Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The assessment of inertial odometry system performance in tracking upper limb kinematics

Human movement tracking is one of the most important topics in experimental biomechanics and robotics. In the last decades, visual-inertial odometry (VIO) systems achieved greater popularity for such applications even if a full characterization of their performance is still missing. In this context, this paper aims at assessing the performance of a VIO system for the measurement of upper limb kinematics by comparing them with optoelectronic (OS) and an inertial-based (IMU) systems. With this aim, a healthy young woman was asked to perform ten repetitions of (i) shoulder flex/extension; (ii) elbow flex/extension; and (iii) reaching tasks. All the movements were repeated three times. The experimental setup consisted in three VIO systems and three IMUs, placed on trunk, arm and forearm, along with eight optoelectronic cameras. The performance of the VIO system was computed both considering the overall setup and a reduced setup composed of only the trunk and the forearm system. The root mean square error of relative angles was used as a performance indicator. The accuracy in vector positioning estimation was also evaluated. VIO systems showed better performance in comparison to the IMU in terms of RMSE, with mean value equal to 2.1° and 1.2° for the elbow and shoulder joint, respectively. A substantial increment of RMSE was found when considering the reduced setup. The body displacement average error ranged from 4.7 to 6.2 cm when comparing OS and VIO. The low values of RMSE and body displacement tracking error encourage for further investigations on VIO system and the measurement of human kinematics.
A comparative study of newly developed metaheuristics for the discrete uncapacitated $p$-median problem

As one of the most prominent variants of the facility location problem, the p-median problem aims to determine the best locations for establishing p number of facilities such that the aggregate customers' transportation cost is minimized. Since the p-median problem is classified as NP-hard, the application of metaheuristics to solve it is inevitable. Considering the fast development in metaheuristics, choosing the most appropriate algorithm to solve this problem is a difficult task. Therefore, this work presents a comparative study of several classical and recently developed nature-inspired optimization algorithms to solve the discrete uncapacitated p-median problem on several randomly generated test instances with different sizes and spec-ifications.
Issue Report Classification Using Pre-trained Language Models

This paper describes our participation in the tool competition organized in the scope of the 1st International Workshop on Natural Language-based Software Engineering. We propose a supervised approach relying on fine-tuned BERT-based language models for the automatic classification of GitHub issues. We experimented with different pre-trained models, achieving the best performance with fine-tuned RoBERTa (F1 = .8591).
Edinburgh Research Explorer Flexible Glass Hybridized Colloidal Quantum Dots for Gb/s Visible Light Communications

: Color converting ﬁlms of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) encapsulated with ﬂexible glass are integrated with microsize GaN LEDs ( µ LEDs) in order to form optical sources for high-speed visible light communications (VLC). VLC is an emerging technology that uses white and/or colored light from LEDs to combine illumination and display functions with the transmission of data. The ﬂexible glass/CQD format addresses the issue of limited modulation speed of typical phosphor-converted LEDs while enhancing the photostability of the color converters and facilitating their integration with the µ LEDs. These structures are less than 70 µ m in total thickness and are directly placed in contact with the polished sapphire substrate of 450-nm-emitting µ LEDs. Blue-to-green, blue-to-orange, and blue-to- red conversion with respective forward optical power conversion efﬁciencies of 13%, 12%, and 5.5% are reported. In turn, free-space optical communications up to 1.4 Gb/s VLC is demonstrated. Results show that CQD-converted LEDs pave the way for practical digital lighting/displays with multi-Gb/s capability.
THE EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL DEMAND AND JOB DEMAND ON EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION IN SALES EXECUTIVES FROM AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

: The service employees frequently engage in emotionally demanding interactions with customers. They are likely to have high levels of emotional exhaustion. The present study explores the effect of emotional demand and job demand the independent variables on the dependent variable emotional exhaustion. Data for this were collected from 70 automobile show room executives. The result of this study indicates that emotional demand and job demand are positively related to emotional exhaustion. Three validated instruments were employed in the study to measure the relevant variables. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were used as tools of analysis. The results supported the hypothesis and showed that the independent variables emotional demand accounts for forty five percent and job demand accounts for fifteen percent of effect on the dependent variable - emotional exhaustion. Of the two independent variables emotional demand has more influence on the emotional exhaustion than the job demand. This study is the first to examine the simultaneous effect of emotional demand and job demand on emotional exhaustion. Implications of the findings are discussed. that exist between job and Our findings suggest that (a) emotional demand is positively related to emotional exhaustion, (b) job demand is positively related emotional exhaustion, (c) emotional demand is positively related to job demand. We assessed the relative importance of emotional demand and job demand in predicting emotional exhaustion.
The Last Gene of the ﬂa/che Operon in Bacillus subtilis , ylxL , Is Required for Maximal (cid:2) D Function

ylxL was found to be the last gene of the ﬂa/che operon in Bacillus subtilis and is cotranscribed with the gene for the ﬂagellum-speciﬁc alternate sigma factor, (cid:1) D . The ylxL gene was disrupted by insertional mutagenesis, and the resultant mutant strain was found to be compromised for (cid:1) D -dependent functions. In Bacillus subtilis , the structural genes that encode the hook-basal body complex (HBB), several genes controlling chemotaxis, and the gene for the alternate sigma factor, (cid:2) D , are found adjacent to one another in a 26-kb region of the bacterial chromosome called the ﬂa/che region (15). Several studies have demonstrated that these genes comprise a single operon (2, 10, 16, 18), while genes encoding these functions in the enteric bacterium are found in at least seven operons located throughout the bacterial chromosome (7). Many of the genes within the ﬂa/che operon have been cloned, sequenced, and characterized (1, 15); however, the 3 (cid:3) end of the operon has yet to be mapped, and the function of the ylxL gene product
Polymerization Shrinkage, Hygroscopic Expansion, Elastic Modulus and Degree of Conversion of Different Composites for Dental Application

: Objectives: To characterize the mechanical properties of different resin-composites for dental application. Methods: Thirteen universal dentin shade composites ( n = 10) from different manufacturers were evaluated (4 Seasons, Grandio, Venus, Amelogen Plus, P90, Z350, Esthet-X, Amaris, Vita-l-escence, Natural-Look, Charisma, Z250 and Opallis). The polymerization shrinkage percentage was calculated using a video-image recording device (ACUVOL—Bisco Dental) and the hygroscopic expansion was measured after thermocycling aging in the same equipment. Equal volumes of material were used and, after 5 min of relaxation, baseline measurements were calculated with 18 J of energy delivered from the light-curing unit. Specimens were stored in a dry-dark environment for 24 h then thermocycled in distilled water (5–55 ◦ C for 20,000 cycles) with volume measurement at each 5000 cycles. In addition, the pulse-excitatory method was applied to calculate the elastic modulus and Poisson ratio for each resin material and the degree of conversion was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results: The ANOVA showed that all composite volumes were inﬂuenced by the number of cycles ( α = 0.05). Volumes at 5 min post-polymerization (12.47 ± 0.08 cm 3 ) were signiﬁcantly lower than those at baseline (12.80 ± 0.09 cm 3 ). With regard to the impact of aging, all resin materials showed a statistically signiﬁcant increase in volume after 5000 cycles (13.04 ± 0.22 cm 3 ). There was no statistical difference between volumes measured at the other cycle steps. The elastic modulus ranged from 22.15 to 10.06 GPa and the Poisson ratio from 0.54 to 0.22 with a signiﬁcant difference between the evaluated materials ( α = 0.05). The degree of conversion was higher than 60% for all evaluated resin composites.
Edinburgh Research Explorer CXCR2 and CXCL4 regulate survival and self-renewal of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells

The regulation of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) survival and self-renewal within the bone marrow (BM) niche is not well understood. We therefore investigated global transcriptomic profiling of normal human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, revealing that several chemokine ligands ( CXCL1-4, CXCL6, CXCL10, CXCL11, CXCL13 ) were up-regulated in human quiescent CD34 + Hoescht - Pyronin Y - and primitive CD34 + 38 - , as compared to proliferating CD34 + Hoechst + Pyronin Y + and CD34 + 38 + stem/progenitor cells. This suggested that chemokines may play an important role in the homeostasis of HSCs. In human CD34 + hematopoietic cells, knock-down of CXCL4 or pharmacological inhibition of the chemokine receptor CXCR2, significantly decreased cell viability and colony forming cell (CFC) potential. Studies on Cxcr2 -/- mice demonstrated enhanced BM and spleen cellularity, with significantly increased numbers of HSC, hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC)-1, HPC-2 and Lin - Sca-1 + c-Kit + sub-populations. Cxcr2 -/- stem/progenitor cells showed reduced self-renewal capacity as measured in serial transplantation assays. Parallel studies on Cxcl4 demonstrated reduced numbers of CFC in primary and secondary assays following knock-down in murine c-Kit + cells and Cxcl4 -/- mice showed a decrease in HSC and reduced self-renewal capacity after secondary transplantation. These data demonstrate that the CXCR2 network and CXCL4 play a role in the maintenance of normal hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell fates, including survival and self-renewal. Abingdon, UK) CXCR2 (1:100, sc-682, Santa-Cruz) or IgG (AB-108-C, R&D Systems). Cells were incubated with appropriate secondary donkey anti-goat (1:500, ab150129, Abcam, Cambridge, UK), goat anti-mouse (1:500, ab150113, Abcam) or goat anti-rabbit (1:500, ab150077, Abcam), Alexa Fluor 488 and mounted with DAPI (Vector Laboratories Ltd, CA, USA). Images were acquired using a Zeiss fluorescence microscope and 3-dimensional images generated using ImageJ.
Social robots in pediatric oncology: opinions of health care providers

Abstract Background: We aimed to describe the opinions of health care providers in pediatric oncology regarding social robots and to examine differences in their opinions based on their background characteristics. Methods: Health care providers working in pediatric oncology care were approached globally to participate online in a cross-sectional questionnaire study with multiple choice and open-ended questions. Open-ended questions were coded and collapsed into categories by two researchers independently. Frequencies were used to describe the answers. Differences in opinions were studied using logistic regression analyses. Results: Health care providers’ (n = 286) first thoughts about social robots were mostly positive (81.0%). They saw value in social robots (83.6%), mostly during hospitalization or procedures and when used for distraction. They were willing to use one (67.8%), but also expected difficulties (67.1%), mainly concerning technical errors. Psychosocial staff members less often saw value in social robots, more often expected difficulties and were less willing to use a social robot than other health care providers (Ps < .05). No other differences were found. Conclusions: Social robots may be a promising addition to pediatric oncology care, since health care providers were generally positive about this innovation. However, psychosocial staff members seemed more reluctant. Important potential barriers were defined that should be addressed upon implementation.
Statin Use and Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness: Results from the Population-Based North Carolina – Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project CancerEpidemiology,Biomarkers&Prevention

Background: Although statin use has been associated with reduced prostate cancer aggressiveness, the impact of race and patient characteristics on this association is not well understood. We examined the association between statin use and prostate cancer aggressiveness in Caucasians (CA) and African Americans (AA) and explored effect modi ﬁ cation by health-seeking behaviors associated with statin use. Methods: Of 1,930 cases from The North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project, 344 (18%) were classi ﬁ ed as aggressive based on clinical criteria. Utilizingnonaggressive cases asreferent, logistic regression was used to examine the association between statinuse andprostate canceraggressiveness,overall andstrati ﬁ ed by race. Smoking and prostate cancer screening were examined as effect modi ﬁ ers of this association. Results: There was an inverse association between statin use and prostate cancer aggressiveness [OR, 0.74; 95% con ﬁ dence interval (CI), 0.56 – 0.96], with comparable effect estimates in both races. Although not statistically signi ﬁ cant, statin use was associated with reduced ORs for aggressive prostate cancer in never-screened men (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.45 – 1.39), men screened at low/recommended frequency ( (cid:1) once/year; OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.41 – 1.06), and men screened at high frequency ( > once/year; OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.53 – 1.15). Inverse associations between statins and aggressive prostate cancer were strongest in never smokers (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.25 – 0.72), attenuated in former smokers (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.59 – 1.19), and absent in current smokers (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.70 – 2.64). Conclusions: Statin use was associated with reduced prostate cancer aggressiveness in CA and AAs, with strongest inverse associations in nonsmokers. Impact: Health-seeking behaviors associated with statin use should be considered when examining the impact of statins on prostate cancer aggressiveness. CancerEpidemiolBiomarkersPrev;25(4); 670 – 7. (cid:2) 2016 AACR. use and prostate cancer aggressiveness. In addition, we tested whether associations differed by smoking status, given that smoking is a known modi ﬁ er of serum lipid levels. interaction between smoking status and statin use in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness (Wald test; P ¼ 0.0008).
Earth and Planetary Science Letters Paciﬁc 187 Os/ 188 Os isotope chemistry and U–Pb geochronology: Synchroneity of global Os isotope change across OAE 2

Studies of OAE 2 sections beyond the Atlantic Ocean, Western Interior Seaway (WIS) and European pelagic shelf are limited. Here, we present initial osmium isotope stratigraphy ( 187 Os/ 188 Os–Os i ) from two proto-Paciﬁc sites that span the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary interval (CTBI): the Yezo Group (YG) section, Hokkaido, Japan, and the Great Valley Sequence (GVS), California, USA; to evaluate the 187 Os/ 188 Os seawater chemistry of the proto-Paciﬁc. Additionally we combine new 206 Pb/ 238 U zircon CA-ID-TIMS geochronology from ﬁve volcanic tuff horizons of the Yezo Group section to test and facilitate inter-basinal integration with the WIS using radio-isotopically constrained age–depth models for both sections, and quantitatively constrain the absolute timing and duration of events across the CTBI. The YG shows an almost identical Os i proﬁle to and radiogenic (continental ﬂux) Os. We conclude that the Os i proﬁles from the proto-Paciﬁc sections record both trends that are consistent globally (OAE 2 onset, syn and post OAE 2), but also show regional differences (pre OAE 2) between OAE 2 sections worldwide. As such the Os i proﬁles coupled with U–Pb geochronology facilitate the correlation of OAE 2 stratigraphy, and demonstrate both regional and global ocean dynamics.
Indoor air pollutions and respiratory symptoms in a Norwegian community sample

BACKGROUND: Limited data is available on the effect of a poor indoor climate on the respiratory health in adults. No data is available regarding the contribution of indoor exposures to the burden of respiratory symptoms in the population. METHODS: In 1996/97, a community sample of 3181 adults, aged 26-82, was invited to a survey on indoor climate and respiratory health in Hordaland County, Norway. 2401 subjects participated. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between eight markers of indoor exposure, and physician-diagnosed asthma and five respiratory symptoms, after adjustment for sex, age, smoking, educational level, smoking-habits, pack-years and occupational airborne exposure. RESULTS: Mould exposure was associated with all the respiratory symptoms; the adjusted odds ratios (OR) varied from 1.6 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0-2.4) for phlegm cough to 2.3 (95% CI: 1.4-3.9) for dyspnoea grade 2. Cat or dog keeping in childhood was associated with dyspnoea grade 2 and attack of dyspnoea, the adjusted OR being 1.3 (1.0-1.7) and 1.4 (1.1-1.8) respectively. Having fitted carpet in the bedroom was negatively associated with three of the five respiratory symptoms. From 3 to 5 % of the frequency of the respiratory symptoms in the study population could be attributed to exposure to visible moulds. CONCLUSION: Mould exposure is an independent risk factor to several respiratory symptoms in a general population covering a wide age span. Still, mould exposure contributes to a minor degree to the respiratory symptom burden in the population at large.
University of Birmingham Early detection of heterogeneous disaster events using social media

This paper addresses the problem of detecting crisis-related messages on social media, in order to improve the situational awareness of emergency services. Previous work focused on developing machine-learning classiﬁers restricted to speciﬁc disasters, such as storms or wildﬁres. We investigate for the ﬁrst time methods to detect such messages where the type of the crisis is not known in advance, i.e. the data are highly heterogeneous. Data heterogeneity causes signiﬁcant diﬃculties for learning algorithms to generalize and accurately label incoming data. Our main contributions are as follows. First, we evaluate the extent of this problem in the context of disaster management, ﬁnding that the performance of traditional learners drops by up to 40% when trained and tested on heterogeneous data vis-á-vis homogeneous data. Then, in order to overcome data heterogeneity, we propose a new ensemble learning method, and ﬁnd this to perform on par with the Gradient Boosting and AdaBoost ensemble learners. The methods are studied on a benchmark dataset comprising twenty-six disaster events and four classiﬁcation problems: detection of relevant messages, informative messages, eyewitness reports and topical classiﬁcation of messages. Finally, in a case study, we evaluate the proposed methods on a real-world dataset to assess its practical value.
Gerontology Viewpoint: Useful Field of View Test

A test of the useful field of view was introduced more than two decades ago and was designed to reflect the visual difficulties that older adults experience with everyday tasks. Importantly, the useful field of view is one of the most extensively researched and promising predictor tests for a range of driving outcomes measures, including driving ability and crash risk, as well as other everyday tasks. Currently available commercial versions of the test can be administered using personal computers and measure speed of visual processing speed for rapid detection and localization of targets under conditions of divided visual attention and in the presence and absence of visual clutter. The test is believed to assess higher order cognitive abilities, but performance also relies on visual sensory function since targets must be visible in order to be attended to. The format of the useful field of view test has been modified over the years; the original version estimated the spatial extent of useful field of view, while the latest versions measures visual processing speed. While deficits in the useful field of view are associated with functional impairments in everyday activities in older adults, there is also emerging evidence from several research groups that improvements in visual processing speed can be achieved through training. These improvements have been shown to reduce crash risk, and have a positive impact on health and functional well being, with the potential to increase the mobility and hence independence of older adults.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Papain-Like Protease Ubiquitin-Like Domain and Catalytic Domain Regulate Antagonism of IRF3 and NF- (cid:2) B Signaling (cid:1) †

The outcome of a viral infection is regulated in part by the complex coordination of viral and host interactions that compete for the control and optimization of virus replication. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) intimately engages and regulates the host innate immune responses during infection. Using a novel interferon (IFN) antagonism screen, we show that the SARS-CoV proteome contains several replicase, structural, and accessory proteins that antagonize the IFN pathway. In this study, we focus on the SARS-CoV papain-like protease (PLP), which engages and antagonizes the IFN induction and NF- (cid:1) B signaling pathways. PLP blocks these pathways by affecting activation of the important signaling proteins in each pathway, IRF3 and NF- (cid:1) B. We also show that the ubiquitin-like domain of PLP is necessary for pathway antagonism but not sufﬁcient by itself to block these pathways regardless of the enzymatic activity of the protease. The potential mechanism of PLP antagonism and its role in
Testing for exponentiality using a two-moment estimator and a median-centered distance statistic

TESTING FOR EXPONENTIALITY USING A TWO-MOMENT ESTIMATOR AND A MEDIAN-CENTERED DISTANCE STATISTIC by ANDREW JAY TIERMAN August 2006 Advisor: Dr. Shlomo Sawilowsky Major: Evaluation and Research Degree: Doctor of Philosophy This is a Monte Carlo study of a new goodness-of-fit test for exponentiality, utilizing maximum absolute deviation from median deviation of the data from an estimated exponential distribution. The parameter estimation utilizes the fact that the mean and standard deviation are equal for a oneparameter exponential distribution to find a least-squares best fit parameter between the sample mean and sample standard deviation. 100,000 replications are used for each case in the computer simulations throughout. Critical values are computed for sample sizes between 3 and 100. Samples sized n = 4, 10, 20, and 50 are used for the remainder of the study. Nineteen selected nonexponential distributions are simulated for the power study. Five competing tests for exponentiality were compared: Lilliefors-Kolmogorov-Smirnov (Lilliefors, 1969); Cramer-von Mises with K transformation (Seshadri, Csorgo, and