Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human-Recognizable Robotic Gestures

For robots to be accommodated in human spaces and in daily human activities, robots should be able to understand messages from their human conversation partner. In the same light, humans must also understand the messages that are being communicated to them by robots, including nonverbal messages. We conducted a Web-based video study wherein participants interpreted the iconic gestures and emblems produced by an anthropomorphic robot. Out of the 15 robotic gestures presented, we found 6 that can be accurately recognized by the human observer. These were nodding, clapping, hugging, expressing anger, walking, and flying. We review these gestures for their meaning from literature on human and animal behavior. We conclude by discussing the possible implications of these gestures for the design of social robots that are able to have engaging interactions with humans.
Aurelia aurita bio-inspired tilt sensor

The quickly expanding field of mobile robots, unmanned underwater vehicles, and micro-air vehicles urgently needs a cheap and effective means for measuring vehicle inclination. Commonly, tilt or inclination has been mathematically derived from accelerometers; however, there is inherent error in any indirect measurement. This paper reports a bio-inspired tilt sensor that mimics the natural balance organ of jellyfish, called the ‘statocyst’. Biological statocysts from the species Aurelia aurita were characterized by scanning electron microscopy to investigate the morphology and size of the natural sensor. An artificial tilt sensor was then developed by using printed electronics that incorporates a novel voltage divider concept in conjunction with small surface mount devices. This sensor was found to have minimum sensitivity of 4.21° with a standard deviation of 1.77°. These results open the possibility of developing elegant tilt sensor architecture for both air and water based platforms.
Leveraging social semantic components in executable environments for learning

Learning can benefit from the modern Web structure through the convergence of top‐down encyclopedic institutional knowledge and bottom‐up user‐generated annotations. A promising approach to such convergence consists in leveraging the social functionalities in 3.0 executable environments through the recommendation of tags with the mediation of lexical and semantic resources.
Coordination in Large-Scale Agile Software Development: A Multiteam Systems Perspective

The widespread use of lean and agile development methods shows a fundamental shift in how organizations try to cope with complexity and volatility issues. In large-scale settings, the coordination of many people often results in a team of teams setup. We introduce the multiteam systems perspective to describe different conceptual strategy types for inter-team coordination. These types are illustrated with examples from a large enterprise software development organization.
Featureless: Bypassing feature extraction in action categorization

This method introduces an efficient manner of learning action categories without the need of feature estimation. The approach starts from low-level values, in a similar style to the successful CNN methods. However, rather than extracting general image features, we learn to predict specific video representations from raw video data. The benefit of such an approach is that at the same computational expense it can predict 2D video representations as well as 3D ones, based on motion. The proposed model relies on discriminative Wald-boost, which we enhance to a multiclass formulation for the purpose of learning video representations. The suitability of the proposed approach as well as its time efficiency are tested on the UCF11 action recognition dataset.
Elevated circulating fibrocyte levels in patients with hypertensive heart disease

Objective: Autopsy and biopsy studies have shown that there is significantly more fibrosis in hearts of patients with hypertensive heart disease compared to normal hearts. Fibrocytes, a population of circulating bone marrow-derived cells, have been shown to home to tissues and promote scar formation in several diseases, but their role in human hypertensive heart disease has not been investigated to date. Our objective was to determine whether fibrocyte levels are elevated in individuals with hypertensive heart disease. Methods: We measured peripheral blood fibrocyte levels and their activated phenotypes in 12 individuals with hypertensive heart disease as determined by increased left ventricular mass on noninvasive imaging and compared them to fibrocyte levels from 19 healthy normal controls and correlated them to cardiac MRI findings. Results: Compared to normal controls, individuals with hypertensive heart disease had significantly higher circulating levels of total fibrocytes [median (interquartile range); 149000 (62200–220000) vs. 564500 (321000–1.2900e+006), P < 0.0001, respectively] as well as activated fibrocytes [15700 (6380–19800) vs. 478500 (116500–1.2360e+006) P < 0.0001]. Moreover, the fibrocyte subsets expressing the chemokine markers CXCR4 (P < 0.0001), CCR2 (P < 0.0001), CCR7 (P < 0.0001) and coexpression of both CXCR4 and CCR2 (P < 0.0001) were significantly elevated in patients with hypertensive heart disease compared to controls. Lastly, in patients with hypertensive heart disease there was a strong correlation between left ventricular mass index and total fibrocytes (r = 0.65, P = 0.037) and activated fibrocytes (r = 0.70, P = 0.016). Conclusion: Our data suggest that bone marrow-derived circulating fibrocytes are associated with the presence and extent of left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertensive heart disease.
American and Japanese Women Use Different Coping Strategies During Normal Pregnancy

In this longitudinal study, pregnant women in Japan and the United States reported on three coping strategies. Two are individually phrased: personal influence over outcomes and acceptance of outcomes. The third, social assurance, is grounded in relationships, noting that close others can influence outcomes. A European American sample rated acceptance highest as a strategy, whereas Japanese women rated social assurance highest. For Americans, acceptance correlated with better pregnancy outcomes (less distress over time, better prenatal care, and less weight gain). For Japanese women, social assurance predicted a more positive maternal relationship. Acceptance correlated with less Time 1 distress in both samples. Surprisingly, personal influence generally did not predict positive outcomes in either sample, perhaps because normal pregnancy is a time-limited event with a positive prognosis. The findings are consistent with the view that well-being is related to individual variables in the United States but also to features of social relationships in Japan.
β-3AR W64R Polymorphism and 30-Minute Post-Challenge Plasma Glucose Levels in Obese Children

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of W64R polymorphism of the β3-adrenergic receptor gene (β-3AR) with childhood obesity and related pathologies. Methods: β-3AR gene W64R genotyping was carried out in 251 children aged 6-18 years. Of these subjects, 130 were obese (62 boys) and 121 were normal-weight (53 boys). In the obese group, fasting lipids, glucose and insulin levels were measured. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in 75 of the obese patients. Results: The frequency of W64R genotype was similar in obese and non-obese children. In obese children, relative body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, serum lipid, glucose and insulin levels, as well as homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) scores were not different between Arg allele carriers (W64R and R64R) and noncarriers (W64W). In 75 obese children, OGTT results showed that Arg allele carriers had significantly higher 30-minute glucose levels (p=0.027). Conclusion: W64R polymorphism of the β-3AR gene is not associated with obesity and waist-to-hip ratio in Turkish children. Although there were no relationships between the genotypes and lipid, glucose/insulin levels or HOMA-IR, the presence of W64R variant seemed to have an unfavorable influence on early glucose excursion after glucose loading.
Effect of Retinole Acid on Phorbol Ester-stimulated Differentiation and Protein Kinase C-dependent Phosphorylation in the U 937 Human Monoblastoid Cell 1

Phorbol esters stimulate differentiation of certain human leukemic cell lines. Although activation of protein kinase C may mediate certain effects of phorbol esters, controversy exists as to the role of protein kinase C activation in phorbol ester-induced differentiation. Retinole acid modu lates responses to phorbol esters in several cell types. Retinoic acid has also been found to alter protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation in leukemic cells. We correlated the effects of retinole acid on protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation and differentiation stimulated by 12-0tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a phorbol ester, in the human monoblastoid U937 cell line. At concentrations < I IIM,which were 100fold less than those directly stimulating differentiation, retinole acid potentiated TPA-induced differentiation of the U937 cell as assessed by enhanced adherence to plastic and acquisition of nonspecific esterase activity. TPA-stimulated decreases in cellular proliferation were not affected by retinole acid treatment. Without altering the sensitivity to TPA, retinoic acid increased the maximal response to this agent. Retinoic acid enhanced TPA-stimulated phosphorylation of a M, 48,000 substrate in intact 32P-labeled U937 cells and also increased the protein kinase ( dependent phosphorylation of a similar M, 48,000 substrate and a M, 80,000 substrate in cellular extracts. In cellular extracts the retinoic acid-induced enhancement of protein kinase C-dependent phosphoryla tion was predominantly localized to the cytosolic fraction. Increases in protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation were evident within a 12-h exposure to 1 IIMretinoic acid and were observed at retinoic concentra tions of 0.01 to 1 IIM. A retinoic acid-induced increase in the protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate, histone, was observed following diethylaminoethyl extraction of cytosol, but not a solubilized particulate fraction. The conditions of retinoic acid treatment increasing protein kinase C activity and enhancing protein kinase Cdependent phosphorylation of endogenous substrates were similar to those conditions potentiating phorbol ester-induced differentiation. Thus, the retinoic acid-induced amplification of phorbol ester signal transduction at the level of protein kinase C activation could mediate the effects of this vitamin on phorbol ester-induced differentiation.
Reconsidering the McKibben muscle: Energetics, operating fluid, and bladder material

In spite of extensive modeling and characterization efforts, little is known about the energetics of McKibben muscle actuators. This article experimentally investigates the effectiveness of traditional McKibben muscles at converting fluid energy delivered to the actuator to mechanical output work over full actuation cycles. Once these efficiency metrics are established, a comparison of the efficiencies of traditional pneumatic fluidic artificial muscles and hydraulic fluidic artificial muscles is presented. Two new hydraulic oil compatible bladder materials are tested—an elastomeric Viton bladder and an inelastic low-density polyethylene bladder. The performance of these muscle variants is compared by measuring blocked force and free contraction as a function of pressure, hysteresis, and energy efficiencies. The measurement of fluid volume delivered to the fluidic artificial muscles over their actuation ranges is shown to be useful for evaluating the accuracy of existing cylindrical volume models. Models of the energy conversion efficiency are developed and compared to the experimental data. The results show that using an inelastic bladder significantly improves the efficiency, force capacity, and contraction range of McKibben muscles; however, it also increases the actuator’s hysteretic behavior. Powering the muscles hydraulically and operating at higher pressures improves the efficiency as well.
Mitochondrial potassium channel opener diazoxide preserves neuronal-vascular function after cerebral ischemia in newborn pigs.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) elicits neuronally mediated cerebral arteriolar vasodilation that is reduced by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). This sequence has been preserved by pretreatment with the ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channel opener aprikalim, although the mechanism was unclear. In the heart, mitochondrial K(ATP) channels (mitoK(ATP)) are involved in the ischemic preconditioning-like effect of K(+) channel openers. We determined whether the selective mitoK(ATP) channel opener diazoxide preserves the vascular dilation to NMDA after I/R. METHODS Pial arteriolar diameters were determined with the use of closed cranial window/intravital microscopy in anesthetized piglets. Vascular responses to NMDA were assessed before and 1 hour after 10 minutes of global cerebral ischemia induced by raising intracranial pressure. Subgroups received 1 of the following pretreatments before I/R: vehicle; 1 to 10 micromol/L diazoxide; and coapplication of 100 micromol/L 5-hydroxydecanoic acid (5-HD), a K(ATP) antagonist with diazoxide. RESULTS NMDA-induced dose-dependent pial arteriolar dilation was not affected by diazoxide treatment only but was severely attenuated by I/R. In contrast, diazoxide dose-dependently preserved the NMDA vascular response after I/R; at 10 micromol/L, diazoxide arteriolar responses were unaltered by I/R. The effect of diazoxide was antagonized by coapplication of 5-HD with diazoxide. Percent preservation of 100 micromol/L NMDA-induced vasodilation after I/R was 53+/-19% (mean+/-SEM, n=8) in vehicle-treated controls versus 55+/-10%, 85+/-5%, and 99+/-15% in animals pretreated with 1, 5, and 10 micromol/L diazoxide (n=8, n=8, and n=12, respectively) and 60+/-15% in the group treated with 5-HD+diazoxide (n=5). CONCLUSIONS The mitoK(ATP) channel opener diazoxide in vivo preserves neuronal function after I/R, shown by pial arteriolar responses to NMDA, in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, activation of mitoK(ATP) channels may play a role in mediating the protective effect of other K(+) channel openers.
Left Ventricular Functional Analysis With 16- and 64-Row Multidetector Computed Tomography: Comparison With Gated Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography

To compare the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF), end-diastolic volume (EDV), and end-systolic volume (ESV) from electrocardiogram-gated computed tomography (CT) to gated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Methods Fifty-seven patients underwent electrocardiogram-gated multidetector CT and SPECT examinations within a 3-month period, without interim cardiac events. The LV EF, EDV, and ESV were compared. Results There was an excellent correlation between LV EF obtained from CT (60.25% ± 12.93%) and SPECT (61.90% ± 14.93%) (r = 0.81), with no significant difference (P = 0.17). Computed tomography-derived EDV and ESV correlated well with SPECT (r = 0.88 and 0.94, respectively). The EDV from SPECT (132.21 ± 67.10 mL) was significantly lower than that from CT (147.53 ± 55.03 mL; P = 0.0007); there was a trend for ESV from SPECT (58.39 ± 61.20 mL) to be lower than that from CT (63.79 ± 53.58 mL; P = 0.055). The EF, EDV, and ESV correlation of SPECT with the 64-row multidetector CT was better (r = 0.87, 0.89, and 0.96, respectively) than that with the 16-row CT (r = 0.36, 0.66, and 0.49, respectively). Conclusions There is a good correlation between LV EF, EDV, and ESV from gated SPECT and CT (particularly the 64-row CT). The LV volumes are lower on SPECT than on CT.
Effect of carbon nanotube dispersion on the complex permittivity and absorption of nanocomposites in 2–18 GHz ranges

The effect of dispersion processes on complex permittivity and microwave absorption in 2−18 GHz ranges is presented for nanocomposites loaded with different amounts of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) ranging from 1 to 5 wt %. The ultrasonic sonication (US) method and the three-roll mill (TRM) method were performed for the manufacturing of the CNT/epoxy absorbers with different dispersing levels. Microscopic observations revealed that the CNT agglomerates were reduced after the TRM process, and individual CNTs were uniformly dispersed in the epoxy resin. For the same weight content of CNT fillers, the percentage increase of between US and TRM samples varies from 35.5% to 101.7% while the corresponding increment of (dielectric loss) varies from 79.6% to 248.8%. A minimum reflection loss for the US sample with 2 wt % CNTs is only −7.8 dB at 11.3 GHz while the corresponding TRM sample is greatly improved to reach −37.4 dB at 7.76 GHz for the same matching thickness of 3 mm. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40963.
Damage Reduction in Channeled Ion Implanted 6H-SiC

We compare damage effects of “random” (off-axis) and [0001] aligned implants of 1.5 MeV Al into 6H-SiC. Both channeled and random equivalent SIMS profiles have been used to adjust model parameters of the simulator. Depth resolved Raman measurements show that at ion doses below similar to 5x10(14) cm(-2), the integral damage is reduced by a factor of similar to2.5 for the channeled implant. This confirms the corresponding reduction of defect concentrations predicted by simulations.
An Assessment of the Value of Seasonal Forecasts in Australian Farming Systems

Reliable rainfall and streamflow forecasts several months ahead can benefit the management of water resource systems, particularly in Australia where the hydroclimate variability is high. Previous studies have shown that streamflow can be forecast by exploiting the lag relationship between streamflow and ENSO and the serial correlation in streamflow. This paper investigates the potential for seasonal forecasts to increase the profitability of irrigation production decisions, using an integrated hydrologic-economic model. Alternative water allocation policies and climate regimes are considered using a scenario-based approach and the potential value of climate forecasts estimated using the integrated model. The results can be used to identify opportunities for and likely value of seasonal forecasts to water managers and policy makers.
The New Face Recognition Technique With the use of PCA and LDA

Image recognition using various image classifiers is an active research area. In this paper we will describe a new face recognition method based on PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and LDA (Linear Discriminate Analysis). The new method consists of two steps: first we project the face image from the original vector space into a face subspace by using PCA technique and finally we use LDA to obtain a linear classifier. The idea of combination of two methods proved enough good improvement in the generalization capability of LDA where only few samples per class were available. BY using ORL dataset we observed a significant improvement compared with original images were fed directly to the LDA classifier. The newly proposed hybrid classifier has provided a useful framework means for general image recognition tasks as well.
Seismic Waveform Inversion Using the Finite-Difference Contrast Source Inversion Method

This paper extends the finite-difference contrast source inversion method to reconstruct the mass density for two-dimensional elastic wave inversion in the framework of the full-waveform inversion. The contrast source inversion method is a nonlinear iterative method that alternatively reconstructs contrast sources and contrast function. One of the most outstanding advantages of this inversion method is the highly computational efficiency, since it does not need to simulate a full forward problem for each inversion iteration. Another attractive feature of the inversion method is that it is of strong capability in dealing with nonlinear inverse problems in an inhomogeneous background medium, because a finite-difference operator is used to represent the differential operator governing the two-dimensional elastic wave propagation. Additionally, the techniques of a multiplicative regularization and a sequential multifrequency inversion are employed to enhance the quality of reconstructions for this inversion method. Numerical reconstruction results show that the inversion method has an excellent performance for reconstructing the objects embedded inside a homogeneous or an inhomogeneous background medium.
Delay in Seeking Medical Help following Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or “Mini-Stroke”: A Qualitative Study

Background Prompt treatment following Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) can reduce the risk of subsequent stroke and disability. However, many patients delay in making contact with medical services. This study aimed to explore TIA patients' accounts of delay between symptom onset and contacting medical services including how decisions to contact services were made and the factors discussed in relation to delay. Methods Twenty interviews were conducted with TIA patients in England. Using a previous systematic review as an initial framework, interview data were organised into categories of symptom recognition, presence of others and type of care sought. A thematic analysis was then conducted to explore descriptions of care-seeking relevant to each category. Results Delay in contacting medical services varied from less than an hour to eight days. Awareness of typical stroke symptoms could lead to urgent action when more severe TIA symptoms were present but could lead to delay when experienced symptoms were less severe. The role of friends and family varied widely from deciding on and enacting care-seeking decisions to simply providing transport to the GP practice. When family or friends played a greater role, and both made and enacted care-seeking decisions, delays were often shorter, even when patients themselves failed to identify symptoms. Healthcare professionals also impacted on patients' care-seeking with greater delays in seeking further care for the same episode described when patients perceived a lack of urgency during initial healthcare interactions. Conclusions This study provides new information on patients' decisions to contact medical services following TIA and identifies overlapping factors that can lead to delay in receiving appropriate treatment. While recognition of symptoms may contribute to delay in contacting medical services, additional factors, including full responsibility being taken by others and initial healthcare interactions, can over-ride or undermine the importance of patients' own identification of TIA.
Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems ( PACIS ) 7-15-2012 Analyzing The Picing Models For Outsourcing Computing Services

With the prompt emergence of cloud computing service in recent years, the business software outsourcing model is giving way to the service-oriented paradigm. From the economic point of view, the pay-by-demand characteristic of cloud computing has significant advantage over self-own software requiring tremendous upfront development cost and continuous maintaining effort. However, the public cloud computing service operated by external parties does have potential security risk the enterprises may face. In this paper, we utilize a game theoretic model to analyze the pricing strategies for computing services utilizing on-demand and built/licensed business models. We show that the price and revenue of computing service are significantly influenced by the market structure and technological parameters of computing service platform. Our analytical results provide useful business implications and operation strategies for the IT outsourcing computing service market.