Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On manipulator velocity control using friction compensation

The velocity control of a direct-drive robot arm with high friction is considered in this paper. The friction at the robot joints is assumed to be captured by the Dahl model (1976), which has a bristle deflection interpretation. A joint velocity controller with friction compensation based on the Dahl model is introduced. Experiments show the superiority of the proposed scheme with respect to the velocity controller when friction is compensated using the classical viscous plus Coulomb model of friction.
A quantitative measure of continuity of care.

IN THE MAY 1976 ISSUE of Medical Care Stephen M. Shortell proposed two statistical measures for quantifying the concept of continuity of medical care.5 These measures constitute a significant advancement in the quantification of this notion, representing an improvement over the simpler measures of continuity employed previously.1-3 Shortell's statistics suggest four characteristics should be incorporated into a measure of continuity. These are: 1. The use of individuals as units of analysis when measuring continuity of
Detection of Selfish Nodes in Networks Using CoopMAC Protocol with ARQ

CoopMAC has been recently proposed as a possible implementation of cooperation protocols in the medium access control (MAC) layer of a wireless network. However, some nodes may refrain from cooperation for selfish purposes, e.g. in order to save energy, in what is called selfish behavior or misbehavior. This protocol violation worsens other nodes' performance and can be avoided if other nodes detect and punish (e.g. banning from the network) misbehaving nodes. However, fading and interference may prevent nodes from cooperating even if they are willing, therefore it is not trivial to identify misbehaving nodes. In a fading scenario where an automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol is used, we propose a mechanism that allows to detect misbehaving nodes. Two approaches, either based on the uniformly most powerful (UMP) test or on the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) are considered. The two techniques are characterized and compared in terms of their average detection delay and resulting network performance.
A Novel UAV-Aided Network Architecture Using Wi-Fi Direct

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in future wireless networks is gaining attention due to their quick deployment without requiring the existing infrastructure. Earlier studies on UAV-aided communication consider generic scenarios, and very few studies exist on the evaluation of UAV-aided communication in practical networks. The existing studies also have several limitations, and hence, an extensive evaluation of the benefits of UAV communication in practical networks is needed. In this paper, we proposed a UAV-aided Wi-Fi Direct network architecture. In the proposed architecture, a UAV equipped with a Wi-Fi Direct group owner (GO) device, the so-called Soft-AP, is deployed in the network to serve a set of Wi-Fi stations. We propose to use a simpler yet efficient algorithm for the optimal placement of the UAV. The proposed algorithm dynamically places the UAV in the network to reduce the distance between the GO and client devices. The expected benefits of the proposed scheme are to maintain the connectivity of client devices to increase the overall network throughput and to improve energy efficiency. As a proof of concept, realistic simulations are performed in the NS-3 network simulator to validate the claimed benefits of the proposed scheme. The simulation results report major improvements of 23% in client association, 54% in network throughput, and 33% in energy consumption using single UAV relative to the case of stationary or randomly moving GO. Further improvements are achieved by increasing the number of UAVs in the network. To the best of our knowledge, no prior work exists on the evaluation of the UAV-aided Wi-Fi Direct networks.
An assessment of the efficacy and peak catch rates of emergence tents for measuring bee nesting1

Premise of the study: Emergence tents are a new tool used to understand nesting ecology of ground nesting bee species. However, many questions remain about how to use tents effectively. We assessed (a) variance in tent capture rates over time, (b) the effects of site characteristics on proportion of tents capturing bees, and (c) the effect of soil characteristics on nest site choice. Methods: Emergence tents were placed out for one week in May, June, and August and checked daily. Soil, bee, and floral characteristics were recorded. Results: Across all sites and months the average number of tents capturing bees was less than 20% during one week of sampling, but this varied between sites. Tent captures decreased after 48 h deployment, but accumulation differed seasonally, with slower accumulation of total bees caught in May than in June or August. Although capture rates were not affected by bee or floral abundance, soil moisture beneath a tent influenced where bees were captured. Discussion: Effective use of emergence tents may require adjusting the length of deployment depending on season and will require a minimum of 48 h installation to help maximize efficacy. The overall low capture rates demonstrate the need to optimize emergence tent use.
Locally Toleranced Surface Simplification

We present a technique for simplifying a triangulated surface. Simplifying consists of approximating the surface with another surface of lower triangle count. Our algorithm can preserve the volume of a solid to within machine accuracy; it favors the creation of near-equilateral triangles. We develop novel methods for reporting and representing a bound to the approximation error between a simplified surface and the original, and respecting a variable tolerance across the surface. A different positive error value is reported at each vertex. By linearly blending the error values in between vertices, we define a volume of space, called the error volume, as the union of balls of linearly varying radii. The error volume is built dynamically as the simplification progresses, on top of preexisting error volumes that it contains. We also build a tolerance volume to forbid simplification errors exceeding a local tolerance. The information necessary to compute error values is local to the star of a vertex; accordingly, the complexity of the algorithm is either linear or in O(n log n) in the original number of surface edges, depending on the variant. We extend the mechanisms of error and tolerance volumes to preserve during simplification scalar and vector attributes associated with surface vertices. Assuming a linear variation across triangles, error and tolerance volumes are defined in the same fashion as for positional error. For normals, a corrective term is applied to the error measured at the vertices to compensate for nonlinearities.
Synthetic cannabinoids pharmacokinetics and detection methods in biological matrices

Abstract Synthetic cannabinoids (SC), originally developed as research tools, are now highly abused novel psychoactive substances. We present a comprehensive systematic review covering in vivo and in vitro animal and human pharmacokinetics and analytical methods for identifying SC and their metabolites in biological matrices. Of two main phases of SC research, the first investigated therapeutic applications, and the second abuse-related issues. Administration studies showed high lipophilicity and distribution into brain and fat tissue. Metabolite profiling studies, mostly with human liver microsomes and human hepatocytes, structurally elucidated metabolites and identified suitable SC markers. In general, SC underwent hydroxylation at various molecular sites, defluorination of fluorinated analogs and phase II metabolites were almost exclusively glucuronides. Analytical methods are critical for documenting intake, with different strategies applied to adequately address the continuous emergence of new compounds. Immunoassays have different cross-reactivities for different SC classes, but cannot keep pace with changing analyte targets. Gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry assays – first for a few, then numerous analytes – are available but constrained by reference standard availability, and must be continuously updated and revalidated. In blood and oral fluid, parent compounds are frequently present, albeit in low concentrations; for urinary detection, metabolites must be identified and interpretation is complex due to shared metabolic pathways. A new approach is non-targeted HRMS screening that is more flexible and permits retrospective data analysis. We suggest that streamlined assessment of new SC’s pharmacokinetics and advanced HRMS screening provide a promising strategy to maintain relevant assays.
Top k recommendations using contextual conditional preferences model

Recommender systems are software tools and techniques which aim at suggesting to users items they might be interested in. Context-aware recommender systems are a particular category of recommender systems which exploit contextual information to provide more adequate recommendations. However, recommendation engines still suffer from the cold-start problem, namely where not enough information about users and their ratings is available. In this paper we introduce a method for generating a list of top k recommendations in a new user cold-start situations. It is based on a user model called Contextual Conditional Preferences and utilizes a satisfiability measure proposed in this paper. We analyze accuracy measures as well as serendipity, novelty and diversity of results obtained using three context-aware publicly available datasets in comparison with several contextual and traditional state-of-the-art baselines. We show that our method is applicable in the new user cold-start situations as well as in typical scenarios.
Complete Genome Sequence of a Carnation Mottle Virus Infecting Hop Plants

ABSTRACT The Carnation mottle virus (CarMV) is a single positive-strand RNA virus belonging to the genus Carmovirus. The major natural host for CarMV is the carnation. In this study, using transcriptome data, we provide for the first time a nearly complete genome sequence of CarMV infecting hop plants.
Faculty development in general practice in Germany: Experiences, evaluations, perspectives

From 1999 to 2001, the German Society of General Practice and Family Medicine (DEGAM) pioneered a faculty development programme to help general practitioners (GPs) interested in an academic career to develop their skills in teaching, primary care, quality assurance and research. The programme involves five weekend-training sessions over 18 months and applies a learner-centred approach. Participants choose the learning formats and switch between the roles of learners, teachers, chair persons and programme organizers. This article evaluates the acceptability and feasibility of the programme. Data were collected over a two-year period from the 16 participants who completed the first training programme. The evaluation involved a focus group, telephone interviews and email questionnaires. Participants appreciated the learner centred format of the programme and gained new teaching and research skills. They also learned to better assess and critically reflect on their professional work as GPs and reported improved academic ‘survival skills’ due to collaborative networks with colleagues. The faculty development programme proved advantageous for the personal and professional development of the participating GPs. It constitutes a promising tool for the further development of General Practice as an academic discipline that is still in the process of establishing itself at medical schools in Germany. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step: (Lao-Tse, 6th century B.C.)
Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Leadership Behaviour Effectiveness in Organizations

This study investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on the perceived effectiveness of leaders in organisations. Emotional intelligence is seen as an individual’s capacity to appropriately regulate his/her emotions, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and action. Most managers would rather steer away from dealing with emotional issues, whereas emotions that are properly managed can have successful outcomes. Carefully managed emotions can drive trust, loyalty and commitment as well as increase productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in the individual, team and organizations. Information was gathered from a sample of 232 respondents, using two instruments. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to determine leadership style within the organisation, while the Emotional Competency Profiler was used to determine the emotional intelligence of the leaders. Two hypotheses were tested and the results showed that there was a significant relationship between emotional literacy and transactional leadership (r = .791, N=232, P <0.5). Also, the multiple regression findings revealed that there was a joint effect of all the variables of transformational leadership on emotional intelligence. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that emotional intelligence tests should be designed to measure competencies associated with the understanding, and management of leaders.
Vertical GaN Power Diodes With a Bilayer Edge Termination

Vertical GaN power diodes with a bilayer edge termination (ET) are demonstrated. The GaN p-n junction is formed on a low threading dislocation defect density (104 - 105 cm-2) GaN substrate, and has a 15-μm-thick n-type drift layer with a free carrier concentration of 5 × 1015 cm-3. The ET structure is formed by N implantation into the p+-GaN epilayer just outside the p-type contact to create compensating defects. The implant defect profile may be approximated by a bilayer structure consisting of a fully compensated layer near the surface, followed by a 90% compensated (p) layer near the n-type drift region. These devices exhibit avalanche breakdown as high as 2.6 kV at room temperature. Simulations show that the ET created by implantation is an effective way to laterally distribute the electric field over a large area. This increases the voltage at which impact ionization occurs and leads to the observed higher breakdown voltages.
Breast and cervical cancer screening: exploring perceptions and barriers with Hmong women and men in Oregon

Background. Hmong women are reported to have very low rates of breast and cervical cancer screening compared to other Asian and White women in the USA. Reasons for low cancer screening rates among this population are not well understood. Methods. This qualitative study (n=83) explored Hmong women and men's perceptions of breast and cervical cancer and cancer screening, women's experiences with breast and cervical cancer screening, and health care system barriers to screening. Results. Hmong women and men perceived breast cancer to be more severe than other types of cancers. Participants believed that breast cancer is curable if detected early. Cervical cancer was not well understood and was of greater concern than breast cancer because of its location within the body and its consequences for reproduction. In general, few participants had personal experiences with breast and/or cervical cancer. Overall, women and men had positive things to say about screenings for breast and cervical cancer, expressing that screenings offered a ‘proof of illness. ’ The majority of women did not report any concerns with the exams themselves, although some discussed embarrassment, pain, and discomfort. Barriers to screening included lack of health insurance, making co-payments, language, and issues related to scheduling appointments. Barriers differed for younger and older women. Conclusion. Results of this study provide new insight into perceptions, experiences, and barriers to breast and cervical cancer screening among Hmong women and men. These findings have implications for developing culturally appropriate interventions to increase breast and cervical cancer screening in this population.
The role of the pseudoknot at the 3' end of turnip yellow mosaic virus RNA in minus-strand synthesis by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

The tRNA-like structure at the 3' end of turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) RNA was studied in order to determine the role of this structure in the initiation of minus-strand synthesis in vitro. Deletions in the 5'-to-3' direction up to the pseudoknot structure did not result in a decrease of transcription efficiency. However, transcription efficiency was reduced twofold when a fragment of 21 nucleotides, comprising the 3'-terminal hairpin, was used as a template. tRNA(Phe) from yeast, Escherichia coli 5S rRNA, and the 3'-terminal 208 nucleotides of alfalfa mosaic virus RNA 3 could not be transcribed by the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of TYMV. Various mutations in the sequences of loop regions L1 and L2 or of stem region S1 of the pseudoknot were tested to further investigate the importance of the pseudoknot structure. The results were compared with those obtained in an earlier study on aminoacylation with the same mutants (R. M. W. Mans, M. H. van Steeg, P. W. G. Verlaan, C. W. A. Pleij, and L. Bosch, J. Mol. Biol. 223:221-232; 1992). Mutants which still harbor a stable pseudoknot, as proven by probing its structure, have a transcription efficiency very close to that of the wild-type virus. Disruption of the pseudoknot structure, however, gives rise to a drop in transcription efficiency to about 50%. No indications of base-specific interactions between L1, L2, or S1 of the pseudoknot and the RdRp were found.
Efficacy, safety, and tolerability of once-daily niacin for the treatment of dyslipidemia associated with type 2 diabetes: results of the assessment of diabetes control and evaluation of the efficacy of niaspan trial.

BACKGROUND Diabetic dyslipidemia is characterized by high triglyceride levels; low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels; small, dense low-density lipoprotein particles; and high free fatty acid levels. Niacin reduces concentrations of triglyceride-rich and small low-density lipoprotein particles while increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. It also lowers levels of free fatty acids and lipoprotein(a). However, the use of niacin in patients with diabetes has been discouraged because high doses can worsen glycemic control. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of once-daily extended-release (ER) niacin in patients with diabetic dyslipidemia. METHODS During a 16-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 148 patients were randomized to placebo (n = 49) or 1000 (n = 45) or 1500 mg/d (n = 52) of ER niacin. Sixty-nine patients (47%) were also receiving concomitant therapy with statins. RESULTS Dose-dependent increases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (+19% to +24% [P<.05] vs placebo for both niacin dosages) and reductions in triglyceride levels (-13% to -28% [P<.05] vs placebo for the 1500-mg ER niacin) were observed. Baseline and week 16 values for glycosylated hemoglobin levels were 7.13% and 7.11%, respectively, in the placebo group; 7.28% and 7.35%, respectively, in the 1000-mg ER niacin group (P=.16 vs placebo); and 7.2% and 7.5%, respectively, in the 1500-mg ER niacin group (P=.048 vs placebo). Four patients discontinued participation because of inadequate glucose control. Rates of adverse event rates other than flushing were similar for the niacin and placebo groups. Four patients discontinued participation owing to flushing (including 1 receiving placebo). No hepatotoxic effects or myopathy were observed. CONCLUSION Low doses of ER niacin (1000 or 1500 mg/d) are a treatment option for dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Pulmonary nodule diagnosis using dual‐modal supervised autoencoder based on extreme learning machine

In recent years, deep learning techniques have been applied to the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules. In order to improve the pulmonary nodule diagnostic performance effectively, we propose a novel pulmonary nodule diagnosis method using dual‐modal deep supervised autoencoder based on extreme learning machine for which discriminative features are automatically learnt from the input data. The network is fed with nodule images in pairs obtained from computed tomography and positron emission tomography respectively. For each pair image, the high‐level discriminative features of nodules in computed tomography and positron emission tomography are extracted from stacked supervised autoencoder layers. The outputs of the proposed architecture are combined using an ideal fusion method to get the final classification. In the experiments, 5‐fold cross‐validation method is used to validate the proposed method on 1,600 pulmonary nodule images and our method reaches high‐classification sensitivities of 91.75% at 1.58 false positives per scan. Meanwhile, compared with other deep learning diagnosis methods, our method achieves better discriminative results and is highly suited to be used for pulmonary nodule diagnosis.
Sources of Variation on the Mini‐Mental State Examination in a Population‐Based Sample of Centenarians

Centenarians represent a rare but rapidly growing segment of the oldest‐old. This study presents item‐level data from the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) in a cross‐sectional, population‐based sample of 244 centenarians and near‐centenarians (aged 98–108, 16% men, 21% African‐American, 38% community dwelling) from the Georgia Centenarian Study (2001–2008) according to age, education, sex, race, and residential status. Multiple‐Indicator Multiple‐Cause (MIMIC) models were used to identify systematic domain‐level differences in MMSE scores according to demographic characteristics in this age group. Indirect effects of age, educational attainment, race, and residential status were found on MMSE scores. Direct effects were limited to concentration for education and race and orientation for residential status. Mean levels of cognitive functioning in centenarians were low, with mean values below most commonly‐used cutoffs. Overall scores on the MMSE differed as a function of age, education, race, and residential status, with differences in scale performance limited primarily to concentration and orientation and no evidence of interactions between centenarian characteristics. Adjusting for education was not sufficient to account for differences according to race, and adjusting for residential status was not sufficient to account for differences according to age.