Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a remote trauma care assist robot

In typical teleoperated surgeries, skilled staff are still necessary in the remote surgical room to change manipulator tooling and to manage surgical supply delivery and removal. This paper describes the development of a nurse robot to provide automated support to a teleoperated surgical manipulator system in environments where the presence of skilled surgical support staff may not be practical. The tools must be inserted precisely into a compliant manipulator in a timely manner, and the supplies are diverse in nature. To support experimental investigations and evaluations, a seven degrees-of-freedom commercially available manipulator was selected. The design of novel end-effectors, tool grasping and supply holding features, and tool auto-loading systems for optimum surgical tool changing and supply delivery in minimum time is presented. A novel approach for calibration of the nurse robot among compliant and rigid subsystems and for managing forces during subsystem interaction is described and experimental results using this force management approach are presented. Overall experimental performance data for the nurse robot system during tool changing and supply delivery tasks is also presented to illustrate the feasibility of performing these functions in a remote medical or trauma care-assist cell.
Special Education Placement: Is it What You Know or Where You Live?

Danielson and Bellamy's article on federal data on segregated placement of students with disabilities (see pp. 448–455 of this issue) points out the failings in many situations to live up to the intent of Public Law 94–142, which clearly sets forth a presumption in favor of regular class placement in regular school buildings for children with disabilities. The need to eliminate geographic and funding restrictions to placement of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment is stressed. Realistic but affirmative action and closer scrutiny of demonstration projects that have successfully integrated children with various disabilities into the regular classroom should be the focus of efforts.
The Reliability and Validity of Protocols for the Assessment of Endurance Sports Performance: An Updated Review

Sports performance testing is one of the most common and important measures used in sport science. Performance testing protocols must have high reliability to ensure any changes are not due to measurement error or inter-individual differences. High validity is also important to ensure test performance reflects true performance. Time-trial protocols commonly have a coefficient of variation (CV) of <5%, however, familiarization, well-trained subjects and/or conducting the trial outdoors in the athlete’s most familiar environment can lead to CVs of < 1%. Long duration time-trials or the inclusion of sprints within a time-trial appears to not negatively influence reliability. Few studies have assessed the validity of endurance performance tests, and as such more research should evaluate different ways of simulating outdoor performances in the laboratory. The use of warm-up, simulation of convection load, and implementation of race specific hydration practices are important considerations for researchers regarding test validity.
Swelling and loss of photoreceptors in chronic human and experimental glaucomas.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether outer retinal changes occur in chronic, presumed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). METHODS The outer retinas from 128 human eyes with a diagnosis of chronic glaucoma (presumably POAG in most cases) and 90 control eyes were examined histologically by 3 masked observers for photoreceptor swelling and loss. Retinas from 9 rhesus monkeys with glaucoma induced experimentally by laser trabecular destruction were compared with 7 fellow (control) eyes. The mean pressure elevations in the eyes with laser trabecular destruction ranged from 26.6 to 53.6 mm Hg with durations varying from 7 to 33 weeks. RESULTS Swelling of the red- and green-sensitive cones was observed in a statistically significantly greater proportion of human eyes with presumed POAG compared with the control eyes. Patchy loss of red/green cones and rods was also found in some of the glaucomatous retinas. In a subset of the human eyes with end-stage disease, cone swelling was a variable finding. Although no photoreceptor loss was found in the 9 monkey eyes with experimental glaucoma, 8 had swelling of their red/green cones that was remarkably similar to that seen in the human eyes. Swelling was not present in any of the control monkey eyes. CONCLUSIONS The photoreceptors are affected by chronically elevated intraocular pressure. CLINICAL RELEVANCE These findings may explain some of the abnormalities of color vision and the electrophysiological effects that have been observed in patients with POAG.
Attachment Problems and Disorders in Infants and Young Children: Identification, Assessment, and Intervention

Many infants and young children endure adverse experiences that place them at significant risk for later behavioral and mental health problems. The infant-caretaker relationship is considered pivotal for influencing emotional development and later personality. Thus, clinicians need to be cognizant of the behavioral manifestations and risk factors associated with attachment problems and disorders among infants and young children. The article reviews recent literature on attachment, provides an overview of attachment theory, offers practical guidelines for identifying and assessing suspected attachment problems, and presents diagnostic and classification systems. Those interventions that appear to hold promise are reviewed, and guidelines for assessing the appropriateness of attachment interventions are suggested.
ACCEPTANCE OF GEROTECHNOLOGIES BY OLDER WOMEN IN RURAL AREAS

Technology has the potential—positively or negatively—to change forever the way we age in our environment. The application of technologies to aging in place must be determined with knowledge of contextual issues and individual preferences. Concerning technology, people are more or less knowledgeable, more or less skilled, more or less avoidant of learning how to engage in technological innovation, and more or less accepting of new approaches to living. Moreover, people may be required to adapt to new technologies while simultaneously coping with changes in physical, social, and cognitive resources. In order to best use technologies to support aging in place, it is essential to understand elders’ skills, attitudes, and preferences and the context in which they make decisions.
Universiteit Leiden Opleiding Informatica A Genetic Algorithm for the Travelling Salesman Problem with Area Constraints

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) is a very widely-studied problem up until today. Numerous solutions have been proposed to solve the problem, including genetic algorithms. In this paper, a solution method is created that is also based on a genetic algorithm. In addition, a special constraint is added to the TSP: the area constraint. Borders can be deﬁned in TSP instances, to mark areas that are more diﬃcult to travel through, or more expensive to enter. It will be shown that the proposed genetic algorithm can achieve good solutions for problems with and without these constraints. Also, a comparison is made between a number of genetic operators, some of which use local knowledge to get to a good solution in a very short amount of time.
Child behavior problems and family functioning as predictors of adherence and glycemic control in economically disadvantaged children with type 1 diabetes: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE This prospective study examined how child behavior problems and family functioning predict adherence behavior and glucose regulation (glycemic control) in a sample of economically disadvantaged children. METHODS Children with type 1 diabetes (N = 116; 58.6% African American) were assessed for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and family adaptability and cohesion and followed for a mean of 3.8 years. Glycemic control (glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c]) was assessed at baseline and follow-up, and adherence was assessed at follow-up. RESULTS Analyses controlled for baseline HbA1c and years to follow-up. Multivariate analyses indicated that better adherence was predicted by high family cohesion. Better glycemic control was predicted by high family cohesion, the absence of externalizing behavior problems, and the presence of internalizing behavior problems. In addition, tests of moderation indicated that better follow-up glycemic control occurred among girls from high cohesion families and younger children from low adaptability families. Although better adherence predicted better glycemic control, adherence did not mediate the relationships of behavior problems or family functioning with glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS A child's behavior problems and family functioning may influence both adherence to the diabetes regimen and glycemic control several years later, suggesting the potential value of interventions that address child behavior and family functioning.
Influence of Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibition and Endothelin‐1 Receptor Blockade on Acetylcholine‐Induced Coronary Artery Contraction In Vitro in Dilated and Ischemic Cardiomyopathies

&NA; The normal dilatory response to acetylcholine (ACH) is reduced in coronary vessels from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and reversed to a contraction in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM). This study investigated the influence of nitric oxide synthase inhibition and endothelin (ET)‐1 receptor blockade on the reactivity to ACH of coronary arteries isolated from patients with end‐stage congestive heart failure (CHF) associated or not with CAD. Small (˜400 &mgr;m) epicardial right coronary arteries were isolated from explanted hearts of patients undergoing transplantation for DCM or ICM. Segments were mounted on a wire myograph to record changes in isometric tension. ACH (1 &mgr;M) dilated pre‐contracted vessels from DCM hearts but contracted pre‐contracted vessels from ICM hearts. In the absence of pre‐contraction, ACH (10−9‐3 × 10−5 M) induced a small contraction of rings from DCM hearts and a larger contraction (p < 0.05) of rings from ICM hearts. N&ohgr;‐nitro‐L‐arginine (l‐NNA, 100 &mgr; M), a NO synthase inhibitor, increased (p < 0.05) sensitivity and maximal response to ACH of vessels from DCM hearts only. In the presence of l‐NNA, blockade of ETA with BQ123 (1 &mgr; M) prevented the effects of l‐NNA in DCM, whereas blockade of ETA/B receptors with bosentan (10 &mgr; M) only reduced vascular sensitivity to ACH without significantly reducing the maximal contraction to ACH in DCM. The antagonists had no effects in vessels from ICM hearts. ACH, however, induced similar contractions of vessels without endothelium in DCM and ICM. These results suggest that ACH induces a contraction by stimulating smooth muscle muscarinic receptors. In coronary arteries isolated from DCM hearts, the contraction is regulated by NO and ET‐1, whereas these factors seem to have little influence in ICM. This suggests that endothelial muscarinic receptors are either not expressed or uncoupled in ICM hearts.
TOLL-LIKE RECEPTORS IN ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION INJURY

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injuries are implicated in a large array of pathological conditions such as myocardial infarction, cerebral stroke, and hepatic, renal, and intestinal ischemia, as well as following cardiovascular and transplant surgeries. The hallmark of these pathologies is excessive inflammation. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are recognized as one of the main contributors to pathogen-induced inflammation and, more recently, injury-induced inflammation. Endogenous ligands such as low-molecular hyaluronic acid, fibronectin, heat shock protein 70, and heparin sulfate were all found to be cleaved in the inflamed tissue and to activate TLR2 and TLR4, initiating an inflammatory response even in the absence of pathogens and infiltrating immune cells. In this review, we discuss the contribution of TLR activation in hepatic, renal, cerebral, intestinal, and myocardial I/R injuries. A greater understanding of the role of TLRs in I/R injuries may aid in the development of specific TLR-targeted therapeutics to treat these conditions.
Efficient testing of groups

We construct an efficient probabilistic algorithm that, given a finite set with a binary operation, tests if it is an abelian group. The distance used is an analogue of the edit distance for strings. The query complexity of the tester is polylogarithmic in the size of the set. Previous testers used Hamming type distances and had superlinear query complexity. A building block for our construction is a constant query complexity homomorphism tester for functions mapping an given finite group into an arbitrary set equipped with a binary operation.
CD4+ T-lymphocytes cell counts in adults with human immunodeficiency virus infection at the medical department of a tertiary health institution in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the CD4+ cell counts in adults with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections presenting at the medical department of the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. METHODS This study was carried out at the medical department of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria, in the period July-December 2006. FMC, Ido, was recently upgraded to serve as the only center for HIV/AIDS referral, diagnosis and treatment in Ekiti State. The center offers free antiretroviral therapy. All patients with a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, either diagnosed at the center or referred from other hospitals, admitted to the medical department within the study period had their blood sample taken for CD4 cell counts estimation at the first visit to the center, as part of the routine workup to assess their disease status and need for antiretroviral therapy. RESULTS A total of 87 patients comprising of 54 (62.1%) females and 33 (37.9%) males had their CD4+ T-Lymphocytes cell counts evaluated within their first week of presentation. The total mean age of the population studied was 33.17 +/- 7.01 years. The mean age of the females was 31 +/- 5.6 years, while that of the males was 36.5 +/- 8.2 years. The difference between the mean ages of females and males was statistically significant (P = 0.0004). The female: male ratio was 1.6:1. Out of the 87 patients, 30 were referrals from other hospitals within the state. The total mean CD4+ cell count was 230.7 +/- 311.9 cells/microL. The mean CD4 cell count of females was 212.17 +/- 264.96 cells/microL, while that of males was 261.0 +/- 389.19 cells/microL. This difference was not significant (P = 0.4876). Majority of the patients (75, [86.2%]), had CD4 cell count < 350 cells/microL, comprising of 48 females and 27 males. Of the 75 patients, 57 (76%) had a CD4 cell count < 200 cells/microL (33 females vs. 24 males). CONCLUSION At the time of HIV diagnosis, majority of our patients had a CD4+ cell count < 200 cells/microL. This was consistent with a relatively advanced disease. More women than men in the population were found positive for HIV. More sustained and vigorous awareness campaigns need be embarked upon in the HIV propaganda in the Ekiti State on one hand and Nigeria on the other hand to bring down this Hydra-headed monster called HIV/AIDS.
When deep learning meets edge computing

The state-of-the-art cloud computing platforms are facing challenges, such as the high volume of crowdsourced data traffic and highly computational demands, involved in typical deep learning applications. More recently, Edge Computing has been recently proposed as an effective way to reduce the resource consumption. In this paper, we propose an edge learning framework by introducing the concept of edge computing and demonstrate the superiority of our framework on reducing the network traffic and running time.
A Neuro-Fuzzy Reinforcement Learning System for Autonomous Robot Dealing with Continuous Space

In this study, to tackle the goal-navigated unknown environment exploration problem, a novel method which uses a neuro-fuzzy reinforcement learning system with continuous input-output spaces is proposed. When the position of the explorer is specified, learning process becomes to a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and the aliasing problem does not occur. So it is available to find the optimum. Specially, an action decision method using Gaussian function is proposed to output the movements in the arbitrary direction. Comparing with the conventional discrete action vectors, i.e., usually being 4 directions (up, down, left, and right), the proposed continuous actions may cause the reduction of the length of the shortest path. Using different environments such as a U form maze, a simple exploration plane, and a complex exploration plane with obstacles, the effectiveness of the proposed system was confirmed by simulation experiments.
Bullying in Schools: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series.

This guide summarizes knowledge about how the police can help reduce bullying and violence in schools and provides measures to assess the effectiveness of problem-solving efforts. The guide draws on research findings and police practice from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. In section 1, "The Problem of Bullying in Schools," the guide focuses on the definition of bullying, related problems, extent of the bullying problem, the reluctance to report bullying, bullying behavior, incidents of bullying, victims of bullying, consequences of bullying, and chronic victims of bullying. Section 2, "Understanding Your Local Problem," describes the types of questions that should be directed to the school, the offenders, and the victims; locations where bullying occurs; and measuring the effectiveness of different responses to bullying. 'Section 3, "Responses to the Problem of Bullying in Schools," discusses general requirements for an effective strategy to counter bullying in schools, specific responses to reduce bullying in schools, and responses with limited effectiveness, including peer mediation and zero tolerance policies. Two appendices present a summary of responses to bullying in schools and a sample letter educating parents about bullying in school. A list of recommended reading is also included. (Contains 38 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori inal document. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services UD of 7 0
LaeA Control of Velvet Family Regulatory Proteins for Light-Dependent Development and Fungal Cell-Type Specificity

VeA is the founding member of the velvet superfamily of fungal regulatory proteins. This protein is involved in light response and coordinates sexual reproduction and secondary metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans. In the dark, VeA bridges VelB and LaeA to form the VelB-VeA-LaeA (velvet) complex. The VeA-like protein VelB is another developmental regulator, and LaeA has been known as global regulator of secondary metabolism. In this study, we show that VelB forms a second light-regulated developmental complex together with VosA, another member of the velvet family, which represses asexual development. LaeA plays a key role, not only in secondary metabolism, but also in directing formation of the VelB-VosA and VelB-VeA-LaeA complexes. LaeA controls VeA modification and protein levels and possesses additional developmental functions. The laeA null mutant results in constitutive sexual differentiation, indicating that LaeA plays a pivotal role in inhibiting sexual development in response to light. Moreover, the absence of LaeA results in the formation of significantly smaller fruiting bodies. This is due to the lack of a specific globose cell type (Hülle cells), which nurse the young fruiting body during development. This suggests that LaeA controls Hülle cells. In summary, LaeA plays a dynamic role in fungal morphological and chemical development, and it controls expression, interactions, and modification of the velvet regulators.
The imd gene is required for local Cecropin expression in Drosophila barrier epithelia

Surfaces of higher eukaryotes are normally covered with microorganisms but are usually not infected by them. Innate immunity and the expression of gene‐encoded antimicrobial peptides play important roles in the first line of defence in higher animals. The immune response in Drosophila promotes systemic expression of antimicrobial peptides in response to microbial infection. We now demonstrate that the epidermal cells underlying the cuticle of larvae respond to infected wounds by local expression of the genes for the antimicrobial peptide cecropin A. Thus, the Drosophila epidermis plays an active role in the innate defence against microorganisms. The immune deficiency (imd) gene was found to be a crucial component of the signal‐induced epidermal expression in both embryos and larvae. In contrast, melanization, which is part of the wound healing process, is not dependent on the imd gene, indicating that the signalling pathways promoting melanization and antimicrobial peptide gene expression can be uncoupled.
Dynamic adaptive streaming over popularity-driven caching in Information-Centric Networks

The growing demand for video streaming is straining the current Internet, and mandating a novel approach to future Internet paradigms. The advent of Information-Centric Networks (ICN) promises a novel architecture for addressing this exponential growth in data-intensive services, of which video streaming is projected to dominate (in traffic size). In this paper, we present a novel strategy in ICNs for adaptive caching of variable video contents tailored to different sizes and bit rates. Our objective is to achieve optimal video caching to reduce access time for the maximal requested bit rate for every user. At its core, our approach capitalizes on a rigorous delay analysis and potentiates maximal serviceability for each user. We incorporate predictors for requested video objects based on a popularity index (Zipf distribution). In our proposed model, named DASCache, we present delay queuing analysis for cached objects, providing a cap on expected delay in accessing video content. In DASCache, we present a Binary Integer Programming (BIP) formulation for the cache assignment problem, which operates in rounds based on changes in content requests and popularity scores. DASCache reacts to changes in network dynamics that impact bit rate choices by heterogeneous users and enables users to stream videos, maximizing Quality of Experience (QoE). To evaluate the performance of DASCache, in contrast to current benchmarks in video caching, we present an elaborate performance evaluation carried out on ndnSIM, over NS-3.