Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Compensation for Two-Axis Robot Wrist Force Sensors

To improve the dynamic characteristic of two-axis force sensors, a dynamic compensation method is proposed. The two-axis force sensor system is assumed to be a first-order system. The operation frequency of the system is expanded by a digital filter with backward difference network. To filter high-frequency noises, a low-pass filter is added after the dynamic compensation network. To avoid overcompensation, parameters of the proposed dynamic compensation method are defined by trial and error. Step response methods are utilized in dynamic calibration experiments. Compared to experiment data without compensation, the response time of the dynamic compensated data is reduced by 30%~40%. Experiments results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
Challenges in predicting poverty trends using survey to survey imputation. Experiences from Malawi

Poverty in low-income countries is usually measured with large and infrequent household surveys. A challenge is to find methods to measure poverty more frequently. The objective of this study is to test a method for predicting poverty, based upon a statistical model utilizing consumption surveys and light annual surveys. A decade of poverty predictions and regular poverty estimates in Malawi provides us with a unique real-life experience to better understand the suitability of such approaches to monitor trends in poverty. The analysis from Malawi suggests that a modelling approach works per se, given that information on the household’s demographic composition is included in the model. The main challenge when predicting onto other surveys seems to be related to comparability between the surveys. Differences in implementation, questionnaire design and survey sample size are aspects that may contribute to incomparability of data collected between the surveys.
RMB-a reconfigurable multiple bus network

The heart of a massively parallel computer is its interconnection network. In this article we present a reconfigurable multiple bas network to support circuit switching as means of communication between processors of a multiprocessor machine. The main contribution of the papers is in demonstrating the simplicity of the routing hardware whilst still providing modularity and full utilization of the multiple bus system. A comparison with major interconnection network is also presented.
Regulation of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Like Weak Inducer of Apoptosis Receptor Protein (TWEAKR) Expression by Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus MicroRNA Prevents TWEAK-Induced Apoptosis and Inflammatory Cytokine Expression

ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the causative agent of KS, the second most common AIDS-associated malignancy. KSHV expresses at least 18 different mature microRNAs (miRNAs) during latency. To identify cellular targets of KSHV miRNAs, we have analyzed a previously reported series of microarrays examining changes in cellular gene expression in the presence of KSHV miRNAs. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) receptor (TWEAKR) was among the most consistently and robustly downregulated genes in the presence of KSHV miR-K12-10a (miR-K10a). Results from luciferase assays with reporter plasmids containing the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of TWEAKR suggest a targeting of TWEAKR by miR-K10a. The mutation of two predicted miR-K10a recognition sites within the 3′ UTR of TWEAKR completely disrupts inhibition by miR-K10a. The expression of TWEAKR was downregulated in cells transfected with miR-K10a as well as during de novo KSHV infection. In a KS tumor-derived endothelial cell line, the downregulation of TWEAKR by miR-K10a resulted in reduced levels of TWEAK-induced caspase activation. In addition, cells transfected with miR-K10a showed less induction of apoptosis by annexin V staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assays. Finally, the downregulation of TWEAKR by miR-K10a in primary human endothelial cells resulted in a decrease in levels of expression of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) in response to TWEAK. These results identify and validate an important cellular target of KSHV miRNAs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a viral miRNA protects cells from apoptosis and suppresses a proinflammatory response, which may have significant implications in the complex context of KS lesions.
A compact branch-line coupler using π-equivalent shunt-stub-based artificial transmission lines

In this paper, a compact branch-line coupler is developed using π-equivalent shunt-stub-based artificial transmission lines (SSB ATLs). A conventional quarter-wavelength microstrip can be equivalent to a SSB ATL realized by a series high-impendance microstrip with two sets of branch-type shunt stubs. The circuit configuration of the SSB ATL is beneficial to miniaturize the circuit size using the folding technique. At the design frequency 0.9 GHz, the developed branch-line coupler occupies about 8 % of the conventional design.
An improved CSIR information propagation model in social networks

In this paper, considering the influence of community structure and the importance of community partition methods, we propose an improved community/susceptible/infective/removed (CSIR) information propagation model. In our improved CSIR model, we use two methods, uniform-center and cluster-center to improved K-means used in CSIR model. We compare the improved CSIR model with the original CSIR model, and analyze the importance of community structure. We also show the difference between uniform-center method and cluster-center method. Then, we simulate the improved CSIR model in both BA and WS model network.
Efficacy of lidocaine 2% gel in pterygium surgery.

PURPOSE Anaesthesia during pterygium surgery is usually achieved with local injection of anaesthetic medications. The aim of this study was to determine whether lidocaine 2% gel is an effective topical anaesthetic agent for pterygium surgery. METHODS We conducted a prospective, randomized clinical trial. Fifty-four consecutive patients who had primary pterygium underwent surgical excision of the lesion and conjunctival autograft. Patients were randomized into two groups. Group 1 received 1 ml of lidocaine 2% solution subconjunctivally and group 2 received lidocaine 2% gel topically. The primary outcome of interest was the pain experienced during anaesthetic administration and surgery. Following the dissection and excision of the pterygium, conjunctival autograft was transplanted in each of the patients. Immediately after the operation, pain and discomfort scores were determined using a 10-point linear visual analogue scale. RESULTS The mean pain score during anaesthetic administration was 4.26 +/- 1.18 in the injection group and 0.92 +/- 0.56 in the gel group. The mean pain score during surgery was 3.96 +/- 0.95 in the injection group and 4.0 +/- 1.01 in the gel group. There was a statistically significant difference in mean pain scores experienced during anaesthetic administration (p = 0.01). There was no significant difference in mean pain scores experienced during surgery (p = 0.55). No adverse events were noted. CONCLUSION In light of these results, we conclude that topical administration of lidocaine 2% gel can be used as an alternative method of anaesthesia in pterygium surgery, especially for patients with needle phobia.
Development of a Urinary Incontinence Educational Program Using a Competency-Based Approach and Case Method

Nurses have limited knowledge about urinary incontinence and find it difficult to care for those who suffer from it, yet there is little training on incontinence designed for nurses. Hence, there is a real need to develop and evaluate an appropriate urinary incontinence educational program. A critical issue is the choice of teaching strategies designed to integrate learning. This article describes the competency-based approach and case method used to develop a urinary incontinence education program.
Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Crowdsourcing Complex Citizen Engineering Tasks with Amazon Mechanical Turk

MATTHEW STAFFELBACH, PETER SEMPOLINSKI, DAVID HACHEN, AHSAN KAREEM, TRACY KIJEWSKI-CORREA, DOUGLAS THAIN, DANIEL WEI AND GREGORY MADEY, University of Notre Dame INTRODUCTION 1.1 Citizen Engineering America’s dated infrastructure is failing to keep pace with its burgeoning population. In fact, the average grade in ASCE’s (American Society of Civil Engineers) 2013 report card for America’s infrastructure was a D+, with a 3.6 trillion dollar estimated investment needed by 2020 and needs for inspection and assessment that far surpass available manpower. Crowdsourcing is increasingly being seen as one potentially powerful way of increasing the supply of labor for problem solving tasks, but there are a number of concerns over the quality of the data or analysis conducted. This is a significant concern when dealing with civil infrastructure for obvious reasons: flawed data could lead to loss of lives. Our goal was to determine if workers on Mechanical Turk were capable of developing basic engineering analysis skills using only the training afforded by comprehensive tutorials and guided questionnaires.
A Revisit to Clustering Techniques with its Application in Agriculture Sector

Inspite of the big challenge of missing data for data mining algorithms, Data mining has made a great progress in recent years. Data Mining is a process where its techniques are used to extract some useful knowledge from a large data base. It is very helpful since it helps human race discover knowledge out of data and presenting it in a form that is easily understood. Data mining uses various methods and techniques which allows analysis very large data sets to extract and discover previously unknown structures and relations out of such huge heaps of details.
Non-rigid image registration using fully convolutional networks with deep self-supervision

We propose a novel non-rigid image registration algorithm that is built upon fully convolutional networks (FCNs) to optimize and learn spatial transformations between pairs of images to be registered. Different from most existing deep learning based image registration methods that learn spatial transformations from training data with known corresponding spatial transformations, our method directly estimates spatial transformations between pairs of images by maximizing an image-wise similarity metric between fixed and deformed moving images, similar to conventional image registration algorithms. At the same time, our method also learns FCNs for encoding the spatial transformations at the same spatial resolution of images to be registered, rather than learning coarse-grained spatial transformation information. The image registration is implemented in a multi-resolution image registration framework to jointly optimize and learn spatial transformations and FCNs at different resolutions with deep self-supervision through typical feedforward and backpropagation computation. Since our method simultaneously optimizes and learns spatial transformations for the image registration, our method can be directly used to register a pair of images, and the registration of a set of images is also a training procedure for FCNs so that the trained FCNs can be directly adopted to register new images by feedforward computation of the learned FCNs without any optimization. The proposed method has been evaluated for registering 3D structural brain magnetic resonance (MR) images and obtained better performance than state-of-the-art image registration algorithms.
The anxiety disorders and suicidal ideation: accounting for co-morbidity via underlying personality traits

Background The anxiety disorders are robust correlates/predictors of suicidal ideation, but it is unclear whether (a) the anxiety disorders are specifically associated with suicidal ideation or (b) the association is due to co-morbidity with depression and other disorders. One means of modeling co-morbidity is through the personality traits neuroticism/negative emotionality (N/NE) and extraversion/positive emotionality (E/PE), which account for substantial shared variance among the internalizing disorders. The current study examines the association between the internalizing disorders and suicidal ideation, after controlling for co-morbidity via N/NE and E/PE. Method The sample consisted of 327 psychiatric out-patients. Multiple self-report and interview measures were collected for internalizing disorders [depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety, panic and specific phobia] and suicidal ideation, as well as self-report measures for N/NE and E/PE. A model was hypothesized in which each disorder and suicidal ideation was regressed on N/NE, and depression and social anxiety were regressed on E/PE. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the unique association of suicidality with each disorder, beyond shared variance with N/NE and E/PE. Results The hypothesized model was an acceptable fit to the data. Although zero-order analyses indicated that suicidal ideation was moderately to strongly correlated with all of the disorders, only depression and PTSD remained significantly associated with suicidal ideation in the SEM analyses. Conclusions In a latent variable model that accounts for measurement error and a broad source of co-morbidity, only depression and PTSD were uniquely associated with suicidal ideation; panic, GAD, social anxiety and specific phobia were not.
Developer satisfaction survey 2014. Summary report

This report commissionned by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) disseminates the outcome of the Developer Satisfaction Survey (DSS), which remains a partnership with Western University and TELUQ, as well as our new partners M2 Research and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The DSS was open to anyone involved in the video game industry in a professional or academic capacity. IGDA was looking for a systematic way to understand game developers worldwide, including both IGDA members and non-members, knowing developers’ priorities and the most pertinent issues affecting their overall satisfaction. These insights will be leveraged to help prioritize the IGDA’s advocacy efforts and initiatives. In 2004, the IGDA launched its initial Quality of Life survey in an effort to gain a much clearer understanding of the issues that affect life as a game developer – from “crunch time” to compensation issues. In 2009, the IGDA repeated the Quality of Life survey in partnership with researchers at Western University in Ontario, Canada and TELUQ in Quebec, Canada. The survey once again provided more insights into how the issue was evolving in our industry, and then a few years ago the IGDA conducted a separate diversity survey to help us obtain a clearer perception of developer demographics.
Media Pembelajaran Mobile Learning Menggunakan Android (Studi Kasus : Jurusan Sistem Informasi IIB Darmajaya)

IIB DARMAJAYA Bandar lampung adalah lembaga yang bergerak dalam bidang pendidikan.Setiap lembaga pendidikan selalu meningkatkan kemajuan dari anak didik mereka. Namun informasi yang berbatas, tempat tinggal yang jauh dan kurang memanfaatkan perkembangan teknologi, menjadi penyebab terhambatnya proses pemberian layanan serta penyampaian informasi perkuliahan. Sehingga perlu adanya sebuah media pembelajaran yang mampu memberikan informasi perkuliahan yang dapat diakses kapanpun dan dimanapun mahasiswa membutuhkan.Maka untuk menunjang pembelajaran yang efisien, metode pembelajaran berbasis mobile android sangat efektif dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar.Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah media pembelajaran berbasis mobile Android yang didalamnya mahasiswa dapat mengakses materi perkuliahan secara online. IIB DARMAJAYA Bandar Lampung is a higher educational institution. Every educational institution always increases the development of the students. However, the constraints such as limited information, distant location, and lack of technology development become the hindrance to the process of the service implementation and the lecturing information delivery. Therefore, it needs a learning media that is able to give information on lecturing that can be accessed anytime and anywhere the students need. To support an efficient learning, the android-based learning method is very effective for the teaching learning activity. The result of the study is an android-based learning media where the students can access the lecture materials online.
Effects of intradialytic exercise on systemic cytokine in patients with chronic kidney disease

Abstract Background: Immunological dysfunctions and a pro-inflammatory environment are associated with higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Physical exercise can be an important anti-inflammatory strategy, but the effects in CKD remain poorly investigated. Objective: Evaluate the acute inflammatory response to intradialytic exercise in the peripheral blood of individuals with CKD. Methods: Nine patients, of both genders, with CKD and allocated in the ambulatory of hemodialysis of Hospital Ernesto Dornelles (Brazil), performed two sessions of hemodialysis (HD) in random form: aerobic intradialytic exercise sessions (EX, 20 min of moderate exercise in cycle-ergometer) and a control hemodialysis session (CON). Peripheral blood collection was made at the baseline, during and immediately after HD to evaluate the cytokine profile: interleukin-6, interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin-17a (IL-17a), interferon-gamma (INF-γ) and tumoral necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Results: INF-γ decreased during HD when compared with the pre moment in both sessions, while an increase in post HD was only found in the CON session. IL-17 was higher in post when compared with during HD in both sessions. In addition to the time effect, IL-10 presented a time × group interaction and the relative changes were significantly higher in EX when compared with the CON session. The relative changes in TNF-α tended to be higher in CON when compared with EX immediately post HD session. Conclusions: These data indicate that 20 min of intradialytic exercise have modest effect in systemic inflammation. However, the significant increase in IL-10 may indicate an immunoregulatory effect of physical exercise.
The multiple benefits of integrating electricity storage with wind energy

It is technically practical to apply electricity storage to wind generation to improve availability, to increase the amount of wind generation that may be installed on the grid without risking system voltage instability, to increase throughput of existing grid infrastructure, and to yield various ancillary benefits such as reduced system losses and improved power factor control. The integrated approach of applying energy storage to wind generation also yields economic returns in specialized cases such as island systems and wind farm repowering projects with paybacks and rates of return that may be commercially attractive.
EphA2/Ephrin-A1 signaling complexes restrict corneal epithelial cell migration.

PURPOSE Eph/ephrin signaling proteins are present in the corneal epithelium, where their function remains unknown. The authors examined the role of the EphA2 receptor and ephrin-A1 ligand in human corneal epithelial cell migration. METHODS Immunohistochemical analysis of EphA2 and ephrin-A1 in healthy and diabetic corneas was performed in concert with linear scratch wound healing studies in primary and telomerase-immortalized human corneal epithelial cells. Corneal epithelial cells were exposed to a soluble ephrin-A1-Fc peptide mimetic that targets EphA2 to trigger receptor phosphorylation and subsequent downregulation. Genetic modulation of EphA2 and ephrin-A1 levels was combined with manipulation of Erk1/2 or Akt signaling during wound healing. RESULTS EphA2 was immunolocalized to human corneal epithelial cells in vivo and in vitro. Ephrin-A1 ligand targeting of EphA2 restricted the ability of corneal epithelial cells to seal linear scratch wounds in a manner that was associated with a transient reduction in Erk1/2 and Akt activation state. Ephrin-A1-Fc treatment delayed wound healing independently of Mek-Erk1/2 signaling but was no longer capable of restricting migration after pharmacologic blockade of the PI3K-Akt pathway. Interestingly, ephrin-A1 immunoreactivity was increased in the corneal epithelia of diabetic individuals, mice maintained on a high-fat diet, or cultured corneal epithelial cells exposed to high glucose, which exhibit impaired Akt signaling and slower wound healing responses. CONCLUSIONS EphA2 attenuates corneal epithelial cell migration when stimulated by ephrin-A1 ligand in a manner that involves the suppression of Akt. Elevated levels of ephrin-A1 may contribute to diabetic keratopathies by persistently engaging EphA2 and prohibiting Akt-dependent corneal epithelial repair processes.
Geographic distribution and socio-economic determinants of women's nutritional status in Mali households

Abstract Objective Mali is one of the poorest countries in Africa, with 72 % of its population surviving on less than $US 1·00 per day. Health and demographic indicators are bleak. With few exceptions, studies related to the health of women in Mali have largely been under-represented. In addition, in recent years a new type of malnutrition stemming from weight gain and obesity has been observed throughout Africa. The present study aimed to (i) describe geographic and health variations of women of reproductive age, (ii) describe geographic variations of household salt iodine levels and (iii) investigate potential factors associated with women's anthropometric status and use of adequately iodized salt among households in Mali. Design Demographic and Health Survey data, multistage-stratified cluster sampling methodology. Setting Rural and urban areas of Mali. Subjects Non-pregnant women (n 6015) between the ages of 19 and 44 years. Results Nineteen per cent of the women were overweight or obese while 11 % were underweight. Seventy-eight per cent of the households utilized adequately iodized salt. Underweight women were more prevalent in southern Mali, while obesity was more frequent in the north-east and within the major urban areas. Households located within the southern parts of Mali were more likely to utilize adequately iodized salt. Education, age, modern contraceptive use, breast-feeding status at time of the survey and household wealth index were significantly associated with the women's BMI or households’ use of adequately iodized salt. Conclusions The combined use of statistical and geographic system analysis contributes to improve targeting of interventions among vulnerable populations.
Integrated real-time motion segmentation and 3D interpretation

This paper describes a real-time integrated motion segmentation and 3D reconstruction/interpretation system. The motion segmentation system detects and tracks all moving objects, and removes the corresponding features from the original 2D feature data set. The remaining features are passed on to a 3D reconstruction system. The resulting list of 3D feature data, which hopefully contains useful information about the static part of the world, is then interpreted to give some high level understanding of the environment.