Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expectation-Based Vision for Self-Localization on a Legged Robot

This paper presents and empirically compares solutions to the problem of vision and self-localization on a legged robot. Specifically, given a series of visual images produced by a camera on-board the robot, how can the robot effectively use those images to determine its location over time? Legged robots, while generally more robust than wheeled robots to locomotion in various terrains (Wettergreen & Thorpe 1996), pose an additional challenge for vision, as the jagged motion caused by walking leads to unusually sharp motion in the camera image. This paper considers two main approaches to this vision and localization problem, which we refer to as the object detection approach and the expectationbased approach. In both cases, we assume that the robot has complete, a priori knowledge of the three-dimensional layout of its environment. These two approaches are described in the following section. They are implemented and compared on a popular legged robotic platform, the Sony Aibo ERS-7. Many researchers have addressed the problem of vision and localization on a legged robot, in part because of the four-legged league of the annual RoboCup robot soccer competitions (Stone, Balch, & Kraetszchmar 2001). Nevertheless, of all of the approaches to this problem on a legged robot, we are not aware of any that take the expectationbased vision approach. However, we show that this approach can yield a higher overall localization accuracy than a state-of-the-art implementation of the object detection approach. This paper’s contributions are an exposition of two competing approaches to vision and localization on a legged robot and an empirical comparison of the two methods.
A Survey of Software Inspection Technologies

Software inspection is a proven method that enables the detection and removal of defects in software artifacts as soon as these artifacts are created. It usually involves activities in which a team of qualified personnel determines whether the created artifact is of sufficient quality. Detected quality deficiencies are subsequently corrected. In this way an inspection can not only contribute towards software quality improvement, but also lead to significant budget and time benefits. These advantages have already been demonstrated in many software development projects and organizations. After Fagan's seminal paper presented in 1976, the body of work in software inspection has greatly increased and matured. This survey is to provide an overview of the large body of contributions in the form of incremental improvements and/or new methodologies that have been proposed to leverage and amplify the benefits of inspections within software development and even maintenance projects. To structure this large volume of work, it introduces, as a first step, the core concepts and relationships that together embody the field of software inspection. In a second step, the survey discusses the inspection-related work in the context of the presented taxonomy. The survey is beneficial for researchers as well as practitioners. Researchers can use the presented survey taxonomy to evaluate existing work in this field and identify new research areas. Practitioners, on the other hand, get information on the reported benefits of inspections. Moreover, they find an explanation of the various methodological variations and get guidance on how to instantiate the various taxonomy dimensions for the purpose of tailoring and performing inspections in their software projects.
Effects of Phenolic and Sulfur Type Antioxidants on Polymeric Dielectrics

This study examined the effect of phenolic and sulfur type antioxidants on thermal and electrical deterioration of polymeric dielectrics, as well as the charge trapping effect under DC voltage stress. We confirmed that the sulfur-containing phenolic antioxidant 4,4'-tiobis (3-methyl-6-tert-butyl phenol) inhibits thermal degradation of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). Experimental results of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) demonstrated that phenolic and sulfur type antioxidants clearly suppress AC tree initiation. A synergistic effect between a phenolic antioxidant and a sulfur-type antioxidant was confirmed. It was presumed that the radical trapping effect of the antioxidant is responsible for inhibition of thermal degradation and tree initiation. Experiments on a grounded DC tree, and high-field conduction, were performed using XLPE samples containing phenolic and sulfur-type antioxidants to elucidate the effects of antioxidants on polymeric dielectrics under DC voltage stress. Results showed that samples containing sulfur-type antioxidants exhibit higher grounded DC tree inception voltages. The smaller conduction current was confirmed through flowing in XLPE which contains sulfur-type antioxidants. The charge trapping effect by antioxidants is the reason both for the increase of tree inception voltage of the grounded DC tree and the decrease of conduction current in XLPE
Effects of arm embodiment on implicit coordination, co-presence, and awareness in mixed-focus distributed tabletop tasks

Mixed-focus collaboration occurs when people work on individual tasks in a shared space -- and although their tasks may not be directly linked, they still need to maintain awareness and manage access to shared resources. This kind of collaboration is common on tables, where people often use the same space to carry out work that is only loosely coupled. At physical tables, people easily manage to coordinate access to the table surface and the artifacts on it, because people have years of experience interacting around other physical bodies. At distributed digital tabletops, however, where there is no physical body for the remote person, many of the natural cues used to manage mixed-focus collaboration are missing. To compensate, distributed groupware often uses digital embodiments. On digital touch tables, however, we know little about how these embodiments affect coordination and awareness. We carried out an empirical study of how four factors in an arm embodiment (transparency, input technique, visual fidelity, and tactile feedback) affected implicit coordination, awareness, and co-presence. We found that although some embodiments affected subjective feelings of co-presence or awareness, there were no changes in table behavior -- people acted as if the other person did not exist. These findings show the possibilities and limitations of digital arm embodiments, and suggest that the natural advantages of tables for collaboration may not extend to distributed tables.
Graded Symmetry Algebras of Time-Dependent Evolution Equations and Application to the Modified KP Equations

Abstract By starting from known graded Lie algebras, including Virasoro algebras, new kinds of time-dependent evolution equations are found possessing graded symmetry algebras. The modified KP equations are taken as an illustrative example: new modified KP equations with m arbitrary time-dependent coefficients are obtained possessing symmetries involving m arbitrary functions of time. A particular graded symmetry algebra for the modified KP equations is derived in this connection homomorphic to the Virasoro algebras. Dedicated to Prof. W.I. Fushchych on the occasion of his 60th birthday
The Effect of Umbilical Cord Blood Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Artery Hypertension Rats

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) causes right ventricular failure due to a gradual increase in pulmonary vascular resistance. The purposes of this study were to confirm the engraftment of human umbilical cord blood-mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) placed in the correct place in the lung and research on changes of hemodynamics, pulmonary pathology, immunomodulation and several gene expressions in monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH rat models after hUCB-MSCs transfusion. The rats were grouped as follows: the control (C) group; the M group (MCT 60 mg/kg); the U group (hUCB-MSCs transfusion). They received transfusions via the external jugular vein a week after MCT injection. The mean right ventricular pressure (RVP) was significantly reduced in the U group after the 2 week. The indicators of RV hypertrophy were significantly reduced in the U group at week 4. Reduced medial wall thickness in the pulmonary arteriole was noted in the U group at week 4. Reduced number of intra-acinar muscular pulmonary arteries was observed in the U group after 2 week. Protein expressions such as endothelin (ET)-1, endothelin receptor A (ERA), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 significantly decreased at week 4. The decreased levels of ERA, eNOS and MMP-2 immunoreactivity were noted by immnohistochemical staining. After hUCB-MSCs were administered, there were the improvement of RVH and mean RVP. Reductions in several protein expressions and immunomodulation were also detected. It is suggested that hUCB-MSCs may be a promising therapeutic option for PAH. Graphical Abstract
Is Coming Out in the Classroom Still an Occupational Hazard? A Replication of Russ, Simonds, and Hunt (2002)

This project represents a replication of Russ, Simonds, and Hunt’s (2002) project that explored the influence of instructor sexual orientation disclosure on perceptions of teacher credibility and learning. Our purpose was to see if the original findings—that students perceive gay teachers as less credible and that they learn less than from a straight teacher—could be replicated in a sample of students from a different location and after more than 15 years from the original study. Employing a quasi-experimental methodology, we did not find the same result as they did: gay instructors were not rated lower in credibility and learning by the students in our sample. We provide some context and discussion around why this might be the case.
Simple neuron-fuzzy tool for small control devices

Small control computers, running a kind of Fuzzy controller, are more and more used in many systems from household machines to large industrial systems. The purpose of this paper is firstly to describe a tool that is easy to use for implementing self learning Fuzzy systems, that can be executed in a large group of micro computers and secondly to illustrate the use of the tool by an example. The tool is called FuNNy. FuNNy generates Fuzzy systems and consists of a compiler and a C learning library. The compiler translates a Fuzzy system (written in a dedicated language, called FuNNy language) to C. The C learning library contains the learning algorithm. The generated C code is simple standard C and therefore it can be applied to all computers which can be programmed in C. The learning algorithm is a gradient descend method based on a numerical calculation of the gradient. The input fuzzyfication can be described by four different kinds of membership functions. The output fuzzyfication is based on singletons. The rule base can be written in a natural language. The result of the learning is a new version of the Fuzzy system described in the FuNNy language. A simple shower control example is shown. This example shows that FuNNy is able to control the shower and that the learning is able to optimize the Fuzzy system.
Importance of illness beliefs and self-efficacy for patients with coronary heart disease.

AIM This paper is a report of a study to assess the association between coronary heart disease patients' illness beliefs and their self-efficacy 3 years after hospital discharge. BACKGROUND Cardiac rehabilitation guidelines recommend that both the illness representation model and the concept of self-efficacy are relevant frameworks for developing effective psychological support, although little is known about what aspects of patients' illness beliefs influence their self-efficacy. METHOD In a longitudinal prospective survey, consecutive patients with coronary heart disease were asked to complete questionnaires measuring illness perceptions; self-efficacy and demographic, illness characteristics; and attendance at a cardiac rehabilitation programme. The questionnaire was completed three times between 2001 and 2005. The response rates were 84% at time 1, 77% at time 2 and 72% at time 3. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the association between illness beliefs and self-efficacy. The data were collected between 2001 and 2005. FINDINGS The average age of the participants was 65 years, 79% were male, 50% had acute myocardial infarction, 50% had angina and 61% had no previous history of cardiac illness; 55% had been admitted as an emergency and 57% subsequently attended cardiac rehabilitation. At baseline 30% of the variance in the exercise self-efficacy at 3 years after index admission was accounted for by patients' view of their illness being long-term. Data collected 9 months after discharge showed similar findings. CONCLUSION Early interventions designed to address individuals' sense of control, beliefs about the length of illness and the management of perceived symptoms before hospital discharge could increase rehabilitation programmes effectiveness in sustaining patients' long-term lifestyle changes.
Input to V2 Thin Stripes Arises from V1 Cytochrome Oxidase Patches

Parallel streams from the primary visual cortex (V1) to the second visual area (V2) are thought to mediate different aspects of visual perception in primates. One hypothesis is that the projection from cytochrome oxidase patches to thin stripes is responsible for color, whereas a separate pathway from interpatches to pale stripes mediates form. Recently, the notion of segregated pathways has been challenged by a report showing that patches and interpatches project equally to thin stripes. We made injections of a retrograde tracer, cholera toxin-B (CTB-Au), into macaque V2 thin stripes and counted the number of labeled cells in patches versus interpatches in layer 2/3. Analysis of eight thin-stripe injections showed that a mean of 81% of labeled cells were located in patches (defined as 33% of the surface area of V1). This result confirms that the projection to thin stripes arises predominately from patches. To assess the segregation of patch and interpatch projections, we injected CTB-Au in a pale stripe and horseradish peroxidase in an adjacent thin stripe. In both successful cases, interdigitated fields of labeled cells were present in V1. Less than 1% of cells were double-labeled, indicating that the populations of cells supplying thin stripes and pale stripes are quite independent. This finding means that different signals are likely conveyed by patches and interpatches to V2.
Gossypol induces apoptosis in multiple myeloma cells by inhibition of interleukin-6 signaling and Bcl-2/Mcl-1 pathway

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal plasma cell disorder affecting the immune system with various systemic symptoms. MM remains incurable even with high dose chemotherapy using conventional drugs, thus necessitating development of novel therapeutic strategies. Gossypol (Gos) is a natural polyphenolic compound extracted from cotton plants, and has been shown to possess anti-neoplastic activity against various tumors. Recent studies have shown that Gos is an inhibitor for Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL acting as BH3 mimetics that interfere interaction between pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins and Bcl-2/Bcl-XL. Since most of the patients with MM overexpress Bcl-2 protein, we considered Gos might be a promising therapeutic agent for MM. We herein show that Gos efficiently induced apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of the OPM2 MM cell line, in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Gos induced activation of caspase-3 and cytochrome c release from mitochondria, showing mitochondrial dysfunction pathway is operational during apoptosis. Further investigation revealed that phosphorylation of Bcl-2 at serine-70 was attenuated by Gos treatment, while protein levels were not affected. In addition, Mcl-1 was downregulated by Gos. Interestingly, phosphorylation of JAK2, STAT3, ERK1/2 and p38MAPK was inhibited by Gos-treatment, indicating that Gos globally suppressed interleukin-6 (IL-6) signals. Moreover, JAK2 inhibition mimicked the effect of Gos in OPM2 cells including Bcl-2 dephosphorylation and Mcl-1 downregulation. These results demonstrated that Gos induces apoptosis in MM cells not only through displacing BH3-only proteins from Bcl-2, but also through inhibiting IL-6 signaling, which leads to Bcl-2 dephosphorylation and Mcl-1 downregulation.
Contributions from cognitive neuroscience to understanding functional mechanisms of visual search

We argue that cognitive neuroscience can contribute not only information about the neural localization of processes underlying visual search, but also information about the functional nature of these processes. First we present an overview of recent work on whether search for form–colour conjunctions is constrained by processes involved in binding across the two dimensions. Patients with parietal lesions show a selective problem with form–colour conjunctive search relative to a more difficult search task not requiring cross-dimensional binding. This is consistent with an additional process—cross-dimensional binding—being involved in the conjunctive search task. We then review evidence from preview search using electrophysiological, brain imaging, and neuropsychological techniques suggesting preview benefits in search are not simply due to onset capture. Taken together the results highlight the value of using converging evidence from behavioural studies of normal observers and studies using neuroscientific methods.
New challenges for clinical informatics: knowledge management tools

It is widely recognized that medicine has reached a crisis point. Doctors can no longer memorize or effectively apply the vast amounts of scientific knowledge that are relevant to their clinical practice. Estimates suggest that human knowledge doubles every 33 years [1], while the expansion of medical knowledge is currently estimated at doubling about every 19 years. In contrast, our intellectual capacity has remained practically static over the last thousand or so years [2]. Many have looked to Information Technology (IT) to solve the problem of information overload in medicine. Simply converting existing information resources into an electronic form, however, and distributing or making them accessible to users, is far from adequate and can often exacerbate the problem of information overload. Efficient organization and distribution of knowledge is one of medicine’s biggest challenges, and there is much talk about the new paradigm of ‘knowledge management tools’ which will transform the way medicine is practised.
TRAFFIC SIGN DETECTION AND RECOGNITION USING DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

In order to make driving safe, building autonomous cars and provide driving assistance it is necessary to build a system which can detect and recognize traffic signs. Advance Driver assistance systems (ADAS) are being developed with an aim to fulfil this need. It works in real time by alerting drivers about the potential problems well in advance or by actuation of a control systems directly. This paper discusses various methodologies for detection and recognition of traffic signs. Multiple methods like color segmentation, histogram equalization, conversion of RGB to HSI model etc. are used for detection phase and SVM classifier, hog features, fuzzy integral etc. are used for recognition phase.
Cross-Base Routing over Diagonalized Mesh Network on Chip

Development of a new regular topology for Network on Chip (NoC) is a challenging task, as the proposed design should meet the application specific targets of latency, throughput, area, and energy as well. A suitable routing over newly proposed topology must handle congestion and provide deadlock free transmission. This paper discusses design, implementation of five port regular NoC structure (excluding core port) derived from hexagonal structure, a cross-base routing algorithm for the proposed topology and its comparison with Odd-Even and North-Last adaptive routing algorithms. The Cross-Base routing for the proposed five port two-dimensional regular NoC structure with simplified node numbering results better improvement in the latency and throughput as compared with the other adaptive routing technique. KeywordsNetworks-on-Chip, Cross-Base, Multiport NoC, adaptive routing.
Reliability and normalization of long-term versus substituted electromyography electrodes set-ups

Normalization methods are used to minimize the influence of external disturbances in the analysis of myo-electrical signals. Whether these methods actually minimize the error or only relocate it has not been evaluated so far. This verification is only possible in comparison to constant discharge conditions. The aims of this study were (I) to compare the inter-day test-retest reliability of myo-electrical signals from long-term with substituted electrodes and (II) the impact of different normalization methods on test-retest reliability. Myo-electrical activity of the tibialis anterior (TA) and vastus medialis (VA) was recorded from 14 cyclists during 1min cycling with permanent and substituted electrodes and then normalized by selected methods. A good reliability ( ICC >0.86) was shown for both muscles with the long-term electrodes whereas poor reliability ( ICC =0.32) was found for the substituted electrodes set-up (VM). Only the sprint normalization improved the reliability of the long-term electrode set-up, while the other functional approaches improved at least the reliability from substituted electrodes. Only the sprint method achieved the reliability of permanently attached electrodes. Thus, the results rather suggest the use of permanent electrode set ups. If this is not possible due to the study design, the use of functional normalization procedures is recommended.
Frequency Characteristics of Acoustic Emission Waveforms during Gas Leak

AE technology has been applied to gas leak detection and inspection. However, it is difficult to detect and inspect the gas leak consistently because measured AE waveforms are different from leak pressures and shapes of leak parts. In this report, first of all the effect of the pinhole diameter on AE characteristics during gas leak was investigated. The larger the pinhole diameter became, the lower the peak frequency of detected AE waveforms became over the critical gas pressure (0.22 MPa), because the source of AE was associated with the screech tone in a transonic jet stream. Secondly, the effect of straight and stepwise pinholes on AE characteristics was examined. When the pressure reached to about 0.11MPa in the case of the stepwise pinholes, AE amplitude tends to go up and down, the peak at about 150kHz was observed. It is considered to be due to the self-exited vibration at the bottom of the stepwise part. It was found to be easy to detect gas leak from the stepwise pinholes, as compared with the straight pinholes. Finally, the effect of the slit shape on AE characteristics was also investigated. Two peak frequencies of AE that corresponded to the screech tones generated at the each edge of the slit decreased with increase of the gas pressure over the critical gas pressure.