Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regrasping objects using extrinsic dexterity

This video presents the application of Extrinsic Dexterity to change the pose of an object in the hand, i.e., to regrasp the object. Gravity, inertia, arm motions and external contacts can be exploited to manipulate an object in the hand. As such dexterity does not depend solely on the intrinsic capability of the hand, but rather is derived from external resources, we call it as “Extrinsic Dexterity”. The video showcases a repertoire of regrasps developed for a simple gripper and presents one of the sequences regrasps designed to explore border manipulation capability by connecting different regrasps.
The Use of the Qualitative Research Interview to Uncover the Essence of Community Psychiatric Nursing

During the last decade in the Nordic countries, the qualitative research interview (QRI) has become a fruitful method for the study of how people experience their life-world, especially in social and professional contexts. The essential features and structural components of the QRI have been well developed, and various aspects of the interpretation of interview texts have been analyzed and theoretically assessed from the hermeneutic-phenomenological point of view. The validity, reliability, and fruitfulness of the method also have been constructively scrutinized. The present study, which examines the choice of appropriate QRI strategy and technique as illustrated with concrete examples, focuses on the specific area of psychiatric nurses' professional thoughts and experiences in community psychiatric nursing. This scientific article seeks to stimulate and illuminate the right use of QRI.
Novel Levofloxacin-Resistant Multidrug-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 11A Isolates, South Korea

Of 608 Streptococcus pneumoniae clinical strains isolated at a hospital in South Korea during 2009–2014, sixteen (2.6%) were identified as levofloxacin resistant. The predominant serotype was 11A (9 isolates). Two novel sequence types of multidrug-resistant S. pneumoniae with serotype 11A were identified, indicating continuous diversification of resistant strains.
Simple unified form for the major no-hidden-variables theorems.

Two examples are given that substantially simplify the no-hidden-variables theorem of Kochen and Specker, greatly reducing the number of observables considered and requiring no intricate geometric argument. While one of the examples also obeys a more powerful version of Bell's theorem, the other does not. The examples provide a new perspective on both of these fundamental theorems and on the relation between them. The Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem ' demonstrates that it is, in general, impossible to ascribe to an individual quantum system a definite value for each of a set of observables not all of which necessarily commute. Of course elementary quantum metaphysics insists that we cannot assign definite values to noncommuting observ-ables; the point of the KS theorem is to extract this directly from the quantum-mechanical formalism, rather than merely appealing to precepts enunciated by the founders. If such an assignment of values turned out to be possible in spite of those precepts, then uncertainty relations for the results of measuring noncommuting ob-servables could be viewed as a manifestation of the statistical scatter of these definite values in many different individual realizations of the identical quantum state. The state vector alone would not provide complete information about a system, and the additional values in particular realizations of the same quantum state could be regarded as "hidden variables. " A similar conclusion against hidden variables is reached by Bell's Theorem, but in a rather different way. The violation of quantum dogma contemplated by Bell is weaker than that tested by Kochen and Specker, noncommuting observables only being provided with simultaneous values when required to have them by the simple locality condition of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR). On the other hand, Bell's refutation has a strongly statistical character that the argument of Ko-chen and Specker does not. I describe below a simple system for which one can prove both a KS and a Bell-EPR theorem. The KS theorem is substantially simpler than the original argument of Kochen and Specker; the Bell-EPR theorem eliminates the statistical aspect of Bell s original argument ; and the applicability of both theorems to a single system clarifies their relationship, clearly revealing the Bell-EPR result to be the stronger of the two. The discussion that follows is inspired by a new version of Bell's Theorem due to Greenberger, Horne, and Zeilinger (GHZ), by the observation of Stairs' that GHZ can also be made the basis …
Development of an Electronic Health Record-based Clinical Trial Alert System to Enhance Recruitment at the Point of Care

Clinical trials are essential to the progress of medical science. Physician participation in trial recruitment is vital, but most do not participate. Few approaches to improve physician participation in trial recruitment have been described or proven successful. Previously described approaches have largely relied on locally developed technology or been designed for use in specialized settings, thereby limiting their generalizability. We describe the design, operation and initial testing of a new Clinical Trial Alert (CTA) system built upon the existing capabilities of a commercial EHR in use across a large academic healthcare system. Given the trend toward implementation of similarly capable EHRs in institutions engaged in clinical research, this approach should be widely applicable and may represent a solution to the common problem of inadequate clinical trial recruitment. Further study of this system is ongoing.
Seed Maturation Regulators Are Related to the Control of Seed Dormancy in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

In Arabidopsis, the regulation network of the seed maturation program controls the induction of seed dormancy. Wheat EST sequences showing homology with the master regulators of seed maturation, LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1), LEC2 and FUSCA3 (FUS3), were searched from databases and designated respectively as TaL1L (LEC1-LIKE), TaL2L (LEC2-LIKE), and TaFUS3. TaL1LA, TaL2LA and TaFUS3 mainly expressed in seeds or embryos, with the expression limited to the early stages of seed development. Results show that tissue-specific and developmental-stage-dependent expressions are similar to those of seed maturation regulators in Arabidopsis. In wheat cultivars, the expression level of TaL1LA is correlated significantly with the germination index (GI) of whole seeds at 40 days after pollination (DAP) (r = –0.83**). Expression levels of TaFUS3 and TaL2LA are significantly correlated respectively with GIs at 40 DAP and 50 DAP, except for dormant cultivars. No correlation was found between the expression level of TaVP1, orthologue of ABA INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3), and seed dormancy. DELAY OF GERMINATION1 (DOG1) was identified as a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for the regulation of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis. Its promoter has RY motif, which is a target sequence of LEC2. Significant correlation was found between the expression of TaDOG1 and seed dormancy except for dormant cultivars. These results indicate that TaL1LA, TaL2LA, and TaFUS3 are wheat orthologues of seed maturation regulators. The expressions of these genes affect the level of seed dormancy. Furthermore, the pathways, which involve seed maturation regulators and TaDOG1, are important for regulating seed dormancy in wheat.
PROLONGED NEONATAL UNCONJUGATED HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA ASSOCIATED WITH BREAST FEEDING AND A STEROID, PREGNANE-3(ALPHA), 20(BETA)-DIOL, IN MATERNAL MILK THAT INHIBITS GLUCURONIDE FORMATION IN VITRO.

The effect of mothers milk from the mothers of 7 jaundiced children was compared with milk from control mothers and from pregnant and postpartum cows on glucuronyl transferase activity in vitro. This infant jaundice a syndrome of severe and prolonged unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia occurred in association with breast feeding in 7 unrelated full-term infants. In vitro the breast milk obtained from the mothers of the 7 infants consistently inhibited glucuronyl transferase activity when compared with 99 milk specimens from 71 women whose infants did not have this syndrome. In vitro isolation of steroid products in the 2 milk pools (i.e. jaundiced infant vs. nonjaundiced) located a steroid pregnane-3(alpha)20(beta)-diol that was consistently present in the mothers milk from the jaundiced infant group but never present in control mothers milk. In vitro this steroid inhibited competitively glucuronyl transferase activity. The precursor of the isolated steroid pregnane-3(alpha)20(beta)-diol is unknown as are its mechanisms of action. The steroid metabolite is unknown in human tissues but is a major progesterone metabolite in guinea pigs and cattle. The same mothers whose breast milk inhibited glucuronyl transferase in vitro had serum samples tested similarly and the sera was no more inhibitory than that of normal mothers.
The Properties and Preparation of Chitosan/Silica Hybrids Using Sol-Gel Process

Chitosan/silica hybrids (Chitosan/SiO2) using a sol-gel process were prepared at a wide range of in situ silica content from 0% to 100%. This work was undertaken to investigate the thermal properties, optical, adsorption, and biodegradability properties of this type of hybrid. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra were recorded to depict the interfacial interaction. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to determine the actual silica content forming in the hybrids and to evaluate the enhanced heat resistance of hybrids resulting from silica. Crystallography was illustrated using an X-ray diffractometer. Fracture surface was revealed through a scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS) to probe the dispersion degree of SiO2, which in turn confirmed the results of optical property on the formation of nanocomposites. To prevent the dissolution of chitosan and silica in the acid and alkaline solution, respectively, all prepared hybrids are capable of chelating Cu (II) as well as Fe (III) in a large degree. In addition, the hybrids are biodegradable based on the lysozyme treatment. Thus, chitosan/silica hybrids are of benefit as suitable environmental biomaterials and adsorbents under a wide range of conditions.
Processing in the Hybrid OLTP & OLAP Main-Memory Database System HyPer

Two emerging hardware trends have re-initiated the development of in-core database systems: ever increasing main-memory capacities and vast multi-core parallel processing power. Main-memory capacities of several TB allow to retain all transactional data of even the largest applications in-memory on one (or a few) servers. The vast computational power in combination with low data management overhead yields unprecedented transaction performance which allows to push transaction processing (away from application servers) into the database server and still “leaves room” for additional query processing directly on the transactional data. Thereby, the often postulated goal of real-time business intelligence, where decision makers have access to the latest version of the transactional state, becomes feasible. In this paper we will survey the HyPerScript transaction programming language, the main-memory indexing technique ART, which is decisive for high transaction processing performance, and HyPer’s transaction management that allows heterogeneous workloads consisting of short pre-canned transactions, OLAP-style queries, and long interactive transactions.
Human Histone Chaperone Nucleophosmin Enhances Acetylation-Dependent Chromatin Transcription

ABSTRACT Histone chaperones are a group of proteins that aid in the dynamic chromatin organization during different cellular processes. Here, we report that the human histone chaperone nucleophosmin interacts with the core histones H3, H2B, and H4 but that this histone interaction is not sufficient to confer the chaperone activity. Significantly, nucleophosmin enhances the acetylation-dependent chromatin transcription and it becomes acetylated both in vitro and in vivo. Acetylation of nucleophosmin and the core histones was found to be essential for the enhancement of chromatin transcription. The acetylated NPM1 not only shows an increased affinity toward acetylated histones but also shows enhanced histone transfer ability. Presumably, nucleophosmin disrupts the nucleosomal structure in an acetylation-dependent manner, resulting in the transcriptional activation. These results establish nucleophosmin (NPM1) as a human histone chaperone that becomes acetylated, resulting in the enhancement of chromatin transcription.
Extracting FSMs from Object-Z specifications with history invariants

Object-Z with history invariants can present precise and abstract models for complex systems. The system behavior patterns are often implicitly embedded within various state/operational constraints and history invariants. Without explicit system behavior representations, it is difficult to implement those abstract models. In this paper, we present a sound and systematic approach to automatically extract explicit system behaviors (as FSMs) from the abstract Object-Z specifications. Safety and liveness and additional crucial requirements for open systems are ensured.
Interpretation of Frenkel’s Theory of Sintering Considering Evolution of Activated Pores: I. Confirmation of the Time Constant

Frenkel’s theory of liquid-phase sintering was interpreted regarding pores as the activated component. The data of isothermal sintering shrinkage vs. time of the cordierite glass by Giess et al. are trained using the model by Nikolic et al. to obtain the relative density at varied temperatures and time. Then, the time constants are obtained as 1998.86mins, 388.21mins, 89.79mins and 26.11mins at 800°C, 820°C, 840°C and 860°C, respectively. The calculated time constants are close to that by the theoretical calculation, deviation of which arises from the fact that particle size is variable during the sintering process. The time constant determination is crucial to the research of the whole sintering process.
Numerical analysis of plasticity effects in the hole-drilling residual stress measurement

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of plasticity on residual stress measurement when the through thickness center-hole technique is used. The study investigated the effect of the most important loading, measuring, and material parameters, i.e., the residual stress intensity, the ratio between the principal residual stresses, the orientation of the strain-gage rusette with reference to the residual stress principal directions, the yield strength, and the strain hardening characteristics of the material. By means of a finite element simulation of the measurements, the errors that are usually produced by the direct use of ASTM E 837 (Test Method for Determining Residual Stresses by the Hole-Drilling Strain Gage Method) for the elaboration of the rosette strain gage readings was firstly determined by considering large enough ranges of the above-mentioned parameters to represent many conditions of practical concern. Afterwards it was shown that, at least within the limit of validity of the model, a considerable reduction of those errors can be obtained by using the proposed analytical procedure for elaborating the readings of a classical these elements strain-gage rosette. Moreover, the use of a new type of rosette with four radially oriented strain gages was proposed which could lead to further improvement of the measurement accuracy in any considered condition.
Computer-assisted second-language speech learning: generalization of prosody-focused training

In a pretest-posttest design, native English-speaking learners of French were given three weeks of training focused on prosody using a real-time computerized visual pitch contour display. Native speaker (NS) exemplars stored on hard disk provided feedback including overlay of the NS pitch contour on the subjects’ productions. These were recorded and later presented to NSs in two conditions to determine the influence of segmental information on their perception of prosody: filtered (unintelligible segmental information) and unfiltered. Ratings were given using 7-point scales for the prosody of filtered samples and both the prosody and segmental accuracy of unfiltered samples. Results revealed a) significant improvement in prosody (filtered and unfiltered samples) after training, b) transfer to segmental improvement, c) generalization to novel sentences, and d) some segmental influence on the NS perception of prosody. In a subsequent memory recall task using a subset of filtered NS training exemplars with reduced intelligibility, subjects identified the exact content of more than 80% of the sentences. Subjects also reported a greater awareness of the various aspects of speech and increased confidence in producing another language.
A Modification of the Halpern-Pearl Definition of Causality

The original Halpern-Pearl definition of causality [Halpern and Pearl, 2001] was updated in the journal version of the paper [Halpern and Pearl, 2005] to deal with some problems pointed out by Hopkins and Pearl [2003]. Here the definition is modified yet again, in a way that (a) leads to a simpler definition, (b) handles the problems pointed out by Hopkins and Pearl, and many others, (c) gives reasonable answers (that agree with those of the original and updated definition) in the standard problematic examples of causality, and (d) has lower complexity than either the original or updated definitions.
Introducing phonetically motivated information into ASR

In this paper we present an approach to introducing more phonetically motivated information into automatic speech recognition in the form of a phonetic ‘expert’. To avoid the curse of dimensionality problem, the expert information is introduced at the level of the acoustic model. Two types of experts are used, each providing discriminative information regarding groups of phonetically related phonemes. The phonetic expert is implemented using an MLP. Experiments on a numbers recognition task show that, when using the expert in conjunction with both a fullband and a multi-band system speech recognition performances are increased.
EFFECT OF MATRIX DUCTILITY ON DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF STEEL-REINFORCED ECC FLEXURAL MEMBERS UNDER REVERSED CYCLIC LOADING CONDITIONS

Summarizes the results of research aimed at investigating the effect of ductile deformation behavior of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) on the response of steel reinforced flexural members to lateral load reversals. The combination of a ductile cementitious matrix and steel reinforcement is found to result in improved energy dissipation capacity, reduction of transverse steel reinforcement requirements, and damage-tolerant inelastic deformation behavior. Basic concepts and composite deformation mechanisms of steel reinforced ECC are provided, experimentally verified, and compared to conventional reinforced concrete using small-scale specimens. Results indicate advantageous synergistic effects between ECC matrix and steel reinforcement with respect to compatible deformation, structural composite integrity, and damage evolution, and suggest integrating advanced materials design into the structural design process.
Association Mapping and Haplotype Analysis of a 3.1-Mb Genomic Region Involved in Fusarium Head Blight Resistance on Wheat Chromosome 3BS

A previous study provided an in-depth understanding of molecular population genetics of European and Asian wheat gene pools using a sequenced 3.1-Mb contig (ctg954) on chromosome 3BS. This region is believed to carry the Fhb1 gene for response to Fusarium head blight. In this study, 266 wheat accessions were evaluated in three environments for Type II FHB response based on the single floret inoculation method. Hierarchical clustering (UPGMA) based on a Manhattan dissimilarity matrix divided the accessions into eight groups according to five FHB-related traits which have a high correlation between them; Group VIII comprised six accessions with FHB response levels similar to variety Sumai 3. Based on the compressed mixed linear model (MLM), association analysis between five FHB-related traits and 42 molecular markers along the 3.1-Mb region revealed 12 significant association signals at a threshold of P<0.05. The highest proportion of phenotypic variation (6.2%) in number of diseased spikelets (NDS) occurred at locus cfb6059, and the physical distance was about 2.9 Kb between umn10 and this marker. Haplotype block (HapB) analysis using a sliding window LD of 5 markers, detected six HapBs in the 3.1-Mb region at r2>0.1 and P<0.001 between random closely linked markers. F-tests among Haps with frequencies >0.05 within each HapB at r2>0.1 and P<0.001 showed significant differences between the Hap carried by FHB resistant resources, such as Sumai 3 and Wangshuibai, and susceptible genotypes in HapB3 and HapB6. These results suggest that Fhb1 is located within HapB6, with the possibility that another gene is located at or near HapB3. SSR markers and Haps detected in this study will be helpful in further understanding the genetic basis of FHB resistance, and provide useful information for marker-assisted selection of Fhb1 in wheat breeding.
SUP05 Dominates the Gammaproteobacterial Sulfur Oxidizer Assemblages in Pelagic Redoxclines of the Central Baltic and Black Seas

ABSTRACT Gammaproteobacterial sulfur oxidizers (GSOs), particularly SUP05-related sequences, have been found worldwide in numerous oxygen-deficient marine environments. However, knowledge regarding their abundance, distribution, and ecological role is scarce. In this study, on the basis of phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences originating from a Baltic Sea pelagic redoxcline, the in situ abundances of different GSO subgroups were quantified by CARD-FISH (catalyzed reporter fluorescence in situ hybridization) with oligonucleotide probes developed specifically for this purpose. Additionally, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase form II (cbbM) gene transcript clone libraries were used to detect potential active chemolithoautotrophic GSOs in the Baltic Sea. Taken together, the results obtained by these two approaches demonstrated the existence of two major phylogenetic subclusters embedded within the GSO, one of them affiliated with sequences of the previously described SUP05 subgroup. CARD-FISH analyses revealed that only SUP05 occurred in relatively high numbers, reaching 10 to 30% of the total prokaryotes around the oxic-anoxic interface, where oxygen and sulfide concentrations are minimal. The applicability of the oligonucleotide probes was confirmed with samples from the Black Sea redoxcline, in which the SUP05 subgroup accounted for 10 to 13% of the total prokaryotic abundance. The cbbM transcripts presumably originating from SUP05 cells support previous evidence for the chemolithoautotrophic activity of this phylogenetic group. Our findings on the vertical distribution and high abundance of SUP05 suggest that this group plays an important role in marine redoxcline biogeochemistry, probably as anaerobic or aerobic sulfur oxidizers.