Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Object-centric programming: A new modeling paradigm for robotic applications

During the last 15 years the way how software products are being developed has changed dramatically. Today, software is developed very efficiently in an industrialized manner. One of the cornerstones is that new development processes introduced a domain-centric view rather than a technology-centric view. As a result, big and complex software systems can be built very fast, reliable and according to customers' requirements. Unfortunately, these advances in software engineering have had little to no effect on the software development process for robotic applications. This paper explains how domain-centric design can be introduced in the domain of industrial robotics and which possible benefits it might yield.
Pyrosequencing as an alternative to single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis for detection of N-ras mutations in human melanoma metastases.

BACKGROUND Mutations in codons 12, 13, and 61 of the N-ras gene are common alterations in cutaneous malignant melanoma. We evaluated pyrosequencing, a simple and rapid method used mainly for single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis, as a possible alternative to single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and sequencing of N-ras. METHODS We evaluated the sensitivity and accuracy of the pyrosequencing method for identification of mutations in N-ras codons 12, 13, and 61. Nucleotide dispensation orders were created to produce distinct pyrogram peak profiles for the most frequent mutations in codon 61 and codons 12 and 13, respectively. RESULTS The detection limits for the two most common codon 61 mutations found in malignant melanoma, which code for Arg and Lys, were 30% and 15%, respectively. To evaluate the pyrosequencing method on clinical samples, we performed a parallel analysis of 82 melanoma metastases using SSCP analysis and pyrosequencing. All mutations detected by SSCP analysis and confirmed by sequencing were also correctly identified by pyrosequencing. Codon 61 mutations were identified in 26 of the 82 samples (32%), whereas no mutations were found in codons 12 and 13. Four types of codon 61 mutations, Arg (17%), Lys (10%), Leu (4%), and His (1%), were identified. CONCLUSION Pyrosequencing is an attractive alternative to SSCP analysis for N-ras mutation detection in malignant melanoma tumor samples because it displays the same sensitivity and accuracy as SSCP analysis and is simple and rapid.
Gesture-based Interaction for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities in India

Gesture-based interaction provides a multitude of benefits to individuals with disabilities, for example, enhancing social, motor and cognitive skills. However, applications that encourage self-efficacy by promoting a life-skill through simulations of real world scenarios are largely missing. We explore the benefits of using a gesture-based application for individuals with developmental disabilities. The context is a special school in New Delhi, Nai Disha, where we designed and developed an application, Kirana, that integrates arithmetic and social interaction to teach purchasing of items from a local grocery store. In our study, 18 participants with developmental disabilities, previously unable to visit a grocery store, used Kirana for three weeks. Our results indicate that gesture-based applications can teach a life skill and enable self-efficacy for individuals with developmental disabilities by breaking down complex tasks that require social, mathematical and decision-making skills.
Distraction osteogenesis as a treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Background:To conduct a systematic review to answer the clinical question “What are the effectiveness of mandibular distraction osteogenesis (MDO) and its complications to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS)? ”. Methods:A systematic search including a computer search with specific keywords, reference list search, and manual search were done. Relevant articles on MDO were assessed and selected in 3 rounds for final review based on 5 predefined inclusion criteria and followed by a round of critical appraisal. Different types of distraction and their treatment outcomes of OSAS were recorded with standardized form and analyzed. Results:Twelve articles were included in the final review. A total of 256 patients aged 7 days to 60 years were treated with either external or internal MDO, with a mean follow-up period of 6 to 37 months. The average distraction distance of 12 to 29 mm was achieved with various distraction protocols. The success rate for adult patients was 100%, and cure rates were ranged from 82% to 100%. The definition of success or cure for OSAS in children or infants was not defined. Therefore, there were no clearly reported success or cure rates for children/infants in the included studies. However, all studies reported that these patients showed significant improvement in OSAS, with many of them who avoided tracheostomy or had the tracheostomy decannulated. The complication rates were ranged from 0% to 21.4%, with most being from local wound infections or neurosensory disturbances. Conclusion:This systematic review showed that MDO was effective in resolving OSAS in adults with retrognathic mandible. MDO also showed promising results in infants or children with OSAS. From the results of this systematic review, we recommend to define the criteria of success or cure for OSAS surgery in children and infants. We also recommend setting up randomized controlled trials to compare MDO with traditional maxillomandibular advancement surgery for OSAS patients and to provide a better evidence on the success and complication rates of the techniques.
Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm for facial emotion detection

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm has been applied and found to be efficient in many searching and optimization related applications. In this paper, we present a modified version of the algorithm that we successfully applied to facial emotion detection. Our approach is based on tracking the movements of facial action units (AUs) placed on the face of a subject and captured in video clips. We defined particles that form swarms such that they have a component around the neighborhood of each AU. Particles are allowed to move around the effectively n-dimensional search space in search of the emotion being expressed in each frame of a video clip (where n is the number of action units being tracked). We have implemented and tested the algorithm on video clips that contain three of the six basic emotions, namely happy, sad and surprise. Our results show the algorithm to have a promising success rate.
Parity association with clinicopathological factors in invasive breast cancer: a retrospective analysis

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between parity and age at diagnosis, primary tumor size, axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis, histological grade, and subtype classification in patients with breast cancer. Data from 392 patients with invasive breast cancer were collected and divided into four groups: nulliparous (parity 0), parity 1, parity 2, and parity ≥3. The relationship between parity and age at diagnosis was assessed using post hoc Dunnett’s T3 test, and tumor size, the number of ALN metastases, and histological grade were analyzed using Spearman’s rho test. Breast cancer subtypes were analyzed using the chi-square (χ2) test. The results showed that the mean age at diagnosis increased with increased parity, and the mean age of patients with parity ≥3 was significantly greater than that of patients with parity 0, parity 1, and parity 2. The mean age at diagnosis of patients with parity 2 was greater than that of patients with parity 1. There was no significant difference in the mean age between patients with parity 0 and parity 1 or parity 0 and parity 2. Parity was negatively correlated with ALN metastasis. Parity was not correlated with tumor size or histological grade and the proportion of the four subtypes in breast cancer. So, increased parity deferred the onset of breast cancer and inhibited the metastasis of ALN, but did not affect tumor size, histological grade, or the proportion of subtypes. Increased parity was a protective factor against breast cancer.
Properties of local quantum operations with shared entanglement

Multi-party local quantum operations with shared quantum entanglement or sharedclassical randomness are studied. The following facts are established:• There is a ball of local operations with shared randomness lying within the spacespanned by the no-signaling operations and centred at the completely noisy channel. • The existence of the ball of local operations with shared randomness is employedto prove that the weak membership problem for local operations with sharedentanglement is strongly NP-hard. • Local operations with shared entanglement are characterized in terms of linearfunctionals that are "completely" positive on a certain cone K of separable Hermitianoperators, under a natural notion of complete positivity appropriate tothat cone. Local operations with shared randomness (but not entanglement) arealso characterized in terms of linear functionals that are merely positive on thatsame cone K. • Existing characterizations of no-signaling operations are generalized to the multipartysetting and recast in terms of the Choi-Jamio lkowski representation forquantum super-operators. It is noted that the standard nonlocal box is an exampleof a no-signaling operation that is separable, yet cannot be implemented by localoperations with shared entanglement.
Movement recognition using the accelerometer in smartphones

The area of activity recognition is essential for context-aware systems. Previous and current investigations demonstrate that the accelerometer is suitable for accurate movement and activity recognition. Since smartphones are used by people in their daily lives, they can be seen as an attractive sensor device for the purpose of activity recognition. In our work, experiments have been carried out to investigate the suitability of the built-in accelerometer by comparing the influences of classification algorithms, features and the combination of sampling rates and window sizes for features extraction have on the classification accuracy. Obtained results indicate that smartphones similar to the test device provide good accuracy in recognizing common movements.
HuR‐regulated lncRNA NEAT1 stability in tumorigenesis and progression of ovarian cancer

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently emerged as pivotal regulators in governing fundamental biological processes, as well as in tumorigenesis. The nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) is one of the most highly regulated lncRNAs in recent genomic datasets, however, its biological role and regulatory mechanism in ovarian cancer (OC) development and progression are poorly defined. In this study, we identified that NEAT1 was up‐regulated in OC patients and cell lines, and its expression was associated with the FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of NEAT1_1 in OVCAR‐3 cell lines promoted cell proliferation and invasion, whereas knockdown of NEAT1_1 did the opposite. Furthermore, NEAT1_1 was stabilized by an RNA‐binding protein HuR, but suppressed by miR‐124‐3p in OC cells. Accordingly, the increased HuR mRNA and decreased miR‐124‐3p levels were observed in OC patients. These results suggested that lncRNA NEAT1, whose expression was collaboratively controlled by HuR and miR‐124‐3p, could regulate ovarian carcinogenesis and may serve as a potential target for antineoplastic therapies.
Winding paths to simplicity: genome evolution in facultative insect symbionts.

Symbiosis between organisms is an important driving force in evolution. Among the diverse relationships described, extensive progress has been made in insect-bacteria symbiosis, which improved our understanding of the genome evolution in host-associated bacteria. Particularly, investigations on several obligate mutualists have pushed the limits of what we know about the minimal genomes for sustaining cellular life. To bridge the gap between those obligate symbionts with extremely reduced genomes and their non-host-restricted ancestors, this review focuses on the recent progress in genome characterization of facultative insect symbionts. Notable cases representing various types and stages of host associations, including those from multiple genera in the family Enterobacteriaceae (class Gammaproteobacteria), Wolbachia (Alphaproteobacteria) and Spiroplasma (Mollicutes), are discussed. Although several general patterns of genome reduction associated with the adoption of symbiotic relationships could be identified, extensive variation was found among these facultative symbionts. These findings are incorporated into the established conceptual frameworks to develop a more detailed evolutionary model for the discussion of possible trajectories. In summary, transitions from facultative to obligate symbiosis do not appear to be a universal one-way street; switches between hosts and lifestyles (e.g. commensalism, parasitism or mutualism) occur frequently and could be facilitated by horizontal gene transfer.
Queuosine Biosynthesis Is Required for Sinorhizobium meliloti-Induced Cytoskeletal Modifications on HeLa Cells and Symbiosis with Medicago truncatula

Rhizobia are symbiotic soil bacteria able to intracellularly colonize legume nodule cells and form nitrogen-fixing symbiosomes therein. How the plant cell cytoskeleton reorganizes in response to rhizobium colonization has remained poorly understood especially because of the lack of an in vitro infection assay. Here, we report on the use of the heterologous HeLa cell model to experimentally tackle this question. We observed that the model rhizobium Sinorhizobium meliloti, and other rhizobia as well, were able to trigger a major reorganization of actin cytoskeleton of cultured HeLa cells in vitro. Cell deformation was associated with an inhibition of the three major small RhoGTPases Cdc42, RhoA and Rac1. Bacterial entry, cytoskeleton rearrangements and modulation of RhoGTPase activity required an intact S. meliloti biosynthetic pathway for queuosine, a hypermodifed nucleoside regulating protein translation through tRNA, and possibly mRNA, modification. We showed that an intact bacterial queuosine biosynthetic pathway was also required for effective nitrogen-fixing symbiosis of S. meliloti with its host plant Medicago truncatula, thus indicating that one or several key symbiotic functions of S. meliloti are under queuosine control. We discuss whether the symbiotic defect of que mutants may originate, at least in part, from an altered capacity to modify plant cell actin cytoskeleton.
Cytokine Balance in Human Malaria: Does Plasmodium vivax Elicit More Inflammatory Responses than Plasmodium falciparum?

Background The mechanisms by which humans regulate pro- and anti-inflammatory responses on exposure to different malaria parasites remains unclear. Although Plasmodium vivax usually causes a relatively benign disease, this parasite has been suggested to elicit more host inflammation per parasitized red blood cell than P. falciparum. Methodology/Principal Findings We measured plasma concentrations of seven cytokines and two soluble tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α receptors, and evaluated clinical and laboratory outcomes, in Brazilians with acute uncomplicated infections with P. vivax (n = 85), P. falciparum (n = 30), or both species (n = 12), and in 45 asymptomatic carriers of low-density P. vivax infection. Symptomatic vivax malaria patients, compared to those infected with P. falciparum or both species, had more intense paroxysms, but they had no clear association with a pro-inflammatory imbalance. To the contrary, these patients had higher levels of the regulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10, which correlated positively with parasite density, and elevated IL-10/TNF-α, IL-10/interferon (IFN)-γ, IL-10/IL-6 and sTNFRII/TNF-α ratios, compared to falciparum or mixed-species malaria patient groups. Vivax malaria patients had the highest levels of circulating soluble TNF-α receptor sTNFRII. Levels of regulatory cytokines returned to normal values 28 days after P. vivax clearance following chemotherapy. Finally, asymptomatic carriers of low P. vivax parasitemias had substantially lower levels of both inflammatory and regulatory cytokines than did patients with clinical malaria due to either species. Conclusions Controlling fast-multiplying P. falciparum blood stages requires a strong inflammatory response to prevent fulminant infections, while reducing inflammation-related tissue damage with early regulatory cytokine responses may be a more cost-effective strategy in infections with the less virulent P. vivax parasite. The early induction of regulatory cytokines may be a critical mechanism protecting vivax malaria patients from severe clinical complications.
A PROPOSAL OF INDEX FOR HIGH-DIMENSIONAL STATIC DATABASES

As a memberof R-treefamily, R*-tree is widely used in multimediadatabases andspatialdatabases, in whichNN (NearestNeighbor)searchis very popular. According to our investigations,(1) the degreeof objectsclusteringin the leaf nodesis a very important factor on performance of NN search;(2) Normally, in R*-tree, its objectsarenot well-clusteredin their leaf nodes. This paperproposesa new index structure,called Clustering-BasedR*-tree (denotedCBR*-tree),for staticdatabases by introducingclustering technologyto R*-tree. Although somepackingalgorithmsfor R-treeshave beenproposed,all of them try to pack the same(or roughly same)numberof objectsin eachleafnode,which oftenresultin thatthedistribution of objectsin leafnodescannot reflecttheiractualdistribution. Theexperimentalresultsshow thattheCBR*-treehasbetter NN searchperformancethanR*-treeandpackedR-trees. informatics:Database
Strengthening CAPTCHA-based Web security

Simple, universally applicable strategies can help any captcha–protected system resist automated attacks and can improve the ability of administrators to detect attacks. The strategies discussed here cause an exponential increase in the difficulty faced by automated attackers, while only increasing the inconvenience for human users in an approximately linear manner. These strategies are characterised using a new metric, the ‘Captcha Improvement Ratio’. The paper concludes that presenting multiple captcha systems together in random order may provide quantitative and qualitative advantages over many typical present–day captcha systems.
TWO NEW METHODS FOR MOTION PLANNING FOR CONTROLLABLE SYSTEMS WITHOUT DRIFT

We describe some recent new approaches for motion planning for nonholonomic systems without drift, developed in joint work of with G. Laaerriere and W. Liu. The main idea is to relate the trajectories of the given system to those of a \Lie bracket extension," and to seek ways to obtain trajectories of the original system that achieve the same eeect as a trajectory of the extended system.
RIOT OS Paves the Way for Implementation of High-performance MAC Protocols

Implementing new, high-performance MAC protocols requires real-time features, to be able to synchronize correctly between different unrelated devices. Such features are highly desirable for operating wireless sensor networks (WSN) that are designed to be part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Unfortunately, the operating systems commonly used in this domain cannot provide such features. On the other hand, "bare-metal" development sacrifices portability, as well as the mul-titasking abilities needed to develop the rich applications that are useful in the domain of the Internet of Things. We describe in this paper how we helped solving these issues by contributing to the development of a port of RIOT OS on the MSP430 microcontroller, an architecture widely used in IoT-enabled motes. RIOT OS offers rich and advanced real-time features, especially the simultaneous use of as many hardware timers as the underlying platform (microcontroller) can offer. We then demonstrate the effectiveness of these features by presenting a new implementation, on RIOT OS, of S-CoSenS, an efficient MAC protocol that uses very low processing power and energy.
AGGREGATE DYNAMICS IN AN EVOLUTIONARY NETWORK MODEL

We analyze a model of interacting agents (e.g. prebiotic chemical species) which are represented by nodes of a network, whereas their interactions are mapped onto directed links between these nodes. On a fast time scale, each agent follows an eigendynamics based on catalytic support from other nodes, whereas on a much slower time scale the network evolves through selection and mutation of its nodes-agent. In the first part of the paper, we explain the dynamics of the model by means of characteristic snapshots of the network evolution and confirm earlier findings on crashes and recoveries in the network structure. In the second part, we focus on the aggregate behavior of the network dynamics. We show that the disruptions in the network structure are smoothed out, so that the average evolution can be described by a growth regime followed by a saturation regime, without an initial random regime. For the saturation regime, we obtain a logarithmic scaling between the average connectivity per node 〈l〉s and a parameter m, describing the average incoming connectivity, which is independent of the system size N.
Obvious: A system to explore alignment techniques and visualization of 3D views

3D reconstruction from partial views is one of the best practices for obtaining 3D models. It provides feedback to developers of digitalizers regarding views acquisition accuracy, and its practice reduces the cost compared to full acquisition systems. One further benefit is a testbed and research tool for 3D alignment techniques. We propose a system, called Obvious, which is designed as a modular, open source C++ coding, portable to unix like or windows systems, with friendly interface and state of the art 3D alignment techniques such as 4PCS, D4PCS, and ICP. The system also brings modules for including and modifying noise and perturbation to 3D data to help evaluate alignment quality such as accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. As a 3D reconstruction and research system Obvious has algorithms and tools originally provided in one open source tool for 3D enthusiasts.
Scale-free Hyperbolic Cordic Processor and Its Application to Waveform Generation Scale-free Hyperbolic Cordic Processor and Its Application to Waveform Generation

This paper presents a novel completely scaling-free CORDIC algorithm in rotation mode for hyperbolic trajectory. We use most-significant-1 bit detection technique for micro-rotation sequence generation to reduce the number of iterations. By storing the sinh/cosh hyperbolic values at octant boundaries in a ROM, we can extend the range of convergence to the entire coordinate space. Based on this, we propose a pipeline hyperbolic CORDIC processor to implement a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). The DDS is further used to derive an efficient arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), where a pseudo-random number generator modulates the linear increments of phase to produce random phase-modulated waveform. The proposed waveform generator requires only one DDS for generating variety of modulated waveforms, while existing designs require separate DDS units for different type of waveforms, and multiple DDS units are required to generate composite waveforms. Therefore, area complexity of existing designs gets multiplied with the number of different types waveforms they generate, while in case of proposed design that remains unchanged. The proposed AWG when mapped on Xilinx Spartan 2E device, consumes 1076 slices and 2016 4-input LUTs. The proposed AWG involves significantly less area and lower latency, with nearly the same throughput compared to the existing CORDIC-based designs.