Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manipulability of cooperating robots with passive joints

We study the differential kinematics and the kineto-static manipulability indices of multiple cooperating robot arms, including active and passive joints. The kinetic manipulability indices are derived as a simple extension of previous results on cooperating robots without passive joints. The force manipulability analysis for cooperative robot systems can not be derived by "duality" arguments as it can with conventional arms, rather a distinction between active and passive force manipulability is necessary. Results in the paper apply directly to the analysis of simply closed kinematic chains, and can be extended to multiply closed kinematic chains.
The development of Honda humanoid robot

In this paper, we present the mechanism, system configuration, basic control algorithm and integrated functions of the Honda humanoid robot. Like its human counterpart, this robot has the ability to move forward and backward, sideways to the right or the left, as well as diagonally. In addition, the robot can turn in any direction, walk up and down stairs continuously. Furthermore, due to its unique posture stability control, the robot is able to maintain its balance despite unexpected complications such as uneven ground surfaces. As a part of its integrated functions, this robot is able to move on a planned path autonomously and to perform simple operations via wireless teleoperation.
Review of extended producer responsibility: A case study approach

Principles of extended producer responsibility have been the core of most of the recent policies and legislation dealing with the end-of-life management of recyclable goods. This article makes an exploratory review of 27 cases of extended producer responsibility from developed and developing economies with and without informal recycling, to ascertain the most important aspect of extended producer responsibility. A comparative analysis of the cases with respect to role of stakeholders in the upstream and downstream stages of the extended producer responsibility has been carried out. Further, the study uses exploratory factor analysis to determine the important aspects of the extended producer responsibility in practice using 13 variables identified from the review. Findings of the comparative analysis reveal that financial responsibility of the producers and separate collecting and recycling agencies contributed significantly to the success of the extended producer responsibility-based environmental policies. Regulatory provisions, take-back responsibility and financial flow come out to be the three most important aspects of the extended producer responsibility. Presence of informal sector had a negative impact on the regulatory provisions. The outcomes of this study could serve as a guideline for designing of effective extended producer responsibility-based policies.
A semi-autonomous robotic airship for environmental monitoring missions

This paper discusses Project AURORA (autonomous unmanned remote monitoring robotic airship) which focuses on the development of the control, navigation, sensing, and inference technologies required for substantially autonomous robotic airships. Our target application areas include the use of robotic airships for environmental, biodiversity, and climate research and monitoring. Based on typical mission requirements, we present arguments that favour airships over airplanes and helicopters as the ideal platforms for such missions. We outline the overall system architecture of the AURORA robotic airship, discuss its main subsystems, and mention the research and development issues involved.
Range-sensor based navigation in three dimensions

Presents a globally convergent range-sensor based navigation algorithm in three-dimensions, called 3D Bug. The 3D Bug algorithm navigates a point robot in a three-dimensional unknown environment using position and range sensors. The algorithm strives to process the sensory data in the most reactive way possible, without sacrificing the global convergence guarantee. Moreover, unlike previous reactive-like algorithms, 3D Bug uses three-dimensional range data and plans three-dimensional motion throughout the navigation process. The algorithm alternates between two modes of motion. During motion towards the target, which is the first motion mode of the algorithm, the robot follows the locally shortest path in a purely reactive fashion. During traversal of an obstacle surface, which is the second mode of motion, the robot incrementally constructs a reduced data structure of an obstacle, while performing local shortcuts based on range data. We resent preliminary simulation results of the algorithm, which show that 3D Bug generates paths that resemble the globally shortest path in simple scenarios. Moreover, the algorithm generates reasonably short paths even in concave, room-like environments.
Robust force controller design for an electrohydraulic actuator based on nonlinear model

This paper documents the development and experimental evaluation of a hydraulic force controller, using nonlinear quantitative feedback theory (QFT) design method. A complete nonlinear mathematical model of a hydraulic actuator interacting with an environment is used to design the controller. Uncertainties are included in the model by considering the environmental stiffness and pump pressure as unknown parameters. The Golubev method is applied to derive a family of rational linear time-invariant transfer functions, which is precisely equivalent to the nonlinear plant within the system's operating range. A robust low-order controller is designed to satisfy a priori specified tracking and stability performances. The designed controller is implemented on an industrial hydraulic actuator equipped with a low-cost proportional valve. In spite of significant actuator dynamics and under varying conditions, successful control tests are performed repetitively.
TLR13 Recognizes Bacterial 23S rRNA Devoid of Erythromycin Resistance–Forming Modification

A Double Escapee Toll-like receptors (TLRs)—TLR2 and TLR7—are thought to contribute to the sensing of Gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae by the immune system. Mice deficient in these receptors, however, are still sensitive to infection with these bacteria. Oldenburg et al. (p. 1111, published online 19 July) demonstrate that TLR13 also plays a role in detecting Gram-positive bacteria. TLR13 recognized a conserved region in the peptidyl transferase loop of bacterial 23S ribosomal RNA. Intriguingly, this same sequence is modified by specific methyltransferases that confer resistance to erythromycin. Indeed, erythromycin-resistant bacteria were no longer detectible by TLR13. A region of ribosomal RNA that confers antibiotic resistance is also recognized by mouse innate immune receptors. Host protection from infection relies on the recognition of pathogens by innate pattern-recognition receptors such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Here, we show that the orphan receptor TLR13 in mice recognizes a conserved 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence that is the binding site of macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin group (MLS) antibiotics (including erythromycin) in bacteria. Notably, 23S rRNA from clinical isolates of erythromycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and synthetic oligoribonucleotides carrying methylated adenosine or a guanosine mimicking a MLS resistance–causing modification failed to stimulate TLR13. Thus, our results reveal both a natural TLR13 ligand and specific mechanisms of antibiotic resistance as potent bacterial immune evasion strategy, avoiding recognition via TLR13.
Study on Roller-Walker (system integration and basic experiments)

We have proposed a new leg-wheel hybrid mobile robot named "Roller-Walker". Roller-Walker is a vehicle with a special foot mechanism which changes to a sole in walking mode and a passive wheel in skating mode. On rugged terrain the vehicle walks in leg mode, and on level or comparatively smooth terrain the vehicle makes,wheeled locomotion by roller-skating using the passive wheel. The characteristics of Roller-Walker are: 1) it has a hybrid function but is lightweight 2) it has the potential capability to exhibit high terrain adaptability in skating mode if the control method for roller-walking is fully investigated in the future. In this paper, the 2-leg trajectory for straight roller-walking is optimized in order to achieve the maximum constant velocity. Also a changeable ankle mechanism was integrated into the Roller-Walker system. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the validity of the concept of Roller-Walker and the results of straight roller-walk experiments are compared with those derived through simulation.
Force-responsive robotic assembly of transmission components

Assembly tasks involving large position uncertainties are unsuitable for use of position-controlled robots. To automate such tasks, the assembly system must be responsive to contact forces. Issues in addressing force-responsive automated assembly include contact stability, the degree of force responsiveness required for success, the speed of a successful implementation, and the means to program a force-responsive system to perform a given assembly task. We examine these issues for robotic assembly in the context of automotive transmission components. We report on an impedance-based low-level algorithm and its interface to higher-level strategies that exhibits gentle, fast and reliable assembly of our example components.
Model-free indirect adaptive decoupling control for nonlinear discrete-time MIMO systems

In this paper, an indirect adaptive decoupling controller with feedforward compensation is presented for nonlinear multivariable discrete-time dynamical systems. This design is model-free, based directly on some new dynamical linearization method and the resulting so called pseudo Jacobi matrix which derived on-line from the input and output information of the system. The feedforward decoupling strategy is employed to achieve static decoupling and then to obtain the improved performance and stability simultaneously. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the model-free indirect adaptive decoupling control system is stable and convergent.
Waste-to-energy: A review of life cycle assessment and its extension methods

This article proposes a comprehensive review of evaluation tools based on life cycle thinking, as applied to waste-to-energy. Habitually, life cycle assessment is adopted to assess environmental burdens associated with waste-to-energy initiatives. Based on this framework, several extension methods have been developed to focus on specific aspects: Exergetic life cycle assessment for reducing resource depletion, life cycle costing for evaluating its economic burden, and social life cycle assessment for recording its social impacts. Additionally, the environment–energy–economy model integrates both life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods and judges simultaneously these three features for sustainable waste-to-energy conversion. Life cycle assessment is sufficiently developed on waste-to-energy with concrete data inventory and sensitivity analysis, although the data and model uncertainty are unavoidable. Compared with life cycle assessment, only a few evaluations are conducted to waste-to-energy techniques by using extension methods and its methodology and application need to be further developed. Finally, this article succinctly summarises some recommendations for further research.
Sibling Caretaking Among Mexican American Youth

This study examined how Mexican American youths’ extent of sibling caretaking is related to their personal and school adjustment, and whether mothers’ gender-role attitudes and youths’ familistic beliefs moderate these associations. One hundred and ninety-five Mexican American youth (M age 14.8 years; 64% girls) and their mothers participated in the study. Youth completed questionnaires about their extent of sibling caretaking, their educational aspirations, school involvement, school absences, grades, and their prosocial tendencies. Results indicated that, when examined singly, frequent sibling caretaking was related to youths’ higher educational aspirations, greater prosocial tendencies, and more school engagement for older youth, but also to more school absences. When extensive sibling care was coupled with mothers’ sex-stereotyped attitudes, youth experienced poorer outcomes. Youth who held strong familistic beliefs and were highly involved in sibling care reported lower educational aspirations, particularly girls. Findings underscore the importance of considering socialization influences when evaluating associations between sibling caretaking and youths’ development.
Rolling contacts and dexterous manipulation

In this paper we consider a particular technique for achieving dexterity in manipulation with robot hands, which intentionally exploits rolling contacts. We report in some detail on modelling rolling contacts, and provide a result on the analysis of controllability of rolling pairs of bodies, which serves as a theoretical basis for the exploitation of rolling for dexterity enhancement. We conclude by illustrating some aspects of the problem that could not be touched upon in the paper, and open problems that still remain to be solved.
Study on quadruped walking robot in Tokyo Institute of Technology-past, present and future

Though development of a practical walking robot is not easy at all, walking robots have many practical advantages resulting from moving functions peculiar to this type of robots including excellent moving characteristics and working characteristics on uneven land. It is cited as a worldwide problem that presently, many antipersonnel mines still remain buried everywhere in the world after the wars injuring many civilians. From humanitarian view points, establishment of a technology which ensures effective removal of mines with safe and inexpensive manner by civilians instead of very dangerous mine removal works done directly by hands is needed. Of specific features shared by walking machines, the authors have been developing a walking type work robot. This robot can walk freely around a buried mine area under extremely severe environments and carry out a series of works such as removal of obstacles before mine removal works, removal of shrubs, mine probing and eventual mine removal. The paper introduces the walking machines developed by the authors so far, a walking type mine removal robot being developed extensively at present and discusses themes and views of development of a practical type walking robot in the next generation which ensures stable movement and works on uneven land. The concept of development of a robot which will be engaged in probing and removal of mines from humanitarian view points is discussed too.
Methodological issues in the assessment of satiety

Satiety is notoriously difficult to assess because of the considerable overlap between physiological and cognitive factors in its development. Short-term studies of satiety are typically based on a variation of the classic preload paradigm while medium-term studies involve observations of food intake, where some or all of the foods may be covertly manipulated. However, both short- and medium-term studies have generated highly variable outcomes, depending on the exact methodology used. Methodological issues that need to be considered when designing and interpreting satiety studies include 1) the use of free-living or laboratory studies, 2) the sensitivity and statistical power of the study, 3) subject selection, 4) antecedent diet of the subjects, 5) the formulation of the preload, 6) the use of subjective ratings of satiety, 7) the time interval between preload and subsequent test meal(s), 8) the formulation of the test meal(s) and 9) use of ad libitum vs fixed diet regimens in medium-term studies. Keywords: Appetite, food intake, hunger, satiation, satiety
Antitumor activity of the water-soluble polysaccharide from Hyriopsis cumingii in vitro

As a freshwater pearl mussel, Hyriopsis cumingii is widely cultured in China to produce pearls. This study was made to explore the antitumor activity of water-soluble polysaccharide (WSP) from mantles of H. cumingii. Cell viability of human hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells was estimated by MTT method. Cell cycle analysis was determined by flow cytometry. Apoptosis was observed under fluorescence microscopy and confirmed by DNA fragment assay. Reverse transcriptase-polymerized chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemistry were carried to evaluate c-myc, bcl-2 and cyclinD1 gene expressions in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was assessed by flow cytometry. After WSP treatment, the growth of HepG2 cells was inhibited and most of cells arrested in G0/G1 phage (p < .01); apoptotic changes in nucleus and cytoplasm were also observed in WSP-treated cells; percentage of apoptotic rate significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.001); DNA fragmentation was detected in treated HepG2 cells; The mRNA level and protein level of c-myc, bcl-2 and cyclinD1 were decreased in the treated HepG2 cells. ROS was significantly increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner as well. The results suggested that WSP has potent antitumor activity.
Neuropsychiatric disorders and risk factors in carbon monoxide intoxication

Neuropsychiatric sequelae may be observed in the late phases of carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. Establishing a link between CO-related neuropsychiatric disorders and associated risk factors may decrease morbidity and mortality by means of appropriate treatment and counseling. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between neuropsychiatric outcomes of CO intoxication and demographic and clinical variables. Thirty patients who presented with CO intoxication and had no known neuropsychiatric disease, and 30 healthy controls were included. Physical examinations and laboratory tests were performed. Following the 1st therapy, they underwent mental and psychiatric tests 5 times (the time of discharge, during the 1st week, and during the 1st, 3rd, and 6th months). They underwent cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the end of the 1st month. They were evaluated by cognitive function tests at the 6th month. Lesions relevant to CO intoxication were detected in 46.7% of the patients via cranial computed tomography and in 13.3% via MRI. Evaluation of psychiatric tests revealed a clear decrease in cognitive functions, such as immediate memory, learning, reaching the criterion, spontaneous recall, attention, visual memory, and logical memory. It was found that the patients had anxiety within the 1st month, and the frequency of anxiety reached to the value of the control group by the end of the 6th month. In conclusion, we suggested that CO intoxication might lead to neuropsychiatric disorders. Our results emphasized that in addition to standard treatment, neuropsychiatric evaluation should also be performed in patients with CO intoxication.
Hybrid control of type 1 diabetes bolus therapy

The probably best treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) would be an artificial pancreas (AP). Unfortunately, AP is still not available as AP requires continuous glucose measurements and continuous insulin delivery systems which are not available. The vast majority of patients do not use any of them but instead resort to a few irregularly sampled measurements and single insulin administrations (‘insulin bolus’). Choosing time and quantity of a bolus delivery is critical for the health of T1DM patients, and ideally this should be done on basis of a model. While good physiological models for populations exist, in general they can hardly be tuned to specific patients and are therefore not very useful for bolus choice. Against this background, this paper proposes to see the issue of model based bolus choice in a hybrid framework in which the continuous time meal and insulin model is replaced by a discrete parameterization which associates to each meal and bolus a function of given, patient specific shape whose amplitude depends on the respective amounts. This allows restating the standard model predictive control of the AP design by a line search method.
Effects of Nursing Practice Environment, Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction on Burnout in Clinical Nurses

Purpose: The purposes of this study was to identify the effects of nursing practice environment, compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction on burnout in clinical nurses. Methods: Participants selected for the final analysis were 208 nurses working in 2 general hospitals in Busan and Masan. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and Hierarchial Multiple Regression with SPSS/WIN 18.0. Results: Compassion fatigue had a significant positive effect on burnout, while Compassion satisfaction had a negative effect on burnout, but Nursing practice environment had no effect on burnout. The explained variance for burnout was 61% and compassion satisfaction was the most significant factor in burnout of nurses. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that to reduce burnout in clinical nurses it is necessary to develop programs to increase nurses' compassion satisfaction and decrease compassion fatigue.
Protective effect of Emblica officinalis (amla) on isoproterenol-induced cardiotoxicity in rats

Emblica officinalis, commonly known as amla, is an important medicinal plant reputed for its dietary and therapeutic uses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective role of E. officinalis against isoproterenol (ISP)-induced cardiotoxicity in rats and elucidate the possible mechanism involved. Rats were administered E. officinalis (100, 250 and 500 mg/kg, p.o.) or vehicle (normal saline) for 30 days, with concurrent subcutaneous injections of ISP (85 mg/kg, at 24 h interval) on 29th and 30th day. ISP-induced cardiac dysfunction as evidenced by decreased mean arterial pressure, heart rate, contractility (+LVdP/dt) and relaxation (−LVdP/dt) along with increased left ventricular end diastolic pressure. ISP significantly (p < 0.05) decreased antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase and myocyte-injury-specific marker enzymes, creatine phosphokinase-MB and lactate dehydrogenase in heart. A significant (p < 0.05) depletion of reduced glutathione and increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances along with histopathological alteration has further indicated the oxidative damage of myocardium. However, pretreatment with E. officinalis exhibited restoration of hemodynamic and left ventricular function along with significant preservation of antioxidants, myocytes-injury-specific marker enzymes and significant inhibition of lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, histopathological salvage of myocardium reconfirmed the protective effects of E. officinalis. Results of the present study demonstrate cardioprotective potential of E. officinalis attributed to its potent antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity as evidenced by favorable improvement in hemodynamic, contractile function and tissue antioxidant status.
Prenatal findings and differential diagnosis of scimitar syndrome and pulmonary sequestration

Scimitar syndrome and pulmonary sequestration (PS) have overlapping features. This accounts for postnatal descriptions of a ‘sequestrated lung’ in scimitar‐syndrome patients. We review the similarities and differences in these two conditions, and the antenatal ultrasound findings that allow correct prenatal identification and differential diagnosis.