Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving robot teleoperation experience via immersive interfaces

This paper investigates approaches capable of inducing sensations of tele-presence in robotic tele-operations. Operator's control actions are simpler, if he feels being in the remote environment. The goal is to replicate some conditions of the remote environment to let operator's perception behaviours approximate to the natural ones. Since immersion aims at providing stimulus to trick the sensory system, we pursue a consistency between outside sensory feedbacks and inside sensory proprioceptive, vestibular information and cognitive models. Seeking operations enhancement, we explore the embodiment concept by virtually place the operator inside the robot. This research develops and evaluates natural-based interfaces for immersive tele-operation. The results indicate a decrease in cognitive workload with gains in task performance.
Effects of 12‐week resistance training during radiotherapy in breast cancer patients

Exercise is considered to be an effective supportive treatment approach in breast cancer (BC) patients. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a 12‐week PRT during radiotherapy. Strength performance was assessed by maximal isokinetic peak torque (MIPT) in two different angular velocities (60°/s and 180°/s) and maximal voluntary isometric contraction for shoulder external and internal rotation, as well as for knee extension and flexion were assessed pre‐ and post‐intervention in 146 patients randomized to PRT or a control group. Statistical analyses were based on analysis of covariance models for the individual changes from baseline to week 13. Intention‐to‐treat analyses showed significant between‐group differences favoring the exercise group (EX) for MIPT in knee flexion and shoulder internal and external rotation (P < 0.05). Subgroup analyses showed borderline significant differences with regard to pretreatment history, revealing that pretreated chemotherapy patients tend to benefit more from PRT than patients without chemotherapy (P = 0.06). Strength gain at the operated arm was significantly higher than at the non‐operated arm in EX. PRT was efficacious in increasing upper and lower limb strength in BC patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy. Patients with restrictions due to breast cancer‐related surgery and pretreated with chemotherapy might benefit the most.
Identification of Novel Functional Inhibitors of Acid Sphingomyelinase

We describe a hitherto unknown feature for 27 small drug-like molecules, namely functional inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). These entities named FIASMAs (Functional Inhibitors of Acid SphingoMyelinAse), therefore, can be potentially used to treat diseases associated with enhanced activity of ASM, such as Alzheimer's disease, major depression, radiation- and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis and endotoxic shock syndrome. Residual activity of ASM measured in the presence of 10 µM drug concentration shows a bimodal distribution; thus the tested drugs can be classified into two groups with lower and higher inhibitory activity. All FIASMAs share distinct physicochemical properties in showing lipophilic and weakly basic properties. Hierarchical clustering of Tanimoto coefficients revealed that FIASMAs occur among drugs of various chemical scaffolds. Moreover, FIASMAs more frequently violate Lipinski's Rule-of-Five than compounds without effect on ASM. Inhibition of ASM appears to be associated with good permeability across the blood-brain barrier. In the present investigation, we developed a novel structure-property-activity relationship by using a random forest-based binary classification learner. Virtual screening revealed that only six out of 768 (0.78%) compounds of natural products functionally inhibit ASM, whereas this inhibitory activity occurs in 135 out of 2028 (6.66%) drugs licensed for medical use in humans.
CLARIT TREC Design, Experiments, and Results

This report presents an-abbreviated description of the results of the CLARIT team in completing the tasks of the «Text Retrieval Conference« (TREC). A shematic representation of the standard CLARIT process for document indexing is given. The CLARIT process employed in the case of CLARIT-TREC is then described
Learning by chunking: a production system model of practice

The power law of practice states that the time to perform a task decreases as a power-law function of the number of times the task has been performed. One possible explanation for this ubiquitous regularity is the chunking theory of learning. It proposes that the acquisition and use of chunks is the basis for these improvements. In this article we describe a first attempt at implementing a learning mechanism based on the chunking theory of learning. This work includes: (1) filling out the details of the chunking theory; (2) showing that it can form the basis of a production-system learning mechanism; (3) showing that the implemented mechanism produces power-law practice curves; and (4) investigating the implications of the theory for production system architectures in general. The approach we take is to implement and analyze a production-system model of the chunking theory in the context of a specific task — a 1023-choice reactiontime task. In the process, we develop a control structure for the task; describe the three components of the implemented model — the Xaps2 production-system architecture, the performance model for the task, and the chunking mechanism; and analyze simulations to verify that the implemented model does generate power-law practice curves. This research was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DOD), ARPA Order No. 3597, monitored by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory Under Contract F33615-78-C-1551. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the US Government LEARNING BY CHUNKING I Table of
A Novel Bacteriophage Targeting Cronobacter sakazakii Is a Potential Biocontrol Agent in Foods

ABSTRACT Cronobacter sakazakii is an important pathogen that causes high mortality in infants. Due to its occasional antibiotic resistance, a bacteriophage approach might be an alternative effective method for the control of this pathogen. To develop a novel biocontrol agent using bacteriophages, the C. sakazakii-infecting phage CR5 was newly isolated and characterized. Interestingly, this phage exhibited efficient and relatively durable host lysis activity. In addition, a specific gene knockout study and subsequent complementation experiment revealed that this phage infected the host strain using the bacterial flagella. The complete genome sequence analysis of phage CR5 showed that its genome contains 223,989 bp of DNA, including 231 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), and it has a G+C content of 50.06%. The annotated ORFs were classified into six functional groups (structure, packaging, host lysis, DNA manipulation, transcription, and additional functions); no gene was found to be related to virulence or toxin or lysogen formation, but >80% of the predicted ORFs are unknown. In addition, a phage proteomic analysis using SDS-PAGE and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) revealed that seven phage structural proteins are indeed present, supporting the ORF predictions. To verify the potential of this phage as a biocontrol agent against C. sakazakii, it was added to infant formula milk contaminated with a C. sakazakii clinical isolate or food isolate, revealing complete growth inhibition of the isolates by the addition of phage CR5 when the multiplicity of infection (MOI) was 105.
Gene Expression Changes Associated With the Progression of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms

Objectives The diagnosis of high-grade intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) is difficult to distinguish from low-grade IPMN. The aim of this study was to identify potential markers for the discrimination of high-grade and invasive (HgInv) IPMN from low- and moderate-grade dysplasia IPMN. Methods Laser capture microdissection was used to isolate distinct foci of low-grade, moderate-grade, high-grade, and invasive IPMN from paraffin-embedded archival tissue from 14 patients who underwent resection for IPMN. Most samples included multiple grades in the same specimen. Affymetrix Human Exon microarrays were used to compare low- and moderate-grade dysplasia IPMN with HgInv IPMN. Results Sixty-two genes were identified as showing significant changes in expression (P ⩽ 0.05 and a 2-fold cutoff), including up-regulation of 41 in HgInv IPMN. Changes in gene expression are associated with biological processes related to malignant behavior including cell motion, cell proliferation, response to hypoxia, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. In addition, altered signaling in several transforming growth factor &bgr;–related pathways was exhibited in the progression of IPMN to malignancy. Conclusions This study identifies a set of genes associated with the progression of IPMN to malignancy. These genes are potential markers that could be used to identify IPMN requiring surgical resection.
Highly Concordant Key Genetic Alterations in Primary Tumors and Matched Distant Metastases in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

BACKGROUND Distant metastases uncommonly occur in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), but they are a frequent cause of thyroid cancer-related death. Genomic alterations in metastatic tumors, and the relationship with their corresponding primary tumors in DTC, are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to investigate whether genetic alterations in primary tumors are concordant with distant metastases in DTC patients. METHODS Surgical samples from primary and matched distant metastatic tumor pairs from 17 DTC patients, and three additional unpaired metastatic tumors from two patients, were analyzed using targeted next-generation sequencing (Ion Torrent Ampliseq cancer panel) with a focus on known recurrent somatic mutations in thyroid cancer. Additionally, TERT promoter mutations were assessed by direct sequencing. RESULTS BRAF mutations were found in 8/10 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A NRAS mutation was detected in one patient with follicular variant PTC. TERT promoter mutations were detected in 8/10 patients with PTC, and most were coexistent with a BRAF mutation (7/8 BRAF-positive PTC patients, and one BRAF-negative PTC patient). In follicular thyroid carcinoma, NRAS was the most frequently observed mutation (4/9 patients), followed by HRAS (two patients) and KRAS (one patient). TERT promoter mutations were found in 6/7 RAS-positive follicular thyroid carcinoma patients. Key somatic alterations such as BRAF and RAS mutations were highly concordant between primary and matched metastatic tumors without discrepancies. The BRAF or RAS mutant allelic frequency was higher in matched metastatic tumors than in the corresponding primary tumors (35% vs. 25% for BRAF mutation, p = 0.04; and 40% vs. 34% for RAS mutation, p = 0.002). TERT promoter mutations were also mostly concordant in matched tumors (concordance rate 93%). CONCLUSIONS BRAF, RAS, and TERT mutations are highly prevalent in metastatic DTC, and are concordant between primary and metastatic DTC. This high concordance suggests that primary tumors may reflect the key somatic alterations in matched metastatic DTC. Frequent coexistent TERT promoter and BRAF or RAS mutations in metastatic DTC also suggests its important role in the progression of DTC.
Multiple access protocol for WLAN based on adaptive token passing with fairness guarantee

To improve the performance of the MAC protocol of IEEE 802.11 DCF (distributed coordination function), we develop a new multiple access protocol ATP/spl I.bar/MAP (adaptive token passing multiple access protocol with fairness guarantee) for WLAN. In this protocol, the stations are queued with tokens, and many unnecessary collisions are avoided. Moreover, the token passing parameter p is adjusted adaptively according to the fairness of the network. The effect that the parameters of the protocol and the size of the network have on the performance metric of throughput and fairness is analyzed. The saturation throughput bound of the ATP/spl I.bar/MAP protocol is given. Simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme can improve the performance of MAC protocol by providing higher saturation throughput.
Performance enhancement of multipath TCP in mobile Ad Hoc networks

In some special circumstances, e.g. tsunamis, floods, battlefields, earthquakes, etc., communication infrastructures are damaged or non-existent, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cluster. For the communication between people or UAVs, UAVs or mobile smart devices (MSDs) can be used to construct Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), and Multipath TCP (MPTCP) can be used to simultaneously transmit in one TCP connection via multiple interfaces of MSDs. However the original MPTCP subpaths creating algorithm can establish multiple subpaths between two adjacent nodes, thus cannot achieve true concurrent data transmission. To solve this issue, we research and improve both the algorithm of adding routing table entries and the algorithm of establishing subpaths to offer more efficient use of multiple subpaths and better network traffic load balancing. The main works are as follows: (1) improve multi-hop routing protocol; (2) run MPTCP on UAVs or MSDs; (3) improve MPTCP subpaths establishment algorithm. The results show that our algorithms have better performance than the original MPTCP in achieving higher data throughput.
Sum of Squares Optimization Toolbox for MATLAB User ’ s guide Version 3 . 00 3 rd October 2013

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the
Identification of a functional genetic variant driving racially dimorphic platelet gene expression of the thrombin receptor regulator, PCTP

Summary Platelet activation in response to stimulation of the Protease Activated Receptor 4 (PAR4) receptor differs by race. One factor that contributes to this difference is the expression level of Phosphatidylcholine Transfer Protein (PCTP), a regulator of platelet PAR4 function. We have conducted an expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) analysis that identifies single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to the expression level of platelet genes. This analysis revealed 26 SNPs associated with the expression level of PCTP at genome-wide significance (p < 5×10–8). Using annotation from ENCODE and other public data we prioritised one of these SNPs, rs2912553, for functional testing. The allelic frequency of rs2912553 is racially-dimorphic, in concordance with the racially differential expression of PCTP. Reporter gene assays confirmed that the single nucleotide change caused by rs2912553 altered the transcriptional potency of the surrounding genomic locus. Electromobility shift assays, luciferase assays, and overexpression studies indicated a role for the megakaryocytic transcription factor GATA1. In summary, we have integrated multi-omic data to identify and functionalise an eQTL. This, along with the previously described relationship between PCTP and PAR4 function, allows us to characterise a genotype-phenotype relationship through the mechanism of gene expression.
HERV Envelope Proteins: Physiological Role and Pathogenic Potential in Cancer and Autoimmunity

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are relics of ancient infections accounting for about the 8% of our genome. Despite their persistence in human DNA led to the accumulation of mutations, HERVs are still contributing to the human transcriptome, and a growing number of findings suggests that their expression products may have a role in various diseases. Among HERV products, the envelope proteins (Env) are currently highly investigated for their pathogenic properties, which could likely be participating to several disorders with complex etiology, particularly in the contexts of autoimmunity and cancer. In fact, HERV Env proteins have been shown, on the one side, to trigger both innate and adaptive immunity, prompting inflammatory, cytotoxic and apoptotic reactions; and, on the other side, to prevent the immune response activation, presenting immunosuppressive properties and acting as immune downregulators. In addition, HERV Env proteins have been shown to induce abnormal cell-cell fusion, possibly contributing to tumor development and metastasizing processes. Remarkably, even highly defective HERV env genes and alternative env splicing variants can provide further mechanisms of pathogenesis. A well-known example is the HERV-K(HML2) env gene that, depending on the presence or the absence of a 292-bp deletion, can originate two proteins of different length (Np9 and Rec) proposed to have oncogenic properties. The understanding of their involvement in complex pathological disorders made HERV Env proteins potential targets for therapeutic interventions. Of note, a monoclonal antibody directed against a HERV-W Env is currently under clinical trial as therapeutic approach for multiple sclerosis, representing the first HERV-based treatment. The present review will focus on the current knowledge of the HERV Env expression, summarizing its role in human physiology and its possible pathogenic effects in various cancer and autoimmune disorders. It moreover analyzes HERV Env possible exploitation for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies.
Pareto-efficient cross-layer repeated game for Device-to-Device (D2D) communications

Device-to-Device (D2D) communications underlaying cellular communications can increase resource utilization, system capacity, and interference, while increasing quality of service (QoS) for cellular and D2D users. In this paper, we design a non-cooperative cross-layer repeated game, which jointly optimizes mode selection (i.e. either operating in cellular mode or reuse mode) at the network layer and power control at the physical (PHY) layer for a distributed wireless network. The proposed game aims to minimize transmit power, and select optimal transmission mode, while achieving acceptable packet delivery ratio (PDR). The effects on PDR with respect to communication reliability and optimum mode switching point over time are determined. The game is constituted of a non-cooperative power control game and a two-armed bandit game, and by combining these two games we obtain rapid convergence to a Pareto-optimal outcome for both mode selection and transmit power.
Application of a physiologically‐based pharmacokinetic model for the prediction of bumetanide plasma and brain concentrations in the neonate

Bumetanide is a loop diuretic that is proposed to possess a beneficial effect on disorders of the central nervous system, including neonatal seizures. Therefore, prediction of unbound bumetanide concentrations in the brain is relevant from a pharmacological prospective. A physiologically‐based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed for the prediction of bumetanide disposition in plasma and brain in adult and paediatric populations. A compound file was built for bumetanide integrating physicochemical data and in vitro data. Bumetanide concentration profiles were simulated in both plasma and brain using the Simcyp PBPK model. Simulations of plasma bumetanide concentrations were compared against plasma levels published in the literature. The model performance was verified with data from adult studies before predictions in the paediatric population were undertaken. The adult and paediatric intravenous models predicted pharmacokinetic factors, namely area under the concentration–time curve, maximum concentration in plasma and time to maximum plasma concentration, within two‐fold of observed values. However, predictions of plasma concentrations within the neonatal intravenous model did not produce a good fit with the observed values. The PBPK approach used in this study produced reasonable predictions of plasma concentrations of bumetanide, except in the critically ill neonatal population. This PBPK model requires more information regarding metabolic intrinsic clearance and transport parameters prior to further validation of drug disposition predictions in the neonatal population. Given the lack of information surrounding certain parameters in this special population, the model is not appropriately robust to support the recommendation of a suitable dose of bumetanide for use as an adjunct antiepileptic in neonates.
Comparison of medication adherence and persistence in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Limited medication adherence and persistence with treatment are barriers to successful management of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, the Register of Controlled Trials, PsychINFO and CINAHL for observational and interventional studies that compared the adherence or persistence associated with 2 or more glucose‐lowering medications in people with T2D. Where 5 or more studies provided the same comparison, a random‐effects meta‐analysis was performed, reporting mean difference (MD) or odds ratio (OR) for adherence or persistence, depending on the pooled study outcomes. We included a total of 48 studies. Compared with metformin, adherence (%) was better for sulphonylureas (5 studies; MD 10.6%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.5‐14.7) and thiazolidinediones (TZDs; 6 studies; MD 11.3%, 95% CI 2.7%‐20.0%). Adherence to TZDs was marginally better than adherence to sulphonylureas (5 studies; MD 1.5%, 95% CI 0.1‐2.9). Dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitors had better adherence than sulphonylureas and TZDs. Glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptor agonists had higher rates of discontinuation than long‐acting analogue insulins (6 studies; OR 1.95; 95% CI 1.17‐3.27). Long‐acting insulin analogues had better persistence than human insulins (5 studies; MD 43.1 days; 95% CI 22.0‐64.2). The methods used to define adherence and persistence were highly variable.
NITMZ-JU at IJCNLP-2017 Task 4: Customer Feedback Analysis

In this paper, we describe a deep learning framework for analyzing the customer feedback as part of our participation in the shared task on Customer Feedback Analysis at the 8th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing (IJCNLP 2017). A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based deep neural network model was employed for the customer feedback task. The proposed system was evaluated on two languages, namely, English and French.
Content-Based Retrieval of 3D Non Rigid Object with Sparse Representations and Local Feature Descriptors: A Comparative Study

Content-based 3D shape retrieval (CBR) become a central research topic in the field of pattern recognition. The primary challenge for CBR methods is to extract proper features for discriminating diverse shapes of 3D models with non-rigid deformations. The bag-of-features (BoF) paradigm and Local Feature Descriptors (LFDs) have demonstrated impressive levels of performance. The success of this approach prompted several extensions to BoF, such as sparse coding approach. In this study, state-of-the-art content-based 3D shape retrieval methods based on local features and sparse coding are investigated in detail. Performance of the well-known local spectral descriptors (GPS, HKS, SIHKS, WKS and meshSIFT) is tested with several algorithms for dictionaries learning and coefficient learning. Experiments are performed on the standard dataset Shrec11 with different scenarios.