Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Employing Ideomotor Theory as the basis of a Robot Tutoring System

One way in which a robotic system might be considered 'intelligent' may be an ability to learn and then generalise its learnt abilities in situations not previously encountered. Thus the ability to learn may be a prerequisite in allowing a robot to be adaptable when coping with changing environments, be useful when dealing with changing user requirements and expectations as well as being in itself a mechanism which supports the idea of intelligence and intelligent behaviour. One of the aims of the robotics research presented here is to study adaptive mechanisms which support learning with a focus on supervised learning via the interaction between a human teacher and a robot learner [6]. This interaction is based upon learning via imitation from observation of others as well as self-imitation, where the learner learns by reproducing actions it has perceived from another manipulating its body in order to highlight affordances and effectivities available for action [7]. In this talk I will suggest that the psychological notion of 'ideomotor theory' may be a good starting point from which to construct adaptable robots which support learning from imitation. In doing this I will explain the ideas behind ideomotor theory, ranging from the initial work of Lotze [3] and James [2] to more recent research by Prinz [5] where the theory is extended to support imitation. I will contrast and compare ideomotor theory with other prevailing theories of imitation, such as Active intermodal matching [4] and Associative Sequence Learning [1] and suggest that the ideomotor approach may have more to offer the roboticist in conceiving learning systems. Finally I will demonstrate how these ideas can be put into practise with some examples of scaffolded teaching used to teach physical robots an object following task.
Use of hepatitis B core antibody-positive donors in orthotopic liver transplantation.

HYPOTHESIS Hepatic allografts from donors positive for antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) frequently transmit hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection to recipients. Therefore, most transplantation centers will not use these organs for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Although it is expensive and not always efficacious, hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) has been used routinely for indefinite periods to prevent HBV infection in liver allograft recipients. We assessed the effectiveness of long-term use of a nucleoside analog, lamivudine, in preventing HBV transmission by anti-HBc-positive allografts. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING A tertiary care center. PATIENTS Twelve patients received hepatic allografts from anti-HBc-positive donors at Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, between February 23, 1998, and March 13, 2001. INTERVENTION All patients received 10 000 U/d of intravenous HBIG for 7 days. In addition, they received 300 mg/d of lamivudine in divided doses. Their liver biopsy specimens were tested for HBV DNA, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb). Serum samples from the donor and recipient were tested for HBcAb, HBV DNA, and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The incidence of HBV infection in recipients who received HBcAb-positive donor livers and lamivudine prophylaxis. RESULTS All recipients were anti-HBc negative before OLT. Five of the recipients had HBsAb titers greater than 150 U at the time of OLT. Three of the donor livers were HBV DNA positive and 2 were hepatitis B core antigen positive at the time of OLT. Donor serum was HBcAb positive in all 12 donors. None of the recipients have become infected with HBV with a follow-up of 2 to 38 months. CONCLUSION Perioperative use of HBIG combined with long-term use of lamivudine can prevent HBV infection in recipients who receive hepatic allografts from HBcAb-positive donors.
A STUDY ON THE SIMULATION OF PROXEMIC BEHAVIOR

The present invention describes a tester for determining the value of unknown delay lines in the nanosecond and subnanosecond range. The unknown delay line is introduced into the circuit loop of a free-running square wave oscillator previously calibrated to a predetermined frequency. A change in oscillator frequency occurs which is a measure of the value of the delay introduced into the loop by the unknown line. Such delay may be calculated as a function of the calibration and delay line-measured frequencies. The present tester provides measurements with increased accuracy and rapidity over previous measuring techniques.
12 Tips for Creating High Impact Clinical Encounter Videos - with Technical Pointers

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Videos are increasingly used in medical education. They are effective for teaching difficult-to-grasp concepts that rely heavily on visuospatial processing ability such as anatomy, surgical procedures, and physical exam maneuvers. Common pitfalls of existing videos include lackluster audiovisual quality, poor camera angles, absence of formal teaching as narration, or excessive length. This article serves to assist educators who wish to produce educational clinical encounter videos that maximize student learning. We detail 12 tips focused on improving the quality of clinical educational videos, mitigating cognitive load within a video, and understanding the technicalities of video production. These tips are based on review of existing literature on neurocognitive learning theories and the succeeding Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML), as well as our experience in producing educational videos.
Bmc Complementary and Alternative Medicine Echinacea Purpurea and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Children with Recurrent Otitis Media: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Recurrent otitis media is a common problem in young children. Echinacea and osteopathic manipulative treatment have been proposed as preventive measures, but have been inadequately studied. This study was designed to assess the efficacy of Echinacea purpurea and/or osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) for prevention of acute otitis media in otitis-prone children.
Synthesis of data completion scripts using finite tree automata

In application domains that store data in a tabular format, a common task is to fill the values of some cells using values stored in other cells. For instance, such data completion tasks arise in the context of missing value imputation in data science and derived data computation in spreadsheets and relational databases. Unfortunately, end-users and data scientists typically struggle with many data completion tasks that require non-trivial programming expertise. This paper presents a synthesis technique for automating data completion tasks using programming-by-example (PBE) and a very lightweight sketching approach. Given a formula sketch (e.g., AVG(? 1, ? 2)) and a few input-output examples for each hole, our technique synthesizes a program to automate the desired data completion task. Towards this goal, we propose a domain-specific language (DSL) that combines spatial and relational reasoning over tabular data and a novel synthesis algorithm that can generate DSL programs that are consistent with the input-output examples. The key technical novelty of our approach is a new version space learning algorithm that is based on finite tree automata (FTA). The use of FTAs in the learning algorithm leads to a more compact representation that allows more sharing between programs that are consistent with the examples. We have implemented the proposed approach in a tool called DACE and evaluate it on 84 benchmarks taken from online help forums. We also illustrate the advantages of our approach by comparing our technique against two existing synthesizers, namely Prose and Sketch.
Genetic variation and bill size dimorphism in a passerine bird, the reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus

In passerine birds morphological differentiation in bill size within species is not commonly observed. Bill size is usually associated with a trophic niche, and strong differences in it may reflect the process of genetic differentiation and, possibly, speciation. We used both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear microsatellites to study genetic variation between two subspecies of reed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus schoeniclus and E.s. intermedia, along their distributional boundary in western Europe. These two subspecies are characterized by a high dimorphism in bill size and, although breeding populations of the two subspecies are found very close to each other in northern Italy, apparently no interbreeding occurs. The observed morphological pattern between the two subspecies may be maintained by geographically varying selective forces or, alternatively, may be the result of a long geographical separation followed by a secondary contact. MtDNA sequences of cytochrome b and ND5 (515 bp) showed little variation and did not discriminate between the two subspecies, indicating a divergence time of less than 500 000 years. The analysis of four microsatellite loci suggested a clear, although weak, degree of genetic differentiation in the large‐ and small‐billed populations, as indicated by FST and RST values and genetic distances. The correlation between bill size and genetic distance between populations remained significant after accounting for the geographical distances between sampling localities. Altogether, these results indicate a very recent genetic differentiation between the two bill morphs and suggest that a strong selection for large bills in the southern part of the breeding range is probably involved in maintaining the geographical differentiation of this species.
Class-specific antibody response to group B Neisseria meningitidis capsular polysaccharide: use of polylysine precoating in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for measuring immunoglobulin class-specific antibodies to Neisseria meningitidis capsular polysaccharides. The polysaccharides were fixed to the solid phase by precoating the polystyrene surface with basic polyamino acids. Polylysine precoating was found to give optimal antibody values with the meningococcal polysaccharides studied. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure antibodies against group B meningococcal polysaccharide in healthy adults and in patients with group B meningitis. Antibodies to group B polysaccharide in sera obtained from healthy adults were primarily immunoglobulin M (IgM). Although the antibody response to disease was mostly IgM, both IgG and IgM antibodies increased. Infection with group B organisms stimulated anti-group B polysaccharide antibodies even in young patients, aged 6 to 7 months, and the magnitude of the B polysaccharide response increased with the age of the patient.
CENTER FOR ADVANCED COMPUTATION MODIFIED EXPECTATION MAXIMIZATION ALGORITHM FOR TRANSMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

A Bayesian reconstruction algorithm of transmission tomographic images is presented. The reconstruction is based on maximum aposteriori (MAP) estimation using the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. The Gibbs prior with sigmoidal potential function that smoothes out high differences in neighboring pixel values while retaining sharp-edged features of images is employed. The Gibbs prior improves the image quality as well as the convergence properties of the EM algorithm. The Bayesian reconstruction problem itself is solved through the One-Step-Late Expectation-Maximization algorithm (EM-OSL) proposed by Green. Approximations are introduced to make the problem more tractable for parallel computation. Computer simulated phantoms are used in this study. Images reconstructed from this algorithm are compared to those reconstructed from currently available reconstruction algorithms in terms of image quality and convergence rate. The reconstruction algorithm works quite well for low-photon-count and low-contrast cases in which the widely used convolution backprojection algorithm performs rather poorly.
Contextual and isolated algorithms for multistage pattern recognition

This paper deals with the recognition algorithms of a multistage classifier based on a decision tree scheme. For the given tree skeleton and features to be used, concepts of contextual and isolated decision rules (strategies) for performing the classification are discussed. These both strategies are compared in respect of classification accuracy and the upper bound of difference between their probabilities of misclassification is given. The empirical versions of contextual and isolated strategies were practically implemented in the computer-aided prognosis of sacroileitis development and results of classification accuracy on the real data are presented.
Randomized controlled trial of prolonged exposure using imaginal exposure vs. virtual reality exposure in active duty soldiers with deployment-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

OBJECTIVE Prolonged exposure (PE) is an evidence-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but there is limited research with active-duty military populations. Virtual reality exposure (VRE) has shown promise but randomized trials are needed to evaluate efficacy relative to existing standards of care. This study evaluated the efficacy of VRE and PE for active duty soldiers with PTSD from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. METHOD Active-duty soldiers (N = 162) were randomized to 10-sessions of PE, VRE, or a minimal attention waitlist (WL). Blinded assessors evaluated symptoms at baseline, halfway through treatment, at posttreatment, and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). RESULTS Intent-to-treat analyses found that both PE and VRE resulted in significant reductions in PTSD symptoms relative to those in the WL. The majority of patients demonstrated reliable change in PTSD symptoms. There was no difference between PE and VRE regarding treatment drop out before completing 10 sessions (44 and 41% for VRE and PE, respectively). Contrary to hypotheses, analyses at posttreatment did not show that VRE was superior to PE. Post hoc analyses found that PE resulted in significantly greater symptom reductions than VRE at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Both treatments significantly reduced self-reported stigma. CONCLUSIONS PE is an efficacious treatment for active-duty Army soldiers with PTSD from deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. Results extend previous evidence supporting the efficacy of PE to active-duty military personnel and raise important questions for future research on VRE. (PsycINFO Database Record
Understanding the Anatomy of Analytics-based Services - a Taxonomy to Conceptualize the Use of Data and Analytics in Services

The abundance of data accompanied by advances in analytics technologies increasingly drive companies to introduce analytics-based services, i.e. customer-facing services in which data and analytics help customers make decisions. Despite its growing application in practice, theoretical and conceptual work on analytics-based services is still scarce. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of analytics-based services unveiling their conceptually grounded and empirically validated characteristics. Applying an established taxonomy building method, we draw upon an analysis of 85 use cases of analytics-based services. The results of an expert evaluation indicate both the usefulness and robustness of our taxonomy. The developed taxonomy of analytics-based services contributes in two ways: First, we add to the descriptive knowledge on this new service type, establish a common language among researchers and equip them with the means to analyze analytics-based services in a structured manner – thus laying the foundation for a deeper theorizing process in the future. Second, we provide a concrete conceptualization of analytics-based services for practitioners for initial guidance in new service development.
A Note on the Displacement Problem of Elastostatics with Singular Boundary Values

The displacement problem of linear elastostatics in bounded and exterior domains with a non-regular boundary datum a is considered. Precisely, if the elastic body is represented by a domain of class C k ( k ≥ 2 ) of R 3 and a ∈ W 2 − k − 1 / q , q ( ∂ Ω ) , q ∈ ( 1 , + ∞ ) , then it is proved that there exists a solution which is of class C ∞ in the interior and takes the boundary value in a well-defined sense. Moreover, it is unique in a natural function class.
Potentially virulence-related extracellular proteins of Streptococcus equi

Equine strangles, a disease of the upper respiratory tract caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi subspecies equi, is one of the most commonly diagnosed and serious diseases in horses. However, the molecular basis of S. equi subsp. equi infection is poorly understood and there are no safe and effective vaccines on the market. The main objective of this study was to identify and characterise extracellular proteins used by S. equi subsp. equi to initiate infection and cause disease. Extracellular proteins, which can be secreted or cell surface-located, play an important role in the initiation of infection and in continued bacterial survival inside the host. Adhesins are a specific class of virulence-related proteins that are used by the bacteria to attach to host tissues. This study focused on a number of cell-surface anchored proteins that specifically adhere to collagen and fibronectin, two major extracellular matrix proteins of vertebrates. The binding characteristics of the fibronectin-binding protein FNEB were compared to two previously studied fibronectin-binding proteins, FNE and SFS. A follow-up investigation showed that FNE and FNEB are part of a family of six similar proteins encoded by S. equi subsp. equi. One of the four novel proteins identified (FNEE) was shown to bind to fibronectin and all four to collagen. In another study, a secreted immunoglobulin-specific protease was characterised. This enzyme could be used by the bacteria to interfere with the immune response of the infected horse. A useful tool in this research was the public S. equi subsp. equi genome database, which can be used to identify homologues to virulence-related proteins of other pathogens. An applied objective of the present study was to identify potential components for a future vaccine against strangles. One of the collagen-binding proteins characterised (CNE) is currently being used in vaccination trials as a component of a protein subunit vaccine for horses.
A Broadband LTE/WWAN Antenna Design for Tablet PC

A broadband yet compact antenna design applicable to tablets and laptops is proposed. The antenna provides an extensive coverage for existing and upcoming mobile communication bands. Several band broadening and antenna miniaturization techniques were employed, including the use of a parasitic element, meandered structures, branched structures and a lump component. The proposed design is planar, compact and can be fabricated via printed circuit board technology. Measurement results exhibits broad resonant bandwidth. Nearly omni-directional patterns and reasonable radiation efficiency are observed.
Aspirin effects on gastric epithelial cell proliferation and cytokine expression

Aspirin is known to cause gastric injury and to delay ulcer healing. The effects of aspirin on gastric epithelial cell function are heterogeneous; in contrast to injuring the mucosa, aspirin may also act beneficially by inducing adaptation; a mechanism that is poorly understood. We aimed to document the effects of different doses of aspirin on gastric epithelial cell function defined as proliferation, and secretion as well as mRNA expression of cytokines. Furthermore, we studied the effects of aspirin pretreatment on cytokine secretion as a potential element of gastric adaptation. The proliferative activity of three different gastric epithelial cell lines (AGS, KATO III, RGM‐1) was assessed by 3H‐thymidine incorporation; secretion of growth factors PDGF‐AB and VEGF into culture supernatant was documented by ELISA. mRNA transcripts of both cytokines were quantified by real time RT‐PCR. Low doses of aspirin did not alter the proliferative dynamics in two of the three studied cell lines; high doses abolished proliferation. Secretion of PDGF‐AB and VEGF increased during the first days of low dose apirin exposition; higher concentrations led to a depletion of cytokines after an initial liberation in the case of VEGF, mRNA of which was also dose‐dependently increased by aspirin. Seven‐day pretreatment with low amounts of aspirin did not alter the secretory response of the epithelia caused by higher doses of this drug. The secretion of cytokines and proliferation of gastric epithelial cells are adversely effected by aspirin in a similarly dose‐dependent fashion as the intended effects of this drug on platelet function and pain relief. Microsc. Res. Tech. 53:354–359, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Differential Power Analysis on ZUC Algorithm

Stream cipher ZUC plays a crucial role in the next generation of mobile communication as it has already been included by the 3GPP LTE-Advanced, which is a candidate standard for the 4G network. Through a long-time evaluation program, ZUC algorithm is thought to be robust enough to resist many existing cryptanalyses, but not for DPA, one of the most powerful threat of SCAs(Side Channel Analysis). Up to the present, almost all the work on DPA is for block ciphers, such as DES and AES, a very few work has been done on stream ciphers, such as ZUC algorithm, for particular reasons that would be illustrated in the later section. In this paper, we generally study the security of unprotected ZUC hardware implementation against DPA. Our theoretical analysis and experimental results show that ZUC algorithm is potentially vulnerable to this kind of attack. Furthermore, kinds of common countermeasures are discussed when we try to apply them to ZUC hardware implementations, both the security and tradeoffs are considered. The experiments are given in the last section to verify our conclusions, which would undoubtedly provide some guidance to the corresponding designers.
Arguments for a Computational Model for Forms of Selective Attention Based on Cognitive and Affective Feelings

We present arguments for a computational model of selective attention that relies on the assumption that uncertain, surprising and motive congruent/incongruent information demands attention from an intelligent agent. This computational model that we propose has been integrated into the architecture of a Belief-Desire-Intention artificial agent so that this can autonomously select relevant, interesting information of the (external or internal) environment while ignoring other less relevant information. The advantage is that the agent can communicate only that interesting, selective information to its processing resources (focus of the senses, decision-making, etc.) or to its human owner's processing resources so that these resources can be allocated more effectively. We provide both theoretical and empirical arguments for that computational model.
A Qualitative Discussion of Different Approaches for Implementing Multi-Tenant SaaS Offerings

The upcoming business model of providing software as a service (SaaS) not only creates new challenges for service providers but also for software engineers. To enable a cost-efficient service management, the hosted application should support multi-tenancy. For implementing multi-tenancy, several options are available, whereas all of them to a certain degree require a reengineering of the application at hand. Since for many applications this represents the next big evolution step, this paper is devoted to discussing different options for implementing multi-tenancy regarding the initial reengineering effort required for meeting the customer expectations versus cost-saving potential.