Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward fieldable human-scale mobile manipulation using RoMan

Robots are ideal surrogates for performing tasks that are dull, dirty, and dangerous. To fully achieve this ideal, a robotic teammate should be able to autonomously perform human-level tasks in unstructured environments where we do not want humans to go. In this paper, we take a step toward realizing that vision by introducing the integration of state of the art advancements in intelligence, perception, and manipulation on the RoMan (Robotic Manipulation) platform. RoMan is comprised of two 7 degree of freedom (DoF) limbs connected to a 1 DoF torso and mounted on a tracked base. Multiple lidars are used for navigation, and a stereo depth camera visualizes point clouds for grasping. Each limb has a 6 DoF force-torque sensor at the wrist, with a dexterous 3-finger gripper on one limb and a stronger 4-finger claw-like hand on the other. Tasks begin with an operator specifying a mission type, a desired final destination for the robot, and a general region where the robot should look for grasps. All other portions of the task are completed autonomously. This includes navigation, object identification and pose estimation (if the object is known) via deep learning or perception through search, fine maneuvering, grasp planning via grasp library, arm motion planning, and manipulation planning (e.g. dragging if the object is deemed too heavy to freely lift). Finally, we present initial test results on two notional tasks: clearing a road of debris such as a heavy tree or a pile of unknown light debris, and opening a hinged container to retrieve a bag inside it.
Comparative Demography of Two Viviparous Iguanid Lizards (Sceloporus Jarrovi and Sceloporus Poinsetti)

Population studies of Sceloporus jarrovi using mark—recapture procedures were conducted on two study plots near Portal, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise Co., Arizona during the summer months of 1969 and 1970. Similar studies of Sceloporus poinsetti were conducted on a study plot near Mertzon, Irion Co., Texas during the summer months of 1968, 1969, and 1970. Series of these lizards were taken from areas near the study plots and autopsied to determine their reproductive condition. The reproductive cycle of both species involved mating in the fall, with parturition occurring the following June. A single litter was produced each year. S. poinsetti attained maturity during the second mating season after birth, at about 16—17 months, although approximately 60% of the S. jarrovi females matured in their first mating season at about 5 months. Female S. jarrovi which matured as yearlings produced an average of four young in their 1st year, whereas older females produced an average of 10.5 young (7—15). The increase in litter size with snout—vent length was one embryo per 3 mm of body length. S. poinsetti females produced an average of 10.4 young (6—23) with an increase of one embryo per 3 mm of body length. Body sizes of young at birth were 29—35 mm in S. poinsetti and 25—32 mm in S. jarrovi. Newborn of both species were larger than hatchlings of similar sized oviparous species of Sceloporus. Newborn of S. poinsetti from large litters were significantly smaller than newborn from small litters. Populations of both S. jarrovi and S. poinsetti had 50:50 sex ratios. In June, the ratio of yearlings to older animals was approximately 50:50 in S. poinsetti and 60:40 in S. jarrovi. Of the eggs ovulated, 4.5% died before parturition in both species. Percent annual mortalities of S. poinsetti and S. jarrovi were respectively 86% and 81% (newborn), 54% and 56% (yearlings), and 57% and 63% (adults). The life history strategy of S. poinsetti appears to be relatively K—selected. S. jarrovi is more r—selected than S. poinsetti but more K—selected than most oviparous species.
An Index-Flood Statistical Model for Hydrological Drought Assessment

Modelling of hydrological extremes and drought modelling in particular has received much attention over recent decades. The main aim of this study is to apply a statistical model for drought estimation (in this case deficit volume) using extreme value theory and the index-flood method and to reduce the uncertainties in estimation of drought event return levels. Deficit volumes for 133 catchments in the Czech Republic (1901–2015) were simulated by hydrological model BILAN. The validation of severity, intensity and length of simulated drought events revealed good match with the available observed data. To estimate return levels of the deficit volumes, it is assumed (in accord with the index-flood method), that the deficit volumes within a homogeneous region are identically distributed after scaling with a site-specific factor. The parameters of the scaled regional distribution are estimated using L-moments. The goodness-of-fit of the statistical model is assessed by Anderson–Darling test. For the estimation of critical values, sampling methods allowing for handling of years without drought were used. It is shown, that the index-flood model with a Generalized Pareto distribution performs well and substantially reduces the uncertainty related to the estimation of the shape parameter and of the large deficit volume quantiles.
Neural network atomic potential to investigate the dislocation dynamics in bcc iron

To design the mechanical strength of body-centered-cubic (bcc) iron, clarifying the dislocation dynamics is very important. Using systematically constructed reference data based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we construct an atomic artificial neural network (ANN) potential to investigate the dislocation dynamics in bcc iron with the accuracy of DFT calculations. The bulk properties and defect formation energies predicted by the constructed ANN potential are in good agreement with the reference DFT calculations. The ${a}_{0}/2\ensuremath{\langle}111\ensuremath{\rangle}{110}$ screw dislocation core structure predicted by the ANN potential is compact and nondegenerate. The Peierls barrier predicted by the ANN potential is 35.3 meV per length of the Burgers vector. These results are consistent with the DFT results. Furthermore, not only the Peierls barrier, but also the two-dimensional energy profile of the screw dislocation core position predicted by the ANN potential are in excellent agreement with the DFT results. These results clearly demonstrate the reproducibility and transferability of the constructed ANN potential for investigating dislocation dynamics with the accuracy of the DFT. Combined with advanced atomistic techniques, the ANN potential will be highly useful for investigating the dislocation dynamics in bcc iron at finite temperatures.
Blind Channel Estimation for Downlink Massive MIMO Systems With Imperfect Channel Reciprocity

We consider the performance of time-division duplex (TDD) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with imperfect calibration of the transmit and receive radio frequency chains. By deriving the achievable signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and the per-user bit error rate (BER) for constant modulus constellations, we establish that, under linear precoding, reciprocity imperfections can result in substantial reduction of the array gain. To mitigate this loss, we propose an algorithm for blind estimation of the effective channel gain at each user. We show that, with sufficiently many downlink data symbols, our blind channel estimation algorithm restores the array gain. In addition, the proposed blind gain estimation algorithm can improve performance compared to standard hardening-based receivers even under perfect reciprocity. Following this, we derive the BERs for non-constant modulus constellations, viz. <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M$</tex-math></inline-formula>-PAM and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M$</tex-math></inline-formula>-QAM. We corroborate all our derived results using numerical simulations.
Health service provision for disease control among prisoners: a conceptual note

The aim of present study was to integrate vital noncommunicable diseases (coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and mental health disorders) into Prison-Based Active Health Services Provision (PAHSP). ,On Jan 1, 2018, there were 230,000 prisoners in Iran. Timely and systematic detection and diagnosis of chronic health conditions among this population are imperative. The collaboration between healthcare providers in prison and members of the multidisciplinary team of the healthcare community outside prison initiated an active health service provision approach for HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Guidelines for the control of HIV and TB in prison were piloted, and the finalized version was named “Prison-based Active Health Services Provision” (PAHSP), which has been scaled up in 16 of 260 Iranian prisons. ,The PAHSP approach emphasizes the importance of early identification of key symptoms and risk factors. This approach provides an opportunity for improved prevention and treatment, enabling prisoners identified at risk or those who have been diagnosed with a target disease to be followed up and receive the appropriate health care. ,Initiatives such as screening for chronic health conditions coupled with treatment will reduce the burden of chronic illness among prisoners and the broader community, thereby saving on healthcare costs and lives.
Sample Bias Related to Household Role

This article develops a two-stage statistical analysis to identify and assess the effect of a sample bias associated with an individual’s household role. Survey responses to questions about the respondent’s role in household finances and a sampling design in which some households have all members take the survey enable the estimation of distributions for each individual’s share of household responsibility. The methodology is applied to the 2017 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice. The distribution of responsibility shares among survey respondents suggests that the sampling procedure favors household members with higher levels of responsibility. A bootstrap analysis reveals that population mean estimates of monthly payment instrument use that do not account for this type of sample misrepresentation are likely biased for instruments often used to make household purchases. For checks and electronic payments, our analysis suggests that it is likely that unadjusted estimates overstate true values by 10–20 percent.
Utility of transport risk index of physiological stability score for predicting likely outcome of extramural neonates transferred to NICU

According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) first-ever report on the newborn mortality rate, published in 2018, every year 26 lakh babies die worldwide within 28 days of birth, which is an average of 7,000 deaths every day. Of these, 6.4 lakh neonatal deaths occur in India. The neonatal mortality rate is 25.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in India makes it 12th worst among the 52 lower-middle-income countries. In India since 1991 IMR has been declining at a rate of 23 points per year but this pace of decline has fail to achieve the millennium development goal 4 which had aimed to reduce the under 5 mortality rate by two third between 1990 and 2015. From 1991 to 2013 postneonatal mortality rate was reduced by approximately 60% but reduction in NMR was only 40%. Decline in early neonatal mortality rate was even slower with only 37% reduction. Now early neonatal death have become the main component of infant mortality rate, contributing to more than 50% of total infant death. Most of the ABSTRACT
Microbial fabrics of geyserites around hot spring pools in Daggyai, Tibet, China

The Daggyai geyserites serve as hosts for cesium deposits; however, their origin, whether by chemical deposition or biological formation, is a topic of debate. To decipher the origin of geyserites, the petrographic features of the geyserite samples were examined. The geyserites exhibited columnar laminated, planar laminated and spicular morphologies. Furthermore, they contained morphological and confocal microscopic evidence of the coccoid, bacilliform and filamentous microbes that formed them. Minor calcite and quartz crystals were found locally in the columnar laminated and spicular geyserites. Cyanobacteria tentatively assigned to the genus Calothrix dominated in the planar and columnar laminated geyserites, but were rare in the spicular geyserites. The results demonstrated that the microbes contributed to the Daggyai geyserite formation.
Formation of non-oxygenated phase of bio-oil produced by copyrolysis of corn cobs and polypropylene plastic using zeolite catalysts at low heating rate

Thermal co-pyrolysis of corn cobs and polypropylene (PP) at low heating rate (thermal slow co-pyrolysis) has succeeded in separating bio-oil produced between oxygenated and non-oxygenated phases spontaneously. In co-pyrolysis, PP can sequester oxygen from bio-oil to convert part of bio-oil to non-oxygenated phase and can contribute partly non-oxygenated phase by PP carbon chain cracking. Catalytic fast co-pyrolysis has been commonly used to improve bio-oil yield and to improve non-oxygenated fraction of bio-oil. However, the catalytic fast co-pyrolysis is unable to obtain separate non-oxygenated fraction of bio-oil. In present work, zeolite catalyst was introduced in co-pyrolysis of corn cobs and PP at low heating rate to undertake catalytic slow co-pyrolysis in order to obtain synergistic effect of non-oxygenated fraction of bio-oil while obtaining separate non-oxygenated fraction of bio-oil. The present co-pyrolysis work was carried out in a stirred tank reactor at heating rate of 5 °C/min and maximum temperature of 500 °C. The composition of feed was varied at 0, 50 and 100%PP in the mixture of corn cob particles and PP granules. The experiment involved 3 catalytic configurations, i.e., no catalyst, ZSM5-38 and ZSM5-70, in which 38 and 70 represents the mole ratio of SI/Al in the catalysts. The results show that in slow co-pyrolysis of biomass-PP, the use of zeolite catalyst with high acidity suppressed the pyrolysis of PP to form wax and reduced bio-oil yield, and the synergistic effect was obtained as the co-pyrolysis used no catalyst and zeolite catalyst of ZSM5-70, while that using zeolite catalyst of ZSM5-38 reached negative synergistic effect. Utilization of catalyst generated high amount of aliphatic moieties, i.e. methyl, methine and methylene. With ZSM5 catalyst utilization, production of allyl decreased. Most of non-polar bio-oil fractions have similar or slightly higher heating values (HHVs) compared to those of commercial fuels. Branching index (BI) values of non-polar phase of bio-oil generated straight carbon chain with higher branches compared to those commercial fuels.
Annual variations in pollen deposition and meteorological conditions on the fell Aakenustunturi in northern Finland: Potential for using fossil pollen as a climate proxy

Annual variation in meteorological parameters (7 years) and pollen deposition (6 years) for 4 sites on a transect across an altitudinal timberline on Aakenus, a fell in northern Finland were monitored, in order to see how pollen production, as reflected by pollen deposition (grains cm year), is related to climate conditions. Wind direction and wind speed before and after estimated flowering time were determined. These indicated that, within the forest and at the physiognomic forest line, pollen deposition is primarily from plants growing within the forested area on the fell and that the contribution of windblown pollen from further south is minimal. Pollen deposition can, therefore, be taken as equivalent to pollen production. Simple linear correlation coefficients between pollen deposition and one-month and two-week mean temperature, effective temperature sums and cumulative effective temperature sums for the current and previous summers were calculated. For Pinus sylvestris the quantity of pollen deposited is affected by July mean temperature, July effective temperature sum and total effective temperature sum, for the year previous to pollen emission. Pollen deposition of Betula pubescens and Picea abies is also affected by thermal factors but of different time periods (Betula of early June and Picea of early July), but always of the year previous to flowering. However, the correlation is not as strong as for Pinus. The results suggest that annual fossil Pinus pollen quantities, if calculated from peat and/or lake sediments, are a potential climate proxy. They also demonstrate that it is possible to use temperature parameters of the current year to make forecasts of the intensity of flowering and pollen production in the following year.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES TO CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Today, it is important for organizations to successfully adapt to ongoing changes, not only domestically but also globally. Successful implementation of change, an advantage over other organizations, and maintaining high job performance become the most important task in the organization (Doll et al., 2017). However, organizational change is not successful for all organizations, and practice shows that in many cases, organizations fail to make changes, leading to declining employee performance or even organizational disruption (Lewis, 2019; Fernandez and Rainey, 2017). Organizations implementing organizational change are often asked what psychosocial factors are important to successful change, to ensuring the quality of the work of employees and to the successful functioning of the organization. Organizational change in organizations often involves reorganizing institutions, reviewing staff structure, resulting in a sense of insecurity for themselves and the future of the organization, and often creating negative employee attitudes toward ongoing organizational change. Employee attitudes toward organizational change are an important psychosocial factor that can determine how successful an organization will be in implementing change (Armenakis et al., 2007). Negative employee attitudes towards change reduce the employee job performance, as employees undergo a lot of stress during change, resulting in worsening relationships with colleagues and interpersonal conflicts (Jaramillo et al., 2013). The purpose of this work is to carry out a review of the literature on the employees' attitudes and the importance of employees' attitudes towards organizational change in the employee job performance. Given the above purpose of this work, literature analysis from electronic databases: SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis Online, APA PsycNET, Google Scholar, and others were performed. These databases were chosen because they contain the most research on organizational psychology.
The Sourdough Microflora. Characterization of Hetero- and Homofermentative Lactic Acid Bacteria, Yeasts and Their Interactions on the Basis of the Volatile Compounds Produced

Abstract Eighty-seven strains (15 species) of sourdough lactic acid bacteria (homo- and hetero-fermentative) and yeasts were characterized and statistically discriminated on the basis of volatile compounds produced during sourdough fermentation. The species differed and, in general, the strains differed within the species. Heterofermentative LAB mainly produced ethylacetate with some alcohols and aldehydes, and homofermentative LAB synthetized diacetyl and other carbonyls, while iso-alcohols were produced by yeast fermentation. Lactobacillus brevis subsp. lindneri and Lactobacillus plantarum were the LAB with the most complete profiles. Sourdoughs started with bacterial associations were characterized by a more complete profile (integrations of hetero- and homo-fermentative volatile compounds) and by a decrease of the percentage amounts of the main products individually synthetized. In association with yeasts (with the exception of L. plantarum DC400 - Saccharomyces exiguus M14 association) both hetero- and homo-fermentative LAB enhanced the formation of the yeast volatile compounds. Mixed sourdough starters ( L. brevis subsp. lindneri CB1, L. plantarum DC400 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 141 or S. exiguus M14) were selected to produce sourdoughs with different volatile compound profiles.
Creating active interfaces as a strategy to improve electrochemical water splitting reactions

Electrochemical water splitting has received significant attention recently for the production of green hydrogen as a means to alleviate our need on fossil fuels. There has been immense progress on developing new catalysts that are active for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as well as materials that are bifunctional and are active for both reactions. In this perspective I detail recent developments in tailoring highly active interfacial regions in a variety of catalysts that are suitable for these reactions. In particular the doping of metal oxides and metal-chalcogenides with a secondary metal is discussed and how this influences the activity and stability of the catalyst and how in fact simple systems such as Ni/NiO are also highly active due to the presence of a metal/metal oxide interface. Finally the future direction in characterising electrocatalysts is discussed and the important role that spatially resolved electrochemical data combined with other surface science techniques can be used to study structure-activity relationships at a localised level at such important interfaces.
Hypoxia-based habitat compression in the Neuse River Estuary: context-dependent shifts in behavioral avoidance thresholds

Anthropogenic activities in estuarine watersheds alter physical and chemical characteristics of these ecosystems. Increased nutrient loading and changes in hydrology affect oxygen budgets and subsequently alter the spatial and temporal extent of hypoxia. We used classification and regression tree analyses to examine behavioral avoidance thresholds over a range of dissolved oxygen concentrations. In an examination of 10 fish species, all avoided areas with dissolved oxygen concentrations of <2.0 mg·L1. Our data suggest that the dissolved oxygen avoidance threshold expressed by fish may be context-dependent. Specifically, the spatial extent of hypoxia significantly affected avoidance thresholds. Fish may occupy poorer quality habitat (areas with lower dissolved oxygen levels) as conditions worsen and the size of the oxygenated refuge shrinks. When the entire estuary is oxygenated, fish utilize all depths. During hypoxic episodes, fish are restricted to oxygenated, shallow, warmer areas. This habitat compre.
Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCBs) in nursing primiparous and multiparous women

Impact of PCBs was studied as a major source of physiological effects even very low concentration of PCBs transferred to the infants by mother’s milk. Milk samples were collected from primipara and multipara women. A significant variation pattern was observed in the level of PCB congeners, as PCBs are lipophilic in nature, another possibility arises that great deals of residues are passed on to infants through mother’s milk. A technique was developed to find out polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in breast milk. PCBs were extracted by Matrix Solid-Phase Dispersion (MSPD) and analyzed by Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detector. The precision (RSD &middotL-1), the chi square analysis at p ≤ 0.05 has shown that the PCB level was higher in multipara as compared to primipara. The analysis of the thirty samples revealed PCB levels above 6.85 μg&middotL-1 in breast milk samples by analyses of a mixture of PCB congeners. All PCB congeners (28, 52, 101, 123 (+149), 118, 114, 153, 105, 138 (+163), 167, 156 (+171), 157, 180, 170, 189) were found at high level in primiparous and multiparous. Thus, a high correlation between the contamination of breast milk and environmental pollution of PCBs was observed.