Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and implementation of a dexterous anthropomorphic robotic typing (DART) hand

This paper focuses on design and implementation of a biomimetic dexterous humanoid hand. Several design rules are proposed to retain human form and functionality in a robotic hand while overcoming the difficultly of actuation within a confined geometry. Size and weight have been optimized in order to achieve human-like performance with the prime objective of typing on a computer keyboard. Each finger has four joints and three degrees of freedom (DOF) while the thumb has an additional degree of freedom necessary for manipulating small objects. The hand consists of 16 servo motors dedicated to finger motion and three motors for wrist motion. A closed-loop kinematic control scheme utilizing the Denavit–Hartenberg convention for spatial joint positioning was implemented. Servo motors housed in the forearm act as an origin for wires to travel to their insertion points in the hand. The dexterity of the DART hand was measured by quantifying functionality and typing speed on a standard keyboard. The typing speed of a single DART hand was found to be 20 words min−1. In comparison, the average human has a typing speed of 33 words min−1 with two hands.
Partial-Fraction Expansion of Lossless Negative Imaginary Property and a Generalized Lossless Negative Imaginary Lemma

This paper studies a partial-fraction expansion for lossless negative imaginary systems and presents a generalized lossless negative imaginary lemma by allowing poles at zero. First, a necessary and sufficient condition for a system to be non-proper lossless negative imaginary is developed, and a minor partial-fraction expansion of lossless negative imaginary property is studied. Second, according to the minor decomposition properties, two different and new relationships between lossless positive real and lossless negative imaginary systems are established. Third, according to one of the relationships, a generalized lossless negative imaginary lemma in terms of a minimal state-space realization is derived by allowing poles at zero. Some important properties of lossless negative imaginary systems are also studied in this paper, and three numerical examples are provided to illustrate the developed theory.
The balanced scorecard as a potential instrument for supporting the planning and improvement of accounting education in South Africa

This paper illustrates the potential of the balanced scorecard as an instrument for accounting educators to guide, stimulate and sustain efforts in respect of planning and improvement in the accounting education environment. The results of the reported survey among the heads of eleven accounting departments at South African universities support the potential applicability of the balanced scorecard in this regard.
Measuring Inequality of Opportunity in Education by Combining Information on Coverage and Achievement in PISA

Measuring the distance between countries and the goal of equality of opportunity in education has been the focus of recent contributions in the economic literature, which have concentrated either on intergroup gaps in access to a given level of studies or on intergroup gaps in educational achievement. We argue that both aspects are important and interrelated and, as a consequence, should be measured simultaneously and combined in a composite index of equality of opportunity in education. Employing recent PISA data for a selected set of countries, rank reversals are observed with respect to orderings based upon a single dimension. The index can be generalized to include further dimensions, such as average scores or dissimilarity in access.
Bus Travel Time Deviation Analysis Using Automatic Vehicle Location Data and Structural Equation Modeling

To investigate the influences of causes of unreliability and bus schedule recovery phenomenon on microscopic segment-level travel time variance, this study adopts Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to specify, estimate, and measure the theoretical proposed models. The SEM model establishes and verifies hypotheses for interrelationships among travel time deviations, departure delays, segment lengths, dwell times, and number of traffic signals and access connections. The finally accepted model demonstrates excellent fitness. Most of the hypotheses are supported by the sample dataset from bus Automatic Vehicle Location system. The SEM model confirms the bus schedule recovery phenomenon. The departure delays at bus terminals and upstream travel time deviations indeed have negative impacts on travel time fluctuation of buses en route. Meanwhile, the segment length directly and negatively impacts travel time variability and inversely positively contributes to the schedule recovery process; this exogenous variable also indirectly and positively influences travel times through the existence of signalized intersections and access connections. This study offers a rational approach to analyzing travel time deviation feature. The SEM model structure and estimation results facilitate the understanding of bus service performance characteristics and provide several implications for bus service planning, management, and operation.
Enzyme link immuno assay for early detection of pregnancy associated glycoprotein's in African dwarf goat

A pregnancy test based on detection of the goat pregnancy associated glycoprotein (caPAG) by the ELISA method was designed and carried out on serum from slaughtered goats. The objective of the study was to describe the ability of this test to detect pregnancy associated glycoprotein and also their ability to discriminate between pregnant and non-pregnant females of African dwarf goats. The test was evaluated and compared to a post-mortem clinical pregnancy examination.In order to perform the test, rabbits were immunized with caPAG initially purified from cotyledons collected from pregnant goat. The antibodies obtained were biotinylated, titrated, and used in a "Sandwich" ELISA to detect caPAG in goats sera. Blood samples as well as informations related to each animal (pregnancy status, gestational stage, presence of corpus luteum or milk) were collected on 506 slaughtered goats, and the sera obtained were tested for the presence of caPAG. The ELISA test results obtained from the 506 goats were different from those of the clinical examination, with 226 (44.7 %) seropositives against 221 (43.7 %) gestation with clinical diagnostic. The serological test results showed a few number of false positives 34 (6.7 %) and false negatives 39 (7.7 %). Indeed, nearly all the false negatives were female of less than 28 days of gestation. The entire false positive female had corpus luteum but 7 of them (18%) had also milk in the mammary gland. The sensitivity and the specificity of the test are respectively 84.6 and 86.3 %. The accuracy of the test is 87.8 %. These results showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the test depends on the stage of gestation. PAG "sandwich" ELISA could then be suitable for pregnancy diagnosis in African dwarf goat as early as from day 28 after insemination.
Human-Humanoid Collaborative Carrying

This paper contributes to the field of physical human–robot collaboration. We present a complete control framework, which aims at making humanoid robots capable of carrying objects together with humans. First, we design a template identifying the primitive subtasks necessary for collaborative carrying. Then, these subtasks are formulated as constrained optimization problems for controlling the whole-body motion of a humanoid robot. The subtasks include two walking pattern generators that account for physical collaboration, as well as posture and grasping controllers. Finally, we validate our framework in a variety of collaborative carrying experiments, using the HRP-4 humanoid robot.
BEAM EXTRACTION IN PAMELA NS-FFAG ∗

PAMELA (Particle Accelerator for MEdicaL Application) is a design study of particle therapy facility using NSFFAG. PAMELA lattice realizes stable betatron tune with relatively small orbit excursion for a field accelerator with the help of newly developed combined function magnet. The combined function magnet provide an ability to flexibly change the operating point. The challenge of the beam extraction in PAMELA is the variability of extraction energy. The small orbit excursion of PAMELA helps to realize it. To tackle the problem, PAMELA employed vertical extraction with large gap kicker magnet. In addition to the fast extraction, PAMELA has a possibility of resonant extraction with a help of its ability to change the tune footprint. This feature opens up wide range of applications for PAMELA lattice such as ADSR.
Stability of Kramers Majorana doublets: the effects of interactions and disorders

In this work we study the effects of interactions and disorder on $1D$ DIII topological superconductors and the Majorana Kramers doublets (MKDs). In contract to the case without the time-reversal symmetry, the Umklapp interaction plays important roles in this system. The underlying phases due to the Umklapp interaction and disorder are found by using a perturbative renormaliztion analysis based on the Abelian Bosonization. Importantly, the stable topological regime can be found within a rather wide parameter space. Furthermore, the degeneracy splitting of the MKDs is shown to be still exponentially dependent on the length of the wire in the presence of both the Umklapp interaction and disorder, when the Luttinger parameter $K_0>\sqrt{2}/2$. The differences caused by the Umklapp interaction are highlighted in contrast to the time-reversal breaking cases.
The Effect of Transcribing on Beginning Learners’ Phonemic Perception

A large number of studies dealing with phonology have focused their attention on phonological production at the expense of phonological perception which provides the foundation stone for phonological production. This study focuses on phonological perception at phonemic level. The purpose of the study is helping beginning learners improve their perception of the English phonemes which are confusable for them. To this end, we propose transcribing as an aural input enhancement device and examine its effect on learners’ phonemic perception. Thirty one females who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups participated in this study. The experimental group had transcribing exercise during the experiment while the control group did not. The results of the study show that transcribing improves beginning learners’ phonemic perception significantly. Therefore, EFL teachers are advised to include transcribing exercise as one of the techniques to improve learners’ phonemic perception and, hence, their listening comprehension.
A Predictive Analysis for Theme Wedding Planning using Customer Relationship Management Concepts and Data Mining Techniques - Case Study Approach

In the recent years, technology enhancement facilitated the customer relationship management in various fields such as marketing, sales, service and support and Information Technology and Information Security (1). The customer relationship management (CRM) centered towards the building the relationship with the customer by learning the customer behavior. The customer behavior are tracked and traced, and recorded as a customer data using application, infrastructure, and technology (2). The study is carried out to understand the needs of customers, to understand the inclination and behavior towards theme wedding planning. The concept of customer relationship management is referred to define the customer behavior in theme wedding planning. Customer behavior and trends are derived by analyzing data using data mining techniques to understand the customer behavior and trends in society for theme wedding concept. The result presents the customer behavior and trends towards theme wedding planning in urban India.
Working memory and flexibility in creative thinking

The current study is focused on the relationship between working memory and flexibility of thinking (as one of Guilfordian components of divergent thinking). The empirical research consisted of two experiments that used an adaptation of the Figural Similarities Test (based on Guilford). Participants’ task was to search for as many classes composed of three figures (selected from a set of six figures) as possible. It was assumed that manipulation of the number of defining elements (visual complexity) would influence the load of the control system, whereas manipulation of the number of relations (relational complexity) – the load of working memory. Results show that visual complexity of the material loads the control system with the costs of inhibiting insignificant features of the stimulus. Whereas the relational complexity loads the storage mechanism with the necessity to maintain a greater number of relations. Moreover, this is compounded by the necessity to reduce complexity of the task, if the number of relations to consider resulting from the complexity of the stimulus (Experiment 1) or the number of relations that must be simultaneously taken into account (Experiment 2) exceeds cognitive abilities of the individual. Thus, the obtained results indicate complex relationships between WM and flexibility in divergent thinking. Keywords—creativity, divergent thinking, flexibility, working memory
Transgenic Tomato Plants Expressing BrOAT1 gene from Brassica rapa var. SUN-3061 Show Enhanced Tolerance to Salt Stress

Salt stress is by far the leading environmental stress limiting crop yields worldwide. Genetic engineering techniques hold great promise for developing crop cultivars with high tolerance to salt stress. In this study, the Brassica rapa var. SUN-3061 BrOAT1 gene was transferred into tomato through Agrobacterium-mediated leaf disc transformation. The transgenic status and transgene expression of the transgenic plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and semi-quantitative one step RT-PCR analysis respectively. Subsequently, the growth status under salt stress, and physiological responses to salt stress of transgenic tomato were studied. The results showed that the transgenic plants exhibited better growth status under salt stress condition compared to the wild type plants. In physiological assessment of salt stress tolerance, transgenic plants showed more dry matter accumulation and maintained significantly higher levels of leaf chlorophyll content along with increasing levels of salt stress than the wild type plants. This study shows that BrOAT1 is a candidate gene in the engineering of crops for enhanced salt stress tolerance.
Protected Geographical Indication Identification of a Chinese Green Tea (Anji-White) by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemometric Class Modeling Techniques

This paper reports a rapid identification method for a Chinese green tea with PGI, Anji-white tea, by class modeling techniques and NIR spectroscopy. 167 real and representative Anji-white tea samples were collected from 8 tea plantations in their original producing areas for model training. Another 81 non-Anji-white tea samples of similar appearance were collected from 7 important tea producing areas and used for validation of model specificity. Diffuse NIR spectra were measured with finely ground tea powders. OCPLS and SIMCA were used to describe the distribution of representative Anji-white tea objects and predict the authenticity of new objects. For data preprocessing, smoothing, derivatives, and SNV were applied to improve the raw spectra and classification performance. It is demonstrated that taking derivatives and SNV can improve classification accuracy and reduce the complexity of class models by removing spectral background and baseline. For the best models, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.886 and 0.951 for OCPLS, 0.886 and 0.938 for SIMCA with SNV spectra, respectively. Although it is difficult to perform an exhaustive analysis of all types of potential false objects, the proposed method can detect most of the important non-Anji-white teas in the Chinese market.
First Evaluation of the Biologically Active Substances and Antioxidant Potential of Regrowth Velvet Antler by means of Multiple Biochemical Assays

We investigated the biologically active substances contained in RVA (regrowth velvet antler) by comparing the composition of biologically active substances and antioxidant potential of different antler segments. RVA was subjected to extraction using DW (distilled water). RVA was divided into 3 segments: T-RVA (top RVA), M-RVA (middle RVA), and B-RVA (base RVA). The T-RVA section possessed the greatest amounts of uronic acid (36.251 mg/g), sulfated GAGs (sulfated glycosaminoglycans) (555.76 mg/g), sialic acid (111.276 mg/g), uridine (0.957 mg/g), uracil (1.084 mg/g), and hypoxanthine (1.2631 mg/g). In addition, the T-RVA section possessed the strongest antioxidant capacity as determined by DPPH, H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide), hydroxyl, and ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) radical scavenging activity as well as FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) and ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity). The values of those were 53.44, 23.09, 34.12, 60.31, and 35.81 TE/μM at 1 mg/mL and 113.57 TE/μM at 20 μg/mL. These results indicate that the T-RVA section possesses the greatest amount of biologically active substances and highest antioxidant potential. This is the first report on the biologically active substances and antioxidant potential of RVA.
Nutritional and physical activity status among adults living in low-cost housing area in Selangor

This study aimed to assess the nutritional and physical activity status among adults living in low-cost housing area. This cross-sectional study involved 115 adults aged from 18 to 59 years old (46 male and 69 female). Anthropometric and body composition measurements of height, weight, body fat percentage, waist and hip circumference were taken. Biochemical measurements included blood glucose, blood cholesterol and blood pressure. Dietary intake was evaluated by interviewing subjects using Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ). Physical activity status was determined by interviewing subjects using International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Most of the subjects were found to be mainly on low socioeconomic status and working as blue collar workers. The mean body mass index (BMI) for men and women were 27.3 ± 6.3 kg/m2 and 28.5 ± 5.3 kg/m2, respectively. The waist-hip ratio of men and women were 0.92 ± 0.07 and 0.86 ± 0.06, respectively. Mean blood pressure observed was 128.8 ± 18.8 mmHg (systolic) and 78.2 ± 12.1 mmHg (diastolic). Mean blood glucose was reported to be 6.6 ± 3.2 mmol/L while the mean blood cholesterol was 5.2 ± 1.0 mmol/L. Overall energy intake was 2705 ± 603 kcal with the contribution of 53.4% carbohydrate, 13.5% protein and 32.5% fat to overall energy intake. The nutrients that did not achieve Malaysia’s Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) were calcium (73.1%), thiamine (70.5%), folate (25.0%) and vitamin A (19.6%). The mean physical activity of subjects was 6739.8 ± 8135.6 MET-min/week (high physical activity). In conclusion, the adults living in low-cost housing have unsatisfactory nutritional status yet they have good physical activity level which might be contributed by their occupation. DOI : http://dx.doi. org. /10.17576/JSKM-2016-1402-10
Rainfall Variability and Linear Trend Models on North-West Part of Bangladesh for the Last 40 Years

Rainfall has been extensively considered as one of the initial point towards the apprehension of climate change courses. Bangladesh is recently experiencing climate change impact related to hazards like cyclone, rainfall, flood, draught etc. Climate variable like rainfall is the most important parameter which is linked with agricultural aspects too for this country. Most of the rain occurred during monsoon period in Bangladesh. This study investigates temporal variability of rainfall and liner trend models on the North-West part of Bangladesh over the period of 1975-2014 using data from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. We computed and analyzed the linear trend models by using least square estimation. We estimated mean with standard deviation, cross-correlation and linear trends of annual and monsoon rainfall using MS Excel and SPSS v21. The variability of rainfall between the stations was measured by correlation test. The annual and monsoon rainfall has been found in decreasing trends in recent times. In some areas in the North-Western part of the country, the amount of annual and monsoon mean rainfall may be decreased abruptly comparing with average normal rainfall all over the country. The linear trend analysis of rainfall reveals a bit different trend for the last four decades. The observed data and linear trend line shows the decreasing trend of annual rainfall rate is 0.102 mm per year, whereas the decreasing trend of monsoon season rainfall rate is 0.080 mm per year. The time series statistical analysis of this study also provided the information about the correlation coefficients of rainfall among the selected five stations of the South-West region. The result of this study would hopefully help the planners and program managers to take necessary actions and to measure disaster management, agricultural production, drought mitigation, flood control etc.
Seasonal physiology and ecology of Antarctic marine benthic predators and scavengers

Pronounced seasonality in photoperiod and phytoplankton availability drives key physiological processes in many Antarctic primary consumers. To test the hypothesis that carnivores would be less markedly affected by environmental seasonality than benthic ‘herbivores’, we measured faecal egestion, oxygen consumption and nitrogen excretion every 2 to 3 mo for 18 mo in 5 benthic predators and scavengers common around Adelaide Island (West Antarctic Peninsula): the fish Harpagifer antarcticus, the brittle star Ophionotus victoriae, the nemertean Parborlasia corrugatus, the amphipod Paraceradocus miersii and the nudibranch Doris kerguelenensis. The degree of seasonality varied between species and was not consistent across the physiological parameters measured. Faecal egestion varied strongly between species and individuals. All species except Paraceradocus miersii ceased feeding for several months. No consistent seasonality in metabolic activity (oxygen consumption and nitrogen excretion) was observed, and seasonal factorial changes in oxygen consumption were less than in primary consumers. Use of metabolic substrates changed between seasons, particularly in H. antarcticus, which switched from a balanced diet to mainly protein utilisation at the start of winter. O. victoriae had the highest O:N ratio (232) and Parborlasia corrugatus the lowest (9), suggesting the latter species is the most exclusive carnivore. We conclude that food availability and quality is also variable for Antarctic secondary consumers but that this variation is not as tightly coupled to the environmental seasonality as in primary consumers. Other factors, such as reproductive activity, that are indirectly coupled to seasonal signals may have also been causing this variability.