Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Force control of parallel link manipulator with hydraulic actuators

This paper proposes a force control algorithm for Stewart platform type of parallel link manipulators with velocity controlled hydraulic actuators. First, we design a control scheme for one degree-of-freedom, hydraulic actuator then we extend the control scheme to the parallel link manipulator. The hybrid force/position control scheme for parallel link manipulator is also proposed. The control scheme is designed based on velocity based force control algorithm, so that we can apply it to the parallel link manipulators with velocity controlled hydraulic actuators. The proposed algorithm is applied to the experimental system with six degrees of freedom and the experimental results illustrate the validity of the system.
Measuring secondary deformities of the shoulder in children with obstetric brachial plexus lesion: reliability of three methods

In this study the interobserver reliability of three established measurement methods to objectify secondary deformities of the shoulder in obstetric brachial plexus lesion was evaluated (OBPL). Magnet resonance imaging scans of 30 affected shoulders of 29 OBPL children, mean age 1 year 9 months (range 3 months to 6.3 years) were used. The reliability of the measurement of glenoid version had a standard deviation of differences of measurements between 5.4 and 5.9°. The reliability of the glenoid form showed a kappa value between 0.52 and 0.64, and the reliability of the humeral subluxation had a standard deviation between 7.7 and 12.4°. The measurement methods showed no systematic bias.
Healthcare costs associated with skeletal-related events in breast cancer patients with bone metastases

Abstract Background: Patients with bone metastases secondary to breast cancer are pre-disposed to skeletal-related events (SREs), including spinal cord compression (SCC), pathologic fracture (PF), surgery to bone (SB), and radiotherapy to bone (RT). Objective: To document current patterns of healthcare utilization and costs of SREs in patients with breast cancer and bone metastases. Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study using the Thomson MedStat MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database from 9/2002 to 6/2011. Study subjects included all persons with claims for breast cancer and for bone metastases, and ≥1 claims for an SRE. Unique SRE episodes were identified based on a gap of at least 90 days without an SRE claim, and classified by treatment setting (inpatient or outpatient) and SRE type (SCC, PF, SB, or RT). Results: Of 17,266 patients with breast cancer and bone metastases, 9142 (53%) had one or more SRE episodes. Among 5809 patients who met all other criteria, there were 7617 SRE episodes over mean (SD) follow-up of 17.2 (15.2) months. The percentage of episodes that required inpatient treatment ranged from 11% (RT) to 76% (SB). On average, inpatient SCC episodes (n = 83 episodes) were most costly; while outpatient PF episodes (n = 552 episodes) were least costly. Of the total SRE costs (mean [SE] $21,072 [$36,462]/episode), 36% were attributable to outpatient RT (n = 5265 episodes) and 31% to inpatient PF (n = 838 episodes). Limitations: The administrative claims data used in this study may lack sensitivity and specificity for identification of clinical events and may not be generalizable to other populations. Also, for some SRE episode categories, the number of events was small and cost estimates may lack precision. Conclusion: In patients with breast cancer and bone metastases, SREs are associated with high costs and hospitalizations.
STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS AMONG AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE NATIONS: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

Among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, the concept of mental illness has different meanings and is interpreted in various ways. This paper describes the realities of mental health care that confront AIAN people. Stigma is associated with mental illness, which can be a barrier for those individuals who are in need of mental health services. Within the context of the AIAN historical and contemporary experiences, the paper details domains that negatively influence the lives of AIAN people. Included are the failure of the U.S. government to fulfill its treaty agreements with AIAN people; the disparities in income and education, and the pervasiveness of poverty; and access to care issues. These domains help to set the stage for health disparities that frequently catapult AIAN people to early morbidity and mortality. Importantly, many of these conditions are preventable. The paper concludes with recommendations for a more diverse workforce that will include AIAN mental health professionals who are available to provide culturally competent care to AIAN people in a variety of settings.
Pressure ulcer knowledge of registered nurses, assistant nurses and student nurses: a descriptive, comparative multicentre study in Sweden

The aim of this study was to describe and compare the knowledge of registered nurses (RNs), assistant nurses (ANs) and student nurses (SNs) about preventing pressure ulcers (PUs). PU prevention behaviours in the clinical practice of RNs and ANs were also explored. A descriptive, comparative multicentre study was performed. Hospital wards and universities from four Swedish county councils participated. In total, 415 participants (RN, AN and SN) completed the Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Assessment Tool. The mean knowledge score for the sample was 58·9%. The highest scores were found in the themes ‘nutrition’ (83·1%) and ‘risk assessment’ (75·7%). The lowest scores were found in the themes ‘reduction in the amount of pressure and shear’ (47·5%) and ‘classification and observation’ (55·5%). RNs and SNs had higher scores than ANs on ‘aetiology and causes’. SNs had higher scores than RNs and ANs on 'nutrition'. It has been concluded that there is a knowledge deficit in PU prevention among nursing staff in Sweden. A major educational campaign needs to be undertaken both in hospital settings and in nursing education.
Procrustes — based shape prior for parametric active contours

A novel method of parametric active contours with geometric shape prior is presented in this paper. The main idea of the method consists in minimizing an energy function that includes additional information on a shape reference called a prototype. Prior shape knowledge is introduced through a complete family of Euclidean invariants, computed from the similarity between shape of evolving contour and the prototype. This similarity is measured by full Procrustes distance. This extra knowledge enhances the model robustness to noise, occlusion and complex background. We use genetic algorithm to minimize energy function of this new type of snake that we call it Procrustes snake. The variational formulation of the proposed approach is described in details. We obtain promising results with synthetic and real images which show the power of our method for segmentation tasks.
The nuclear matrix: structure and composition.

Introduction The pore complex-lamina The nuclear pore complexes The nuclear lamina The nucleolar residue The internal matrix Morphological and biochemical aspects Heterogeneous nuclear RNP particles Small nuclear RNP particles Nuclear actin Enzymes involved in DNA and RNA metabolism Virus-specific proteins Associated transcripts The nuclear matrix and RNA transport Behaviour of nuclear matrix components during mitosis
The silence of the genes: epigenetic disturbances in haematopoietic malignancies

Cancer-associated disturbances of regulated DNA methylation include both global hypomethylation and gene-specific (often even cancer-specific) hypermethylation. Both coexist and have become the subject of intense investigation. In haematological neoplasias, distinct sets of genes, including the p15/INK4b cell cycle inhibitor (mostly in myeloid malignancies) as well as p16/INK4a (only very infrequently in myeloid neoplasia), have been well characterised as to incidence of hypermethylation, concurrent gene inactivation and their re-expression following treatment with DNA methylation inhibitors. Several genes frequently methylated in haematological neoplasias have been studied with respect to their prognostic value. With the advance of low-dose schedules of demethylating agents (explored particularly in the elderly patient population) the rationale for reverting the ‘hyper-methylator phenotype’ has also prompted invivo studies of gene reactivation following this type of treatment. However, ubiquitous surrogate markers for the efficacy of this type of treatment need to be developed. These may include reactivated haemoglobin F (HbF), as demethylating agents can result in clinically meaningful induction of HbF in patients with haemoglobinopathies. Because ‘cancer testis antigens’, which provide powerful signals for T cell cytotoxic activity on solid tumour cells, are usually silenced in leukaemia but can be reactivated invitro and invivo, they pro-vide a rationale for an immuno-modulatory effect of demethylating ther-apy.
Managing the Human Factor in Information Security: How to win over staff and influence business managers

With the growth in social networking and the potential for larger and larger breaches of sensitive data,it is vital for all enterprises to ensure that computer users adhere to corporate policy and project staff design secure systems. Written by a security expert with more than 25 years' experience, this book examines how fundamental staff awareness is to establishing security and addresses such challenges as containing threats, managing politics, developing programs, and getting a business to buy into a security plan. Illustrated with real-world examples throughout, this is a must-have guide for security and IT professionals.
Detection of cytochrome P4503A (CYP3A) in human hepatic stellate cells.

In this study we have investigated the occurrence of cytochrome P450 isoforms and of related cytochrome P450 reductase in human hepatic stellate cells (hHSC), a type of cell having relevant roles in physiopathological conditions of the liver. By performing immunoblotting of hHSC microsomes and immunofluorescence analysis associated to confocal laser microscopy we detected only P450 enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 3A subfamily (CYP3A) as well as cytochrome P450 reductase. The presence of CYP3A was further indicated by detection of testosterone 6beta-hydroxylase activity in hHSC microsomes. Other important human P450 forms were either undetectable (CYP1A2, CYP2E1, CYP2C8/9/19 and CYP4A) or bearly detectable (CYP1A1) in hHSC. This is the first study showing existence of active cytochrome P450 isoforms in human HSC.
Application of the joint discrete hadamard-inverse Fourier transform in a MC-CDMA wireless communication system-performance and complexity studies

An efficient low-complexity algorithm proposed earlier by the same author is considered for the application in multicarrier radio communication systems with code-division multiple access. An inverse algorithm is proposed as a method of joint detection (JD), which is capable of rejecting intersymbol and multiple-access interference at a reasonable complexity. Computational complexity calculations as well as recent performance results of the proposed method are provided. The bit-error rate performance achieved by the simulated JD algorithms and equalizer structures is comparable with the performance of other methods which exhibit higher complexity.
The Influence of Socio-Economic Characteristics on Food Advertisement Usage

Only 22 percent of surveyed consumers reported making frequent use of food advertisements when purchasing food products. However, certain demographic segments appear to place a greater emphasis on food advertisements than others. This study empirically evaluates which socio-economic characteristics encourage consumers to be more likely to take food advertisements into account when purchasing grocery products. The results indicate that those with lower annual incomes, those with lower levels of education, and those living in suburban and rural areas are the most likely to make use of food advertisements in the newspaper. The results also indicate that households with children, single individuals, and those over 65 years of age are less likely to use food advertisements.
Effects of Online Consumer Reviews on Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions toward Products and Retailers

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of consumer reviews in consumers’ decision making process. The current study aims to help researchers and practitioners understand how consumers process different type of information in online consumer reviews. The specific research objectives are to examine (1) how different type of online consumer reviews influence consumers’ responses toward the reviews (2) how different types of individual characteristics influence consumer processing of the content of the reviews, and (3) how consumers’ responses evoked by review content affect consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the reviewed products and retailers. This study addressed two aspects of review-type: (1) type of product information in online consumer reviews (attribute-and-benefits reviews vs. benefits-only reviews), and (2) type of personal information disclosed by the reviewers (reviewers’ personal information vs. reviewer stories). The literature reviews guided the development of hypotheses and the model of the study in an online apparel store context. To test the hypotheses, this study employs an online experiment with a mock website. A total of 425 participants collected from consumer panels of marketing research firm were used for the analyses. The analyses revealed that reviews containing reviewers’ consumption stories, compared to those containing reviewer information, produce more positive thoughts, greater perceptions of reviews’ informativeness, and more favorable attitudes toward the reviews. Contradicting the predictions, there was no moderating effect of individual
Cytochrome P450 phenotypic ratios for predicting herb‐drug interactions in humans

Phytochemical‐mediated modulation of cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity may underlie many herb‐drug interactions. Single‐time point phenotypic metabolic ratios were used to determine whether long‐term supplementation of St John's wort, garlic oil, Panax ginseng, and Ginkgo biloba affected CYP1A2, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, or CYP3A4 activity.
Hospital Flood Preparedness: A Survey of 15 Provinces in Central Thailand

Between September and November 2011, Thailand experienced its worst flooding in modern history. Central Thailand was severely affected by flooding, which resulted in the closure of more than 30 hospitals in the region. Lack of evidencebased practices, limited resources, and the inexperience of infection control preventionists (ICPs) were obstacles to prioritizing investment in infection control (IC) measures after flooding. We conducted a survey to evaluate hospital flood preparedness (HFP) in central Thailand and to guide future HFP plans. On January 6, 2012, a workshop entitled "Hospital Preparedness for Flooding" was conducted with faculty from the Division of Infectious Diseases of Thammasat University (Pathumthani, Thailand) and Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri). All 104 secondary care hospitals (MOO beds) and tertiary care hospitals (>250 beds) in 15 central Thailand provinces were invited to participate on the basis of a hospital list from the Thailand Ministry of Public Health. Of these, 72 hospitals (69%) attended the workshop. A survey of HFP plans was distributed to an ICP or a hospital epidemiologist (HE) at each participating hospital. The survey instrument assessed ICP, HE, and hospital characteristics; HFP; institutional safety culture; and administration support to resolve flood-related problems. This survey instrument was pilottested by 10 IC experts, including ICPs and HEs, to ensure its validity, reliability, and acceptability. The administration support was categorically ranked as poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent. The institutional safety culture was measured by safety score (a detailed description is provided in Table 1). A higher safety score indicated greater safety centeredness. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 15 (SPSS). Adjusted odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by logistic regression to determine factors associated with each HFP protocol and plan.
Amyloıdosıs in Colon Presentıng wıth Rectal Bleedıng in Multıpl Myeloma : A Case Report

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant proliferation of plasma cells that secrete monoclonal immunglobin (M protein). It accounts for 1% of all cancers and 10% of hematological malignancies. Mean age at diagnosis is 66 years. The most common findings are bone pain, pathological fractures, anemia, bone marrow failure, Infections triggered by neutropenia and immunodeficiency, and kidney failure and rarely can cause acute hypercalcaemia, symptomatic hyperviscosity, neuropathy, amyloidosis and coagulopathy. Amyloidosis is a rare disease characterized by nonspecific symptoms and signs. It can be seen anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. In this case, a colonoscopy was performed on the patient who was directed to gastroenterology clinic with rectal bleeding and amyloidosis was detected in the biopsy from tumoral lesions seen in the colonoscopy.
The fundamental role of competition in the ecology and evolution of mutualisms

Abstract Mutualisms are interspecific interactions that yield reciprocal benefits. Here, by adopting a consumer–resource perspective, we show how considering competition is necessary in order to understand the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of mutualism. We first review the ways in which competition shapes the ecology of mutualisms, using a graphical framework based on resource flows rather than net effects to highlight the opportunities for competition. We then describe the known mechanisms of competition and show how it is a critical driver of the evolutionary dynamics, persistence, and diversification of mutualism. We argue that empirical and theoretical research on the ecology and evolution of mutualisms will jointly progress by addressing four key points: (i) the existence and shape of physiological trade‐offs among cooperation, competition, and other life‐history and functional traits; (ii) the capacity for individuals to express conditional responses to variation in their mutualistic and competitive environment; (iii) the existence of heritable variation for mutualistic and competitive traits and their potentially conditional expression; and (iv) the structure of the network of consumer–resource interactions in which individuals are embedded.
Cells and molecules that regulate B lymphopoiesis in bone marrow.

Mature and immature forms of eight different types of blood cells are tightly packed within the spaces of bone marrow, complicating inves­ tigation of how it is efficiently regulated. Hundreds of billions of cells of the various lineages are produced daily in this vital organ and exported to other tissues via processes which are responsive to inflammation and other systemic events. Because of advances in cell separation and culture techniques, rapid progress is now being made in resolving steps in each differentiation pathway. It is even more interesting that regulatory inter­ actions between cells are being appreciated and defined in molecular terms. This review focuses on cells of the humoral immune system and those steps involved in their formation that can be observed and manipulated in culture. Purified recombinant molecules can now be used to elicit particular responses in cultured lymphocyte precursors, and the probable source of such regulatory substances is becoming clearer. Moreover, cells that comprise the inductive microenvironment of bone marrow are themselves subject to exquisite regulation. In some cases, this occurs via factors they can themselves make, i.e. autocrine regulation. Information of this kind is relevant to the treatment of a number of diseases. However, while cell culture models have made it possible to identify many molecules that affect proliferation and differentiation of B-cell precursors, they do not provide a completely accurate representation of intact bone marrow. For example, there are indications that compensatory circuits and "quality control"
Quasi 3-D Mixed Potential Integral Equation Formulation for Periodic Structures

This paper introduces the use of the quasi 3-D mixed potential integral equation formulation for structures with a periodicity in two dimensions. The quasi 3-D formulation allows to use both horizontal and vertical conductors, and dielectric inclusions. The key innovation is the use of an effective algorithm to calculate Periodic Green's Functions (PGFs) for vertical currents in the planar multilayered background medium. This algorithm retains the same scheme as for a single source Green's Function (GF). In both cases, the GFs are calculated via an inverse Fourier transform of the GFs in the spectral domain, which are known in closed form. In order to remedy the poor convergence for small source—observation distances, an asymptotic extraction is used, yielding a very compact algorithm, and acceleration techniques are applied. Simple guidelines are proposed to construct asymptotes having the required leading terms and a good convergence. It is shown that many acceleration algorithms widely used in literature are actually able to perform well only in specific circumstances. As far as the authors can see, there is still no general and robust technique, yielding highly accurate results under all circumstances. Several examples illustrate the efficiency of the technique.
Overview of Pharmacoepidemiological Databases in the Assessment of Medicines Under Real-Life Conditions

The raison d’etre of these studies is to bridge the gap between the information generated by clinical pre-marketing trials and the real-world drug usage, since drugs often do not perform as well in routine clinical practice as in clinical trials. Clinical trials may not provide an accurate picture of drug effects. At the time of authorization, we have evidence from clinical trials which demonstrate efficacy, but only for a specific indication and only within the original test population. At this stage, we have evidence of adverse reactions, but only the most common ones (Black, 1996; Strom, 2005a).
Do sport tourism events have a brand image

—Sport tourism events are used by destinations to enhance their image. The components of an event’s brand image, however, have not been well studied. Keller (1993) suggested that brand image consists of brand associations featuring attributes, benefi ts, and attitudes toward the “product. ” Understanding these brand associations will help determine those elements that constitute a sport tourism event’s image. This study aimed to measure a sport tourism event’s brand image associations from the participants’ perspective. The sport tourism event utilized in this research was an annual bicycling event in the state of Michigan. To explore the brand image associations bicyclists have about sport tourism events, two focus groups were used. The results revealed the image of a sport tourism event consists of mental imageries related to organization, environment, physical activity, socialization, fulfi llment and emotions. Implications for both event and destination marketers are discussed.