Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FORCE COMPUTATION FOR DEXTROUS OBJECT MANIPULATION WITH MULTI-FINGER ROBOT HANDS

This paper deals with the problems of grasp planning and force computation that occur when objects have to be manipulated with dextrous multi-finger robot hands. Assuming that the initial contact points at the object surface are pre-selected, the joint motions to perform a desired operation according to a given object trajectory are determined. This is done under the consideration of the effect of rolling and slipping of the fingertips. Another point is the computation of appropriate grasp forces (internal forces) according to given object forces/moments needed to ensure a stable and secure grip configuration from which the joint torques are derived. This leads to an optimization problem that can be solved with two different approaches based on search procedures for finding the maximum (best fitting value). As major result, the force optimization problem could be generalized for the case of arbitrary robot hands and contact situations that are specified by the following parameters: number of fingers fno, number of joints per finger jno i, chosen contact models cmod i and null space dimension ndim. Especially, the resulting object motions and contact forces are demonstrated at a simulated example of a peg-in-hole insertion task with the Karlsruhe Dextrous Hand.
Genes ycfR, sirA and yigG Contribute to the Surface Attachment of Salmonella enterica Typhimurium and Saintpaul to Fresh Produce

Salmonella enterica is a frequent contaminant of minimally-processed fresh produce linked to major foodborne disease outbreaks. The molecular mechanisms underlying the association of this enteric pathogen with fresh produce remain largely unexplored. In our recent study, we showed that the expression of a putative stress regulatory gene, ycfR, was significantly induced in S. enterica upon exposure to chlorine treatment, a common industrial practice for washing and decontaminating fresh produce during minimal processing. Two additional genes, sirA involved in S. enterica biofilm formation and yigG of unknown function, were also found to be differentially regulated under chlorine stress. To further characterize the roles of ycfR, sirA, and yigG in S. enterica attachment and survival on fresh produce, we constructed in-frame deletions of all three genes in two different S. enterica serovars, Typhimurium and Saintpaul, which have been implicated in previous disease outbreaks linked to fresh produce. Bacterial attachment to glass and polystyrene microtiter plates, cell aggregation and hydrophobicity, chlorine resistance, and surface attachment to intact spinach leaf and grape tomato were compared among wild-type strains, single-gene deletion mutants, and their respective complementation mutants. The results showed that deletions of ycfR, sirA, and yigG reduced bacterial attachment to glass and polystyrene as well as fresh produce surface with or without chlorine treatment in both Typhimurium and Saintpaul. Deletion of ycfR in Typhimurium significantly reduced bacterial chlorine resistance and the attachment to the plant surfaces after chlorinated water washes. Deletions of ycfR in Typhimurium and yigG in Saintpaul resulted in significant increase in cell aggregation. Our findings suggest that ycfR, sirA, and yigG collectively contribute to S. enterica surface attachment and survival during post-harvest minimal processing of fresh produce.
Deletion of GIRK2 Subunit of GIRK Channels Alters the 5-HT1A Receptor-Mediated Signaling and Results in a Depression-Resistant Behavior

Background: Targeting dorsal raphe 5-HT1A receptors, which are coupled to G-protein inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels, has revealed their contribution not only to behavioral and functional aspects of depression but also to the clinical response to its treatment. Although GIRK channels containing GIRK2 subunits play an important role controlling excitability of several brain areas, their impact on the dorsal raphe activity is still unknown. Thus, the goal of the present study was to investigate the involvement of GIRK2 subunit-containing GIRK channels in depression-related behaviors and physiology of serotonergic neurotransmission. Methods: Behavioral, functional, including in vivo extracellular recordings of dorsal raphe neurons, and neurogenesis studies were carried out in wild-type and GIRK2 mutant mice. Results: Deletion of the GIRK2 subunit promoted a depression-resistant phenotype and determined the behavioral response to the antidepressant citalopram without altering hippocampal neurogenesis. In dorsal raphe neurons of GIRK2 knockout mice, and also using GIRK channel blocker tertiapin-Q, the basal firing rate was higher than that obtained in wild-type animals, although no differences were observed in other firing parameters. 5-HT1A receptors were desensitized in GIRK2 knockout mice, as demonstrated by a lower sensitivity of dorsal raphe neurons to the inhibitory effect of the 5-HT1A receptor agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, and the antidepressant citalopram. Conclusions: Our results indicate that GIRK channels formed by GIRK2 subunits determine depression-related behaviors as well as basal and 5-HT1A receptor-mediated dorsal raphe neuronal activity, becoming alternative therapeutic targets for psychiatric diseases underlying dysfunctional serotonin transmission.
Applying DNA barcoding to red macroalgae: a preliminary appraisal holds promise for future applications

Marine macroalgae, especially the Rhodophyta, can be notoriously difficult to identify owing to their relatively simple morphology and anatomy, convergence, rampant phenotypic plasticity, and alternation of heteromorphic generations. It is thus not surprising that algal systematists have come to rely heavily on genetic tools for molecular assisted alpha taxonomy. Unfortunately the number of suitable marker systems in the three available genomes is enormous and, although most workers have settled on one of three or four models, the lack of an accepted standard hinders the comparison of results between laboratories. The advantages of a standard system are obvious for practical purposes of species discovery and identification; as well, compliance with a universal marker, such as cox1 being developed under the label ‘DNA barcode’, would allow algal systematists to benefit from the rapidly emerging technologies. Novel primers were developed for red algae to PCR amplify and sequence the 5′ cox1 ‘barcode’ region and were used to assess three known species-complex questions: (i) Mazzaella species in the Northeast Pacific; (ii) species of the genera Dilsea and Neodilsea in the Northeast Pacific; and (iii) Asteromenia peltata from three oceans. These models were selected because they have all caused confusion with regards to species number, distribution, and identification in the field, and because they have all been studied with molecular tools. In all cases the DNA barcode resolved accurately and unequivocally species identities and, with the enhanced sampling here, turned up a variety of novel observations in need of further taxonomic investigation.
Smart Agent Based Data Aggregation for Smart City

Md. Shirajum Munir, Md. Golam Rabiul Alam, Choong Seon Hong Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyung Hee University, South Korea. {munir, robi, cshong}@khu.ac. kr Abstract Smart City is the vision of future modern intelligent technology toward the sustainable development of green technology and social development. Smart services e.g. smart transportation, smart health, smart home, smart grid, smart retail, smart security and many more service request IoT based applications are the key enablers of Smart city, which ensures the quality life and well-beings. To enable those services i.e. smart traffic system or smart security system the application requires to gather data from numerous IoT nodes. In such case, it becomes more challenging for huge network traffic and centralized network AP in Smart city. Therefore, in this research we have focused on solving this problem by introducing Smart agent in data aggregation from distributed dense network of Smart city to fulfill service requests from service providers and smart citizens. To be specific, here, we have modeled a peer to peer fully distributed system by using distributed hash table Chord protocol and algorithm for IoT network and also designed Smart agent based path searching algorithm for crowdsourcing. Finally, we have simulated the result of the proposed Smart agent based data aggregation model and we have found higher performance gain of the proposed approach in respect to service fulfillment time and convergence.
Prevalence of Splanchnic Vein Thrombosis in Pancreatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) may be negatively associated with the prognosis of pancreatitis. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of literatures to explore the prevalence of SVT in pancreatitis. All observational studies regarding the prevalence of SVT in pancreatitis were identified via PubMed and EMBASE databases. The prevalence of SVT was pooled in the total of patients with pancreatitis. And it was also pooled in the subgroup analyses according to the stage and causes of pancreatitis, location of SVT, and regions where the studies were performed. After the review of 714 studies, 44 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses showed a pooled prevalence of SVT of 13.6% in pancreatitis. According to the stage of pancreatitis, the pooled prevalence of SVT was 16.6% and 11.6% in patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis, respectively. According to the causes of pancreatitis, the pooled prevalence of SVT was 12.2% and 14.6% in patients with hereditary and autoimmune pancreatitis. According to the location of SVT, the pooled prevalence of portal vein, splenic vein, and mesenteric vein thrombosis was 6.2%, 11.2%, and 2.7% in pancreatitis. The prevalence of SVT in pancreatitis was 16.9%, 11.5%, and 8.5% in Europe, America, and Asia, respectively.
DESIGNING PSI: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PSI FRAMEWORK

The PSI spaces are a framework for studying designing as practiced in the real world: framing and solving technical, social or organizational goals embedded in the existing socio-economic and institutional cultures and practices. Given the interconnected nature of the design product, knowledge and activities, we should anticipate that understanding designing is at least as complex as designing itself. Consequently, understanding designing involves mobilizing multiple knowledge sources, with different perspectives and diversity of participants orchestrated to achieve an effective outcome. We call the study of the PSI spaces the PSI framework. We introduce the PSI spaces, and their language resting on diverse disciplines such as psychology, engineering, economics, and sociology. We introduce some of its methodological tools; how the PSI spaces might be used to explain design challenges through misalignments of the spaces and how these misalignments could be resolved. The PSI framework has significant implication to the development of design science; it demands that design science be a trans-disciplinary endeavor, in need of a flexible community that will study it.
Architecting STT Last-Level-Cache for performance and energy improvement

Spin Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STT-RAM) is a promising alternative to DRAM memory for Last-Level-Cache due to low leakage power and the absence of refresh energy. Recent research has illustrated the performance and energy benefits of STT-RAM over DRAM memory via reducing the number of row buffer conflicts. However, state-of-the-art techniques do not fully exploit the cache access patterns which can lead to a reduced performance and energy efficiency. We therefore propose two row buffer bypass policies and an alternative row buffer organization to reduce the number of row buffer conflicts in STT-RAM based Last-Level-Cache architectures. We evaluate our policies and organization for different combinations of SPEC2006 benchmarks and compare their performance and energy with recent proposal for STT-RAM based memory. Our proposal reduces the average energy consumption by 19.5% compared to the state-of-the-art.
Arginase activity and magnesium levels in blood of children with diabetes mellitus

Under physiological conditions insulin controls the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by a disturbance in the intermediary metabolism of glucose and glucose-induced insulin release. Arginase (L-arginine amidinohydrolase, EC 3.5.3.1) modulates nitric oxide synthase activity by regulating intracellular L-arginine availability. In diabetes mellitus, a decrease in nitric oxide bioavailability is a central mechanism for endothelial dysfunction. The aim of our study was to assess arginase activity in the blood of children with diabetes mellitus. Blood arginase activity, serum glucose (14.155 +/- 4.197 mmol/L; p < .001) and blood HbA1c (11.222 +/- 3.186 %; p < .001), were significantly higher in diabetic children than in healthy controls, whereas the magnesium (Mg2+) level, a cofactor of many enzymes, was significantly lower (0.681 +/- 0.104 micromol; p < .001). In diabetic children, arginase activity, hyperglycemia (r = 0.143), and the HbA1, level (r = 0.381) showed a positive correlation between but a negative correlation between Mg2+ and arginase activity (r= -0.206). The higher arginase activity and the lower Mg2+' levels in diabetic children could be a consequence of reduced insulin action and increased protein catabolic processes in these pathophysiological conditions. The inverse directions of arginase activity and serum Mg2+ levels are in agreement with this concept.
HANDLING NONRESPONSE IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

This study was designed to describe and explore how nonresponse in the Journal of Agricultural Education has been handled historically. All articles (N=364) published in the Journal of Agricultural Education during the years 1990 through 1999 were analyzed using content analysis techniques. Study findings show that not mentioning nonresponse error as a threat to external validity of a study, not attempting to control for nonresponse error, or not providing a reference to the literature were, unfortunately, the norm and not the exception. This study provides three statistically sound and professionally acceptable procedures and protocols for handling nonresponse: Method 1—Comparison of Early to Late Respondents; Method 2—Using “Days to Respond” as a regression variable; and Method 3—Compare Respondents to Nonrespondents.
Automatic detection of brain tumor based on magnetic resonance image using CAD System with watershed segmentation

In medical image processing segmentation of anatomical regions of the brain is the fundamental problem. Here, a brain tumor segmentation method has been developed and validated using MRI Data. In Preprocessing and Enhancement stage, medical image is converted into standard formatted image. Segmentation subdivides an image into its constituent regions or objects. This method can segment a tumor provided that the desired parameters are set properly. In this paper, after a manual segmentation procedure the tumor identification, the investigations has been made for the potential use of MRI data for improving brain tumor shape approximation and 2D & 3D visualization for surgical planning and assessing tumor.
Clinical study on the closure of extraction wounds of partially soft tissue-impacted mandibular third molars.

OBJECTIVE When a mandibular third molar is partially impacted in the soft tissue, it must be determined whether the extraction wound should be left partially open or completely closed. We hypothesize that a blood clot preserving a surgical wound with easily cleanable surfaces by primary closure and drain application would postoperatively minimize dry socket and/or alveolitis development. METHOD AND MATERIALS Twenty patients requiring bilateral extraction of partially soft tissue-impacted mandibular third molars in a vertical position were included in the study. The existence of dry sockets, alveolitis, pain, facial swelling, and trismus were evaluated on the second, fifth, and seventh days of the postoperative period. RESULTS On the second day, pain, trismus, and swelling were higher in the drained group; however, pain reduced progressively in the drained group over time. There were no cases of dry sockets or alveolitis except for a single patient on the seventh day in the drained group over the 7-day study period. On the other hand, in the secondary closure group, the number of dry sockets was 8 (40%) on the second day. The number of alveolitis was 10 (50%) on the fifth day and 4 (20%) on the seventh day. CONCLUSION Closed healing by drain insertion after removal of partially soft tissue-impacted third molars produces less frequent postoperative dry sockets and/or alveolitis development than occurs with open healing of the surgical wound. In cases with a risk of alveolitis development (lack of oral hygiene, immunocompromised patients, etc), it can be avoided with the "kiddle effect" and related undesired complications by implementing closed healing with drain insertion.
Separation of diffuse and specular components of surface reflection by use of polarization and statistical analysis of images

The image of an opaque object is created by observing the reflection of the light incident on its surface. The dichromatic reflection model describes the surface reflection as the sum of two components, diffuse and specular terms. The specular reflection component is usually strong in its intensity and polarized significantly compared to the diffuse components. On the other hand, the intensity of the diffuse component is weak and it tends to be unpolarized except near occluding contours. Thus, the observation of an object through a rotating polarizer approximately yields images containing constant diffuse component and specular component of different intensity. In this paper, we show that diffuse and specular components of surface reflection can be separated as two independent components when we apply independent component analysis to the images observed through a polarizer of different orientations. We give a separation simulation of artificial data and also give some separation results of real scenes.
Impact of graduated compression stockings on the prevention of post-thrombotic syndrome - results of a randomized controlled trial

Objective Post-thrombotic syndrome is a chronic complication of acute deep venous thrombosis in the lower extremity. The role of graduated compression stockings in the prevention of post-thrombotic syndrome has been studied with opinion being divided on the beneficial effects. We aim to answer this question with a randomized controlled study that uses multiple scoring instruments to assess post-thrombotic syndrome. Methods Sixty-nine consecutive patients with acute deep venous thrombosis diagnosed by duplex ultrasonography were randomized to treatment with graduated compression stockings or no graduated compression stockings. Venous Clinical Severity Score and Villalta-Prandoni Score, commonly used scoring systems, were used to appraise post-thrombotic syndrome at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months following diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis. In both scoring systems, the individual either had post-thrombotic syndrome or no post-thrombotic syndrome. Cumulative incidence was computed using Kaplan–Meier analysis. Relative risk was assessed for age, obesity, varicose veins, and iliofemoral deep venous thrombosis. Results As measured by both Villalta-Prandoni Score and Venous Clinical Severity Score instruments, the graduated compression stockings group had a lower incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome compared to the control group, but only when one month was used as cut off time for the first diagnosis of post-thrombotic syndrome. When 6 or 12 months were used, there was no difference in the incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome between the two groups. The burden of post-thrombotic syndrome was significantly more when the Villalta-Prandoni Score instrument (∼75%) was used as compared to the Venous Clinical Severity Score instrument (∼30%) at 24 months’ follow-up. Obesity was the only statistically significant predictor for the development of post-thrombotic syndrome. Conclusion As assessed by both Villalta-Prandoni Score and Venous Clinical Severity Score instruments, use of graduated compression stockings does not reduce the incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome. There is a significant difference in the incidence post-thrombotic syndrome as detected by Villalta-Prandoni Score and Venous Clinical Severity Score instruments with incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome dependent on instrument and cut off time interval used to assess post-thrombotic syndrome. However, larger prospective studies are required to confirm these differences.
Realization of foot rotation by breaking the kinematic contact constraint

SUMMARY Previous research has revealed that foot rotation of the supporting foot in a single support phase could increase walking speed. This paper presents a method for force-controlled bipeds to realize foot rotation by breaking the kinematic contact constraint between the supporting foot and the ground. An inverse dynamics controller is proposed to make the biped model controllable even when the constraint is broken. In addition, a linear inverted pendulum model is extended to make its ZMP adjustable so that the ZMP can be predefined as required. When the planned ZMP is in the toe, the kinematic contact constraint will be broken and foot rotation can be achieved. A walking simulation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Molecular Variability Among Isolates of Prunus Necrotic Ringspot Virus from Different Prunus spp.

ABSTRACT Viral sequences amplified by polymerase chain reaction from 25 isolates of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV), varying in the symptomatology they cause in six different Prunus spp. , were analyzed for restriction fragment polymorphisms. Most of the isolates could be discriminated by using a combination of three different restriction enzymes. The nucleotide sequences of the RNA 4 of 15 of these isolates were determined. Sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of the RNA 4 and coat proteins (CPs) revealed that all of the isolates clustered into three different groups, represented by three previously sequenced PNRSV isolates: PV32, PE5, and PV96. The PE5-type group was characterized by a 5' untranslated region that was clearly different from that of the other two groups. The PV32-type group was characterized by an extra hexanucleotide consisting of a duplication of the six immediately preceding nucleotides. Although most of the variability was observed in the first third of the CP, the amino acid residues in this region, which were previously thought to be functionally important in the replication cycle of the virus, were strictly conserved. No clear correlation with the type of symptom or host specificity could be observed. The validity of this grouping was confirmed when other isolates recently characterized by other authors were included in these analyses.