Instrument, FCI: Marson, D. C. 2001. Loss of financial capacity in dementia: Conceptual and empirical approaches. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 8, 164–181) were administered to 50 participants (34 patients with MS and 16 cognitively healthy adults). Based on the neuropsychological test results, 14 patients were classified as having cognitive impairment, and 20 had no significant impairment. Results: The impaired MS patients performed significantly worse than unimpaired patients and the healthy comparison group on most financial tasks. The impaired group retained abilities to count money and display adequate financial judgment. Regression analyses showed that measures of mental flexibility and working memory correlated most strongly with performance on the FCI domains across groups. Conclusions: Cognitively impaired patients with MS have degraded financial skills, which are linked to executive function and working memory deficits.
SmartSenior@home: Acceptance of an integrated ambient assisted living system. Results of a clinical field trial in 35 households

ABSTRACT Aims: The primary objective of the SmartSenior@home study was to examine the acceptance of the SmartSenior system by older adults. Methods: Twenty-eight partners from industry and research, including the health care sector, worked collaboratively to implement services aiming to maximize independence in old age. The prospective cohort study was conducted in Potsdam, Germany, with n = 35 older adults between 55 and 88 years of age in their apartments. All participants underwent extensive pre- and post-study visits with in-home interviews, functional assessments for cognition, fine motor skills, and mobility as well as responding to questionnaires on user acceptance and quality of life. Results: The results indicate moderate-to-high user acceptance for the SmartSenior system. In particular, the services for general assistance and health, such as audio/video communication, blood pressure monitoring, and communication with a health professional, were rated as very attractive. Less used and less accepted services were those promoting social interaction and reminder services. Conclusion: Besides reliable functioning of the SmartSenior system, the availability of a confidant seems to be the most significant acceptance factor. As one conclusion of this trial, it is possible to develop, integrate, and test an infrastructure for ambient assisted living services in real life.
Synergistic inhibitory effects of deferasirox in combination with decitabine on leukemia cell lines SKM-1, THP-1, and K-562

A multi-center study from the French Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Group confirmed that iron chelation therapy is an independent prognostic factor that can increase the survival rate of patients who are suffering from transfusion-dependent low-risk MDS. In this study, we aimed to explore this clinical phenomena in vitro, by exploring the synergistic effect of the iron chelator Deferasirox (DFX) and the DNA methyl transferase inhibitor Decitabine (DAC) in the leukemia cell lines SKM-1, THP-1, and K-562. Treatment with both DFX or DAC promoted apoptosis, induced cell cycle arrest, and inhibited proliferation in all three of these cell lines. The combination of DFX and DAC was much greater than the effect of using either drug alone. DFX showed a synergistic effect with DAC on cell apoptosis in all three cell lines and on cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase in K-562 cells. DFX decreased the ROS levels to varying degrees. In contrast, DAC increased ROS levels and an increase in ROS was also noted when the two drugs were used in combination. Treatment of cells with DAC induced re-expression of ABAT, APAF-1, FADD, HJV, and SMPD3, presumably through demethylation. However the combination of DAC and DFX just had strong synergistic effect on the re-expression of HJV.
MTGAN: Speaker Verification through Multitasking Triplet Generative Adversarial Networks

In this paper, we propose an enhanced triplet method that improves the encoding process of embeddings by jointly utilizing generative adversarial mechanism and multitasking optimization. We extend our triplet encoder with Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and softmax loss function. GAN is introduced for increasing the generality and diversity of samples, while softmax is for reinforcing features about speakers. For simplification, we term our method Multitasking Triplet Generative Adversarial Networks (MTGAN). Experiment on short utterances demonstrates that MTGAN reduces the verification equal error rate (EER) by 67% (relatively) and 32% (relatively) over conventional i-vector method and state-of-the-art triplet loss method respectively. This effectively indicates that MTGAN outperforms triplet methods in the aspect of expressing the high-level feature of speaker information.
Evaluation of Epoxy Nanocomposites for High Voltage Insulation

Polymeric materials containing nanometer (nm) size particles are being introduced to provide compact shapes for low and medium voltage insulation equipment. The nanocomposites may provide superior electrical performance when compared with those available currently, such as lower dielectric losses and increased dielectric strength, tracking and erosion resistance, and surface hydrophobicity. All of the above mentioned benefits can be achieved at a lower filler concentration (< 10%) than conventional microfillers (40-60%). Also, the uniform shapes of nanofillers provide a better electrical stress distribution as compared to irregular shaped microcomposites which can have high internal electric stress, which could be a problem for devices with active electrical parts. Improvement in electrical performance due to addition of nanofillers in an epoxy matrix has been evaluated in this work. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was done on the epoxy samples to confirm uniform dispersion of nano-sized fillers as good filler dispersion is essential to realize the above stated benefits. Dielectric spectroscopy experiments were conducted over a wide range of frequencies as a function of temperature to understand the role of space charge and interfaces in these materials. The experiment results demonstrate significant reduction in dielectric losses in samples containing nanofillers. High voltage experiments such as corona resistance tests were conducted over 500 hours to monitor degradation in the samples due to corona. These tests revealed improvements in partial discharge endurance of nanocomposite samples. These improvements could not be adequately explained using a macroscopic quantity such as thermal conductivity. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed higher weight loss initiation temperatures for nanofilled samples which is in agreement with the corona resistance experimental results. Theoretical models have also been developed in this work to complement the results of the corona resistance experiment and the TGA analysis. Degradation model was developed to map the erosion path using Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. A thermal model was developed to calculate the localized temperature distribution in the micro and nano-filled samples using the PDE toolbox in MATLAB. Both the models highlight the fact that improvement in nanocomposites is not limited to the filler concentrations that were tested experimentally.
Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasms With Papillary-like Nuclear Features Are Genetically and Biologically Similar to Adenomatous Nodules and Distinct From Papillary Thyroid Carcinomas With Extensive Follicular Growth.

CONTEXT - Proposed noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTPs), formerly noninvasive encapsulated papillary carcinoma, follicular variant (PTC-FV), is an indolent tumor with follicular growth and frequent RAS mutations. OBJECTIVE - To detect histologic and molecular differences separating NIFTP from follicular adenomas (FAs) and invasive carcinomas, particularly papillary carcinomas with extensive follicular growth (PTC-EFGs) and invasive encapsulated PTC-FV (IE-PTC-FV). DESIGN - Sixty-one tumors were reviewed histologically and reclassified into 32 NIFTPs (52%), 4 IE-PTC-FVs (7%), 14 PTC-EFGs (23%), and 11 FAs (18%). Next-generation sequencing for mutations in 50 genes was performed. Clinical outcomes were recorded. RESULTS - The NIFTPs and FAs were well circumscribed and unencapsulated. The FAs had bland nuclei, whereas the NIFTPs showed at least 2 of 3 (67%; sufficient) nuclear features (enlargement, irregular contours, chromatin clearing). The IE-PTC-FVs had follicular growth, sufficient nuclear features, and extensive capsular invasion. The PTC-EFGs had a median of 5% papillae with intrathyroidal invasion (broad-based, sclerotic, or small follicle growth patterns); intranuclear pseudoinclusions were present only in PTC-EFGs (9 of 14; 64%). Mutations included RAS in 20 of the 32 NIFTPs (62%), 4 of the 11 FAs (36%), and 3 of the 4 IE-PTC-FVs (75%); BRAF K601E in 1 NIFTP (3%); BRAF V600E in 5 PTC-EFGs (36%). No NIFTPs or FAs recurred or metastasized. All 4 IE-PTC-FVs (100%) had hematogenous metastasis. Two PTC-EFGs (14%) had lymphatic metastasis. CONCLUSIONS - The morphologic similarity and RAS mutations in FAs, NIFTPs, and IE-PTC-FVs supports the genetic similarity of those follicular neoplasms in contrast to the unique presence of BRAF V600E mutations in PTC-EFGs. Using strict diagnostic criteria supported by molecular testing, tumors with extensive follicular growth can be classified into follicular type or RAS-like (FA, NIFTP, IE-PTC-FV) versus papillary type or BRAF V600E-like (PTC-EFG).
Caffeine Increases Work Done above Critical Power, but Not Anaerobic Work

Purpose The assumption that the curvature constant (W′) of the power–duration relationship represents anaerobic work capacity is a controversial, unresolved question. We investigated if caffeine ingestion could increase total work done above critical power (CP), and if this would be accompanied by greater anaerobic energy expenditure and by an enhanced maintenance of maximal oxidative metabolic rate. Methods Nine men (26.6 ± 5.3 yr, V˙O2max 40.6 ± 5.8 mL·kg−1·min−1) cycled until exhaustion at different exercise intensities on different days to determine the CP and W′. On separated days, participants cycled until exhaustion in the severe-intensity domain (136% ± 7% of CP) after ingesting either caffeine (5 mg·kg−1 body mass) or a placebo. Results Time to exhaustion was 34% longer with caffeine compared with placebo, and this was accompanied by a greater work done above CP (23.7 ± 5.7 vs 17.5 ± 3.6 kJ; 130% ± 30% vs 95% ± 14% of W′, P < 0.01). Caffeine increased the aerobic energy expenditure (296.4 ± 91.0 vs 210.2 ± 71.9 kJ, P < 0.01), but not anaerobic lactic, anaerobic alactic, and total anaerobic (lactic + alactic) energy expenditure. The end values of heart rate and ventilation were higher with caffeine, but the V˙O2 end was similar between conditions and was not different from V˙O2max. Caffeine did not change time to reach V˙O2max but increased time maintained at V˙O2max (199.3 ± 105.9 vs 111.9 ± 87.1 s, P < 0.05). Conclusions Caffeine increased total work done above CP, but this was not associated with greater anaerobic work. Rather, this was associated with a higher tolerance to maintain exercise at maximal oxidative metabolic rate.
ELECTRO SPARK DEPOSITION OF TiB2 LAYERS ON Ti6Al4V ALLOY

The electro spark deposition (ESD) method was used to create hard wear resistant layers of TiB 2 ceramic onto Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. Various deposition parameters and ways and condition of deposition were employed in this study. It was showed that the TiB 2 layer on Ti6Al4Vcan be successfully created even using hand operating ESD equipment. Then, the microstructures of the obtained layers TiB 2 layer on Ti6Al4Vwere investigated using scanning electron microscope. Finally optimal conditions of the electro spark deposition were determined with respect to the obtained microstructure. It was also demonstrated that using of protective argon atmosphere is vital for creation of pore free TiB 2 ceramic layer on Ti6Al4V titanium alloy.
Effect of natural organic matter on the photo‐induced toxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Nano‐titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most widely used form of nanoparticles in commercial industry and comes in 2 main configurations: rutile and anatase. Rutile TiO2 is used in ultraviolet (UV) screening applications, whereas anatase TiO2 crystals have a surface defect that makes them photoreactive. There are numerous reports in the literature of photo‐induced toxicity to aquatic organisms following coexposure to anatase nano‐TiO2 and UV. All natural freshwater contains varying amounts of natural organic matter (NOM), which can drive UV attenuation and quench reactive oxygen species (ROS) in aquatic ecosystems. The present research examined how NOM alters the photo‐induced toxicity of anatase nano‐TiO2. Daphnia magna neonates were coexposed to NOM and photoexcited anatase nano‐TiO2 for 48 h. Natural organic matter concentrations as low as 4 mg/L reduced anatase nano‐TiO2 toxicity by nearly 100%. These concentrations of NOM attenuated UV by <10% in the exposure system. However, ROS production measured using a fluorescence assay was significantly reduced in a NOM concentration–dependent manner. Taken together, these data suggest that NOM reduces anatase nano‐TiO2 toxicity via an ROS quenching mechanism and not by attenuation of UV. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1661–1666. © 2016 SETAC
Interaction between stress induced by competition, predation, and an insecticide on the response of aquatic invertebrates

The present study investigated the effects of species interactions like competition and (intraguild) predation on the sensitivity of aquatic organisms to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. In the first experiment, combined effects of chlorpyrifos and different levels of intraspecific and interspecific interaction were assessed on Gammarus pulex survival using Asellus aquaticus as an interacting species. Intraspecific and interspecific interactions increased the time to extinction of G. pulex up to a factor of 2, most likely because of the cannibalistic nature of G. pulex and its intraguild predation on A. aquaticus under stress conditions. In the second experiment, combined effects of chlorpyrifos and intraspecific and interspecific interaction were assessed on Daphnia pulex abundance using Brachionus calyciflorus as a competing species and Chaoborus sp. larvae as a predator. Intraspecific and interspecific interactions significantly affected the D. pulex population structure, but they did not influence the total population size. Predation decimated D. pulex abundance; however, interacting effects of predation and chlorpyrifos exposure were less noticeable at high exposure concentrations because of the reduced predatory efficiency of Chaoborus sp. larvae. The present study shows that species interactions do not always increase the vulnerability of aquatic populations to chemical stress and that some interactions (e.g., cannibalism and intraguild predation) or reduced predator grazing pressure can alleviate competition and predation stress on population‐level insecticide effects under food‐limiting conditions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2485–2492. © 2017 SETAC
Image spam classification based on convolutional neural network

Image classification is a fundamental problem in computer vision and pattern recognition. Feature extraction is often regarded as the key for classifying images. Traditional ways rely on handcrafted features heavily, such as SIFT and BoW. In this paper, we concentrate on recognizing some specific categories of images (e.g. adult content and political images) in Email. And most importantly we propose a novel architecture of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to apply on image classification. In particular, most of the previous methods often use softmax activation for prediction, while instead of utilizing a softmax layer, we present a linear support vector machine (SVM) to be a part of the learning model, minimizing a margin-based loss to obtain a lower level feature representation. Accordingly, we propose a new dataset which contains 7 categories and over 52934 images totally. Experimental results on this novel dataset validate the effectiveness of our method.