Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Position control of a single pneumatic artificial muscle with hysteresis compensation based on modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii model.

BACKGROUND High-performance position control of pneumatic artificial muscles is limited by their inherent nonlinearity and hysteresis. OBJECTIVE This study aims to model the length/pressure hysteresis of a single pneumatic artificial muscle and to realize its accurate position tracking control with forward hysteresis compensation. METHODS The classical Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is widely used in hysteresis modelling and compensation. But it is only effective for symmetric hysteresis. Therefore, a modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is built to characterize the asymmetric length/pressure hysteresis of a single pneumatic artificial muscle, by replacing the classical play operators with two more flexible elementary operators to independently describe the ascending branch and descending branch of hysteresis loops. On the basis, a position tracking controller, which is composed of cascade forward hysteresis compensation and simple proportional pressure controller, is designed for the pneumatic artificial muscle. RESULTS Experiment results show that the MPI model can reproduce the length/pressure hysteresis of the pneumatic artificial muscle, and the proposed controller for the pneumatic artificial muscle can track the reference position signals with high accuracy. CONCLUSION By modelling the length/pressure hysteresis with the modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii model and using its inversion for compensation, precise position control of a single pneumatic artificial muscle is achieved.
Creating Inclusive and Hospitable Christian Schools: Three Case Studies

Abstract Many Christian schools accept children with special needs. Structures to support, fund, and strengthen such programs are challenging to find. Studies to date reflect how those Christian schools that do accept children with special needs provide special education services. However, studies on how an inclusive and hospitable culture are created within Christian schools do not appear to exist. The authors identify and discusses the current inclusive and hospitable cultures in three Christian schools in the western United States. The authors used a qualitative bounded system case study to identify potential participants. Data collection included website review and archival documents. The primary researcher spent two and a half to three days at each location conducting interviews with multiple stakeholders and making observations in various settings. Perspectives, reported as themes, and practices of inclusion, are identified and are distilled into recommendations for how the Christian schools studied might serve as exemplars for other Christian schools seeking to include children with special needs.
Association Between Time From Stroke Onset and Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery Lesion Intensity Is Modified by Status of Collateral Circulation

Background and Purpose— In patients with acute stroke, the intensity of a fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) lesion in the region of diffusion restriction is associated with time from symptom onset. We hypothesized that collateral status as assessed by the hypoperfusion intensity ratio could modify the association between time from stroke onset and FLAIR lesion intensity. Methods— From the AX200 for ischemic stroke trial, 141 patients had appropriate FLAIR, diffusion-weighted imaging, and perfusion-weighted imaging. In the region of nonreperfused core, we calculated voxel-based relative FLAIR (rFLAIR) signal intensity. The hypoperfusion intensity ratio was defined as the ratio of the Tmax >10 s lesion over the Tmax >6 s lesion volume. A hypoperfusion intensity ratio threshold of ⩽0.4 was used to dichotomize good versus poor collaterals. We studied the interaction between collateral status on the association between time from symptom onset and FLAIR intensity. Results— Time from symptom onset was associated with the rFLAIR intensity in the region of nonreperfused core (B=1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.0–1.1). We identified an interaction between this association and collateral status; an association was present between time and rFLAIR intensity in patients with poor collaterals (r=0.53), but absent in patients with good collaterals (r=0.17; P=0.04). Conclusions— Our findings show that the relationship between time from symptom onset and rFLAIR lesion intensity depends on collateral status. In patients with good collaterals, the development of an rFLAIR-positive lesion is less dependent on time from symptom onset compared with patients with poor collaterals.
A Wideband Absorber With a Multiresonant Gridded-Square FSS for Antenna RCS Reduction

This letter proposes a wideband absorber using a multiresonant gridded-square frequency-selected surface structure. Equivalent circuit models of parallel LC resonant circuits in series are given to clarify the multiresonant working principle. Using this method, a quad-resonant absorbing ground plane is designed. Surface current distributions are shown to explicate the multiresonant modes. By using the proposed absorbing ground, a wideband dipole's radar cross section (RCS) can be reduced effectively. Measured results show that 50% absorption bandwidth of the proposed absorbing ground plane is from 2 to 2.7 GHz, and maximum RCS reduction of the antenna with absorbing ground is 5 dB. The peak gain of the antenna still maintains above 6.8 dBi in the frequency range from 1.66 to 2.76 GHz. The proposed absorbing ground has advantages such as multiresonant mechanism, wideband absorbing bandwidth, and polarization independence. Thus, it can be used to reduce antenna's RCS with maintained radiation performance.
Dietary intervention in the management of prostate cancer

Purpose of review This review integrates recent reports related to the dietary management of prostate cancer with the existing body of science in an effort to best inform practicing clinicians. Recent findings Dietary factors are hypothesized to play a significant role in prostate cancer, and have proven to be important in managing prevalent comorbidities in this patient population (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis). Data regarding diet and prostate cancer are accumulating and randomized controlled trials are underway which will ultimately yield evidence on which to base recommendations regarding dietary regimens, functional foods, and supplement use. Until that time, most data derive from epidemiologic studies that have limitations in showing cause and effect. During the past year, the greatest and most consistent strides have been made in the area of energy balance, with data consistently showing that overweight and obesity are associated with progressive disease and increased overall mortality. Summary To date, the strongest evidence regarding diet and prostate cancer relates to energy balance. Urologists aspiring to best clinical practice should encourage their patients to achieve a healthful body weight through regular exercise and a healthful plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Advocating functional foods or supplements explicitly for cancer control purposes would currently be premature.
Colorectal Cancer Metastases Settle in the Hepatic Microenvironment Through α5β1 Integrin

Colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis dissemination to secondary sites represents the critical point for the patient's survival. The microenvironment is crucial to cancer progression, influencing tumour cell behaviour by modulating the expression and activation of molecules such as integrins, the cell‐extracellular matrix interacting proteins participating in different steps of the tumour metastatic process. In this work, we investigated the role of α5β1 integrin and how the microenvironment influences this adhesion molecule, in a model of colon cancer progression to the liver. The culture medium conditioned by the IHH hepatic cell line, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, modulate the activation of α5β1 integrin in the colon cancer cell line HCT‐116, and drives FAK phosphorylation during the process of cell adhesion to fibronectin, one of the main components of liver ECM. In these conditions, α5β1 modulates the expression/activity of another integrin, α2β1, involved in the cell adhesion to collagen I. These results suggest that α5β1 integrin holds a leading role in HCT‐116 colorectal cancer cells adhesion to the ECM through the modulation of the intracellular focal adhesion kinase FAK and the α2β1 integrin activity. The driving role of the tumour microenvironment on CRC dissemination, here detected, and described, strengthens and adds new value to the concept that α5β1 integrin can be an appropriate and relevant therapeutic target for the control of CRC metastases. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 2385–2396, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Contribution of tuberculosis to slim disease in Africa

Abstract Objectives: To assess the contribution of tuberculosis to the aetiology of the HIV wasting syndrome (slim) in Africa, a condition usually considered an enteropathy. Methods: Clinical examination and representative necropsy study of adult patients positive for HIV. Setting: Hospital medical wards in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Subjects: Adults positive for HIV. Main outcome measures: CD4 T lymphocyte counts before death, clinical and anthropometric data, and gross and microscopic pathology. Results - Necropsy was done on 212 HIV positive adults. Tuberculosis was found in 41 of 93 with the clinical HIV wasting syndrome and in 32 of 119 without (odds ratio 2.1, 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 4.0). A significant association existed between the prevalence of tuberculosis at necropsy and the degree of cadaveric wasting (no wasting 25% (15/59); moderate wasting 40% (23/58); skeletal wasting 44% (42/95); P=0.02). Wasting was also associated with a history of chronic diarrhoea, but no association existed between diarrhoea and tuberculosis. Median CD4 T lymphocyte counts were lowest in wasted patients irrespective of findings at necropsy and in those with chronic diarrhoea (<60x106/l). Conclusion: Wasting and chronic diarrhoea are late stage manifestations of HIV disease in Africa. The importance of tuberculosis as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of the slim syndrome has been underestimated. In nearly half of patients dying with severe wasting, tuberculosis was the dominant pathological finding.
Effectiveness of Prophylactic Anti‐HBV Therapy in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation with HBsAg Positive Donors

Use of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive donors for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) causes serious hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related liver morbidity and mortality in the recipient. We compared the effectiveness of anti‐HBV therapy in 29 recipients who underwent HSCT using HBsAg positive marrow (group I) against a historical control group of 25 patients who received HBsAg positive marrow without pre‐HSCT prophylaxis (group II). Anti‐HBV therapy consisted of lamivudine for HBsAg‐positive donors and all recipients (n = 29) as well as HBV vaccination to all HBsAg‐negative recipients (n = 10) before HSCT. After transplantation, HBV‐related hepatitis was significantly higher in group II than group I recipients [12 of 25 recipients (48%) vs. 2 of 29 recipients (6.9%), p = 0.002] and in recipients whose donors had detectable serum HBV DNA by Digene Hybrid Capture II assay [8 of 14 recipients (57.1%) vs. 6 of 40 recipients (15.0%), p = 0.02]. Six recipients in group II and none in group I died of HBV‐related hepatic failure (24.0% vs. 0%, p = 0.01). By multivariate Cox analysis, anti‐HBV therapy effectively reduces post‐HSCT HBV‐related hepatitis (p = 0.01, adjusted hazards ratio 7.27, 95%CI 1.62–32.58). Our data support the use of prophylactic therapy in preventing HBV‐related hepatitis after allogeneic HSCT from HBsAg‐positive donor.
Investigation on the scaling properties of a novel electromagnetic band-gap structure for application to parallel-plate noise suppression

A metamaterial based solution for parallel-plate noise reduction in power planes of digital and mixed-signal fast circuits is presented. The solution consists of embedding a periodic patterned surface between two dielectric layers and two metal planes. The novelty stems from the shape of the metal motif of the patterned surface of the unit cell. In each unit cell nine vias connect the metal patch to the ground; other four posts are posed on the metal patch in order to slow down the electromagnetic waves. The filtering properties of the device are assessed by numerically calculating the dispersion diagrams. Starting from small dimensions (2.5 mm), the device has been sequentially up-scaled until its selective properties met the requirements of the application, i.e. reduction of noise up to 6 GHz. Limits of the electromagnetic band-gaps are reported for various scales.
Unicystic Ameloblastoma: A Clinicopathologic Study of 33 Chinese Patients

The term unicystic ameloblastoma refers to those cystic lesions that show clinical, radiographic, or gross features of a jaw cyst, but on histologic examination show a typical ameloblastomatous epithelium lining part of the cyst cavity, with or without luminal and/or mural tumor growth. To ascertain the clinicomorphologic spectrum and biologic behavior of this tumor group, the clinicopathologic features of 33 unicystic ameloblastomas from Chinese patients were studied. This series represents approximately 19% of all cases of ameloblastoma accessioned in the authors' hospital during a 15-year period. Twenty-one patients were male and 12 were female, for a total of 33 patients. The age at diagnosis ranged from 8 to 60 years (mean, 25.3 yrs) and peaked at the second and third decades (70%). Thirty tumors (91%) occurred in the mandible and three in the maxilla. Of the 29 patients with a radiographic record, an expansive unilocular radiolucency was seen in 22 cases, and was multilocular in seven cases. Microscopically, all tumors demonstrated a generally monocystic growth pattern. Eight tumors were simple cystic, 10 comprised intraluminal tumor nodules, and the remaining 15 had a conspicuous component of infiltrative tumor islands in the cyst capsule. The cystic tumor linings invariably showed, at least in part, a typical ameloblastomatous pattern that was often accompanied by epithelial areas of various histologic appearance. Follow up of 29 patients revealed no recurrence in less than 4 years of follow up, but did reveal a 35% recurrence rate at more than 4 years of follow up. The average interval to recurrence was approximately 7 years. Recurrence also appeared to relate to histologic subtypes of unicystic ameloblastoma, with those invading the fibrous wall having a rate of 35.7%, but other types having a rate of 6.7%. Despite the fact that unicystic ameloblastoma may, in general, compare favorably with its solid or multicystic counterpart in terms of clinical behavior and response to treatment, the subsets of the maxillary lesions or tumors containing invading islands in the fibrous wall could have a high risk of recurrence. Furthermore, recurrence of unicystic ameloblastoma may be long delayed, and a long-term postoperative follow up is essential to the proper management of these patients.
Estrogen receptor 1 promoter polymorphism and digit ratio in men

The 2D:4D digit ratio, the relative lengths of the index and ring fingers in humans, is a widely used proxy measure for prenatal testosterone exposure. Varying distributions of androgen and estrogen receptors on the second and fourth digits, both of which regulate digit development, appears to be the basis for this effect. Polymorphism in a tandem repeat in the gene coding for the estrogen receptor α (ESR1) in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) not only explains a significant amount of variation in digit ratio but also seems to explain the significant correlation between digit ratio and sexual behavior in these birds. Here, we investigate the effect of TA polymorphism in ESR1 on 2D:4D and aggressive behavior in men.
Contribution and Limits of IT-Enabled Codification and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge: Case of Bamiléké People

This research paper draws on the relevant extant literature on traditional knowledge codification as well as on a questionnaire-based survey to study the Bamiléké knowledge and the potential impact of new information and communication technologies (ITs) on such knowledge and its codification within the Bamiléké community, West and North-West Cameroon. The results show that the Bamiléké traditional knowledge is rich and diversified, and that greater part of it can be positively influenced by ITs, thereby fostering its dissemination to other civilizations, such as the Western world. Knowledge from secret Bamiléké societies and initiatory groups, by contrast, are proved to be impervious to any modern system, including ITs.
A dual-process account of digit invariance learning

Performance in the McGeorge and Burton (1990) digit invariance task was originally thought to be mediated by unconscious abstraction of a “rule” that identified the invariant feature across all study items. Subsequent explanations have suggested explicit strategy use or similarity-to-exemplar matching rather than abstraction. This paper presents data that suggest that both similarity and abstraction can be used under different task demands. Delay between study and test afforded abstraction of the invariant knowledge whereas reducing the pool of study exemplars enhanced responding based on specific similarity. These results parallel effects found in the categorization literature. Rule abstraction in this sense may be due to statistical learning of feature frequency rather than abstraction of a central tendency or a complex/conceptual rule. Categorizing responses into subjective memory states (remember/know/guess) demonstrates that neither the similarity matching nor the abstraction mechanism uses information from episodic memory. Confidence measures show that participants are more confident of responses when the prototypical representation is used but not specific similarity. Taken together, these data suggest that abstracted knowledge is not held consciously but that participants have meta-awareness of when they are using the abstracted representation.
Exposure to particulate matter on an Indian stone-crushing site

Background/objectives: A large number of labourers work in the stone-crushing industry in India. Many of these workers are also exposed to high levels of particulate matter in their homes from the use of biomass fuels. As part of our investigations to examine the health of these workers we characterised their exposure to respirable crystalline silica and a number of other particulate matter exposure metrics in both occupational and domestic settings. Methods: We used a combination of direct reading and gravimetric sampling of respirable dust, total inhalable dust and particulate matter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) at work (n = 19), within the general environment (n = 6) and inside the home (n = 7). We used x-ray diffraction to quantify the level of crystalline silica in the respirable dust samples. Results: After correcting for the length of the working week, the arithmetic mean 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) total inhalable dust exposure for this group was 143 mg/m3, the mean 8-hour TWA respirable dust exposure was 39.7 mg/m3 and the 8-hour TWA crystalline silica exposure was 2.29 mg/m3. Our real-time data showed peaks in exposure under certain environmental and/or working conditions. General environmental and domestic PM2.5 exposures were also high. Conclusions: Particulate matter exposures experienced by this group of workers and their families are likely to produce impaired lung function within a short time-frame. There is a need to introduce simple measures to reduce particulate matter exposure from both occupational sources and the use of biomass fuels in homes on this and similar sites.
On Return and Beta Decompositions: Governing Principles and Applications

Decomposing stock returns into news about cash flows (CFs) and discount rates (DRs) is a central issue in asset pricing. Yet there is little consensus on how such a decomposition should be conducted. I develop a decomposition relation showing (i) that dividend yield shocks capture all news about future CFs and DRs that can affect unexpected return, and (ii) shocks to other state variables cause news that, though with no impact on unexpected return, always shift the relative importance of CFs and DRs in driving the time series and cross-sectional variation of stock returns. This decomposition relation explains why (i) dividend yield is a necessary state variable and (ii) return decomposition is sensitive to the choice of state variables. Based on the relation I propose the principles to decompose returns, which I use to revisit some main evidence regarding return and beta decompositions, and to tackle the aggregate earnings puzzle.
The proximity toolkit and ViconFace: the video

Proximity Toolkit is a toolkit that simplifies the exploration of interaction techniques based on proximity and orientations of people, tools, and large digital surfaces. ViconFace is a playful demonstration application built atop of this toolkit. A cartoon face on a large display tracks a person moving around it, where it visually and verbally responds to that person's proximity, orientation and wand use. The accompanying video illustrates all this in action.
Diesel Exhaust Particles

Diesel motor emission is a complex mixture of hundreds of constituents in either gas or particle form. Diesel particulate matter (DPM) is composed of a center core of elemental carbon and adsorbed organic compounds including PAHs and nitro-PAHs, and small amounts of sulfate, nitrate, metals, and other trace elements. DPM consists of fine particles including a high number of ultrafine particles. These particles are highly respirable and have a large surface area where organics can adsorb easily. Exposure to DPM can cause acute irritation and neurophysiological, respiratory, and asthma-like symptoms and can exacerbate allergenic responses to known allergens. Consistently, lung cancer risk is elevated among workers in occupations where diesel engines have been used. However, quantification of the cancer risk with respect to DPM concentrations is not possible. Furthermore, ambient fine and ultrafine particles, of which DPM is an important component, contribute to cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality and lung cancer. In conclusion, diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk greater than that of any other air pollutant, as well as causing other short- and long-term health problems. One effective way to effectively reduce emission of DPM is the use of particle traps.