Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploiting structure in two-armed manipulation tasks for humanoid robots

In autonomous bimanual operation of a robot, parallelized planning and execution of a task is essential. Elements of a task have different functional and spatial relationships. They may depend on each other and have to be executed in a specific order or they may be independent and their order can be determined freely. Consequently, individual actions can be planned and executed in parallel or not. In a proof of concept, this paper shows that the structure of a task and its mapping onto subordinate planners can significantly influence planning speed and task execution. Independent tasks are planned using two parallel path planners. Dependent tasks are planned using one path planner for both arms. Using a simple, yet expandable experimentation scenario, the resulting recommendations for parameterizing path planners are verified on a humanoid robot. For execution on the real robot a violation of the rigid body model used in path planners had to be addressed.
When are Overcomplete Representations Identifiable? Uniqueness of Tensor Decompositions Under Expansion Constraints

Abstract : Overcomplete latent representations have been very popular for unsupervised feature learning in recent years. In this paper, we specify which overcomplete models can be identified given observable moments of a certain order. We consider probabilistic admixture or topic models in the overcomplete regime. While general overcomplete admixtures are not identifiable, we establish generic identifiability under a constraint, referred to as topic persistence. Our sufficient conditions for identifiability involve a novel set of expansion conditions on the population structure (i.e. the topic-word matrix) of the persistent topic model. Specifically, we require the existence of a perfect matching from hidden variables to higher order observed variables, and can thus, incorporate overcomplete models. In particular, we establish that random models are identifiable w.h. p. in the overcomplete regime. Moreover, our analysis allows for general (nondegenerate) distributions for modeling the topic proportions. Our proof techniques incorporate a novel class of tensor decompositions which fall in between the well-known candecomp/parafac (CP) and Tucker decompositions, and provide novel conditions for unique tensor decomposition.
A Delphi Study to Detect Deficiencies and Propose Actions in Real Life Treatment of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose. Spanish retina specialists were surveyed in order to propose actions to decrease deficiencies in real-life neovascular age macular degeneration treatment (nv-AMD). Methods. One hundred experts, members of the Spanish Vitreoretinal Society (SERV), were invited to complete an online survey of 52 statements about nv-AMD management with a modified Delphi methodology. Four rounds were performed using a 5-point Linkert scale. Recommendations were developed after analyzing the differences between the results and the SERV guidelines recommendations. Results. Eighty-seven specialists completed all the Delphi rounds. Once major potential deficiencies in real-life nv-AMD treatment were identified, 15 recommendations were developed with a high level of agreement. Consensus statements to reduce the burden of the disease included the use of treat and extend regimen and to reduce the amount of diagnostic tests during the loading phase and training technical staff to perform these tests and reduce the time between relapse detection and reinjection, as well as establishing patient referral protocols to outside general ophthalmology clinics. Conclusion. The level of agreement with the final recommendations for nv-AMD treatment among Spanish retinal specialist was high indicating that some actions could be applied in order to reduce the deficiencies in real-life nv-AMD treatment.
Interregional Transportation Modeling for the Far East of Russia Macro-region

The paper describes two mathematical models of trade flows among the territories of a region or country. First model uses the approach of modeling the complex communication system to determine the most probable values of trade flows in a case of incomplete information about the system. Second one is based on multi-commodity network flow equilibrium approach. Transport costs between the territories are modeled within the framework of gravity model. The payment for transportation depends on the distance between the regions, this distance is estimated as the shortest way length in a given transport network or geographical distance. The mathematical formulation of the problems belongs to the class of convex mathematical programming problems and assumes the numerical solution of nonlinear optimization problem with linear constraints. The paper demonstrates the simulation of interregional freight traffic of the Russian Far East region.
Treatment of fracture of shaft of humerus in adults by intramedullary interlocking nail fixation- A series of 30 cases

Backgroud: The optimal method of humeral shaft fracture fixation remains in debate. With the dramatic success of intramedullary fixation for fractures of the femur and tibia, there was speculation that IM-ILN might be more appropriate for humeral shaft fractures than DCP. There are very few studies comparing intramedullary interlocking nail and dynamic compression plating in fracture shaft of humerus and virtually no study in this part of world. Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the fixation of fracture shaft of humerus with interlocking nail and in terms of duration of operating time,amount of blood loss,rate of infection,pain at the fracture site,time to achieve union,functional outcome(DASH score),complications of surgery. Methods and Methodology: This was respective interventional study. All patients with fractures of shaft of humerus that met the criteria for operative interventions (intramedullary interlocking nail) presenting to the department of Orthopaedics BPKIHS over a period of 3 years from July 2006 to August 2009 and giving informed consent were included in the study.The study enrolled 30 patients. Results: Among 30 patients, 75% were male and 25% were female The mean age of patients was 34.5 years.The usual mode of injury were road trafiic accident followed by fall from height, work place injury. Most of the patients were right handed. The operating time was 100 mins with standard deviation of 11.24 The mean blood loss was 148.75 with standard deviation of 36.70. Post operative hospital stay was 4.5 days.The peroperative radial nerve palsy was 4%. Radiologically, four cortices union was only 50% in 24 weeks post operative time. Dash score gradually improved in susequent followed up. Conclusion: It is concluded that dynamic compression plating is better in our study for fracture shaft of humerus. Plate osteosynthesis remains the gold standard of fixation for humeral shaft fractures.
On modeling non-word events in Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition

This paper focuses on the integration of non-word acoustic events into LVCSR (Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition). Non-word events may have an important role in cognitive, paraverbal infocommunication; however, they often are not modeled explicitly due to computational difficulties. In our experiments a serial and a loopback WFST (Weighted Finite State Transducer) architecture was built to recognize and/or print out certain non-word events on the output. We have used a Hungarian Broadcast News corpus to evaluate the results. No performance degradation was observed in terms of normal word recognition accuracy as compared to the baseline, where no non-word event modeling was applied. The non-word event recognition accuracy was, however, lower than expected. One of the most likely reasons may be the less consistent manual transcription as compared to the normal words. Nonetheless, some of the non-word events were mostly correctly recognized. The loopback architecture has higher memory requirement, but gives significantly better non-word event accuracies, without any increase of recognition time.
Balancing the fat: lipid droplets and human disease

Lipid droplets (LDs) are dynamic, cytosolic lipid‐storage organelles found in nearly all cell types. Too many or too few LDs during excess or deficient fat storage lead to many different human diseases. Recent insights into LD biology and LD protein functions shed new light on mechanisms underlying those metabolic pathologies. These findings will likely provide opportunities for treatment of diseases associated with too much or too little fat.
Optoelectronic Oscillators for High Speed and High Resolution Optical Sensing

An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) can be employed to perform high speed and ultra-high resolution optical sensing. The fundamental concept is to convert a measurand-dependent wavelength change in the optical domain to a frequency change of an OEO-generated microwave signal in the microwave domain. Since the frequency of a microwave signal can be measured by a digital signal processor at a high speed and high resolution, an OEO-based optical sensor is able to provide optical interrogation at a high speed and ultra-high resolution. In this paper, OEO-based optical sensors proposed for strain, temperature, or transverse load sensing are discussed. The key to implement an OEO-based optical sensor is to implement a microwave photonic filter with a passband having a center frequency that is a function of the optical wavelength change. In this paper, techniques to implement microwave photonic filter for OEO-based optical sensing are discussed.
Repetitive Low-Energy Shock Wave Treatment for Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis in Tennis Players

Background There is conflicting evidence regarding extracorporeal shock wave treatment for chronic tennis elbow. Hypothesis Treatment with repetitive low-energy extracorporeal shock wave treatment is superior to repetitive placebo extracorporeal shock wave treatment. Methods Seventy-eight patients enrolled in a placebo-controlled trial. All patients were tennis players with recalcitrant MRIconfirmed tennis elbow of at least 12 months’ duration. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either active low-energy extracorporeal shock wave treatment given weekly for 3 weeks (treatment group 1) or an identical placebo extracorporeal shock wave treatment (sham group 2). Main outcome measure was pain during resisted wrist extension at 3 months; secondary measures were >50% reduction of pain andthe Upper Extremity Function Scale. Results At 3 months, there was a significantly higher improvement in pain during resisted wrist extension in group 1 than in group 2 (mean [SD] improvement, 3.5 [2.0] and 2.0 [1.9]; P= .001 for between-group difference of improvement) and in the Upper Extremity Function Scale (mean [SD] improvement, 23.4 [14.8] and 10.9 [14.9]; P< .001 for between-group difference of improvement). In the treatment group, 65% of patients achieved at least a 50% reduction of pain, compared with 28% of patients in the sham group (P= .001 for between-group difference). Conclusion Low-energy extracorporeal shock wave treatment as applied is superior to sham treatment for tennis elbow.
A method for forensic artifact collection, analysis and incident response in environments running Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Session Description Protocol (SDP)

In this paper we perform an analysis of SIP, a popular Voice over IP (VoIP) protocol and propose a framework for capturing and analyzing volatile VoIP data in order to determine forensic readiness requirements for effectively identifying an attacker. The analysis was performed on real attack data and the findings were encouraging. It seems that if appropriate forensic readiness processes and controls are in place, a wealth of evidence can be obtained. The type of the end user equipment of the internal users, the private IP, the software that is used can help build a reliable baseline information database. On the other hand the private IP addresses of the potential attacker even during the presence of NAT services, as well as and the attack tools employed by the malicious parties are logged for further analysis.
A Review of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors for Civil Engineering Applications

The application of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to civil engineering structures has been a developing studied and practiced topic, that has allowed for a better understanding of structures’ conditions and increasingly lead to a more cost-effective management of those infrastructures. In this field, the use of fiber optic sensors has been studied, discussed and practiced with encouraging results. The possibility of understanding and monitor the distributed behavior of extensive stretches of critical structures it’s an enormous advantage that distributed fiber optic sensing provides to SHM systems. In the past decade, several R & D studies have been performed with the goal of improving the knowledge and developing new techniques associated with the application of distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) in order to widen the range of applications of these sensors and also to obtain more correct and reliable data. This paper presents, after a brief introduction to the theoretical background of DOFS, the latest developments related with the improvement of these products by presenting a wide range of laboratory experiments as well as an extended review of their diverse applications in civil engineering structures.
The Uses of the Smartphone for Doctors: An Empirical Study from Samsung Medical Center

Objectives In healthcare, mobile computing made possible by smartphones is becoming an important tool among healthcare professionals. However, currently there is very little research into the effectiveness of such applications of technology. This study aims to present a framework for a smartphone application to give doctors mobile access to patient information, then review the consequences of its use and discuss its future direction. Methods Since 2003 when Samsung Medical Center introduced its first mobile application, a need to develop a new application targeting the latest smartphone technology was identified. To that end, an application named Dr. SMART S was officially launched on December 22nd, 2010. Results We analyzed the usage data of the application for a month until April 25th, 2011. On average, 170 doctors (13% of the entire body of doctors) logged on 2.4 times per day and that number keeps growing. The number was uniformly distributed across all working hours, with exceptions of heavy accesses around 6-8 AM and 4-6 PM when doctors do their regular rounds to see the patients. The most commonly accessed content was inpatient information, this constituted 78.6% of all accesses, within this 50% was to accesses lab results. Conclusions Looking at the usage data, we can see the use of Dr. SMART S by doctors is growing in sync with the popularity of smartphones. Since u-Health seem an inevitable future trend, a more rigorous study needs to be conducted on how such mobile applications as Dr. SMART S affect the quality of care and patient safety to derive directions for further improvements.
Defective erythropoiesis caused by mutations of the thyroid hormone receptor α gene

Patients with mutations of the THRA gene exhibit classical features of hypothyroidism, including erythroid disorders. We previously created a mutant mouse expressing a mutated TRα1 (denoted as PV; Thra1PV/+ mouse) that faithfully reproduces the classical hypothyroidism seen in patients. Using Thra1PV/+ mice, we explored how the TRα1PV mutant acted to cause abnormalities in erythropoiesis. Thra1PV/+ mice exhibited abnormal red blood cell indices similarly as reported for patients. The total bone marrow cells and erythrocytic progenitors were markedly reduced in the bone marrow of Thra1PV/+ mice. In vitro terminal differentiation assays showed a significant reduction of mature erythrocytes in Thra1PV/+ mice. In wild-type mice, the clonogenic potential of progenitors in the erythrocytic lineage was stimulated by thyroid hormone (T3), suggesting that T3 could directly accelerate the differentiation of progenitors to mature erythrocytes. Analysis of gene expression profiles showed that the key regulator of erythropoiesis, the Gata-1 gene, and its regulated genes, such as the Klf1, β-globin, dematin genes, CAII, band3 and eALAS genes, involved in the maturation of erythrocytes, was decreased in the bone marrow cells of Thra1PV/+ mice. We further elucidated that the Gata-1 gene was a T3-directly regulated gene and that TRα1PV could impair erythropoiesis via repression of the Gata-1 gene and its regulated genes. These results provide new insights into how TRα1 mutants acted to cause erythroid abnormalities in patients with mutations of the THRA gene. Importantly, the Thra1PV/+ mouse could serve as a preclinical mouse model to identify novel molecular targets for treatment of erythroid disorders.
Kinetics and Prediction of HBsAg Loss during Long-Term Therapy with Nucleos(t)ide Analogues of Different Potency in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Background & Aims About 350–400 million people are infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically and 1 million people die of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver diseases. Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) have been used for the treatment against HBV. However, few studies have investigated the long-term effects of different nucleos(t)ide analogues on levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The aims of this study were to measure the magnitude of HBsAg reduction by long-term monotherapy with adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) and entecavir (ETV), to compare HBsAg reduction between the two drugs of different potency and to predict the expected time needed to achieve HBsAg loss. Methods We retrospectively evaluated the kinetics of HBsAg in 67 patients with CHB who all exhibited persistent viral suppression. These patients were treated with ADV or ETV for at least 6 years. HBV genotype was determined at baseline. Liver biochemistry, HBV serological markers, serum HBV DNA and HBsAg titers were determined at baseline, half year and yearly from year 1 to 6. Results Serum HBsAg titers after treatment with ADV or ETV were significantly lower than the baseline titers (P<0.05). HBsAg reduction rate of patients treated with ETV (0.11 log10 IU/mL/ year) was higher than that treated with ADV (0.10 log10 IU/mL/year), and the calculated expected time to HBsAg loss for patients treated with ETV (approximate 24.99 years) was shorter than that with ADV (approximate 30.33 years), but there was no statistically significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Serum HBsAg titers gradually decreased during long-term treatment with either ADV or ETV. It appears that the potency of ADV on HBsAg reduction is close to that of ETV, as long as patients have achieved persistent viral suppression.
Quality of drug interaction alerts in prescribing and dispensing software

OBJECTIVE To investigate the quality of drug interaction decision support in selected prescribing and dispensing software systems, and to compare this information with that found in a range of reference sources. DESIGN AND SETTING A comparative study, conducted between June 2006 and February 2007, of the support provided for making decisions about 20 major and 20 minor drug interactions in six prescribing and three dispensing software systems used in primary care in Australia. Five electronic reference sources were evaluated for comparison. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Sensitivity, specificity and quality of information; for major interactions: whether information on clinical effects, timeframe and pharmacological mechanism was included, whether management advice was helpful, and succinctness. RESULTS Six of the nine software systems had a sensitivity rate > or = 90%, detecting most of the major interactions. Only 3/9 systems had a specificity rate of > or = 80%, with other systems providing inappropriate or unhelpful alerts for many minor interactions. Only 2/9 systems provided adequate information about clinical effects for more than half the major drug interactions, and 1/9 provided useful management advice for more than half of these. The reference sources had high sensitivity and in general provided more comprehensive clinical information than the software systems. CONCLUSIONS Drug interaction decision support in commonly used prescribing and dispensing software has significant shortcomings.
Peptide hormones regulating appetite—focus on neuroimaging studies in humans

In recent years, knowledge about hormonal feedback from the gastrointestinal tract and adipose tissue has increased tremendously. Peptide hormones modulating hunger have been intensively studied, mostly in animals but increasingly also in humans. The first therapeutic agents, such as GLP‐1 analogues, are in successful clinical use for T2D and may beneficially affect hunger and reduce weight. Data from in vitro studies and animals provide detailed insight into regulatory mechanisms leading to peptide secretion and receptor bindings, as well as to the distribution of receptors involved in different parts of the body. With neuroimaging techniques human brain structures have been identified that play a role in hunger, satiety and eating behaviour. These include the primary gustatory (insular) and olfactory (pyriform) cortex and regions with a highly permeable blood‐brain barrier (hypothalamus, brain stem), which facilitates humoral input via gut peptides and leptin. In addition, cerebral networks involved in higher cognitive functions, especially those relevant to reward, pleasure and also addiction (ventral and dorsal striatum, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), prefrontal cortex (PFC)) were shown to be involved. First indications of direct influences of peptide hormones on these networks have become available from neuroimaging studies administrating synthetic PYY, ghrelin and leptin. Insulin also appears to play an important role as a central satiety hormone, and evidence indicating the possibility of central insulin resistance in obesity is available. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Deciphering Staphylococcus sciuri SAT-17 Mediated Anti-oxidative Defense Mechanisms and Growth Modulations in Salt Stressed Maize (Zea mays L.)

Soil salinity severely affects plant nutrient use efficiency and is a worldwide constraint for sustainable crop production. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, with inherent salinity tolerance, are able to enhance plant growth and productivity by inducing modulations in various metabolic pathways. In the present study, we reported the isolation and characterization of a salt-tolerant rhizobacterium from Kallar grass [Leptochloa fusca (L.) Kunth]. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed its lineage to Staphylococcus sciuri and it was named as SAT-17. The strain exhibited substantial potential of phosphate solubilization as well as indole-3-acetic acid production (up to 2 M NaCl) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid deaminase activity (up to 1.5 M NaCl). Inoculation of a rifampicin-resistant derivative of the SAT-17 with maize, in the absence of salt stress, induced a significant increase in plant biomass together with decreased reactive oxygen species and increased activity of cellular antioxidant enzymes. The derivative strain also significantly accumulated nutrients in roots and shoots, and enhanced chlorophyll and protein contents in comparison with non-inoculated plants. Similar positive effects were observed in the presence of salt stress, although the effect was more prominent at 75 mM in comparison to higher NaCl level (150 mM). The strain survived in the rhizosphere up to 30 days at an optimal population density (ca. 1 × 106 CFU mL-1). It was concluded that S. sciuri strain SAT-17 alleviated maize plants from salt-induced cellular oxidative damage and enhanced growth. Further field experiments should be conducted, considering SAT-17 as a potential bio-fertilizer, to draw parallels between PGPR inoculation, elemental mobility patterns, crop growth and productivity in salt-stressed semi-arid and arid regions.