Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Programming by Demonstration with User-Specified Perceptual Landmarks

Programming by demonstration (PbD) is an effective technique for developing complex robot manipulation tasks, such as opening bottles or using human tools. In order for such tasks to generalize to new scenes, the robot needs to be able to perceive objects, object parts, or other task-relevant parts of the scene. Previous work has relied on rigid, task-specific perception systems for this purpose. This paper presents a flexible and open-ended perception system that lets users specify perceptual "landmarks" during the demonstration, by capturing parts of the point cloud from the demonstration scene. We present a method for localizing landmarks in new scenes and experimentally evaluate this method in a variety of settings. Then, we provide examples where user-specified landmarks are used together with PbD on a PR2 robot to perform several complex manipulation tasks. Finally, we present findings from a user evaluation of our landmark specification interface demonstrating its feasibility as an end-user tool.
Toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome: does early withdrawal of causative drugs decrease the risk of death?

BACKGROUND Withdrawal of the drug(s) that cause severe cutaneous adverse reactions is usually recommended without proof that it alters the course of those reactions. OBJECTIVE To determine whether the timing of causative drug withdrawal is related to the prognosis of patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) or Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). DESIGN A 10-year observational study (January 1, 1987, through October 30, 1997) of patients admitted to a dermatological intensive care unit, using binary logistic regression analysis. SETTING A single referral unit in a university hospital. PATIENTS Consecutive sample of 203 patients with TEN or SJS. Exclusion criteria included causative drug undetermined, lack of information on disease evolution, the date of causative drug(s) withdrawal, or the date when the first definite sign of TEN or SJS appeared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Death before hospital discharge. RESULTS One hundred thirteen patients were included; 74 had TEN and 39 had SJS; 20 died. The drug causing TEN or SJS was withdrawn early in 64 patients and late (after the first definite sign of TEN or SJS) in 49 patients. After adjustment for confounding variables (age, maximum extent of detachment, admission year, human immunodeficiency virus status), our model showed that the earlier the causative drug was withdrawn, the better the prognosis (odds ratio, 0.69 for each day; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.89). Patients exposed to causative drugs with long half-lives had an increased risk of dying (odds ratio, 4.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-18.9). The variables did not interact. CONCLUSIONS Prompt withdrawal of drug(s) that are suspected to cause SJS or TEN may decrease mortality. Prompt withdrawal of causative drugs should be a priority when blisters or erosions appear in the course of a drug eruption.
Respecting Temporal Constraints in Virtualised Services

This paper reports some experiences in providing service guarantees to real-time (RT) applications running in virtual Machine (VM), showing how proper scheduling is a necessary condition for a predictable execution. In particular, resource reservation techniques allow to cope with some of the overhead and unpredictabilities experienced when executing multiple VMs on the same host.
Effects of reduced cigarette smoking on the uptake of a tobacco-specific lung carcinogen.

BACKGROUND Limited data are available on carcinogen uptake in smokers who reduce their smoking. To determine whether reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day would lead to a corresponding reduction in carcinogen uptake, we measured levels of metabolites of the tobacco-specific lung carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) in the urine of smokers who reduced their smoking for up to 26 weeks. METHODS We recruited 153 smokers, of whom 151 were randomly assigned to a reduction group or a waitlist group. In the reduction group of 102 smokers, we measured the metabolites 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) and its glucuronides (NNAL-Gluc) at two baseline times and at weeks 4, 6, 8, 12, and 26 after baseline. Smokers were then expected to reduce their number of cigarettes per day by 25% in weeks 0-2, 50% in weeks 2-4, and 75% in weeks 4-6 and to maintain the reduced level through week 26. In the waitlist group of 49 smokers, four baseline measurements over 7 weeks were made to assess the longitudinal stability of the metabolite measurements, and then the smokers began the reduction program. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS For waitlist and reduction groups results were comparable. Statistically significant reductions in the lung carcinogen metabolites were observed at most intervals as smokers reduced the number of cigarettes smoked each day. However, the observed decreases were generally modest, always proportionally less than the reductions in cigarettes smoked per day, and sometimes transient. For example, among the 65 individuals in the reduction group who reduced cigarettes per day by 40% or more during weeks 4-12 after baseline, mean decreases in cigarettes per day were 53% (week 4), 74% (week 6), 75% (week 8), and 74% (week 12); whereas the corresponding mean reductions in NNAL plus NNAL-Gluc were 29%, 33%, 37%, and 29%. (P<.001 for all NNAL plus NNAL-Gluc values) CONCLUSIONS Statistically significant reductions in levels of urinary metabolites of a tobacco-specific lung carcinogen were achieved by reduction in smoking, but for most smokers, reductions were modest and transient.
Comprehensive MicroRNA Profiling Reveals a Unique Human Embryonic Stem Cell Signature Dominated by a Single Seed Sequence

Embryonic stem cells are unique among cultured cells in their ability to self‐renew and differentiate into a wide diversity of cell types, suggesting that a specific molecular control network underlies these features. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are known to have distinct mRNA expression, global DNA methylation, and chromatin profiles, but the involvement of high‐level regulators, such as microRNAs (miRNA), in the hESC‐specific molecular network is poorly understood. We report that global miRNA expression profiling of hESCs and a variety of stem cell and differentiated cell types using a novel microarray platform revealed a unique set of miRNAs differentially regulated in hESCs, including numerous miRNAs not previously linked to hESCs. These hESC‐associated miRNAs were more likely to be located in large genomic clusters, and less likely to be located in introns of coding genes. hESCs had higher expression of oncogenic miRNAs and lower expression of tumor suppressor miRNAs than the other cell types. Many miRNAs upregulated in hESCs share a common consensus seed sequence, suggesting that there is cooperative regulation of a critical set of target miRNAs. We propose that miRNAs are coordinately controlled in hESCs, and are key regulators of pluripotence and differentiation.
Structure and Regulation of the gab Gene Cluster, Involved in the γ-Aminobutyric Acid Shunt, Are Controlled by a σ54 Factor in Bacillus thuringiensis

ABSTRACT The structure and regulation of the gab gene cluster, involved in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) shunt, were studied by characterizing gabT and gabD genes cloned from Bacillus thuringiensis. Deletions of the gabT and gabD genes in B. thuringiensis strain HD-73 did not affect the growth of mutant strains in rich culture media, but the growth of a gabT deletion mutant strain was reduced in basic media (containing 0.2% GABA). Genome analysis indicates that the structure of the gab gene cluster in B. thuringiensis HD-73 is different from that in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis but is common in strains of the Bacillus cereus group. This suggests that the gene cluster involved in GABA shunt is specific to the B. cereus group. Based on reverse transcription-PCR and transcriptional fusion analysis, we confirmed that the gabT and gabD genes belong to different transcriptional units, while the gabD and gabR genes form an operon. We also demonstrated that the gabR gene plays a positive regulatory role in gabD and gabT expression. The GabR protein may be a σ54-dependent transcriptional activator, according to a conserved domain search in the NCBI database, and it is highly conserved in the B. cereus group. The −24/−12 consensus sequence of a promoter upstream from gabT suggests that the promoter can be recognized by a σ54 factor. Further analysis of the genetic complementation studies also suggests that the expression of the gabT gene is controlled by a σ54 factor. Thus, the expression of the gab cluster is regulated by a σ54 factor by way of the transcription activator GabR.
Effects of Expectancy and Attention in Vibrotactile Choice Reaction Time Tasks

The orienting of attention in space has not been considered in the tactile domain. This issue is examined using a modified version of a visual paradigm initially adopted by Posner, Snyder, and Davidson (1980), which manipulates the probability of a stimulus occurring at different spatial locations. Slower RTs at an unexpected stimulus location are thought to reflect the time required to shift attention from the expected to the unexpected location. In two experiments involving vibrotactile choice RT between left and right hands, the two hands were either crossed or uncrossed, and the hands were held both on the left side of the body, both on the right, or one on either side of the midline. There was no evidence to suggest that spatial location (left or right) affected the orienting of attention in the tactual modality. As predicted, RTs were slower when the arms were crossed compared with uncrossed, though this effect was smaller for the expected trials. A coding conflict hypothesis may explain both these findings, but the smaller effect in the expected trials may also reflect attentional factors. Both the relative and absolute location of the hands affected the magnitude of the crossed-arm effect and indicated that attention may play a role in the perceptual division of space into left and right sides. Possible reasons for hand or hemispace asymmetries in different simple and choice RT paradigms were discussed.
Teaching economics in a changing university environment: Some Australian experience

The environment for teaching Economics in Australian universities has undergone profound changes. The factors involved are well known: changing public policy goals, market expansion, internationalization, working to study, and an increasingly diverse clientele. This study investigates various changing aspects in the teaching of Economics. Questionnaire and interview data were collected from three stakeholders: students (the consumer), lecturers (the supplier), and Heads of Schools and the Executive Dean (the administrator). Effective communication, clarity of lecture notes, good acoustics, ability to focus on the theme, personality, ability to illustrate with examples were identified by students and staff as essential indicators of good teaching. The study derives some implications: expanding the Faculty Student Resource Centre; flexible and extended consultation hours; and English language support system.
Special ATPG to correlate test patterns for low-overhead mixed-mode BIST

In mixed-mode BIST, deterministic test patterns are generated with on-chip hardware to detect the random-pattern-resistant (r.p.r.) faults that are missed by the pseudo-random patterns. While previous work in mixed-mode BIST has focused on developing hardware schemes for more efficiently encoding a given set of deterministic patterns (generated by a conventional ATPG procedure), the approach taken in this paper is to improve the encoding efficiency (and hence reduce hardware overhead) by specially selecting a set of deterministic test patterns for the r.p.r. faults that can be efficiently encoded. A special ATPG procedure is described for finding test patterns for the r.p.r. faults that are correlated (have the same logic value) in many bit positions. Such test patterns can be efficiently encoded with one of the many "bit-fixing" schemes that have been described in the literature. Results are shown for different bit-fixing schemes which indicate dramatic reductions in BIST overhead can be achieved by using the proposed ATPG procedure to select which test patterns to encode.
Exploring Age-Related Differences in Prospective Memory Inside and outside of the Lab

Age differences in the performance of two prospective memory tasks (activity-based and event-based) were investigated both in laboratory and naturalistic settings. Forty young and 40 older adults participated. First, the participants came to the lab and answered ninety trivia questions with embedded prospective memory tasks. Second, they were required to come to a local mall (naturalistic setting) a few days later to complete various prospective memory tasks. Results indicated that both age groups performed the event-based task followed by activity-based task better in the lab than in the naturalistic setting. The young performed the tasks better than their older counterparts in both contexts, though the effects failed to reach statistical significance. An interesting finding was that older participants performed the naturalistic event-based task better than the young participants. These findings suggest that converting activity-based tasks into event-based tasks may help people accomplish their daily prospective memory tasks more successfully.
The Historical Growth of Statistical Significance Testing in Psychology--and Its Future Prospects.

The historical growth in the popularity of statistical significance testing is examined using a random sample of annual data from 12 American Psychological Association (APA) journals. The results replicate and extend the findings of Hubbard, Parsa, and Luthy, who used data from only the Journal of Applied Psychology. The results also confirm Gigerenzer and Murray's allegation that an inference revolution occurred in psychology between 1940 and 1955. An assessment of the future prospects for statistical significance testing is offered. It is concluded that replication with extension research, and its connections with meta-analysis, is a better vehicle for developing a cumulative knowledge base in the discipline than statistical significance testing. It is conceded, however, that statistical significance testing is likely here to stay.
Effects of an intrahospital exercise program intervention for children with leukemia.

PURPOSE The purpose was to investigate the effect of a 16-wk intrahospital supervised conditioning program including both resistance and aerobic training and a 20-wk detraining period on measures of aerobic fitness, muscular strength, functional mobility, ankle range of motion, and quality of life (QOL) in children receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). METHODS Seven children (four boys, three girls; age: 5.1 +/- 1.2 yr, body mass: 24.0 +/- 5.8 kg, height: 114.6 +/- 7.7 cm) in the maintenance phase of treatment against ALL performed three sessions per week for 16 wk of resistance (one set of 8-15 repetitions of 11 exercises) and aerobic training (30 min at > 70% HRmax) followed by 20 wk of detraining where no structured exercise program was performed. Before training, after training, and after detraining, a treadmill test determining . VO2peak and ventilator threshold (VT), muscular strength (6RM), functional mobility (timed up and down stairs test, time up and go 3-m and 10-m tests), passive and dynamic ankle range of motion, and self-reported quality of living were determined. RESULTS After training, significant increases in . VO2peak, VT, upper- and lower-body muscular strength, and all measures of functional mobility were shown (P < 0.05). Muscular strength was well maintained (significantly greater than before training and no significant decrease from after training) during detraining, whereas . VO2peak, VT, and functional mobility (not significantly different from before training but no significant decrease from after training) were only partially retained. CONCLUSION Young children in the maintenance phase of treatment against ALL can safely perform both aerobic and resistance training. Training results in significant increases in measures of aerobic fitness, strength, and functional mobility. During detraining, strength and functional mobility are well maintained, whereas . VO2peak and VT are partially maintained.
Population structure among octocoral adults and recruits identifies scale dependent patterns of population isolation in The Bahamas

Patterns of dispersal and connectivity of the Caribbean gorgonian Antillogorgia elisabethae in The Bahamas were assessed in both adults and recently settled recruits from 13 sites using microsatellite loci. Adult populations along the Little Bahama Bank (LBB) exhibited a clear pattern of isolation by distance (IBD) which described 86% of the variance in pairwise genetic distances. Estimates of dispersal based on the IBD model suggested dispersal distances along the LBB on the order of 100 m. Increasing the spatial scale to include sites separated by open ocean generated an apparent IBD signal but the relationship had a greater slope and explained less of the variance. This relationship with distance reflected both stepping stone based IBD and regional differentiation probably created by ocean currents and barriers to dispersal that are correlated with geographic distance. Analysis of recruits from 4 sites on the LBB from up to 6 years did not detect differences between years nor differences with adult populations. The result suggests that neither selection on recruits nor inter-annual variation in dispersal affected adult population structure. Assignment tests of recruits indicated the most likely sources of the recruits were the local or adjacent populations. Most of the patterning in population structure in the northern Bahamas can be explained by geographic distance and oceanographic connectivity. Recognition of these complex patterns is important in developing management plans for A. elisabethae and in understanding the effects of disturbance to adult populations of A. elisabethae and similar species with limited dispersal.
Suicide Risk Among College Student. The Intersection of Sexual Orientation and Race.

BACKGROUND Research on young adults in the general population has identified a relationship between sexual minority identification and risk for suicide. Differential rates of suicidal ideation and attempts have also been found across racial and ethnic groups. AIMS This study examined risk for suicide among university students, based on membership in one or more marginalized groups (sexual minority and racial minority identification). METHOD Data were collected from first-year college students (N = 4,345) at an urban university. Structural equation modeling was employed to model a suicidality construct, based on which a "risk for suicide" category system was derived. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were then conducted to estimate the relationship between the background variables of interest and suicide risk. RESULTS Students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) were associated with higher suicide risk than their heterosexual peers. Students of color were slightly less at risk than their heterosexual peers. However, LGB students of color were associated with elevated suicide risk relative to heterosexual peers. CONCLUSION Results indicate that belonging to multiple marginalized groups may increase one's risk for suicide, though these effects are not simply additive. Findings highlight the complexity of the intersection between marginalized identities and suicidality.
The Political Psychology of Contemporary Anti-Politics: A Discursive Approach to the End-of-Ideology Era

This article advocates a discursive approach for examining political rhetoric. Such an approach is particularly useful for studying contemporary political ideology. The current political climate, especially in Britain, has been described as exemplifying a "Third Way," which is said to have replaced the old ideological division between "left" and "right" by a consensual, non-ideological politics. The discursive approach allows the analyst to look at the continuing dilemmas of an ideology that denies its ideological character. In discursive analyses of interviews with 20 elected local officials in the Midlands of England, the respondents (regardless of party affiliation) tended to give accounts that celebrated the development of consensual, less ideologically divisive politics. These accounts, however, were dilemmatic: As the speakers told of social change, they also stressed their own personal stability, as if they themselves existed outside the previous political climate. They also explicitly distanced themselves from the language of "left" and "right," but in this distancing a further ideological dilemma was detectable. All the local politicians were officially affiliated to a political party. In discursively subtle ways, the speakers used the left/right continuum as they distinguished between the parties, thereby showing the sort of variability that discursive theorists have noted in other contexts. The implications of such findings and of the discursive approach to studying ideology are discussed in relation to the possibilities for developing a critical political psychology.
Abelson Interactor 1 (Abi1) and Its Interaction with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein (Wasp) Are Critical for Proper Eye Formation in Xenopus Embryos*

Background: The Abi1 scaffold protein affects cell migration in vitro by regulating actin cytoskeletal dynamics. Results: Knockdown of Abi1 or its binding partner, Wasp, disrupts eye development and retinal progenitor cell movement in Xenopus embryos. Conclusion: Abi1 and Wasp are essential for eye morphogenesis in Xenopus. Significance: Cytoskeletal regulation by Abi1 is critical in vivo for morphogenesis during embryonic development. Abl interactor 1 (Abi1) is a scaffold protein that plays a central role in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics as a constituent of several key protein complexes, and homozygous loss of this protein leads to embryonic lethality in mice. Because this scaffold protein has been shown in cultured cells to be a critical component of pathways controlling cell migration and actin regulation at cell-cell contacts, we were interested to investigate the in vivo role of Abi1 in morphogenesis during the development of Xenopus embryos. Using morpholino-mediated translation inhibition, we demonstrate that knockdown of Abi1 in the whole embryo, or specifically in eye field progenitor cells, leads to disruption of eye morphogenesis. Moreover, signaling through the Src homology 3 domain of Abi1 is critical for proper movement of retinal progenitor cells into the eye field and their appropriate differentiation, and this process is dependent upon an interaction with the nucleation-promoting factor Wasp (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein). Collectively, our data demonstrate that the Abi1 scaffold protein is an essential regulator of cell movement processes required for normal eye development in Xenopus embryos and specifically requires an Src homology 3 domain-dependent interaction with Wasp to regulate this complex morphogenetic process.
Super- (and not-so-super-) vision of counsellors-in-training: Supervisee perspectives on broadening and narrowing processes

ABSTRACT This study investigated the experiences of broadening and narrowing in the supervisory process from the perspective of supervisees. Ten supervisees who had completed all requirements for a master's degree in counselling were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using a consensual qualitative research method. Results included categories of supervisor and supervisee actions that contributed to both broadening and narrowing experiences in supervision. The results are discussed in light of implications for the process of supervision.