Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safe motion planning under uncertainty for mobile manipulators in unknown environments

For a mobile manipulator to operate and perform useful tasks in human-centered environments, it is important to work toward the realization of robust motion planners that incorporate uncertainty inherent in robot’s control and sensing and provide safe motion plans for reliable robot operation. Designing such planners pose a significant challenge because of computational complexity associated with mobile manipulator planning and planning under uncertainty. Current planning approaches for mobile manipulation are often conservative in nature and the uncertainty is largely ignored. In this thesis, we propose sampling-based efficient and robust mobile manipulator planners that use smart strategies to deal with computational complexity and incorporate uncertainty to generate safer plans. The first part of the research addresses the design of an efficient planner for deterministic case, where robot state is fully known, and then subsequent extension to incorporate base pose uncertainty. In the first part, we propose a Hierarchical and Adaptive Mobile Manipulator Planner (HAMP) that plans both for the base and the arm in a judicious manner allowing the manipulator to change its configuration autonomously when needed if the current arm configuration is in collision with the environment as the mobile manipulator moves along the planned path. We show that HAMP is probabilistically complete. We then propose an extension of HAMP (HAMP-U) to account for localization uncertainty associated with the mobile base position. The advantages of our planners are illustrated and discussed. The second part of the research deals with the computational complexity involved in planning under uncertainty. For that, we propose localization aware sampling and connection strategies that help to reduce the planning time significantly with little compromise on the quality of path. In the third part, we learnt from the shortcomings of HAMP-U and took advantage of our smart strategies developed to combat the computational complexity. We propose an efficient and robust mobile manipulator planner (HAMP-BAU) that plans judiciously and considers the base pose uncertainty and the effects of this uncertainty on manipulator motions. It uses our localization aware sampling and connection strategies to consider only those nodes and edges which contribute toward better localization. This helps to find the same quality of path in shorter time. We also extend HAMP-BAU to incorporate task space constraints (HAMP-BAU-TC). Finally, in the last part of the work, we incorporate our planners (HAMP-BAU and HAMP-BAU-TC) within an integrated and
Screening for group B streptococci in antenatal women: Isolation and its antibiogram

Group B streptococci(GBS) is one of those pathogens causing neonatal septicaemia and neonatal meningitis. Objective of this study is to screen antenatal women for Group B Streptococcus colonization and its antibiotic sensitivity pattern by Kirby bauer disk diffusion method. This study was carried out in Department of Microbiology during a period of 4 months.A total of 100 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in the age group 20-40 years were included in the study. Two vaginal swab were taken aseptically and immediately transported to the laboratory for processing. One swab for direct gram staining and other swab was inoculated into sheep blood agar and incubated at 37 oC for 24-48 hours. Identification of organism was based on gram staining, colony morphology, catalase reaction, Christie Atkins Munch Peterson(CAMP) and Hippurate hydrolysis test. Results of this study show that prevalence rate for GBS colonization is 8%. Pregnant women less than 20 years of age and primigravida are more commonly colonized with Group B Streptococci. All the isolates were sensitive to Penicillin, Erythromycin, Ampicillin, Gentamicin, Ceftriaxone and Chloramphenicol. Hence all pregnant women should be screened for Group B Streptococci carriage between 35 and 37 weeks of gestation and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis be given to colonized women at the time of labour or rupture of membranes. Keywords: Group B Streptococci, Antenatal pregnant women, Prevalence, Antibiotic susceptibility pattern
An Econometric Model of Birth Inputs and Outputs: A Detailed Report

This study offers a simultaneous equations model of the birth process with seven endogenous variables: four birth inputs [maternal smoking (S), maternal drinking (D), first trimester prenatal care (PC), and maternal weight gain (WG)], and three birth outputs [gestational age (G), birth length (BL), and birth weight (BW)]. Our analysis conditions on twenty-four exogenous variables. The data are taken from the NLSY. Separate analyses are performed on five different groups: Whites (both the Main and the Supplemental samples), Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Across all groups, we find sizeable correlation between the disturbances in the four input and three output equations and among output disturbances. Ceteris Paribus, the effect of maternal smoking on BL and BW is negative, the effect of weight gain on BL and BW is positive, long gestation has a favorable effect on both BL and BW, a male infant is longer and heavier than a female infant, and maternal height and weight have a positive effect on BL and BW, respectively. Surprisingly, we find that the widely-cited group differences in birth outputs can be accommodated in our framework with simple group dummies. Our framework also sheds some light on the High/Low Risk Birth Weight Puzzle discussed in the literature. Finally, our results are robust with respect to different model and prior specifications.
Multi-Objective Genetic Optimization for Helicopter Skid Landing Gears

This paper presents a numerical approach to the optimization of skid landing gears, basing on a genetic algorithm linked to a multi-body explicit code. The modelling technique is described and numerical-experimental correlations are presented regarding a drop test performed on a gear prototype. The numerical analyses are first used to point out the basic aspects of the gear design and to investigate the sensitivity of the gear behaviour to the characteristics of the skid-soil contact interaction. The optimization technique is applied to investigate the trade-off between the landing performances and the gear strength. The problem formulation is directed to minimize the load factor on hard soil with high friction coefficient and to optimize plastic strain distribution along the cross members. The Pareto’s sets identified during the optimization searches allow to select promising design hypotheses which present acceptable overall landing performances, high efficiency and good strength and durability characteristics.
Perceived Behavioral Control regarding Prostate Cancer Screening among Black Men in West Africa and the United States

To examine how perceived behavioral control (PBC) is affected by sociodemographic and behavioral factors, employing a socio-ecologic approach, and identify the relative importance of these factors. This was a cross-sectional, correlational study of 500 Black men from the Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium (CaPTC) familial project. A survey using standardized CaPTC measures collected information on intrapersonal (e.g., age, knowledge), interpersonal (e.g., cues to action, social support), and institutional factors (e.g., informed decision) that are predictive of perceived behavioral control. Black male participants, aged between 35-70 years, were recruited from the US, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, and frequency) were calculated for all variables, and multiple regression was employed to determine significant (p<0.05) predictors of PBC. Data were analyzed using SPSS v24. Participants had an average age of 48±10 years, low level of knowledge (mean=10.31±3.66; range 0-20), encountered very low cues to action (mean=1.60±2.13; range 0-13), had usual levels of social support (2.41±1.24), and were mostly (96.4%) not counseled on the advantages and disadvantages of prostate cancer screening. Attitude, knowledge, informed decision, and prostate cancer information seeking behavior were significant predictors, and the overall model accounted for 49% (p < 0.01) of the variation in PBC. Using a socio-ecologic approach, multi-level factors were integrated to facilitate a fuller understanding of the several factors impacting PBC in Black men. The four significant factors (attitude, knowledge, informed decision, and prostate cancer information seeking behavior knowledge) could be considered when developing culturally-sensitive interventions aimed at engaging at-risk Black men regarding prostate cancer prevention and early detection practices.
On Using Data Mining For Browsing Log AnalysisIn Learning Environments

Recently, the rapid progress of Internet technology has triggered the widespread development of web-based learning environments in the educational world. As compared with conventional CAI systems, web-based learning environments are able to accumulate a huge amount of learning data. As a result, there is an urgent need for analyzing methods of discovering useful knowledge from the huge log database for improving instructional/learning performance. In this chapter, I will present some models and methods of analyzing the browsing log data to construct a browsing behavioral model that is helpful in supporting e-learning applications. For example, teachers can investigate the model to identify some interesting or unexpected learning patterns in student’s browsing behavior, which might therefore provide knowledge for teachers to reorganize their content structure in a more effective manner. Alternatively, another model can be used as a reference model by which personalized content recommendation could be made. To serve these purposes, a set of tools based on data mining techniques such as clustering, and association mining, combined with collaborative filtering techniques, are developed. The effectiveness of these methods is investigated on a real database collected from web-based courses. Through the case studies, some revelations are presented and some future research directions are discussed.
Data Quality in Wide-Area Monitoring and Control Systems

The strain on modern electrical power system operation has led to an ever increasing utilization of new Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems to enhance the reliability and efficiency of grid operation. Among these proposals, Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)-based Wide-Area Monitoring and Control (WAMC) systems have been recognized as one of the enablers of “Smart Grid”, particularly at the transmission level, due to their capability to improve the real-time situational awareness of the grid. These systems differ from the conventional Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems in that they provide globally synchronized measurements at high resolutions. On the other hand, the WAMC systems also impose several stringent requirements on the underlying ICT systems, including performance, security, and availability, etc. As a result, the functionality of the WAMC applications is heavily, but not exclusively, dependent on the capabilities of the underlying ICT systems. This tight coupling makes it difficult to fully exploit the benefits of the synchrophasor technology without the proper design and configuration of ICT systems to support the WAMC applications. In response to the above challenges, this thesis addresses the dependence of WAMC applications on the underlying ICT systems. Specifically, two of the WAMC system data quality attributes, latency and completeness, are examined together with their effects on a typical WAMC application, PMU-based wide-area damping systems. The outcomes of this research include quantified results in the form of PMU communication delays and data frame losses, and probability distributions that can model the PMU communication delays. Moreover, design requirements are determined for the wide-area damping systems, and three different delay-robust designs for this WAMC application are validated based on the above results. Finally, a virtual PMU is developed to perform power system and communication network co-simulations. The results reported by this thesis offer a prospect for better predictions of the performance of the supporting ICT systems in terms of PMU data latency and completeness. These results can be further used to design and optimize the WAMC applications and their underlying ICT systems in an integrated manner. This thesis also contributes a systematic approach to design the wide-area damping system considering the PMU data latency and completeness. Finally, the developed virtual PMU, as part of a co-simulation platform, provides a means to investigate the dependence of WAMC applications on the capabilities of the underlying ICT systems in a cost-efficient manner.
What Is Adult T-Cell Leukemia Pathogenesis? System Virology as a Solution of This Puzzle

What Is Adult T-Cell Leukemia Pathogenesis? System Virology as a Solution of This Puzzle Mohsen Karbalaei 1 and Masoud Keikha 2, 3, * Department of Microbiology and Virology, School of Medicine, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Department of Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Corresponding author: Department of Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Email: masoud.keykha90@gmail.com
Extension des algorithmes imbriqués pour la résolution de problèmes d'optimisation convexe en imagerie

Forward-Backward and Douglas-Rachford algorithms belong to the class of convex optimization iterative algorithms that demonstrated their efficiency for solving large-size inverse problems. We have recently proposed nested algorithms based on these methods allowing to extend their application context to the constrained minimization of a criterion constituted by the sum of a differentiable term and a non-smooth term. In this paper, we propose to generalize this class of nested algorithms to the minimization of a functional which corresponds to a sum of three convex functions where one is differentiable with a Lipschitz continuous gradient. The interest of this minimization is demonstrated on an image restoration example which requires a twofold regularization: one is performed in the transform domain (wavelet-frame representations are used) whereas the other one is performed in the image domain (in order to promote spatial sparsity).
Sistematização do atendimento primário de pacientes com neutropenia febril: revisão de literatura

Os avancos no tratamento de câncer, embora tenham aumentado a sobrevida, resultaram em aumento da imunossupressao, o que torna os pacientes susceptiveis a apresentarem quadro de neutropenia febril. As infeccoes sao geralmente assintomaticas, de evolucao rapida e muitas vezes fatais sendo essencial o diagnostico e tratamento antibiotico precoce em pacientes neutropenicos febris. O objetivo deste estudo e revisar as recentes publicacoes sobre pacientes com neutropenia febril, a fim de determinar o melhor e mais rapido metodo diagnostico e terapeutico. Descritores: Neutropenia/diagnostico, Neutropenia/terapia, Febre
MULTILINGUAL TEXT IMAGE DATABASE FOR OCR

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) converts image text into editable text and provides a fast method for the data entry options. Most of the languages (scripts) of the world are enriched with OCRs. The research on Latin script has reached its maturity whereas the cursive languages are also converging to the same point. All of the OCRs, Latin or non-Latin based, need text images in their respective language script for training, testing as well as data validation and elimination of errors. This paper presents a multilingual image database created from various texts containing multiple fonts collected from various sources. We have created a multilingual, multi-font, multi-size, multi-style database of text images to be used for various language scripts of most of the world. The images were created with custom built software which converts all of the texts into word, single line, and multiline and paragraph images. We have included 84 language texts for the creation of images. The database includes Holy Quran translation of 42 languages comprising of more than 25000 text pages, various dictionaries of some other languages and scanned images of some languages like Sindhi, Urdu, Pashto and Arabic. This database can provide a platform to establish a standardized image database for the OCRs of various scripts around the world. The size of the database can be increased by adding texts and language scripts. The million words can grow to billions and can benefit more researchers working on OCR around the world and this database is freely available by sending email to the authors.
SP0118 FIBROMYALGIA; AN ACCEPTABLE DIAGNOSIS?

Background: Neither patients nor clinicians and researchers fully embrace the fibromyalgia diagnosis. A core objection relates to the huge overlap with other polysymptomatic distress disorders such as somatic symptom disorder and chronic fatigue syndrome. Another objection has to do with the classification of fibromyalgia as a rheumatic disease, which may hamper research and treatment of psychosocial factors. Objectives: To get insight into the pros and cons of the fibromyalgia diagnosis. Methods: The scientific literature was reviewed with a focus on homogeneity and heterogeneity within the group diagnosed as fibromyalgia. Results: That fibromyalgia is not a stable diagnosis of a homogeneous group is reflected in the ongoing development of new classification and diagnostic criteria; the newest including diagnostic criteria, common features, comorbidities, consequences, and putative mechanisms (Arnold et al., 2019). Moreover, treatment recommendations progressed from a focus on pharmacological treatment in 2008 to a focus on nonpharmacological therapies in 2017 (Macfarlane et al., 2017). Also, several studies showed that the group is quite heterogeneous with respect to type, number and severity of symptoms and comorbidities (e.g., Davis et al., 2018) as well as with respect to adaptation profiles covering a spectrum of severely maladjusted to quite well adjusted in terms of objective and subjective management (Estevez-Lopez et al., 2018). Conclusion: Although diagnostic classifications such as fibromyalgia help to examine underlying mechanisms and interventions and to define treatment recommendations, in clinical practice and research account should be taken of heterogeneity of patients in terms of symptoms and disorder-transcending biopsychosocial factors that influence the disorder. This suggests that fibromyalgia is an acceptable diagnosis to the extent that individuality is accepted as part of the diagnosis. References: [1] Arnold, et al. AAPT Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia. J Pain 2019, in press. [2] Davis, et al. Characterizing classes of fibromyalgia within the continuum of central sensitization syndrome. J Pain Res 2018;11:2551-60. [3] Estevez-Lopez, et al. Adaptation profiles comprising objective and subjective measures in fibromyalgia: the al-Andalus project. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2017;56:2015-24 [4] Macfarlane, et al. EULAR revised recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia. Ann Rheum Dis 2017;76:318-28. Disclosure of Interests: None declared
Is polypharmacy an increasing burden in chronic kidney disease? The German experience

Abstract This is a commentary article describing the key findings of the German chronic kidney disease (GCKD) study and how these relate to current practice. With the GCKD study showing high levels of polypharmacy, this article discusses ways to ensure that polypharmacy is appropriate and the difficulties faced within a chronic kidney disease population. Suggestions of ways to minimize medication burden in renal patients provide some practical advice for clinicians.
ENSINO POR TUTOR INTELIGENTE DE LINGUAGENS TEXTUAIS DE COMANDOS EM APLICAÇÕES DE SISTEMAS OPERACIONAIS

This work presents the conception, design and implementation of ISABELA (Intelligent System for Assisting BEgginers in LAnguages), which is composed of a set of tools to aid the teaching of computer programming with text-based languages applied to operating systems. The environment offers two tools: one for teaching/learning and one for authoring. The teaching/learning tool covers the acquisition of programming principles and programming experience through drill-and-practice examples in domains of digital device operation, such as an operating system. The principles are communicated by means of system-passive interactions where the trainee is responsible for learning through the inspection of new concepts and related commented examples, as well as through the dynamic execution of such examples. The experiential knowledge is communicated heavily by the intelligent assistance of problem solving tasks where the trainee engages in the implementation program instructions for exercises given by ISABELA. In this latter case, ISABELA evaluates the trainee's answer by means of a reactive tutoring model which embodies the idea of typical and atypical classification of problem solutions supplied by the user. ISABELA carries out the assessment through the program diagnosis according to two mains techniques: (1) standard-path matching and (2) black-box, input-output analysis. Finally, for the instructor, the system offers an authoring tool that facilitates the creation and manipulation of passive and reactive material for learning, according to the preference of the author.
The psychosis risk timeline: can we improve our preventive strategies? Part 1: early life

SUMMARY Psychosis is a complex presentation with a wide range of factors contributing to its development, biological and environmental. Psychosis is a feature present in a variety of psychiatric disorders. It is important for clinicians to keep up to date with evidence regarding current understanding of the reasons psychosis may occur. Furthermore, it is necessary to find clinical utility from this knowledge so that effective primary, secondary and tertiary preventative strategies can be considered. This article is the first of a three-part series that examines contemporary knowledge of risk factors for psychosis and presents an overview of current explanations. The articles focus on the psychosis risk timeline, which gives a structure within which to consider key aspects of risk likely to affect people at different stages of life. In this first article, early life is discussed. It covers elements that contribute in the prenatal and early childhood period and includes genetic, nutritional and infective risk factors. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this article you will be able to: • give an up-to-date overview of psychosis risk factors that can affect early life• describe some important genetic risk factors• understand more about the role of environmental factors such as nutrition and infection. DECLARATION OF INTEREST None.