Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Redundancy resolution of a human arm for controlling a seven DOF wearable robotic system

The human arm including the shoulder, elbow, wrist joints and exclusion scapular motion has 7 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) while positioning of the wrist in space and orientating the palm is a task that requires 6 DOF. As such it includes one more DOF than is needed to complete the task. Given the redundant nature of the arm, multiple arm configurations can be used to complete a task, which is expressed mathematically by none unique solution for the inverse kinematics. Despite this mathematical difficulty, the motor control provides a unique solution for the arm redundancy as the arm is moved in space. Resolving this redundancy is becoming critical as the human interacts with a wearable robotic system(exoskeleton) which includes the same redundancy as the human arm. Therefore, the inverse kinematics solution resolving the redundancy of these two coupled systems must be identical in order to guarantee a seamless integration. The redundancy of the arm can be formulated kinematically by defining the swivel angle — the rotation angle of the plane including the upper and lower arm around a virtual axis connecting the shoulder and wrist joints which are fixed in space. Analyzing reaching tasks recorded with a motion capture lab indicates that the swivel angle is selected such that when the elbow joint is flexed, the palm points the head. Based on these experimental results, selecting the point around the center of the head as a stationary target allows to calculate the swivel angle and in that way to resolve the human arm redundancy. Experimental results indicated that by using the proposed redundancy resolution criteria the error between the predicted swivel angle and the actual swivel angle adopted by the motor control system is less then 5 Deg. This criterion or a synthesis of several additional criteria may improve the synergistic relationships between an operator and a wearable robotic system.
Structural-parametric model of electromagnetoelastic actuator for nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology

The electromagnetoelastic actuator of the piezoeffect, the piezomagnetic effect, the electrostriction or the magnetostriction effect is used for precise alignment in the nanomedicine, the nanobiotechnology and the adaptive optics [1-32]. The piezoactuator on the inverse piezoeffect is serves for the actuation of mechanisms or the management, converts electrical signals into displacement and force [1-8]. The piezoactuator for the nanomechanics is provided the displacement from nanometers to tens of micrometers, a force to 1000 N. The piezoactuator is used for research in the nanomedicine and the nanobiotechnology for the scanning tunneling microscopes, scanning force microscopes and atomic force microscopes [1432]. In the present paper the generalized structural-parametric model and the generalized parametric structural schematic diagram of the electromagnetoelastic actuator are constructed by solving the wave equation with the Laplace transform for the equation of the electromagnetolasticity, the boundary conditions on loaded working surfaces of the actuator, the strains along the coordinate axes. The transfer functions and the parametric structural schematic diagrams of the piezoactuator are obtained from the generalized structural-parametric model. In [6,7] was determined the solution of the wave equation of the piezoactuator. In the [14-16,30,31] were obtained the structural-parametric models, the schematic diagrams for simple piezoactuator and were transformed to the structuralparametric model of the electromagnetoelastic actuator. The structural-parametric model of the electroelastic actuator was determined in contrast electrical equivalent circuit for calculation of piezoelectric transmitter and receiver [9-12]. In [8,27] was used the transfer functions of the piezoactuator for the decision problem absolute stability conditions for a system controlling the deformation of the electromagnetoelastic actuator. The elastic compliances and the mechanical and adjusting characteristics of the piezoactuator were found in [18,21-23,28,29] for calculation its transfer functions and the structural-parametric models. The structural-parametric model of the multilayer and compound piezoactuator was determined in [18-20]. In this paper is solving the problem of building the generalized structural parametric model and the generalized parametric structural schematic diagram of the electromagnetoelastic actuator for the equation of electromagnetoelasticity.
Wall slip of complex fluids: Interfacial friction versus slip length

Using a dynamic Surface Force Apparatus, we demonstrate that the notion of slip length used to describe the boundary flow of simple liquids, is not appropriate for visco-elastic liquids. Rather, the appropriate description lies in the original Navier's partial slip boundary condition, formulated in terms of an interfacial friction coefficient. We have investigated thin films of visco-elastic polymer solutions over 5 decades of thickness and one decade in frequency. The proper use of this original Navier's condition describes accurately the complex hydrodynamic force up to scales of tens of micrometers, with a simple "Newtonian-like" friction coefficient, not frequency dependent, and closely related to the existence of viscosity gradient at the solid/solution interface.
On the extraction, classification and causal analysis of EEG signal components

Due to its high temporal resolution and relatively low costs, electroencephalography (EEG) is a widespread tool in neuroscientific research and clinical diagnosis. However, EEG signals suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio and are contaminated by artifacts, which are undesired signals that do not originate from the brain. Therefore, sophisticated data analysis methods are needed to extract information from EEG data. This cumulative thesis contributes to the development of multivariate methods for the analysis of EEG data in several ways. First, it addresses necessary pre-processing steps for EEG signal analysis. An open-source toolbox that automates the time-consuming process of manually identifying artifactual signal components by EEG practitioners is developed and validated on several data sets. Second, the extraction of oscillatory signal components which explain behavioral variables is addressed. As causal information flow in time series data is often operationalized by the statistical concept of ’Granger causality’, a method which directly optimizes this quantity is developed and compared to state-of-the-art methods on simulated and real EEG data. Third, problems of spurious Granger causality in the presence of measurement noise are addressed in a theoretical contribution. Drawing on results from time series analysis, this thesis provides more theoretical guarantees for time-reversed Granger causality, a recently proposed approach which is more robust with respect to noise.
Performance Evaluation of Flat Shape Absorbers Coated with Multi-Layer Biomass Composite

Microwave absorber is one of the main components used widely in anechoic chambers for antenna measurement. It is also used to absorb unwanted radiations in electronic products and other applications. This paper presents an investigation on the performance of flat shape microwave absorbers coated with biomass composite namely sawdust carbon and palm ash composite. The layer of biomass composite applied on the surface of this flat shape absorbers was found to contribute significant impact on the performance. This study is also looking at the impact of using two different board materials that is cardboard and plywood as the base of the absorbers. The wave frequency ranging from 8GHz to 12 GHz was chosen for the purpose of this study.
Assessing Psychological Adjustment to Congenital Craniofacial Anomalies: An Illustration of Methodological Challenges

Background: Recognition of the challenges inherent in psychology research related to cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and other craniofacial anomalies (CFAs) is far from novel; yet these challenges continue to limit progress within the field. The aim of the present article was to illustrate these challenges by utilizing data extracted from 2 recent literature reviews pertaining to psychological adjustment within CL/P and CFA research. Design: Data relating to 148 CL/P and 41 CFA studies were extracted, summarized, and compared, using percentages, figures, and χ2 calculations. Results: Comparable patterns were observed in both populations in relation to small sample sizes, wide age ranges, a reliance on data collection from single sites, and limited global coverage. Similarly, only one-third of all studies had used a comparison group, 42% of studies did not include the patient perspective, and fewer than 10% of studies had collected data longitudinally. Qualitative research was lacking across both populations, but particularly in relation to CFA. A higher proportion of CFA studies utilized validated measures and were less likely to exclude patients with additional anomalies. CFA studies most frequently focused on behavior and overall quality of life, while CL/P studies tended to investigate emotional well-being and social experiences. Conclusions: Findings illustrate the variability in research approaches, sampling, measurement, and analysis across both populations. There is a pressing need to address key methodological issues within craniofacial research and to examine the possible similarities and condition-specific differences between CL/P and other congenital craniofacial anomalies.
Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With HCV-Associated Cirrhosis Treated With Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Studies have produced conflicting results of the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis C virus-associated cirrhosis treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Data from clinics are needed to accurately assess the occurrence rate of HCC in patients with cirrhosis in the real world. METHODS We collected data from a large prospective study of 2,249 consecutive patients (mean age = 65.4 years, 56.9% male) with hepatitis C virus-associated cirrhosis (90.5% with Child-Pugh class A and 9.5% with Child-Pugh class B) treated with DAAs from March 2015 through July 2016 at 22 academic and community liver centers in Sicily, Italy. HCC occurrence was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox regression analysis was used to identify variables associated with HCC development. RESULTS A sustained virologic response (SVR) was achieved by 2,140 patients (total = 95.2%; 95.9% with Child Pugh class A and 88.3% with Child Pugh class B; P < .001). Seventy-eight patients (3.5%) developed HCC during a mean follow-up of 14 months (range = 6-24 months). At 1 year after exposure to DAAs, HCC developed in 2.1% of patients with Child-Pugh class A with an SVR and 6.6% of patients with no SVR and in 7.8% of patients with Child-Pugh class B with an SVR and 12.4% of patients with no SVR (P < .001 by log-rank test). Albumin level below 3.5 g/dL (hazard ratio = 1.77, 95% confidence interval = 1.12-2.82, P = .015), platelet count below 120 × 109/L (hazard ratio = 3.89, 95% confidence interval = 2.11-7.15, P < .001), and absence of an SVR (hazard ratio = 3.40, 95% confidence interval = 1.89-6.12, P < .001) were independently associated increased risk for HCC. The mean interval from exposure to DAAs to an HCC diagnosis was 9.8 months (range = 2-22 months) and did not differ significantly between patients with (n = 64, 9.2 months) and without (n = 14, 12.0 months) an SVR (P = .11). A larger proportion of patients with an SVR had a single HCC lesion (78% vs 50% without an SVR; P = .009) or an HCC lesion smaller than 3 cm (58% vs 28% without an SVR; P = .07). CONCLUSIONS In an analysis of data from a large prospective study of patients with hepatitis C virus-associated compensated or decompensated cirrhosis, we found that the SVR to DAA treatment decreased the incidence of HCC over a mean follow-up of 14 months.
Comparative microRNA-seq Analysis Depicts Candidate miRNAs Involved in Skin Color Differentiation in Red Tilapia

Differentiation and variation in body color has been a growing limitation to the commercial value of red tilapia. Limited microRNA (miRNA) information is available on skin color differentiation and variation in fish so far. In this study, a high-throughput Illumina sequencing of sRNAs was conducted on three color varieties of red tilapia and 81,394,491 raw reads were generated. A total of 158 differentially expressed miRNAs (|log2(fold change)| ≥ 1 and q-value ≤ 0.001) were identified. Target prediction and functional analysis of color-related miRNAs showed that a variety of putative target genes—including slc7a11, mc1r and asip—played potential roles in pigmentation. Moreover; the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was illustrated to elucidate the pigmentation differentiation, in which miR-138-5p and miR-722 were predicted to play important roles in regulating the pigmentation process. These results advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of skin pigmentation differentiation in red tilapia.
Gadd45a gene silencing by RNAi promotes cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis and senescence in skin squamous cell carcinoma through the p53 signaling pathway

Skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is generally considered as nonaggressive lesions and mainly caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Gadd45a is a key component protecting skin against UV‐induced tumors. For that, the study aims to investigate the mechanism of Gadd45a gene silencing on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and senescence in nude mice with skin SCC through the p53 signaling pathway. Healthy nude mice was collected as the normal group and 40 nude mouse models of skin SCC were successfully established as the model group, which were sub‐divided into five groups. The incidence, size, and weight of SCC tumor of nude mice were observed. The mRNA expression of Gadd45a, Cyclin B1, MMP‐2, Bcl‐2, and Bax were determined by RT‐qPCR. Cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis, cell senescence were detected by MTT assay, flow cytometry, and β‐galactosidase staining, respectively. The levels of inflammatory factors and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were detected by using ELISA. The protein expression rate of mutant p53 was detected by immunohistochemistry. Mice transfected with siGadd45a showed increased tumor incidence, size, and weight. Cells transfected with siGadd45a showed decrease in expression of Gadd45a and Bax; and increase in expression of Cyclin B1, MMP‐2, and Bcl‐2, expression of mutant p53, IL‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, TNF‐α, and VEGF. Cell apoptosis and senescence were inhibited, while cell viability and proliferation were promoted after siGadd45a treatment. The results reveal that Gadd45a silencing increases tumor cell proliferation and reduces apoptosis and senescence through the p53 signaling pathway in skin SCC.
Finding an unfamiliar face in a line‐up: Viewing multiple images of the target is beneficial on target‐present trials but costly on target‐absent trials

When viewing unfamiliar faces, photographs of the same person often are perceived as belonging to different people and photographs of different people as belonging to the same person. Identity matching of unfamiliar faces is especially challenging when the photographs are of a person whose ethnicity differs from that of the observer. In contrast, matching is trivial when viewing familiar faces, regardless of race. Viewing multiple images of an own-race target identity improves accuracy on a line-up task when the target is known to be present (Dowsett et al., 2016, Q J Exp Psychol, 69, 1), suggesting that exposure to within-person variability in appearance is key to face learning. Across three experiments, we show that viewing multiple images of a target identity also improves accuracy for other-race faces on target-present trials. However, viewing multiple images decreases accuracy (i.e., increases false alarms) on target-absent trials for both own- and other-race faces. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of face recognition and for forensic settings.
Non-local methods for InSAR parameters estimation

In the thesis work the nonlocal paradigm has been investigated in the framework of Multitemporal SAR Interferometry, e.g. Differential Interferometry, Tomography, etc., and single InSAR pair, e.g. DEM generation. In the former, Adaptive Multi-Looking methods have been developed for the generation of interferometric data-stacks. Following the nonlocal approach, the proposed methods rely only on similar pixels according to a suitable similarity measure that exploits the stack's temporal information. An hybrid approach that jointly uses the nonlocal paradigm and transform domain filtering has been investigated for InSAR pair phase estimation. On the track of the BM3D and SARBM3D algorithms, different approaches to the filtering in the transform domain are investigated. Furthermore, a novel approach to the similarity computation and filtering, based on a relative-topography content of the interferometric phase rather than its absolute value, is proposed.
Negative effects of temperature and atmospheric depositions on the seed viability of common juniper (Juniperus communis).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Environmental change is increasingly impacting ecosystems worldwide. However, our knowledge about the interacting effects of various drivers of global change on sexual reproduction of plants, one of their key mechanisms to cope with change, is limited. This study examines populations of poorly regenerating and threatened common juniper (Juniperus communis) to determine the influence of four drivers of global change (rising temperatures, nitrogen deposition, potentially acidifying deposition and altering precipitation patterns) on two key developmental phases during sexual reproduction, gametogenesis and fertilization (seed phase two, SP2) and embryo development (seed phase three, SP3), and on the ripening time of seeds. METHODS In 42 populations throughout the distribution range of common juniper in Europe, 11,943 seeds of two developmental phases were sampled. Seed viability was determined using seed dissection and related to accumulated temperature (expressed as growing degree-days), nitrogen and potentially acidifying deposition (nitrogen plus sulfur), and precipitation data. KEY RESULTS Precipitation had no influence on the viability of the seeds or on the ripening time. Increasing temperatures had a negative impact on the viability of SP2 and SP3 seeds and decreased the ripening time. Potentially acidifying depositions negatively influenced SP3 seed viability, while enhanced nitrogen deposition led to lower ripening times. CONCLUSIONS Higher temperatures and atmospheric deposition affected SP3 seeds more than SP2 seeds. However, this is possibly a delayed effect as juniper seeds develop practically independently, due to the absence of vascular communication with the parent plant from shortly after fertilization. It is proposed that the failure of natural regeneration in many European juniper populations might be attributed to climate warming as well as enhanced atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur.
Age-Related Within-Task Adaptations in Sequential Decision Making: Considering Cognitive and Motivational Factors

Many decisions require sequentially searching through the available alternatives. In these tasks, older adults have been shown to perform worse than younger adults, but the reasons why age differences occur are still unclear. In the present research, we tackle this question by investigating which strategies older and younger adults adopt and how these strategies relate to individual differences in cognitive (mental speed, working memory capacity) and motivational (need for cognitive closure) variables. To achieve this goal, we conducted two studies in which older and younger adults performed a computerized sequential choice task. Study 1 indicated that older adults changed their decision-making strategies throughout the task by reducing the number of options they considered. This change in strategy did not decrease performance because searching less allowed older adults to choose more promising options. In the second study we manipulated whether a long or short search was optimal. In the beginning older adults performed worse than younger adults independent of whether short or long search was adaptive. However, in the second half of the task we found age differences in performance when long search was required, but not when short search was required. In both studies whether or not older adults changed their strategy depended on their need for cognitive closure, suggesting that avoiding cognitive closure facilitates adaptive flexibility. Together, the two studies provide evidence for compensatory strategy adaptations among older adults completing sequential choice tasks.
A multi-DOF robotic exoskeleton interface for hand motion assistance

This paper outlines the design and development of a robotic exoskeleton based rehabilitation system. A portable direct-driven optimized hand exoskeleton system has been proposed. The optimization procedure primarily based on matching the exoskeleton and finger workspaces guided the system design. The selection of actuators for the proposed system has emerged as a result of experiments with users of different hand sizes. Using commercial sensors, various hand parameters, e.g. maximum and average force levels have been measured. The results of these experiments have been mapped directly to the mechanical design of the system. An under-actuated optimum mechanism has been analysed followed by the design and realization of the first prototype. The system provides both position and force feedback sensory information which can improve the outcomes of a professional rehabilitation exercise.
Estimated Cost to a Restaurant of a Foodborne Illness Outbreak

Objectives: Although outbreaks of restaurant-associated foodborne illness occur periodically and make the news, a restaurant may not be aware of the cost of an outbreak. We estimated this cost under varying circumstances. Methods: We developed a computational simulation model; scenarios varied outbreak size (5 to 250 people affected), pathogen (n = 15), type of dining establishment (fast food, fast casual, casual dining, and fine dining), lost revenue (ie, meals lost per illness), cost of lawsuits and legal fees, fines, and insurance premium increases. Results: We estimated that the cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak ranged from $3968 to $1.9 million for a fast-food restaurant, $6330 to $2.1 million for a fast-casual restaurant, $8030 to $2.2 million for a casual-dining restaurant, and $8273 to $2.6 million for a fine-dining restaurant, varying from a 5-person outbreak, with no lost revenue, lawsuits, legal fees, or fines, to a 250-person outbreak, with high lost revenue (100 meals lost per illness), and a high amount of lawsuits and legal fees ($1 656 569) and fines ($100 000). This cost amounts to 10% to 5790% of a restaurant’s annual marketing costs and 0.3% to 101% of annual profits and revenue. The biggest cost drivers were lawsuits and legal fees, outbreak size, and lost revenue. Pathogen type affected the cost by a maximum of $337 000, the difference between a Bacillus cereus outbreak (least costly) and a listeria outbreak (most costly). Conclusions: The cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak to a restaurant can be substantial and outweigh the typical costs of prevention and control measures. Our study can help decision makers determine investment and motivate research for infection-control measures in restaurant settings.