Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Robotic Palpation System and Evaluation of the Burden to an Operator in the Palpation

In this paper, a laparoscopic surgical robot equipped with a new palpation system which can identify the location of an imitation tumor under use of a trocar was developed based on our previous studies. In robotic surgery, when palpation is performed under use of the trocar, it is difficult to realize force or tactile sense of the touched object because the forceps is affected by contact with the trocar. Therefore, cancelation of an influence of the trocar on the forceps was attempted by using the neural network which was previously trained the influence of the trocar on the forceps. In order to verify an effectiveness of the developed palpation system, location identification experiments were carried out for both longitudinal and lateral directions palpation, in which identification of location of the imitation tumor was attempted for 4 kinds of sample with each different tumor location, respectively. The results showed the effectiveness of the neural network, and identification error of location of the imitation tumor was less than 1mm. In addition, the physical burden added to the operator while performing palpation work using the developed palpation system was evaluated by comparison of the energy expenditure obtained through the analysis of expired gas under the following conditions; (a) only force feedback was conducted, (b) only tactile feedback was conducted, and (c) both force and tactile feedbacks were conducted. The result showed that the physical burden to the operator under the condition (c) was smallest.
Interface Engineering Strategies for Fabricating Nanocrystal-Based Organic–Inorganic Nanocomposites

Hybrid organic–inorganic nanocomposites have attracted considerable attention because they have the advantages of both conjugated polymers (CPs) and nanocrystals (NCs). Recent developments in the interfacial engineering of CP–NC organic–inorganic nanocomposites enabled the formation of an intimate contact between NCs and CPs, facilitating electronic interactions between these two constituents. To design CP–NC nanocomposites, several approaches have been introduced, including ligand refluxing, direct grafting methods, direct growth of NCs in proximity to CPs, and template-guided strategies. In this review, the general reactions of ligand exchange processes, purification methods, and characterization techniques have been briefly introduced. This is followed by a highlight of recent advances in the synthesis of hybrid CP–NC nanocomposites and newly developed inorganic surface treatments, as well as their applications. An outlook for future directions in this area is also presented.
PreF: Predicting job failure on supercomputers with job path and user behavior

Large numbers of jobs are executed on supercomputers almost every day. Unfortunately, many jobs would fail for various reasons, resulting in the waste of resources and the prolonged waiting time for queuing jobs. Job failure prediction can guide adjustment measures in advance, which is vital to the system's overall execution efficiency and reliability. Aiming at the problem that the existing job failure prediction methods are single, the collection of job features is complex and challenging to apply. This article strives to study whether these failed jobs can be predicted with known and synthetic features. We perform a comprehensive analysis of large amounts of historical data and various features and find that two novel features (running path and retry count) can predict job failure well. The running path indicates the application type a job belongs to, and the retry count reflects the user's behavior when the job fails. We propose a job failure prediction framework called PreF on supercomputers using machine learning based on the novel features. The experimental results show that PreF can correctly identify over 89% of jobs, outperforming the latest related methods on the comprehensive evaluation indicator (S_score) by around 4%.
Transfer Learning for Breast Cancer Classification in Terahertz and Infrared Imaging

Proactive treatment of cancer, characterized by early detection and intervention is one of the main focus of the next-generation healthcare systems for predictive, timely detection and seamless, customized care. Recent breakthroughs in new molecular imaging tools that are noninvasive and nonionizing coupled with artificial intelligence-enabled healthcare systems through data analytic techniques enable the realization of these systems. Breast cancer is the most common and prevalent cancer in women. The development of new imaging modalities based on low photon radiation, particularly the Terahertz and Infrared radiation-based imaging, shows potential for early and more accurate cancer detection with an improved treatment exploitation. Due to the unavailability of sufficient training datasets, the research on the potential application of deep learning techniques for the analysis of image datasets in this domain has not yet been fully explored. Nevertheless, the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are capable of complex visual patterns recognition but their performance depends on the availability of large datasets, however, the transfer learning (TL) based on pre-trained CNN models allow improved accuracy performance over the smaller datasets. In this paper, we have explored the deep learning frameworks based on TL through fine-tuning of the pre-trained CNN architectures: ALEXnet, VGG16, ResNet18, ResNet50, GoogleNet, VGG19, MobileNetv2 and Densenet201 on a thermal breast cancer image dataset. The classification performances of the models are compared with respect to the evaluation metrics used. VGG16, Googlenet, Resnet50 and VGG19 outperformed the rest of the models with an accuracy of 100 %.
First Molecular Identification of Bulinus africanus in Lake Malawi Implicated in Transmitting Schistosoma Parasites

The freshwater snail genus Bulinus plays a vital role in transmitting parasites of the Schistosoma haematobium group. A hybrid schistosome between S. haematobium and S. mattheei has been recently detected using DNA-based identification methods in school children along the Lake Malawi shoreline in Mangochi District. This finding raised the need for contemporary revaluation of local interactions between schistosomes and snails, with a particular focus on snail species within the Bulinus africanus group. In 2017 and 2018, malacological surveys sampled several freshwater sites in Mangochi District. Collected snails (n = 250) were characterised using cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1), with DNA barcoding of the ‘Folmer’ region and a rapid PCR-RFLP typing assay with double digestion with HaeIII and SacI restriction enzymes. DNA cox1 sequence analysis, with phylogenetic tree construction, suggested the presence of at least three B. africanus group taxa in Lake Malawi, B. globosus, alongside first reports of B. africanus and B. angolensis, which can be differentiated by PCR-RFLP methods. In addition, a total of 30 of the 106 B. africanus group snails (28.30%) were positive to the Schistosoma-specific screen using real-time PCR methods. This study provides new insight into the recent changes in the epidemiology of urogenital schistosomiasis as likely driven by a new diversity of B. africanus group snails within the Lake.
The Relationship Between the Blood-Brain-Barrier and the Central Effects of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors

Abstract Diabetes and obesity are growing problems worldwide and are associated with a range of acute and chronic complications, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke. Novel anti-diabetic medications designed to treat T2DM, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2is), exert beneficial effects on metabolism and the cardiovascular system. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. GLP-1RAs induce anorexic effects by inhibiting the central regulation of food intake to reduce body weight. Central/peripheral administration of GLP-1RAs inhibits food intake, accompanied by an increase in c-Fos expression in neurons within the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), amygdala, the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), area postrema (AP), lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB) and arcuate nucleus (ARC), induced by the activation of GLP-1 receptors in the central nervous system (CNS). Therefore, GLP-1RAs need to pass through the blood-brain barrier to exert their pharmacological effects. In addition, studies revealed that SGLT-2is could reduce the risk of chronic heart failure in people with type 2 diabetes. SGLT-2 is extensively expressed throughout the CNS, and c-Fos expression was also observed within 2 hours of administration of SGLT-2is in mice. Recent clinical studies reported that SGLT-2is improved hypertension and atrial fibrillation by modulating the “overstimulated” renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and suppressing the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) by directly/indirectly acting on the rostral ventrolateral medulla. Despite extensive research into the central mechanism of GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is, the penetration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains controversial. This review discusses the interaction between GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is and the BBB to induce pharmacological effects via the CNS.
Dyadic coping and marital quality in same-sex and different-sex marriages

Dyadic coping, the process through which couples manage stress together, is important for relationship well-being. However, very few studies have considered dyadic coping and its link with marital quality in same-sex marriages. We analyze dyadic data from a sample of midlife same- and different-sex married couples (N = 838 individuals, 418 couples) to assess gender differences in various forms of dyadic coping (i.e., received and provided positive and negative dyadic coping as well as common/collaborative dyadic coping) and the associations of dyadic coping with marital quality. Results suggest that women married to women are more likely to receive positive support and less likely to receive negative support compared to women married to men. Both men and women in same-sex marriages are more likely to cope with stress collaboratively than their counterparts in different-sex marriages. All forms of dyadic coping are equally important for the marital quality of men and women in same- and different-sex marriages.
MC_MoveAbsolute() 4th Order Real-Time Trajectory Generation Function Algorithm and Implementation

This paper presents the issue of generating motion trajectories in a digital servo drive in accordance with the PLCopen Motion Control standard. This standard does not limit the details of motion generation in the electromechanical systems, but indicates its interface and set of necessary parameters. Moreover, it is placed within a state machine, which allows the individual software elements to integrate with it seamlessly. This work discusses time-optimal point-to-point trajectories, i.e., the initial and final reference speeds are zero, and they are compliant with the MC_MoveAbsolute() function defined in the PLCopen Motion Control standard. The smoothness of the resulting trajectory can be attributed to the use of a fourth order trajectory generator, which defines the bounds up to snap – the second derivative of acceleration. One of the aims of this article was to bridge the theoretical aspect of trajectory generation with the algorithms practical implementation, by the means of PLC code generation using the MATLAB/Simulink package.
Where specialist and mainstream service systems collide: The National Disability Insurance Scheme in prisons

The coordination of specialist with mainstream service systems is prone to role delineation and implementation difficulties worldwide. In the case of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), this specialist/mainstream interface is complicated by federal-ism and funding responsibilities held by different levels of government. People with disability, especially cognitive or intellectual disability, are over-represented in Australia’s prisons. Through semi-structured interviews with professionals working at the interface of disability and criminal justice, we explore some of these interface issues with regard to NDIS services (specialist) in prisons (mainstream). We find that policy permits some NDIS-funded services to be delivered inside prisons, such as transition services related to a person’s disability, but in practice there is significant variation in how policy is understood and implemented, leading to exclusion and service gaps. This case study shines light on longstanding debates about service coordination across organisational and jurisdictional boundaries.
Energy Consumption Analysis Using Measured Data from a Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building in a Cold and Dry Climate

Zero-energy buildings have a critical role in reducing global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. However, few studies have analyzed net-zero energy commercial buildings using measured energy use such as whole-building level and end-use level data. This paper presents an energy consumption analysis for the first net-zero energy commercial building in Idaho, U.S., in a cold and dry climate using measured end-use data from this building as well as measured whole-building energy use. Monthly bill data analysis, end-use data analysis, and Energy Use Intensity (EUI) analysis were conducted. The combined analysis of this study shows that the HVAC system was the most sensitive to the outside air temperature, showing different energy use percentages of 48.4%, 35.1% (the heating period), 21.6% (the weather-independent period), and 33.4% (the cooling period), respectively. Lighting had the highest percentage of 35.2% for the weather-independent period. The PV electricity generation was higher than the building electricity use, except from December 2017 to February 2018, and the building was net-positive from an energy perspective. The calculated EUI of the building was 34.2 kWh/m2·y, which can be compared to the EUIs of other net zero energy buildings. The approaches developed in this study can be useful for analyzing several net zero buildings by different weather profiles.
Associations between Abdominal Trunk Muscle Weakness and Future Osteoporotic Vertebral Fracture in Middle-Aged and Older Adult Women: A Three-Year Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study

Potential risk factors associated with future osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF) were prospectively investigated in middle-aged and older adult women. We enrolled 197 female patients aged ≥50 years who were scheduled to undergo surgery for lower-extremity degenerative diseases. Patient anthropometric and muscle strength measurements, a bone mineral density measurement of the lumbar spine (L-BMD), and full-spine standing radiographs to examine the presence of old OVFs and spinopelvic sagittal parameters were obtained preoperatively. We evaluated 141 patients who underwent full-spine standing radiographs three years postoperatively to identify new OVFs. We excluded 54 patients who did not undergo a second radiographic examination and 2 with new traumatic OVFs. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors associated with new non-traumatic OVF occurrence. Ten (7.1%) patients developed new non-traumatic OVFs during the study period (fracture group). The fracture group had less abdominal trunk muscle strength, lower L-BMD, smaller sacral slopes, and larger pelvic tilt than the non-fracture group. The fracture group showed a higher prevalence of old OVFs preoperatively than the non-fracture group. Abdominal trunk muscle weakness, low L-BMD, and the presence of old OVFs were identified as significant risk factors for OVF occurrence. In middle-aged or older adult women, abdominal trunk muscle weakness, low L-BMD, and old OVFs were associated with future OVF.
Evaluation of the Street Canyon Level Air Pollution Distribution Pattern in a Typical City Block in Baoding, China

Urban traffic pollution, which is strongly influenced by the complex urban morphology, has posed a great threat to human health. In this study, we performed a high-resolution simulation of traffic pollution in a typical city block in Baoding, China, based on the Parallelized Large-eddy simulation Model (PALM), to examine the distribution patterns of traffic-related pollutants and explore their relationship with urban morphology. Based on the model results, we conducted a multi-linear regression (MLR) analysis and found that the distribution of air pollutants inside the city block was dominated by both traffic emissions and urban morphology, which explained about 70% of the total variance in spatial distribution of air pollutants. Excluding the contribution of emissions, over 50% of the total variance can still be explained by the urban morphology. Among these urban morphological factors, the key factors determining the spatial distribution of air pollution are “Distance from the road” (DR), “Building Coverage Ratio” (BCR) and “Aspect Ratio” (H/W) of the street canyon. Specifically, urban areas with lower Aspect Ratio, lower BCR and larger DR are less affected by traffic pollution. Compiling these individual factors, we developed a complex Urban Morphology Pollution Index (UMPI). Each unit increase in UMPI is associated with a one percent increase of nearby traffic pollution contribution. This index can help urban planners to semi-quantitatively evaluate building groups which tend to trap or ventilate traffic pollution and thus help to reduce human exposure to street canyon level pollution through either traffic emission control or urban morphology amelioration.
From Oxidative Stress to Male Infertility: Review of the Associations of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (Bisphenols, Phthalates, and Parabens) with Human Semen Quality

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may result in oxidative stress and endocrine system disturbance, which can have an impact on human reproduction and development. In male reproductive health, EDCs have been related to impaired reproductive function and male infertility, altered fetal development, and testicular germ-cell, prostate, and breast cancers. We conducted an electronic search using PubMed on endocrine disruptors related to oxidative stress and male infertility, and evaluated their association with endocrine-disrupting chemicals (bisphenols, phthalates, and parabens) in 25 articles. Higher levels of urinary bisphenols showed correlation with impaired semen quality and increased DNA damage. Considering phthalates and their metabolites, all studies found a positive association between urinary levels of phthalates and at least one semen parameter indicative of low semen quality; some studies also revealed sperm DNA damage. The studies on parabens less often revealed correlation of urinary parabens concentrations with a decrease in sperm count, as well as motility and DNA damage. Moreover, EDCs can elevate ROS production and lipid peroxidation, increase apoptosis, induce epigenetic modifications, and change the Y:X sperm chromosome ratio and sperm protein composition. Our review revealed detrimental effects of EDCs on semen quality and sperm DNA integrity—especially in BPA and phthalates, but also in parabens.
Genome-Wide Identiﬁcation and Expression Analyses of the Cotton AGO Genes and Their Potential Roles in Fiber Development and Stress Response

: Argonaute proteins (AGOs) are indispensable components of RNA silencing. However, systematic characterization of the AGO genes have not been completed in cotton until now. In this study, cotton AGO genes were identiﬁed and analyzed with respect to their evolution and expression proﬁle during biotic and abiotic stresses. We identiﬁed 14 GaAGO , 14 GrAGO , and 28 GhAGO genes in the genomes of Gossypium arboreum , Gossypium raimondii , and Gossypium hirsutum . Cotton AGO proteins were classiﬁed into four subgroups. Structural and functional conservation were observed in the same subgroups based on the analysis of the gene structure and conserved domains. Twenty-four duplicated gene pairs were identiﬁed in GhAGO genes, and all of them exhibited strong purifying selection during evolution. Moreover, RNA-seq analysis showed that most of the GhAGO genes exhibit high expression levels in the ﬁber initiation and elongation processes. Furthermore, the expression proﬁles of GhAGO genes tested by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) demonstrated that they were sensitive to Verticillium wilt infection and salt and drought stresses. Overall, our results will pave the way for further functional investigation of the cotton AGO gene family, which may be involved in ﬁber development and stress response.
A dual-frequency coherent noise lidar for robust range-Doppler measurements

In this work, we propose and characterize in laboratory a novel architecture of dual-frequency coherent noise lidar for simultaneous velocity and range measurements. In this system, the range/Doppler detection is obtained by correlating two detections achieved through two distinct optical noise signals, in order to reduce the noise that affects the received echo. Moreover, in the scheme, the two optical noise waveforms are generated by simply exploiting two continuouswave lasers with broad linewidth, avoiding the need for RF arbitrary waveform generators and synthesizers.
UAV-Aided Computation Offloading in Mobile-Edge Computing Networks: A Stackelberg Game Approach

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered as a promising method to provide additional computation capability and wide coverage for mobile users (MUs), especially when MUs are not within the communication range of the infrastructure. In this article, a UAV-aided mobile-edge computing (MEC) network, including one UAV-MEC server, one BS-MEC server, and several MUs, is investigated for computation offloading, in which the edge service provider (ESP) manages two kinds of servers. It is considered that MUs have a large number of computation tasks to conduct, while the ESP has idle computational resources. MUs can choose to offload their tasks to the ESP to reduce their pressure and cost, and the ESP can make a profit by selling computational resources. The interaction among the ESP and MUs is modeled as a Stackelberg game, and both the ESP and MUs want to maximize their utility. The proposed game is analyzed by using the backward induction method, and it is proved that a unique Nash equilibrium can be achieved in the game. Then, a gradient-based dynamic iterative search algorithm (GDISA) is proposed to get the approximate optimal solution. Finally, the effectiveness of GDISA is verified by extensive simulations, and the results show that GDISA performs better than other benchmark methods under different scenarios.
Modeling of Wall-Bounded Complex Flows and Free Shear Flows

Various wall-bounded flows with complex geometries and free shear flows have been studied with a newly developed realizable Reynolds stress algebraic equation model. The model development is based on the invariant theory in continuum mechanics. This theory enables us to formulate a general constitutive relation for the Reynolds stresses. Pope was the first to introduce this kind of constitutive relation to turbulence modeling. In our study, realizability is imposed on the truncated constitutive relation to determine the coefficients so that, unlike the standard k-E eddy viscosity model, the present model will not produce negative normal stresses in any situations of rapid distortion. The calculations based on the present model have shown an encouraging success in modeling complex turbulent flows.