Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre-sliding detection in robot hand grasping based on slip-tactile sensor

Tactile sensor provides plenty of critical information vision sensor can't offer, such as force or vibration. In robot grasping task, pre-sliding detection is critical to grasp object steadily and safely. In this paper, a flexible slip-tactile sensor for a dexterous robot hand and a corresponding decouple algorithm aiming at the sensor are presented. The sensor is designed to be integrated in the surface of robot as e-skin, which can detect normal force and tangential force simultaneously. The main components of slip-tactile sensor consist of arbon black (CB), graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and PDMS. Additionally, the simplified decouple algorithm is embedded into the CPU, which makes the designed sensor capable to detect the pre-sliding with the help of the contact model dynamically. The manufacture and construction of the sensor and the decouple algorithm will be explained firstly, the contact model and the results will be discussed next.
Look where you're going: Visual interfaces for robot teleoperation

Two related challenges with current teleoperated robotic systems are lack of peripheral vision and awareness, and difficulty or tedium of navigating through remote spaces. We address these challenges by providing an interface with a focus plus context (F+C) view of the robot location, and where the user can navigate simply by looking where they want to go, and clicking or drawing a path on the view to indicate the desired trajectory or destination. The F+C view provides an undistorted, perspectively correct central region surrounded by a wide field of view peripheral portion, and avoids the need for separate views. The navigation method is direct and intuitive in comparison to keyboard or joystick based navigation, which require the user to be in a control loop as the robot moves. Both the F+C views and the direct click navigation were evaluated in a preliminary user study.
A Structural Model of Contingent Bank Capital

This paper develops a structural credit risk model of a bank that issues deposits, shareholders’ equity, and fixed or floating coupon bonds in the form of contingent capital or subordinated debt. The return on the bank’s assets follows a jump-diffusion process, and default-free interest rates are stochastic. The equilibrium pricing of the bank’s deposits, contingent capital, and shareholders’ equity is studied for various parameter values characterizing the bank’s risk and the contractual terms of its contingent capital. Allowing for the possibility of jumps in the bank’s asset value, as might occur during a financial crisis, has distinctive implications for valuing contingent capital. Credit spreads on contingent capital are higher the lower is the value of shareholders’ equity at which conversion occurs and the larger is the conversion discount from the bond’s par value. The effect of requiring a decline in a financial stock price index for conversion (dual price trigger) is to make contingent capital more similar to non-convertible subordinated debt. The paper also examines the bank’s incentive to increase risk when it issues different forms of contingent capital as well as subordinated debt. In general, a bank that issues contingent capital has a moral hazard incentive to raise its assets’ risk of jumps, particularly when the value of equity at the conversion threshold is low. However, moral hazard when issuing contingent capital tends to be less than when issuing subordinated debt. Because it reduces effective leverage and the pressure for government bailouts, contingent capital deserves serious consideration as part of a package of reforms that stabilize the financial system and eliminate “Too-Big-to-Fail. ”
Traumatic Sports-Related Cervical Spine Injuries

Cervical spine trauma in the athlete is not an insignificant occurrence with possibly catastrophic results. Football remains one of the most common and most well studied sporting activities associated with spine injuries. Transient spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries may manifest as quadriparesis or burners/stingers with symptoms that resolve completely. More severe spinal cord injuries, typically from axial loading on the cervical spine, will cause bilateral symptoms with residual neurological deficit. Acute Trauma Life Support principles must always be applied to the player with a potential spine injury. Recent positional statements by National Athletic Trainers’ Association advocate equipment removal on the field by 3 individuals with appropriate training, a shift from previous recommendations. This recommendation is still under debate, but equipment removal in the field is an option depending on staff training. The use of steroids in acute spinal cord injury remains controversial. Moderate systemic hypothermia has theoretical benefits for reducing spinal cord damage in the setting of an acute injury. Although it has been studied in the laboratory, only a few clinical trials have been performed and further research is necessary before routine implementation of hypothermia protocols.
Differential Genetic Expression in Heap Bioleaching of Low-Grade Copper Sulphide Ore at Escondida Mine, Chile

During the last decades, microbial bioleaching of metallic sulphide ores has become a very important process in the mining industry. The study of biodiversity in those systems has revealed the occurrence of several acidophilic organisms, forming a dynamic community including Bacteria and Archaea. Despite the importance of the heap bioleaching process, the metabolic behaviour of a microbial community in bioleaching systems remains unknown. The role played by members of the community inhabiting a bioheap environment has been estimated by the phenotypic characteristics of pure cultures, such as iron oxidation, sulphur oxidation, resistance to high ion concentration and metal tolerance, among others. The global genomic expression of the community inhabiting an industrial bioheap of low-grade copper sulphide ore at Escondida mine in Chile was investigated by random arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction (RAP-PCR). Three random primers were used and twenty differentially expressed bands were cloned and sequenced. Several sequences were related to 16S rRNA of members of the microbial community; two sequences were related to the α subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. The expression levels of the pyruvate dehydrogenase gene in samples from an industrial bioleaching operation at different stages were checked by quantitative real-time PCR.
Many Ways to Loop DNA

In the 1960s, I developed methods for directly visualizing DNA and DNA-protein complexes using an electron microscope. This made it possible to examine the shape of DNA and to visualize proteins as they fold and loop DNA. Early applications included the first visualization of true nucleosomes and linkers and the demonstration that repeating tracts of adenines can cause a curvature in DNA. The binding of DNA repair proteins, including p53 and BRCA2, has been visualized at three- and four-way junctions in DNA. The trombone model of DNA replication was directly verified, and the looping of DNA at telomeres was discovered.
Decoupled simulation in virtual reality with the MR toolkit

The Virtual Reality VR user interface style allows natural hand and body motions to manipu late virtual objects in D environments using one or more D input devices This style is best suited to application areas where traditional two dimensional styles fall short such as scienti c visualization architectural visualization and remote manipulation Currently the programming e ort required to produce a VR application is too large and many pitfalls must be avoided in the creation of successful VR programs In this paper we describe the Decoupled Simulation Model for creating successful VR applications and a software system that embodies this model The MR Toolkit simpli es the develop ment of VR applications by providing standard facilities required by a wide range of VR user interfaces These facilities include support for distributed computing head mounted displays room geometry man agement performance monitoring hand input devices and sound feedback The MR Toolkit encourages programmers to structure their applications to take advantage of the distributed computing capabilities of workstation networks improving the application s performance In this paper the motivations and the architecture of the toolkit are outlined the programmer s view is described and a simple application is brie y described CR
24-Hour Intraocular Pressure and Blood Pressure Levels with Latanoprost/Timolol Fixed Combination Versus Timolol

Purpose: To evaluate 24-hr intraocular pressure (IOP) and blood pressure (BP) with timolol or latanoprost/timolol fixed combination (LTFC). Methods: Patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension with normal blood pressure were randomized to LTFC, dosed each evening, or timolol dosed twice daily in a cross-over design for 8 weeks and the opposite medicine for 8 weeks. IOP was measured at 02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00 and 22:00 hours in the sitting position with Goldmann applanation tonometry and BP monitoring every 30 min while awake and every hour while asleep at the end of each 8-week treatment period. Results: Twenty-nine patients had a 24-hr baseline IOP of 26.3 ± 2.5 mmHg, systolic BP (SBP) of 121.4 ± 12.4 mmHg, diastolic BP (DBP) 72.9 ± 7.1 mmHg, and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) of 33.9 ± 5.7 mmHg. No statistical differences were found between untreated and treated 24-hr SBP, DBP, mean BP (MBP), heart rate, or nocturnal BP dipping status with either medication. LTFC lowered IOP more at each timepoint compared to timolol (difference between treatments 2.7 mmHg, p = 0.0002). Conclusions: Neither timolol or evening-dosed LTFC reduced SBP, DBP, MBP, OPP, or increased nocturnal dipping. LTFC was more effective than timolol in decreasing IOP.
Oral avascular bone necrosis associated with chemotherapy and biphosphonate therapy.

BACKGROUND Oral avascular bone necrosis is an important adverse effect of chemotherapy and biphosphate therapy. OBJECTIVE To report our experience in oral avascular bone necrosis in cancer patients assigned to undergo chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fourteen patients presenting oral avascular bone necrosis were selected from the clinical files of five Stomatological Clinics in Brazil. Clinical data as well as treatment and prognosis information were obtained from all 14 patients. RESULTS Twelve patients (86%) were submitted to biphosphonate therapy. The most important symptom was pain, present in all cases, and the mandible was the most common involved site. Most patients (79%) had their conditions managed by antibiotic therapy and surgical debridation; however complete response was achieved in only three cases (21%). CONCLUSION Avascular bone necrosis is a serious oral side-effect of cancer chemotherapy, particularly in patients using biphosphonates, and antibiotic therapy and surgical debridation were not able to promote complete response in most cases.
Decrease in Risk of Lung Cancer Death in Males after Smoking Cessation by Age at Quitting: Findings from the JACC Study

To evaluate the impact of smoking cessation in individuals and populations, we examined the decrease in risk of lung cancer death in male ex‐smokers by age at quitting in the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk Sponsored by Monbusho (JACC Study), which was initiated from 1988 to 1990 in Japan. For simplicity, subjects were limited to male non‐smokers, and former/current smokers who started smoking at ages 18‐22, and 33 654 men aged 40‐79 years were included. We modeled the mortality rates in non‐smokers and current smokers, and compared the rates in ex‐smokers with those expected from the model if they had continued smoking. During the mean follow‐up of 8.0 years, 341 men died from lung cancer. The mortality rate ratio for current smokers, compared to non‐smokers, was 5.16, and those for ex‐smokers who had quit smoking 0‐4, 5‐9,10‐14,15‐19 and >20 years before were 4.84, 3.19, 2.03,1.29 and 0.99, respectively. The functions of 3.20×l0‐7×(age)45 and 1.96×lO‐5×(age‐29.6)4.5 fitted the observed mortality rates (per 100 000 person‐years) in non‐smokers and continuing smokers, respectively. A greater decrease in lung cancer mortality was estimated among those who quit smoking at younger ages. Stopping smoking earlier in life appears preferable to keep the individual risk low. The absolute rate, however, substantially decreased after smoking cessation even in those who quit at ages 60‐69, reflecting the high mortality rate among continuing smokers in the elderly.
Eurographics/ Ieee-vgtc Symposium on Visualization 2009 Illuminated 3d Scatterplots

In contrast to 2D scatterplots, the existing 3D variants have the advantage of showing one additional data dimension , but suffer from inadequate spatial and shape perception and therefore are not well suited to display structures of the underlying data. We improve shape perception by applying a new illumination technique to the pointcloud representation of 3D scatterplots. Points are classified as locally linear, planar, and volumetric structures—according to the eigenvalues of the inverse distance-weighted covariance matrix at each data element. Based on this classification, different lighting models are applied: codimension-2 illumination, surface illumination , and emissive volumetric illumination. Our technique lends itself to efficient GPU point rendering and can be combined with existing methods like semi-transparent rendering, halos, and depth or attribute based color coding. The user can interactively navigate in the dataset and manipulate the classification and other visualization parameters. We demonstrate our visualization technique by showing examples of multi-dimensional data and of generic pointcloud data.
Training a Naive Bayes Classifier via the EM Algorithm with a Class Distribution Constraint

Combining a naive Bayes classifier with the EM algorithm is one of the promising approaches for making use of unlabeled data for disambiguation tasks when using local context features including word sense disambiguation and spelling correction. However, the use of unlabeled data via the basic EM algorithm often causes disastrous performance degradation instead of improving classification performance, resulting in poor classification performance on average. In this study, we introduce a class distribution constraint into the iteration process of the EM algorithm. This constraint keeps the class distribution of unlabeled data consistent with the class distribution estimated from labeled data, preventing the EM algorithm from converging into an undesirable state. Experimental results from using 26 confusion sets and a large amount of unlabeled data show that our proposed method for using unlabeled data considerably improves classification performance when the amount of labeled data is small.
The slope of the oxygen pulse curve does not depend on the maximal heart rate in elite soccer players

INTRODUCTION: It is unknown whether an extremely high heart rate can affect oxygen pulse profile during progressive maximal exercise in healthy subjects. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare relative oxygen pulse (adjusted for body weight) curves in athletes at their maximal heart rate during treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise testing. METHODS: A total of 180 elite soccer players were categorized in quartiles according to their maximum heart rate values (n = 45). Oxygen consumption, maximum heart rate and relative oxygen pulse curves in the extreme quartiles, Q1 and Q4, were compared at intervals corresponding to 10% of the total duration of a cardiopulmonary exercise testing. RESULTS: Oxygen consumption was similar among all subjects during cardiopulmonary exercise testing; however subjects in Q1 started to exhibit lower maximum heart rate values when 20% of the test was complete. Conversely, the relative oxygen pulse was higher in this group when cardiopulmonary exercise testing was 40% complete (p<.01). Although the slopes of the lines were similar (p = .25), the regression intercepts differed (p<.01) between Q1 and Q4. During the last two minutes of testing, a flat or decreasing oxygen pulse was identified in 20% of the soccer players, and this trend was similar between subjects in Q1 and Q4. CONCLUSION: Relative oxygen pulse curve slopes, which serve as an indirect and non-invasive surrogate for stroke volume, suggest that the stroke volume is similar in young and aerobically fit subjects regardless of the maximum heart rate reached.
Cross-layer routing optimization for wireless networks with cooperative diversity

In this paper, we study the impact of cooperative transmission on the routing decision for wireless ad-hoc networks. The influence of cooperative transmission to the wireless link cost is first studied at the physical layer. Then the problem of routing optimization is investigated to understand the effects of improved link cost on the routing decision, where the closed-form solution of the optimization problem is developed and later used as a quantitative criterion of the route selection. Our developed analytical and simulation results show that the criteria using cooperative transmission typically yield more efficient routes compared with the non-cooperative schemes.
Embodied Emotion Perception

How do we recognize the emotions other people are feeling? One source of information may be facial feedback signals generated when we automatically mimic the expressions displayed on others' faces. Supporting this “embodied emotion perception,” dampening (Experiment 1) and amplifying (Experiment 2) facial feedback signals, respectively, impaired and improved people’s ability to read others' facial emotions. In Experiment 1, emotion perception was significantly impaired in people who had received a cosmetic procedure that reduces muscular feedback from the face (Botox) compared to a procedure that does not reduce feedback (a dermal filler). Experiment 2 capitalized on the fact that feedback signals are enhanced when muscle contractions meet resistance. Accordingly, when the skin was made resistant to underlying muscle contractions via a restricting gel, emotion perception improved, and did so only for emotion judgments that theoretically could benefit from facial feedback.
Next-generation metamaterials for unprecedented microwave systems

This paper presents what, in the vision of the author, will be next-generation metamaterials for microwave systems. For this purpose, it first introduces some fundamentals on metamaterials and describes the different types of currently existing metamaterial structures, called micro-scale metamate-rials, in reference with their typical smallest dimension. Upon this basis, it presents a few micro-scale metamaterial properties, structures and principles, from the popular negative index of refraction, via various dispersion-engineered devices, to a very recent non-reciprocal magnet-less metamaterial. After pointing out the limitations of micro-scale metamaterial, the paper introduces next generation metamaterials, namely multi-scale metamaterials, which incorporate nano-scale and atomic-scale structures and substances. For the nano-scales, it presents the example of ferromagnetic nanowire metamaterials and their applications, while for the atomic scale it describes recent innovations in ferrite based structures, including a uniform waveguide CRLH leaky-wave antenna and a perfect electromagnetic conductor wall, as well as most recent graphene-based structures and devices. Finally, a tri-scale structure, incorporating a graphene atomic-scale, ferromagnetic wire nano-scale and a metasurface micro-scale is discussed. In conclusion, the paper suggests that, although technology is eminently unpredictable, the wealth of novel properties of metamaterials augurs a long and lasting impact of this area.
Requirements of Kettin, a Giant Muscle Protein Highly Conserved in Overall Structure in Evolution, for Normal Muscle Function, Viability, and Flight Activity of Drosophila

Kettin is a giant muscle protein originally identified in insect flight muscle Z-discs. Here, we determined the entire nucleotide sequence of Drosophila melanogaster kettin, deduced the amino acid sequence of its protein product (540 kD) along with that of the Caenorhabditis elegans counterpart, and found that the overall primary structure of Kettin has been highly conserved in evolution. The main body of Drosophila Kettin consists of 35 immunoglobulin C2 domains separated by spacers. The central two thirds of spacers are constant in length and share in common two conserved motifs, putative actin binding sites. Neither fibronectin type III nor kinase domains were found. Kettin is present at the Z-disc in several muscle types. Genetic analysis showed that kettin is essential for the formation and maintenance of normal sarcomere structure of muscles and muscle tendons. Accordingly, embryos lacking kettin activity cannot hatch nor can adult flies heterozygous for the kettin mutation fly.
Genomic divergence during speciation: causes and consequences

Speciation is a fundamental process responsible for the diversity of life. Progress has been made in detecting individual ‘speciation genes’ that cause reproductive isolation. In contrast, until recently, less attention has been given to genome-wide patterns of divergence during speciation. Thus, major questions remain concerning how individual speciation genes are arrayed within the genome, and how this affects speciation. This theme issue is dedicated to exploring this genomic perspective of speciation. Given recent sequencing and computational advances that now allow genomic analyses in most organisms, the goal is to help move the field towards a more integrative approach. This issue draws upon empirical studies in plants and animals, and theoretical work, to review and further document patterns of genomic divergence. In turn, these studies begin to disentangle the role that different processes, such as natural selection, gene flow and recombination rate, play in generating observed patterns. These factors are considered in the context of how genomes diverge as speciation unfolds, from beginning to end. The collective results point to how experimental work is now required, in conjunction with theory and sequencing studies, to move the field from descriptive studies of patterns of divergence towards a predictive framework that tackles the causes and consequences of genome-wide patterns.
Local particle rearrangements in a two‐dimensional binary colloidal glass former

In a two‐dimensional (2D) glass former composed of two kinds of different sized and repulsively interacting colloidal particles, the time‐dependent particle positions were observed by video‐microscopy. Analyzing the local particle arrangements by 3‐point correlation functions, we find four different local density‐optimized configurations of nearest neighboring particles, which we call elementary triangles (ET), one for each three‐particle combination of small and big particles. These four ET form a random tiling in the 2D monolayer, which is not space filling. Therefore, a heterogeneous local particle packing does not have long‐range order and shows structural frustrations. Furthermore, an analysis of structural relaxations, using triangles of nearest neighboring particles (TNNP) in the monolayer, suggests that hopping processes are the reason for the rearrangements of the particles. In the outlook, we propose a concept of local density‐optimized crystallite‐clusters to describe the glass transition as a .