Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online Parameter Estimation For Uncertain Robot Manipulators With Fixed-time Convergence

For traditional parameter estimation schemes of uncertain robot, most of them were proposed to identify unknown parameter with desired precision, but few of them focused on the convergence time. Recently finite-time estimation techniques have been proposed by scholars to achieve estimation in finite time. In this paper, we proposed a novel estimation scheme for uncertain robot systems with fixed time instead of finite time. In order to avoid using acceleration signals during the estimation, a kind of auxiliary filtering technique was employed. Besides, a continuous and recursive update law was employed for the parameter estimation such that the computational burdens of real-time inversion of square matrices could be avoided. Finally the effectiveness of the identification algorithm is verified based on a 2-DOF uncertain robot model.
A New Method of Secure Authentication Based on Electromagnetic Signatures of Chipless RFID Tags and Machine Learning Approaches

In this study, we present the implementation of a neural network model capable of classifying radio frequency identification (RFID) tags based on their electromagnetic (EM) signature for authentication applications. One important application of the chipless RFID addresses the counterfeiting threat for manufacturers. The goal is to design and implement chipless RFID tags that possess a unique and unclonable fingerprint to authenticate objects. As EM characteristics are employed, these fingerprints cannot be easily spoofed. A set of 18 tags operating in V band (65–72 GHz) was designed and measured. V band is more sensitive to dimensional variations compared to other applications at lower frequencies, thus it is suitable to highlight the differences between the EM signatures. Machine learning (ML) approaches are used to characterize and classify the 18 EM responses in order to validate the authentication method. The proposed supervised method reached a maximum recognition rate of 100%, surpassing in terms of accuracy most of RFID fingerprinting related work. To determine the best network configuration, we used a random search algorithm. Further tuning was conducted by comparing the results of different learning algorithms in terms of accuracy and loss.
Preliminary Experience of Treating Children and Young Adults With Image-Guided Proton Beam Therapy in India

PURPOSE Proton beam therapy (PBT) has been a preferred modality in pediatric malignancies requiring radiotherapy. We report our preliminary experience of treating consecutive patients younger than 25 years with image-guided pencil beam scanning PBT from the first and only center on the Indian subcontinent. METHODS Patients were selected for PBT on the basis of a multidisciplinary tumor board decision. Patient demographic data, as well as tumor and treatment-related characteristics of the cohort, were captured. Patient and treatment-related factors and their association with acute toxicities were analyzed using univariable and multivariable analyses. RESULTS Forty-seven patients (27 with CNS and 20 with non-CNS tumors) with a median age of 9 years (range, 2-25 years) were evaluated. Most common diagnoses were ependymoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and glioma. Seventy-seven percent of patients traveled more than 500 km, and 70% of them lived in metropolitan cities. Forty-nine percent of patients had recurrent disease at presentation, and 15% had received a previous course of radiation. The median dose delivered was 54.8 cobalt gray equivalents (range, 40.0-70.4 cobalt gray equivalents) to a median clinical target volume of 175 mL (range, 18.7-3,083.0 mL), with 34% of patients requiring concurrent chemotherapy (CCT). Acute grade 2 and grade 3 dermatitis, mucositis, and hematologic toxicity was noted in 45% and 2%, 34% and 0%, and 38% and 30% of patients, respectively. Grade 2 fatigue was noted in 26% of patients. On multivariable analysis, for CNS tumors, both CCT and craniospinal irradiation were independently associated with ≥ 2 grade hematologic toxicity, whereas among non-CNS tumors, a clinical target volume > 150 mL was associated with ≥ 2 grade fatigue, head and neck irradiation was associated with ≥ 2 grade mucositis, and CCT was associated with grade ≥ 2 hematologic toxicity. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates safe implementation of a PBT program for children and young adults on the Indian subcontinent. Image-guided pencil beam scanning PBT in judiciously selected patients is feasible and can be delivered with acceptable acute toxicities.
Ursodeoxycholic Acid Decreases Incidence of Primary Biliary Cholangitis and Biliary Complications After Liver Transplantation: A Meta‐Analysis

After liver transplantation (LT), the role of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is not well characterized. We examine the effect of UDCA after LT in the prophylaxis of biliary complications (BCs) in all‐comers for LT and the prevention of recurrent primary biliary cholangitis (rPBC) in patients transplanted for PBC. Two authors searched PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase from January 1990 through December 2018 to identify all studies that evaluate the effectiveness of UDCA prophylaxis after LT for BCs in all LT recipients and rPBC after LT in patients transplanted for PBC. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for endpoints of the BC study. Pooled recurrence rates were calculated for rPBC. The study was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis guidelines. A total of 15 studies were included, comprising 530 patients in the analysis for BCs and 1727 patients in the analysis for rPBC. UDCA was associated with decreased odds of BCs (OR, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52‐0.93; P = 0.01) and biliary stones and sludge (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.24‐0.77; P = 0.004). Prophylactic use of UDCA did not affect the odds of biliary stricture. For patients transplanted for PBC, the rate of rPBC was lower with the prophylactic use of UDCA (IR 16.7%; 95% CI, 0.114%‐22.0%; I2 = 36.1%) compared with not using prophylactic UDCA (IR 23.1%; 95% CI, 16.9%‐29.3%; I2 = 86.7%). UDCA after LT reduces the odds of BC and bile stones and sludge in all‐comer LT recipients and reduces or delays the incidence of rPBC in patients transplanted for PBC. UDCA use after LT could be considered in all LT recipients to reduce the odds of BC and may be particularly beneficial for patients transplanted for PBC by reducing the incidence of rPBC.
Type-D personality and quality of life in patients with primary brain tumours.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of type-D personality on quality of life (QoL) in patients with primary brain tumours. METHODS We performed descriptive cross-sectional study between July 2018 and March 2019. A convenience sample of 293 patients was recruited from an outpatient neurosurgery clinic. RESULTS Type-D personality was identified in 34.1% of subjects. Type-D patients had poorer QoL and experienced more severe symptoms and interference with life. Poor QoL was associated with lower education, no spouse and lower family income. Symptoms were the most significant factor affecting QoL, followed by type-D personality, income and education. CONCLUSION Symptoms, type-D personality and demographic factors should be considered when assessing QoL in patients with primary brain tumours. Interventions that reflect these characteristics, including type-D personality, may help improve QoL for patients with primary brain tumours.
Understanding Reproducibility and Characteristics of Flaky Tests Through Test Reruns in Java Projects

Flaky tests are tests that can non-deterministically pass and fail. They pose a major impediment to regression testing, because they provide an inconclusive assessment on whether recent code changes contain faults or not. Prior studies of flaky tests have proposed tools to detect flaky tests and identified various sources of flakiness in tests, e.g., order-dependent (OD) tests that deterministically fail for some order of tests in a test suite but deterministically pass for some other orders. Several of these studies have focused on OD tests. We focus on an important and under-explored source of flakiness in tests: non-order-dependent tests that can nondeterministically pass and fail even for the same order of tests. Instead of using specialized tools that aim to detect flaky tests, we run tests using the tool configured by the developers. Specifically, we perform our empirical evaluation on Java projects that rely on the Maven Surefire plugin to run tests. We re-execute each test suite 4000 times, potentially in different test-class orders, and we label tests as flaky if our runs have both pass and fail outcomes across these reruns. We obtain a dataset of 107 flaky tests and study various characteristics of these tests. We find that many tests previously called “non-order-dependent” actually do depend on the order and can fail with very different failure rates for different orders.
Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Mood Disturbance Among Chinese Adolescents During COVID-19.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the physical activity and screen time status among Chinese adolescents during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown and their association with mood disturbance and conflicts with parents. A total of 1,680 7th to 12th grade students enrolled at a large middle-high school located in Southwest China completed an online survey measuring mood states, physical activity, screen time, conflicts with parents, and body height and weight. Physical activity, particularly of at least 150 minutes' duration each week, significantly decreased the likelihood of negative mood among adolescents during lockdown. Screen time, specifically other than that spent on online study, had a negative association with mood, after controlling for the relevant variables (i.e., physical activity and body mass index). Less screen time and accumulating 150 minutes of physical activity were associated with fewer conflicts with parents. With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, local school districts, school leaders, and health professionals should develop greater awareness of potential problems with, and engage parents in developing specific guidance on controlling, screen time and promoting physical activity in a time-sensitive manner. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(x), xx-xx. ].
Losing seasonal patterns in a hibernating omnivore? Diet quality proxies and faecal cortisol metabolites in brown bears in areas with and without artificial feeding

Bears are omnivores particularly well-adapted to variations in the nutritional composition, quality and availability of food resources. Artificial feeding practices have been shown to strongly influence diet composition and seasonality, as well as to cause alterations in wintering and movement in brown bears (Ursus arctos). In this study, we investigated seasonal differences (hypophagia vs hyperphagia) in food quality of two brown bear subpopulations in the Polish Carpathians using faecal nitrogen (FN) and carbon (FC) estimates. The subpopulations inhabit areas that differ in artificial feeding practices: no artificial feeding occurs in the western subpopulation (Tatra Mountains), while artificial food targeted to ungulates is provided and used year-round in the eastern subpopulation (Bieszczady Mountains). We also compared these results with faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) to explore how FN and FC correlate with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and if the seasonal patterns are apparent. We found that in Tatra Mts bears fed on significantly higher quality diet, as shown by FN and FC values, and had significantly higher FC levels in hyperphagia, when they accumulate fat reserves for wintering. The pattern in FCM levels for Tatra subpopulation followed the changes in energy intake during the seasons of hypo- and hyperphagia, while in Bieszczady Mts, the area with intensive feeding, no seasonal patterns could be observed. Artificial feeding practices may disrupt nutrient phenology and seasonality, relative to subpopulations with natural diets. We showed that the availability of human-provided foods may alter not only the overall dietary quality, but also hormonal patterns linked to seasonal nutritional requirements. Combining FN, FC and FCM proved to be a useful tool for reconstructing diet quality and related physiological patterns.
A Lipidomic Signature Complements Stemness Features Acquisition in Liver Cancer Cells

Lipid catabolism and anabolism changes play a role in stemness acquisition by cancer cells, and cancer stem cells (CSCs) are particularly dependent on the activity of the enzymes involved in these processes. Lipidomic changes could play a role in CSCs’ ability to cause disease relapse and chemoresistance. The exploration of lipid composition and metabolism changes in CSCs in the context of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is still incomplete and their lipidomic scenario continues to be elusive. We aimed to evaluate through high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS)-based lipidomics the levels of the members of the six major classes of sphingolipids and phospholipids in two HCC cell lines (HepG2 and Huh-7) silenced for the expression of histone variant macroH2A1 (favoring stemness acquisition), or silenced for the expression of focal adhesion tyrosine kinase (FAK) (hindering aggressiveness and stemness). Transcriptomic changes were evaluated by RNA sequencing as well. We found definite lipidomic and transcriptomic changes in the HCC lines upon knockdown (KD) of macroH2A1 or FAK, in line with the acquisition or loss of stemness features. In particular, macroH2A1 KD increased total sphingomyelin (SM) levels and decreased total lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) levels, while FAK KD decreased total phosphatidylcholine (PC) levels. In conclusion, in HCC cell lines knocked down for specific signaling/epigenetic processes driving opposite stemness potential, we defined a lipidomic signature that hallmarks hepatic CSCs to be exploited for therapeutic strategies.
Navigating the Tower of Babel: The Epistemological Shift of Bioinspired Innovation

The disparity between disciplinary approaches to bioinspired innovation has created a cultural divide that is stifling to the overall advancement of the approach for sustainable societies. This paper aims to advance the effectiveness of bioinspired innovation processes for positive benefits through interdisciplinary communication by exploring the epistemological assumptions in various fields that contribute to the discipline. We propose that there is a shift in epistemological assumptions within bioinspired innovation processes at the points where biological models derived from reductionist approaches are interpreted as socially-constructed design principles, which are then realized in practical settings wrought with complexity and multiplicity. This epistemological shift from one position to another frequently leaves practitioners with erroneous assumptions due to a naturalistic fallacy. Drawing on examples in biology, we provide three recommendations to improve the clarity of the dialogue amongst interdisciplinary teams. (1) The deliberate articulation of epistemological perspectives amongst team members. (2) The application of a gradient orientation towards sustainability instead of a dichotomous orientation. (3) Ongoing dialogue and further research to develop novel epistemological approaches towards the topic. Adopting these recommendations could further advance the effectiveness of bioinspired innovation processes to positively impact social and ecological systems.
A Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Model of Trimethoprim for MATE1, OCT1, OCT2, and CYP2C8 Drug–Drug–Gene Interaction Predictions

Trimethoprim is a frequently-prescribed antibiotic and therefore likely to be co-administered with other medications, but it is also a potent inhibitor of multidrug and toxin extrusion protein (MATE) and a weak inhibitor of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C8. The aim of this work was to develop a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of trimethoprim to investigate and predict its drug–drug interactions (DDIs). The model was developed in PK-Sim®, using a large number of clinical studies (66 plasma concentration–time profiles with 36 corresponding fractions excreted in urine) to describe the trimethoprim pharmacokinetics over the entire published dosing range (40 to 960 mg). The key features of the model include intestinal efflux via P-glycoprotein (P-gp), metabolism by CYP3A4, an unspecific hepatic clearance process, and a renal clearance consisting of glomerular filtration and tubular secretion. The DDI performance of this new model was demonstrated by prediction of DDIs and drug–drug–gene interactions (DDGIs) of trimethoprim with metformin, repaglinide, pioglitazone, and rifampicin, with all predicted DDI and DDGI AUClast and Cmax ratios within 1.5-fold of the clinically-observed values. The model will be freely available in the Open Systems Pharmacology model repository, to support DDI studies during drug development.
Mechanochemical Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite from Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O, CaO, Ca(OH)2, and P2O5 Mixtures

This paper reports the progress of the mechanochemical synthesis of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) starting from six different powder mixtures containing Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O, CaO, Ca(OH)2, and P2O5. The reaction kinetics of HA phase formation during high-energy ball milling was systematically investigated. The mechanochemical reaction rate of the Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O–Ca(OH)2 powder mixture found to be very fast as the HA phase started to form at around 2 min and finished after 30 min of ball milling. All six powder mixtures were transformed entirely into HA, with the crystallite size between 18.5 and 20.2 nm after 1 h and between 22.5 and 23.9 nm after 2 h of milling. Moreover, the lattice strain was found to be 0.8 ± 0.05% in the 1 h milled powder and 0.6 ± 0.05% in all six powders milled for 2 h. This observation, i.e., coarsening of the HA crystal and gradual decrease of the lattice strain with the increase of milling time, is opposite to the results reported by other researchers. The gradual increase in crystallite size and decrease in lattice strain result from dynamic recovery and recrystallization because of an increase in the local temperature of the powder particles trapped between the balls and ball and reactor wall during the high-energy collision.
Mechanisms of Taxane Resistance

Simple Summary Drug resistance is prevalent in many types of cancer and decreases patient survival. The taxanes are anti-mitotic chemotherapeutic agents, widely used since the 1990s to treat many types of cancer. Even with the popularity of the taxane family, many patients are, or will become, resistant to taxane treatment, meaning that other, perhaps less effective, treatment options are required. This review article seeks to provide information about the common cancers in which taxanes are used and resistance occurs, in order to find targetable mechanisms that can be used to overcome resistance. Abstract The taxane family of chemotherapy drugs has been used to treat a variety of mostly epithelial-derived tumors and remain the first-line treatment for some cancers. Despite the improved survival time and reduction of tumor size observed in some patients, many have no response to the drugs or develop resistance over time. Taxane resistance is multi-faceted and involves multiple pathways in proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, and the transport of foreign substances. In this review, we dive deeper into hypothesized resistance mechanisms from research during the last decade, with a focus on the cancer types that use taxanes as first-line treatment but frequently develop resistance to them. Furthermore, we will discuss current clinical inhibitors and those yet to be approved that target key pathways or proteins and aim to reverse resistance in combination with taxanes or individually. Lastly, we will highlight taxane response biomarkers, specific genes with monitored expression and correlated with response to taxanes, mentioning those currently being used and those that should be adopted. The future directions of taxanes involve more personalized approaches to treatment by tailoring drug–inhibitor combinations or alternatives depending on levels of resistance biomarkers. We hope that this review will identify gaps in knowledge surrounding taxane resistance that future research or clinical trials can overcome.
Additively Manufactured Six-Port for mm-Wave Applications

This work presents, for the first time, an additively manufactured six-port for applications in the mm-Wave frequency range. The formative body of the structure is generated by a low-cost SLA photopolymer printing system. Conductive coating is subsequently applied by an electroless silver plating process that is in turn improved by the slotted waveguide approach. Despite the complex geometry, strict dimensional requirements for correct phase relations and large system size due to measurement feed paths, the obtained measurement results indicate promising future prospects towards practical applications.
Ubiquitination and the proteasome rather than caspase‐3‐mediated C‐terminal cleavage are involved in the EAAT2 degradation by staurosporine‐induced cellular stress

Diminished glutamate (Glu) uptake via the excitatory amino acid transporter EAAT2, which normally accounts for ~90% of total forebrain EAAT activity, may contribute to neurodegeneration via Glu‐mediated excitotoxicity. C‐terminal cleavage by caspase‐3 (C3) was reported to mediate EAAT2 inactivation and down‐regulation in the context of neurodegeneration. For a detailed analysis of C3‐dependent EAAT2 degradation, we employed A172 glioblastoma as well as hippocampal HT22 cells and murine astrocytes over‐expressing VSV‐G‐tagged EAAT2 constructs. C3 activation was induced by staurosporine (STR). In HT22 cells, STR‐induced C3 activation‐induced rapid EAAT2 protein degradation. The mutation of asparagine 504 to aspartate (D504N), which should inactivate the putative C3 cleavage site, increased EAAT2 activity in A172 cells. In contrast, the D504N mutation did not protect EAAT2 protein against STR‐induced degradation in HT22 cells, whereas inhibition of caspases, ubiquitination and the proteasome did. Similar results were obtained in astrocytes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that C‐terminal ubiquitin acceptor sites—but not the putative C3 cleavage site—exhibit a high degree of conservation. Moreover, C‐terminal truncation mimicking C3 cleavage increased rather than decreased EAAT2 activity and stability as well as protected EAAT2 against STR‐induced ubiquitination‐dependent degradation. We conclude that cellular stress associated with endogenous C3 activation degrades EAAT2 via a pathway involving ubiquitination and the proteasome but not direct C3‐mediated cleavage. In addition, C3 cleavage of EAAT2, described to occur in other models, is unlikely to inactivate EAAT2. However, mutation of the highly conserved D504 within the putative C3 cleavage site increases EAAT2 activity via an unknown mechanism.