Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards human-aware robot motions

The introduction of robots in our daily lives raises a key issue that is "added" to the "standard challenge" of autonomous robots: the presence of humans in the environment and the necessity to interact with them. In the factory, the robot is physically separated and a security distance is always kept from human workers. With this separation, the primary concern in such environments, the "safety", is ensured. However this separation cannot be applied to future applications where the robot will be in a situation where it will have to assist humans. In a scenario where the robot has to move among people, the notion of safety becomes more important and should be studied in every detail. Yet the biggest di erence in these two environments does not come from the definition of their primary concern, the safety, but comes from a secondary concern. In factory, when the safety is ensured, the feasibility of the task gains in importance. The robot's environment is perfectly structured and all the robots are perfectly coordinated in order to accomplish their tasks. On the contrary, the feasibility of the task leaves its place to the "comfort" for an interactive robot. For a robot that physically interacts with humans, accomplishing a task with the expense of human comfort is not acceptable even the robot does not harm any person. The robot has to perform motion and manipulation actions and should be able to determine where a given task should be achieved, how to place itself relatively to a human, how to approach him/her, how to hand the object and how to move in a relatively constrained environment by taking into account the safety and the comfort of all the humans in the environment. In this work, we propose a novel motion planning framework answering these questions along with its implementation into a navigation and a manipulation planner. We present the Human-Aware Navigation Planner that takes into account the safety, the elds of view, the preferences and the states of all the humans as well as the environment and generates paths that are not only collision free but also comfortable. We also present the Human-Aware Manipulation Planner that breaks the commonly used human-centric approaches and allows the robot to decide and take initiative about the way of an object transfer takes place. Human's safety, field of view, state, preferences as well as its kinematic structure is taken into account to generate safe and most importantly comfortable and legible motions that make robot's intention clear to its human partner.
Effectiveness of Blended Learning for Teaching of English: An Exploratory Study

Teaching of English has always been an issue of pedagogic debate. The academicians and language masters have been divided into two groups on account of the usability of the specific methods/approaches in an EFL/ESL classrooms. In today’s educational environment, a pedagogic compromise has been suggested in the name of ‘blended learning: a nice combination of the two or more than two approaches. However, a blended learning approach incorporated e-learning scenario in a traditional but flexible setting. E- learning as a mode of education that may go along with the traditional mode. The teaching/learning activities are nicely blended to deliberately create a room for hybrid learning. It is felt that such electronic modes/resources are more effective and efficient in the process of yielding better and focused results. While ascertaining the effectiveness of blended learning, the following aspects were also taken into account: relevance of e-learning/blended learning, feasibilities, types, availability, development etc. English language teaching for the preparatory year students is going to be in focus for the simple reason that all the specialties and other subjects are taught and evaluated through English.
Diffusion limit and the optimal convergence rate of the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system

In the present paper, we study the diffusion limit of the classical solution to the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck (VPFP) system with initial data near a global Maxwellian. We prove the convergence and establish the optimal convergence rate of the global strong solution to the VPFP system towards the solution to the drift-diffusion-Poisson system based on the spectral analysis with precise estimation on the initial layer.
All-Digital RF $I/Q$ Modulator

We present a new all-digital RF in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulator, in which the orthogonal summing of the I and Q phase data signals is performed in separated interleaved time slots. By employing a 25% duty cycle for the I and Q signals, the modulator can directly reconstruct the continuous-time RF output signal using four digital switch arrays with a power combiner. To verify the proposed concept and its related design procedure, a 65-nm CMOS prototype is implemented. This prototype achieves 12.6-dBm peak output power with 20% peak drain efficiency at 2 GHz. The corresponding error vector magnitude (EVM) for a quadrature phase-shift keying constellation is 3.95% without any predistortion, while providing 6-dBm output power in a 64 quadrature amplitude modulation constellation with a related EVM and drain efficiency of 2.36% and 10%, respectively. The proposed circuit can be used as a pre-driver or a final transmit stage. The first-ever truly all-digital I/Q RF digital-to-analog converter prototype is thus experimentally demonstrated.
An Ant Colony Optimization algorithm for a Vehicle Routing Problem with Heterogeneous fleet, Mixed Backhauls, and Time Windows

Abstract Contrary to many academic problems which consider distribution only, some vehicle routing problems which must be solved by transporters combine deliveries and pickups. The literature on such problems is still scarce, in spite of their realism. An important example is the Vehicle Routing Problem with Mixed linehauls and Backhauls (VRPMB), in which some goods must be delivered from a depot to linehaul customers, while others must be picked up at backhaul customers to be brought to the same depot. This paper studies an enriched version called Heterogeneous fleet VRPMB with Time Windows or HVRPMBTW. An integer linear programming formulation and an Ant Colony Optimization algorithm (ACO) are proposed. The ACO is compared to a multi-start savings heuristic inspired by the one designed by Rieck et al. (2007) for a different problem with backhauls and better results are reported.
Single Channel Equivalent Point Processes of Poisson Networks With Multiple Channel Laws

We present the construction and characterization of novel single channel equivalent representations of a Poisson Point Process (PPP) whose points follow multiple channel laws with respect to the origin. Two variants are presented. The first, called the Type 1 Equivalent Process (EPP), allows for IID fading while maintaining equivalence in terms of path loss and fading with respect to a single channel law. The second, called the Type 2 EPP, also maintains equivalence with respect to a single channel law, but requires the fading distribution to be dependent on the underlying point process. The Type 1 EPP only exists in certain settings, while the Type 2 EPP always exists.
Gravity Observations and Apparent Density Changes before the 2017 Jiuzhaigou Ms7.0 Earthquake and Their Precursory Significance

An Ms7.0 earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou (China) on 8 August 2017. The epicenter was in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, an area covered by a dense time-varying gravity observation network. Data from seven repeated high-precision hybrid gravity surveys (2014–2017) allowed the microGal-level time-varying gravity signal to be obtained at a resolution better than 75 km using the modified Bayesian gravity adjustment method. The “equivalent source” model inversion method in spherical coordinates was adopted to obtain the near-crust apparent density variations before the earthquake. A major gravity change occurred from the southwest to the northeast of the eastern Tibetan Plateau approximately 2 years before the earthquake, and a substantial gravity gradient zone was consistent with the tectonic trend that gradually appeared within the focal area of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake during 2015–2016. Factors that might cause such regional gravitational changes (e.g., vertical crustal deformation and variations in near-surface water distributions) were studied. The results suggest that gravity effects contributed by these known factors were insufficient to produce gravity changes as big as those observed, which might be related to the process of fluid material redistribution in the crust. Regional change of the gravity field has precursory significance for high-risk earthquake areas and it could be used as a candidate precursor for annual medium-term earthquake prediction.
Failure to Launch: Predictors of Unfavourable Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Trajectories from Childhood to Adolescence: The Gateshead Millennium Study

In a previous study based on this cohort, only 15% of the participants belonged to a favourable physical activity/sedentary behaviour trajectory group (characterised by relatively high moderate–vigorous intensity physical activity and relatively low sedentary behaviour across childhood and adolescence). Since this favourable trajectory is protective against obesity, we aimed to identify factors associated with membership of this group. In this longitudinal study, 671 participants were assessed at ages 7, 9, 12 and 15 years. Participants’ demographics, socio-economic status (SES) and physical activity environment such as, sports club participation and commuting school were assessed at ages 7, 9 and 12 and analysed with favourable trajectory membership as an outcome using multinomial logistic regression. Sex (male) and SES (higher) were the non-modifiable factors associated with favourable trajectory group. Of the modifiable factors, commuting to school at age 7, a safe environment to play at age 7 and sports club participation at age 12 were all associated with more than 2.0 times increased probability of being in the most favourable trajectory. Future interventions to promote a favourable trajectory could focus on girls and participants with low SES. Promoting active commuting, safe local spaces to play and sports participation should also help lead to a favourable trajectory for physical activity and sedentary behaviour across childhood and adolescence.
New Intracellular Peptide Derived from Hemoglobin Alpha Chain Induces Glucose Uptake and Reduces Blood Glycemia

Intracellular peptides were shown to derive from proteasomal degradation of proteins from mammalian and yeast cells, being suggested to play distinctive roles both inside and outside these cells. Here, the role of intracellular peptides previously identified from skeletal muscle and adipose tissues of C57BL6/N wild type (WT) and neurolysin knockout mice were investigated. In differentiated C2C12 mouse skeletal muscle cells, some of these intracellular peptides like insulin activated the expression of several genes related to muscle contraction and gluconeogenesis. One of these peptides, LASVSTVLTSKYR (Ric4; 600 µg/kg), administrated either intraperitoneally or orally in WT mice, decreased glycemia. Neither insulin (10 nM) nor Ric4 (100 µM) induced glucose uptake in adipose tissue explants obtained from conditional knockout mice depleted of insulin receptor. Ric4 (100 µM) similarly to insulin (100 nM) induced Glut4 translocation to the plasma membrane of C2C12 differentiated cells, and increased GLUT4 mRNA levels in epididymal adipose tissue of WT mice. Ric4 (100 µM) increased both Erk and Akt phosphorylation in C2C12, as well as in epididymal adipose tissue from WT mice; Erk, but not Akt phosphorylation was activated by Ric4 in tibial skeletal muscle from WT mice. Ric4 is rapidly degraded in vitro by WT liver and kidney crude extracts, such a response that is largely reduced by structural modifications such as N-terminal acetylation, C-terminal amidation, and substitution of Leu8 for DLeu8 (Ac-LASVSTV[DLeu]TSKYR-NH2; Ric4-16). Ric4-16, among several Ric4 derivatives, efficiently induced glucose uptake in differentiated C2C12 cells. Among six Ric4-derivatives evaluated in vivo, Ac-LASVSTVLTSKYR-NH2 (Ric4-2; 600 µg/kg) and Ac-LASVSTV[DLeu]TSKYR (Ric4-15; 600 µg/kg) administrated orally efficiently reduced glycemia in a glucose tolerance test in WT mice. The potential clinical application of Ric4 and Ric4-derivatives deserves further attention.
Balloons in the Sky: Unveiling the Characteristics and Trade-Offs of the Google Loon Service

The Google's Loon<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{TM}$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mrow><mml:mi>T</mml:mi><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="serrano-ieq1-3135976.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> initiative aims at covering rural or underdeveloped areas via fleets of high-altitude balloons supporting LTE connectivity. But how effective and stable can be the coverage provided by a network deployed via propulsion-free balloons, floating in the sky, and only loosely controllable through altitude variations? To provide some insights on the relevant performance and trade-offs, in this paper we gather real-world data from publicly available flight tracking services, and we analyze coverage and service stability in three past deployment scenarios. Besides employing a variety of metrics related to spatial and temporal coverage, we also assess service continuity, by also leveraging recently proposed “meaningful availability” metrics. While our analyses show that balloons are certainly a cost-effective way to provide a better-than-nothing and delay-tolerant service, there is yet no empirical evidence that an increase in the number of overlapping balloons may be rewarded with a substantial performance increase — in other words, we suspect that guaranteeing coverage and service stability levels comparable to that of a terrestrial cellular network is a challenging goal.
Low-Carbon Logistics: A Case Study of Deutsche Post DHL

With a low carbon economy sweeping across the world, low carbon, as a completely new concept and method, is adopted in a larger scope. Nevertheless, traffic pollution is becoming one of the most serious environmental threats after increasing industry, and undoubtedly the CO₂ emission produced by vehicles becomes a threat to the environment. Many 3PL enterprises, to meet customers' requirements and follow the environmental protection trend, take strong measures to reduce CO₂ emissions. This paper takes Deutsche Post DHL (hereafter referred as DPDHL) as an example, and introduces the "GoGreen" project, expounding how DPDHL reduced carbon and what profit it gained from this program.
Low-Coupling Hybrid Parallel-Serial-Kinematic Nanopositioner with Nonorthogonal Flexure: Nonlinear Design and Control

This article focuses on the design and high-precision control of a new dual-stage, three-axis hybrid parallel-serial-kinematic nanopositioner developed specifically for feature-tracking applications with arbitrary scanning directions. Dual-actuation is achieved by integrating a three-axis shear piezoelectric actuator into the large-range planar stage. A novel nonorthogonal compliant motion-amplifying mechanism which reorients the lateral sample-platform displacement to align with the principal directions of the input piezoactuators is used to minimize parasitic (coupling) motion. A nonlinear rigid-link model and finite element analysis (FEA) are used to optimize over the orientation parameter during the design process. A prototype stage is manufactured and tested, and the lateral and vertical travel ranges are approximately 18 × 21 and 1 $\mu$m, respectively, with secondary lateral actuation in the range of 1 × 1 $\mu$m. Coupling in the long-range stage is below -31 dB for both axes, an estimated 51 to 86% reduction compared to a traditional perpendicular-mechanism design. The measured dominant resonances for the lateral directions of the long-range stage are approximately 1.4 kHz, while short-range positioner resonances are approximately 11 and 40 kHz for the lateral and vertical directions, respectively. The design of a new feedforward-feedback controller is described, and the controller is implemented with field-programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware, where individual actuator contributions are intuitively determined by shaping the frequency response of their relative and summed displacements. An inverse hysteresis operator is used to linearize the plant behavior for effective motion control. Experimental tracking and atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the new mechanical and control system designs.
Similarities and differences between internet gaming disorder and tobacco use disorder: A large‐scale network study

Studies have shown that internet gaming disorder (IGD) has the potential to be a type of addiction; however, direct comparisons (similarities and differences) between IGD and traditional addictions remain scarce, especially at the neuroimaging level. Resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected from 92 individuals with IGD, 96 individuals with tobacco use disorders (TUDs) and 107 individuals who served as healthy controls (HCs). Independent component analysis (ICA) was performed to explore the similarities and differences among these three groups; Granger causality analysis (GCA) was further performed based on the ICA results to determine potential neural features underlying the differences and similarities among the groups. The ICA results indicated significant differences in the subcortical network and cerebellar network. GCA results found that significant differences in bilateral caudate among three groups, and the efferents of dorsal frontostriatal circuit showed significant differences in insula among three groups, whereas efferents of ventral frontostriatal circuit showed significant differences in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Two kinds of addiction showed differences in thalamus and frontostriatal circuits, and similar changes found in cerebellum and mPFC regions. It suggested that addiction disorders have psychopathology features, and the craving and reward dysfunctions may be the key reasons. Although both substance addiction and behaviour addiction showed craving dysfunction in cerebellum, however, the key reward dysfunction of substance addiction was found in subcortical regions, whereas behaviour addiction located in cortical regions.
On the Study of Microstrip Ring and Varactor-Tuned Ring Circuits

Equivalent circuits have been derived for microstrip ring and varactor-tuned ring resonators. It was found that the resonant frequency is slightly lower as the coupling gap becomes smaller. Varactor-tuned ring resonators have been developed with up to 15 percent tuning bandwidth using packaged varactor diodes. A dielectrically loaded microstrip ring circuit with lower loss was demonstrated. The results should have many applications in electronically tunable oscillators and filters in both hybrid and monolithic integrated circuits.
Digital Echelons and Interfaces within Value Chains: End-to-End Marketing and Logistics Integration

The goals of real business in the context of the digital transformation of international logistics networks and marketing channels have necessitated the application of a scientifically based theoretical approach to the development of a formalized description acceptable for predictive planning based on leading indicators. In the context of globalization and interstate and regional economic unions, this will lead to achieving the maximum end-to-end integration of digital platforms. Based on the analysis, the article presents the integration of digital logistics and marketing approaches with the mathematical models of the ecosystem organization of economic relations. The features of the organization of economic relations between contractors involved in the execution of virtual transactions and the material movement of resources were analyzed. The researchers considered prerequisites for the analytical description of interconnections between the participants of digital platforms in cross border e-commerce. The authors’ approach is based on the idea of both a sales funnel in marketing and a conversion funnel in digital transformation. Considering the integration of logistics and marketing, authors offer the definition of business echelons as stages of the consumer value creation. The theoretical contribution of this article consists in constructing a mathematical description of business echelons along the entire value chain. The developed analytical description of business echelons is acceptable both for embedding a digital management support system into various software products, and for conducting in-depth analysis and finding optimal solutions.
Implementing lean sigma in an Indian rotary switches manufacturing organisation

The manufacturing organisations have been witnessing a transformation in the manufacturing paradigm. Lean sigma and six sigma are the two business process improvement strategies widely employed by organisations to enhance their manufacturing performance. To achieve dramatic result in cost, quality and time, best strategies need to be applied to enhance the process performance. Lean sigma and six sigma are two powerful and effective strategies, enabling the organisation to overcome their weakness and for retaining their improvement. Lean sigma combines the variability reduction tools and techniques drawn from six sigma with the waste and non-value added elimination tools and techniques from lean manufacturing to achieve savings in the organisations. This study uses an integrated lean sigma framework to reduce the defects occurring in the final product, thereby contributing savings to the organisation. The proposed framework integrates lean tools within six sigma methodology to enhance the bottom-line results and to win customer loyalty. The implementation of the proposed framework shows dramatic improvement in key metrics and substantial financial savings to be generated by the organisation.
Resveratrol treatment does not reduce arterial inflammation in males at risk of type 2 diabetes: a randomized crossover trial.

PURPOSE Resveratrol has shown promising anti-inflammatory effects in in vitro and animal studies. We aimed to investigate this effect on arterial inflammation in vivo. METHODS This was an additional analysis of a double-blind randomized crossover trial which included eight male subjects with decreased insulin sensitivity who underwent an 18F-fluoroxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT after 34 days of placebo and resveratrol treatment (150 mg/day). 18F-FDG uptake was analyzed in the carotid arteries and the aorta, adipose tissue regions, spleen, and bone marrow as measures for arterial and systemic inflammation. Maximum target-to-background ratios (TBRmax) were compared between resveratrol and placebo treatment with the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Median values are shown with their interquartile range. RESULTS Arterial 18F-FDG uptake was non-significantly higher after resveratrol treatment (TBRmax all vessels 1.7 (1.6-1.7)) in comparison to placebo treatment (1.5 (1.4-1.6); p=0.050). Only in visceral adipose tissue, the increase in 18F-FDG uptake after resveratrol reached statistical significance (p=0.024). Furthermore, CRP-levels were not significantly affected by resveratrol treatment (p=0.091). CONCLUSIONS Resveratrol failed to attenuate arterial or systemic inflammation as measured with 18F-FDG PET in subjects at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. However, validation of these findings in larger human studies is needed.