Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A pushing leader based decentralized control method for cooperative object transportation

In this paper, we address a decentralized control method for object transportation in coordination by using a leader-follower type multiple robot system, which consist of a pushing leader, a leader robot without grasping mechanisms, and multiple follower robots. During the object transportation, a desired trajectory is given to the leader robot only, and follower robots estimate the trajectory of the leader based on force/moment from the object. In the proposed system, a variable internal force is introduced to each robot's controller in decentralized style to let the follower's estimator work on not only the pushing but also the "pulling" case that the leader needs to slow down or move back the object. Finally, a multiple robot system including three omni-directional mobile robots is presented and experiment results are shown to illustrate the concept of the proposed control algorithm.
Epidermal growth factor (EGF)‐mediated DNA‐binding activity of AP‐1 is attenuated in senescent human epidermal keratinocytes

Abstract: The proliferative responses of cells to mitogens decrease during aging, and this may result from age‐related defects in signal transduction in response to mitogens. In this study, we have investigated the age‐related alteration of responses to epidermal growth factor (EGF) in cultured human keratinocytes that were senesced in vitro by repeated passage. The stimulation with EGF increased the DNA‐binding activity of activator protein 1 (AP‐1), an important transcription factor for cell proliferation, in young keratinocytes, whereas the binding activity showed little or slight change in the senescent cells. The induced DNA‐binding activity of AP‐1 in young cells was inhibited by PD 98059, an inhibitor of MEK, and partially inhibited by GF 109203X, an inhibitor of protein kinase C. Western blot analysis demonstrated that EGF induced dramatic increase in the phosphorylation of EGF receptor (EGFR) and extracellular signal‐regulated kinases (ERK) in young cells, while this phosphorylation was much less profound in senescent cells. Finally, the application of EGF to young cells resulted in increased phosphorylation of Fra‐2, a Fos protein component of the Jun/Fos heterodimer AP‐1 complex. This EGF‐induced Fra‐2 phosphorylation was attenuated in senescent cells. Taken together, our study suggests that the signal transduction mediated by EGF/ERK pathway is altered in senescent human keratinocytes, and this change may be attributed, in part, to the decreased AP‐1 transcription activity observed in senescent keratinocytes.
Development of a New Low-Cost and Reliable Core-Less Current Probe for Conductor With Reduced Access

A new coreless non-intrusive current probe is presented in this paper. Most of the existing current sensors require 360° access to the wire, while the proposed probe accurately measures the current even if the access to the wire is limited to a small angle. Another new feature of the probe is that its output is not sensitive to the variation in the gap between the wire and the probe, which is a major advantage as it helps to provide reliable measurement over time. The proposed probe employs two sets of high sensitive and lightweight Hall effect or giant magneto-resistance-based sensors. Results from the experimental studies conducted showed that the proposed configuration is insensitive to the variation in the gap between the wire and the probe. This feature ensures that the output is independent of the insulation thickness, vibration, thermal expansion, etc. Two prototypes of the proposed probes have been developed and tested. The results obtained established the feasibility of the proposed low-cost current sensor.
Learning from experience : principles and practice in action-research

Part 1 Action-research - opportunities and method: action-research as a professional ideal action-research and current educational issues action-research and "methods". Part 2 Action-research - the basic process: the practitioner is the researcher the action-research cycle action and evaluation - some illustrations methods. Part 3 Action-research and the problems of positivism: the general issue of positivism positivist echoes within action-research four practical problems. Part 4 Six principles for the conduct of action-research: reflexivity principle one - reflexive critique dialectics princople two - dialectical critique principle three - collaborative resource principle four - risk principle five - plural structure principle six - theory, practice, transformation. Part 5 Research and writing: the question of format the question of audience Part 6 Objective judgments? - the problem of marking written work. Part 7 Dilemmas in the role of the teacher. Part 8 From principles to practice a description of the process of writing a research report: which data? which format? which audience? which interpretation? conclusion - delegation, rigour, objectivity, ethics. Part 9 The learner's experience and the teacher's authority - evaluating an access course. Part 10 Research topics and personal interests - fictional-critical writing: finding a focus making implicit interests explicit fiction and the meanings of experience fictional-critical writing "the magi" - special needs education "a fable" - children's writing "the bronze trumpet" - educational drama and the teacher-pupil relationship.
Highly Diverse Intergenic Regions of the Paramyxovirus Simian Virus 5 Cooperate with the Gene End U Tract in Viral Transcription Termination and Can Influence Reinitiation at a Downstream Gene

ABSTRACT A dicistronic minigenome containing the M-F gene junction was used to determine the role of the simian virus 5 (SV5) intergenic regions in transcription. The M-F junction differs from the other SV5 junctions by having a short M gene end U tract of only four residues (U4 tract) and a 22-base M-F intergenic sequence between the M gene end and F gene start site. Replacing the 22-base M-F intergenic region with nonviral sequences resulted in a minigenome template (Rep 22) that was defective in termination at the end of the M gene. Efficient M gene termination could be restored to the mutant Rep 22 template in either of two ways: by increasing the U tract length from four to six residues or by restoring a G residue immediately downstream of the wild-type (WT) U4 tract. In a dicistronic SH-HN minigenome, a U4-G combination was functionally equivalent to the naturally occurring SH U6-A gene end in directing SH transcription termination. In addition to affecting termination, the M-F intergenic region also influenced polymerase reinitiation. In the context of the WT U4-G M gene end, substituting nonviral sequences into the M-F intergenic region had a differential effect on F gene reinitiation, where some but not all nonviral sequences inhibited reinitiation. The inhibition of F gene reinitiation correlated with foreign sequences having a high C content. Deleting 6 bases or inserting 18 additional nucleotides into the middle of the 22-base M-F intergenic segment did not influence M gene termination or F gene reinitiation, indicating that M-F intergenic length per se is not a important factor modulating the SV5 polymerase activity. Our results suggest that the sequence diversity at an SV5 gene junction reflects specific combinations which may differentially affect SV5 gene expression and provide an additional level of transcriptional control beyond that which results from the distance of a gene from the 3′ end promoter.
Applications of contrast-enhanced harmonic endoscopic ultrasound on biliary, focal liver lesions and vascular diseases

Over the last decade, the clinical applications of contrast-enhanced harmonic endoscopic ultrasound (CH-EUS) have increased steadily. The development of second-generation ultrasound contrast agents has allowed superior visualization of the microvasculature and tissue perfusion of the target lesion. This methodology has proven useful in the differential diagnosis of solid pancreatic masses and lymph nodes. In addition, the applicability of CH-EUS has expanded to nonpancreas structures such as biliary, focal liver lesions, and vascular disease. This article focuses primarily on the novel applications of CH-EUS in biliary tract and visceral vascular diseases.
ComplementMe

Assembly-based tools provide a powerful modeling paradigm for non-expert shape designers. However, choosing a component from a large shape repository and aligning it to a partial assembly can become a daunting task. In this paper we describe novel neural network architectures for suggesting complementary components and their placement for an incomplete 3D part assembly. Unlike most existing techniques, our networks are trained on unlabeled data obtained from public online repositories, and do not rely on consistent part segmentations or labels. Absence of labels poses a challenge in indexing the database of parts for the retrieval. We address it by jointly training embedding and retrieval networks, where the first indexes parts by mapping them to a low-dimensional feature space, and the second maps partial assemblies to appropriate complements. The combinatorial nature of part arrangements poses another challenge, since the retrieval network is not a function: several complements can be appropriate for the same input. Thus, instead of predicting a single output, we train our network to predict a probability distribution over the space of part embeddings. This allows our method to deal with ambiguities and naturally enables a UI that seamlessly integrates user preferences into the design process. We demonstrate that our method can be used to design complex shapes with minimal or no user input. To evaluate our approach we develop a novel benchmark for component suggestion systems demonstrating significant improvement over state-of-the-art techniques.
Fast Simulation of Networks-on-Chip with Priority-Preemptive Arbitration

An increasingly time-consuming part of the design flow of on-chip multiprocessors is the simulation of the interconnect architecture. The accurate simulation of state-of-the art network-on-chip interconnects can take hours, and this process is repeated for each design iteration because it provides valuable insights on communication latencies that can greatly affect the overall performance of the system. In this article, we identify a time-predictable network-on-chip architecture and show that its timing behaviour can be predicted using models which are far less complex than the architecture itself. We then explore such a feature to produce simplified and lightweight simulation models that can produce latency figures with more than 90% accuracy and simulate more than 1,000 times faster when compared to a cycle-accurate model of the same interconnect.
Sharing Identity through Indigenous Tourism: Osoyoos Indian Band’s Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre

Expressing a visual, indigenous identity in tourism can be a balancing act between maintaining a level of recognition and familiarity that mirrors the expectations of the public imagination and conveying a representation that is locally meaningful and emblematic to hosts. This article addresses this issue through the example of the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, owned and operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) of British Columbia. Semiotic and visual analyses were used to explain the messages about OIB identity that the Centre communicates and to provide a framework to discuss three main issues in tourism discourse: control, hybridity and authenticity.
The Onecut Transcription Factor HNF-6 Regulates in Motor Neurons the Formation of the Neuromuscular Junctions

The neuromuscular junctions are the specialized synapses whereby spinal motor neurons control the contraction of skeletal muscles. The formation of the neuromuscular junctions is controlled by a complex interplay of multiple mechanisms coordinately activated in motor nerve terminals and in their target myotubes. However, the transcriptional regulators that control in motor neurons the genetic programs involved in neuromuscular junction development remain unknown. Here, we provide evidence that the Onecut transcription factor HNF-6 regulates in motor neurons the formation of the neuromuscular junctions. Indeed, adult Hnf6 mutant mice exhibit hindlimb muscle weakness and abnormal locomotion. This results from defects of hindlimb neuromuscular junctions characterized by an abnormal morphology and defective localization of the synaptic vesicle protein synaptophysin at the motor nerve terminals. These defects are consequences of altered and delayed formation of the neuromuscular junctions in newborn mutant animals. Furthermore, we show that the expression level of numerous regulators of neuromuscular junction formation, namely agrin, neuregulin-2 and TGF-ß receptor II, is downregulated in the spinal motor neurons of Hnf6 mutant newborn animals. Finally, altered formation of neuromuscular junction-like structures in a co-culture model of wildtype myotubes with mutant embryonic spinal cord slices is rescued by recombinant agrin and neuregulin, indicating that depletion in these factors contributes to defective neuromuscular junction development in the absence of HNF-6. Thus, HNF-6 controls in spinal motor neurons a genetic program that coordinates the formation of hindlimb neuromuscular junctions.
Prognostic Significance of ESR1 Gene Amplification, mRNA/Protein Expression and Functional Profiles in High-Risk Early Breast Cancer: A Translational Study of the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG)

Background Discrepant data have been published on the incidence and prognostic significance of ESR1 gene amplification in early breast cancer. Patients and Methods Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor blocks were collected from women with early breast cancer participating in two HeCOG adjuvant trials. Messenger RNA was studied by quantitative PCR, ER protein expression was centrally assessed using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and ESR1 gene copy number by dual fluorescent in situ hybridization probes. Results In a total of 1010 women with resected node-positive early breast adenocarcinoma, the tumoral ESR1/CEP6 gene ratio was suggestive of deletion in 159 (15.7%), gene gain in 551 (54.6%) and amplification in 42 cases (4.2%), with only 30 tumors (3%) harboring five or more ESR1 copies. Gene copy number ratio showed a significant, though weak correlation to mRNA and protein expression (Spearman's Rho <0.23, p = 0.01). ESR1 clusters were observed in 9.5% (57 gain, 38 amplification) of cases. In contrast to mRNA and protein expression, which were favorable prognosticators, gene copy number changes did not obtain prognostic significance. When ESR1/CEP6 gene ratio was combined with function (as defined by ER protein and mRNA expression) in a molecular classifier, the Gene Functional profile, it was functional status that impacted on prognosis. In univariate analysis, patients with functional tumors (positive ER protein expression and gene ratio normal or gain/amplification) fared better than those with non-functional tumors with ESR1 gain (HR for relapse or death 0.49–0.64, p = 0.003). Significant interactions were observed between gene gain/amplification and paclitaxel therapy (trend for DFS benefit from paclitaxel only in patients with ESR1 gain/amplification, p = 0.066) and Gene Functional profile with HER2 amplification (Gene Functional profile prognostic only in HER2-normal cases, p = 0.029). Conclusions ESR1 gene deletion and amplification do not constitute per se prognostic markers, instead they can be classified to distinct prognostic groups according to their protein-mediated functional status.
Application of Paper-Supported Printed Gold Electrodes for Impedimetric Immunosensor Development

In this article, we report on the formation and mode-of-operation of an affinity biosensor, where alternate layers of biotin/streptavidin/biotinylated-CRP-antigen/anti-CRP antibody are grown on printed gold electrodes on disposable paper-substrates. We have successfully demonstrated and detected the formation of consecutive layers of supra-molecular protein assembly using an electrical (impedimetric) technique. The formation process is also supplemented and verified using conventional surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurements and surface sensitive characterization techniques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The article provides a possible biosensor development scheme, where—(1) fabrication of paper substrate (2) synthesis of gold nanoparticle inks (3) inkjet printing of gold electrodes on paper (4) formation of the biorecognition layers on the gold electrodes and (5) electrical (impedimetric) analysis of growth—all are coupled together to form a test-structure for a recyclable and inexpensive point-of-care diagnostic platform.
Depletion of Kcnq1ot1 non-coding RNA does not affect imprinting maintenance in stem cells

To understand the complex regulation of genomic imprinting it is important to determine how early embryos establish imprinted gene expression across large chromosomal domains. Long non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been associated with the regulation of imprinting domains, yet their function remains undefined. Here, we investigated the mouse Kcnq1ot1 ncRNA and its role in imprinted gene regulation during preimplantation development by utilizing mouse embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cell models. Our findings demonstrate that the Kcnq1ot1 ncRNA extends 471 kb from the transcription start site. This is significant as it raises the possibility that transcription through downstream genes might play a role in their silencing, including Th, which we demonstrate possesses maternal-specific expression during early development. To distinguish between a functional role for the transcript and properties inherent to transcription of long ncRNAs, we employed RNA interference-based technology to deplete Kcnq1ot1 transcripts. We hypothesized that post-transcriptional depletion of Kcnq1ot1 ncRNA would lead to activation of normally maternal-specific protein-coding genes on the paternal chromosome. Post-transcriptional short hairpin RNA-mediated depletion in embryonic stem, trophoblast stem and extra-embryonic endoderm stem cells had no observable effect on the imprinted expression of genes within the domain, or on Kcnq1ot1 imprinting center DNA methylation, although a significant decrease in Kcnq1ot1 RNA signal volume in the nucleus was observed. These data support the argument that it is the act of transcription that plays a role in imprint maintenance during early development rather than a post-transcriptional role for the RNA itself.
Interactive spatio-temporal cluster analysis of VAST challenge 2008 datasets

We describe a visual analytics method supporting the analysis of two different types of spatio-temporal data, point events and trajectories of moving agents. The method combines clustering with interactive visual displays, in particular, map and space-time cube. We demonstrate the use of the method by applying it to two datasets from the VAST Challenge 2008: evacuation traces (trajectories of people movement) and landings and interdictions of migrant boats (point events).
Impact of human resource management practices on operational performance in manufacturing companies

This paper takes an empirical research into the correlation between human resource management (HRM) practices and manufacturing performance in manufacturing companies in the world providing the universalistic perspective for practitioner and the academia as well. The empirical analysis is based on the data from the 2009 International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS), and factor analysis is to classify the 20 items of manufacturing performance and canonical correlation analysis to search for the relationship between HRM practices and manufacturing performance. In the end, the paper finds that some HRM practices are correlated with manufacturing performance, while some are not. Meanwhile, the paper analyzes the possible reasons of the result.
Evaluation of modified Yfiler amplification strategy for compromised samples.

AIM To characterize the data produced using a modified amplification protocol for the AmpFlSTR Yfiler PCR Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems) and explore the potential of Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) recovery from severely degraded skeletal remains encountered at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory. METHODS Experiments were performed using two sets of Yfiler amplification parameters. One set of parameters reflected the manufacturer's recommendations. The second set of parameters included twice the recommended Taq concentration and 6 additional cycles. Recovery of authentic alleles and the incidence of drop-in alleles were assessed for 3 data sets: 8 different quantities of pristine DNA, 8 artificially-degraded samples, and 31 non-probative case samples. RESULTS Samples tested with both protocols from all 3 data sets yielded twice as many authentic alleles under the modified parameters than under the standard parameters (62% vs 31%), with only a nominal associated increase in the occurrence of non-authentic alleles (1.36% of all alleles detected). When applied to a range of representative casework samples, the modified protocol leveraged 9 or more reproducible alleles from over half of the specimens tested. CONCLUSION Reproducible and informative Y-STR profiles can be recovered from a broad range of degraded and inhibited skeletal remains extracts when a commercially available kit is employed under modified amplification parameters.
[Training and standardized criteria improve the diagnosis of premalignant breast lesions].

PURPOSE to analyze interobserver variability in the histopathological diagnosis of premalignant breast lesions before and after training with diagnostic standardized criteria. METHODS Slides containing histological sections representative of three kinds of breast lesions (atypical ductal hyperplasia, ductal carcinoma in situ and ductal carcinoma in situ with microinvasion), revised by an international specialist in breast pathology whose diagnoses were considered as golden standard, have been used. The same slides have been evaluated at two different times by five pathologists from the community according to a specific protocol for classifying the lesions. In the first evaluation, the cases were analyzed and classified according to the specific criteria adopted in each service. At the second time, the pathologists were given a tutorial containing diagnostic criteria and representative images, and the lesions were classified again, employing the standardized criteria. Interobserver analysis using percent agreement and weighted Kappa index has been performed. RESULTS There has been a large diagnostic variation among the pathologists in the initial analysis without the use of standardized diagnostic criteria concerning the diagnostic, nuclear grade and histological grade (weighted Kappa indexes related to diagnosis varied from 0.15 to 0.40). In the second evaluation using standardized criteria, there has been a significant improvement in the diagnostic concordance among the five pathologists concerning the diagnosis, nuclear grade and histological grade (weighted Kappa indexes related to diagnosis have varied from 0.42 to 0.80). CONCLUSIONS interobserver concordance related to diagnosis and classification of breast premalignant lesions may be improved with specific training and the use of standardized histopathological criteria.